Title: No Idle Pursuits
Artform: Vintage Handbags

Goals/Objectives 

Using the outside of a handbag, a familiar and ubiquitous object, workshop participants creatively portray the outer character and personality of a woman they select to honor. The bag’s interior space can depict a woman’s rich and private world. 

Preparing for studio work 

Participants choose and interview a person for their project, aided by JWA resources. (See Artful Disclosure Toolkit Part I.) 

Worksheets can help generate ideas for the project, including questions like: 

• What are some of your interviewee’s outer characteristics? 
• What are her hidden characteristics, which will comprise the interior of the handbag? 

We’ll explore the idea of UPCYCLING—reusing old objects and discarded materials to create something more valuable, transforming the everyday handbag into a work of art. Participants bring in personal artifacts, photos, and documents to create their unique handbag. They will create an assemblage, a work of art made by grouping found objects.  

Materials 

• Vintage, heirloom, or discarded handbags or other containers – backpacks, instrument cases, anything  
• Handmade papers 
• Ribbons/buttons/fabric 
• Found objects (gloves, silk flowers, address books, photographs, etc.) 
• Buttons and other arts and craft supplies 
• Glue sticks and glue gun 
• Metallic pens to use on faux or real leather bags 
• Stencils  

Inspiration 

Sheila Myer Miller and Barbara Ellison Rosenblit, Pentimento: Revealing Women’s Stories 

Exhibition 

Bags can be placed on tables, arranged on cloth-covered boxes on a variety of levels. Alongside each bag should be the artist statement, which includes the names of the honoree and the artist and a few sentences about the artist’s creative process and artistic decisions. 

A panel discussion with the honorees is a successful program for the exhibition opening.