WHERE: Gallery 152 York, Western Australia for York Writers Weekend event.
WHEN: Saturday and Sunday 24th/25th June. TIME: 10am-3pm daily.
I’ll be there all weekend so pop in for a look, sit and read, chat, a ‘jam’ on the old typewriter and see the process of how books are created. Books and cards will be available to purchase. JB (Janine)
Exhibition: Meet Janine Browne, Founder of The Black Dog Project throughout the weekend as she shares the beautiful art, stories, characters and process of creating the books and card collections that have grown to become a source of strength and antidote to loneliness throughout the community.
Call in and pick up some of the Project’s promotional cards to take and share with others.
6 New Character card series.
(Cover art Clunk & Jam book by Stormie Mills).
Exhibition accessible for wheel chair users.
Clunk & Jam Second Edition Book (with content from the Black Dog Blog) and 6 new Card Collections are available on-line and in store at Fremantle Art Centre Found. See other Stockists here. Cover art Stormie Mills.
6 New Card Collections ….the socially shy Robin Small (pictured). Amelia Bloom, dreaming up a better world. Rose, the wise mould breaker (below). Boots the Clown making worry disappear. 21 Friends holding big feelings. And the new Sweet Pea, a personal power generator. $22/Pack Fremantle Art Centre Found. Collab Fremantle Markets.
Each pack of cards has five common cards (below) to share with others – including the 2024 hand carved and printed Black Dog by Joelie Russell.
WHY NO SOCIA MEDIA?: Black Dog does not use social media as a method of sharing because of the current research on the damage it is having on the lives, minds and mental health of young peo0ple. It is also not a ‘safe’ realm for sharing. A personal, behind the scenes view of Black Dog can be seen here @browneink. For the latest information and research on the topic of social media see/read the work of Johnathon Haidt.
Sweet Pea is monumental despite smallness. Her expression, a reminder to keep an ‘arm around the shoulder’ of our little spirit, so we too can feel the comfort and the power of the collective ‘me’ – in all its forms and flaws and misadventures. Direct our lives from within (and before). All the while encompassing the full and blooming range of vital emotion that got us here.
Sweet Pea’s arrival story:
I’m on a swing between rage and exhilaration. Glad I have both or I’d be wrapped around a pole in chains. But I’m swinging high and riding through the back swing that has me face down in the dirt. Then legs swing through to the rescue. The sky opens and says;
‘Hello little spirit. Let go now Sweet Pea. You can fly …’
(J.Browne 2023/24).
Sometimes I Wish I Wasn’t Me .
This little soldier finally realised that being the fairest isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and looking up to stars can be dangerous – especially when they fall. And that ‘way up high’, ‘over the rainbow’ and ‘climbing the ladder’ are sometimes dangerous places to try and reach. And too far away to possibly get there on time.
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What if being different meant you’d never be alone again ?
Imagine…if those of us who felt different could be strengthened in our difference through the sharing of stories….which wouldn’t mean we’d all become the same ….but we might feel less alone in our difference….
(Art by Stormie Mills. ‘Clunk & Jam’ book – a collection of art and stories championing diversity and difference.) On-line and in shop Found, Fremantle Art Centre. Other stockists here.
This story (from 2009) reflects The Black Dog Project’s focus on the safety, well being and rights of children and young people – and the idea of making books and gifting them to young people in the community through sponsorship. Written long before the explosion of social media, the ‘Children were broken into. Things stolen.’ now also reflects the impact of Smartphones and social media on children and young people. Find this piece in Clunk & Jam book. Original story in handmade book, ‘Rock The Boat’, 2009. (Handwriting by Maggie).
