Astarte's Mega-zine Review
I always get so excited when I find a wonderful website or magazine that gets all my creative juices flowing. And I just found a new one, its call Astarte's Mega-zine and its awesome! They just started publishing in early 2007, so they're pretty new. It's a downloadable web-zine with 36 pages of articles from well known artists like Aisling D'Art and Claudine Hellmuth (author of "Collage Discovery Workshop" which I reviewed a while back - see the book section). An interesting side-note: Astarte is the ancient goddess of creativity, so the zine's name suits it well. Astarte's Mega-zine is filled with articles to inspire every kind of artist. In the first issue, called Transformations, there's an article on creating textured surfaces with dyes and acrylic paint; an article on keeping a gratitude journal, a polymer clay how-to-article, an article on using fabric in journaling, an article on making earrings, a how-to-article on paper flexagons (which I'd never heard of until reading the article), and lots more. Like I said, there's something for everyone. There are also articles on the healing aspects of art. One article is called "On Being Creative" by Jacqueline Sullivan. In the article, Sullivan talks about her own healing process through art, "Art, for me, has been a healing process. It has helped heal the pain of family dysfunction, of raising a sick child, of divorce. My art is a visual representation of that healing process." It's a wonderful article!
I'd be really impressed with Astarte's Mega-zine if it just contained how-to-articles on various art projects, but it's inclusion of articles on the healing aspects of art makes me absolutely LOVE IT!! I guess nobody knows the healing powers of art better then artists. The magazine layout is well designed with clean lines, lots of artwork, and plenty of side boxes with tips and info. And after each article, it lists the website address of the artist so you can learn more about them and see their artwork. Now that I've finished the first issue of Astarte's Mega-zine, I'm eager to read their next one!!! Be sure to take a look, its a fun and inspiring magazine with tons of great articles on art and art healing; all written by well-known artists. To visit their website click here.
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Another article on art healing is called "Embracing the Soulful Life" by Lucia Capacchione, Ph.D., a registered art therapist and author of 13 books. Capacchione talks about her use of art journaling to get her through a life-threatening illness: how it saved her life and put her on the path of becoming an art therapist. A short and personal article. Very nice. (I've read several of her books and like her writing style.)
