Student Spotlight: Olive Jones’ Vision Board

Olive Jones, Historian/Artist/Adventurer

Olive Jones: Coming into Focus…

For some time now I have been frustrated by my tendency to go shopping for supplies rather than to use them.  When Michelle talked about how vision boards can be used to help you identify actions to accomplish your goals I decided to take one of her classes.  Good decision. With her guidance through a visioning exercise, her handouts, short discussion on how vision boards can be used, and her wonderful collection of supplies we all set to our boards.  At the end of the day it felt good to have a finished board.  But then came a period of trying to understand what I had emphasized.

All my life I have been a hunter and gatherer.  My work at Parks Canada, researching the history of glass artefacts we had excavated from archaeological sites across Canada, was ideal for me.  I could hunt through archaeological, museum and private collections and through archives collecting information and writing up the results of my research for others to use. As a volunteer at Parks Canada I am continuing to do this.  

About six years ago I discovered collage and was delighted that I could use supplies gathered for various hobbies I have enjoyed over the years–beadwork, needlework, Tole painting and scrapbooking.  Then I started reading about collage and suddenly everything became potential supplies, old books, scraps of paper, photographs, buttons, more beads, acrylic mediums, rubber stamps, ink pads.  The list goes on.  However, as the supplies accumulated, finished works did not.  My vision board emphasizes that my focus needs to shift from hunting and gathering, to doing.  Some of the images on my board show supplies– piles of fabric, interesting objects — but the major images are of people in action: dancing, skateboarding, biking, reading, listening to music, all striving to accomplish something.  The two cut-out figures are clearly going somewhere, not to the nearest craft or art store.  The eye at the center is the all-seeing eye, probably my conscience.  So, now I need to live up to my vision.

Olive’s thoughts were music to my ears!  I was glad to hear she found the workshop helpful.  Initially I was worried when she wondered aloud if the visioning process could help her at all… in the end it did.

Her “all-seeing eye” seductively drew me into her vision board… I love the way she uses this symbol as an entry point into her piece which opens up and gives insight into the areas of her life she feels need nurturing and improving (ie. the arts, health, fitness, organizing her studio, etc.).  I like too that she draws on an array of materials to flesh out her board; along with commercial images from magazines, she also uses other materials (paper napkins, labels and travel/family photos and specialty papers) to personalize her vision – one of the flamenco dancers is her niece!  Complementing this, are Olive’s skills as a historian/artist which allow her to skilfully arrange a wide variety of images into a series of compelling and sometimes zany stories waiting to unfold – where else could you find the Vitruvian man, skateboarders, Spanish dancers and a flying pig on a platter (top off centre) all residing comfortably on the same visual plane!… ah, but that’s the beauty of collage!

Vowing to continue to create boards as she needs them to focus more specifically on each of her goals, she’s just completed a second vision board (more about that one later).  In the midst of planning a trip “across the pond” this April she’s off on yet another exciting journey.  I’m grateful to her for taking the time to jot down these thoughts before dashing off to Toronto and the UK.  Thanks for sharing your vision board thoughts Olive – so many of us can relate to your quest for focus – best in zeroing in on your goals!  

PS Speaking of focus, in December 2010 Olive completed a postcard collage for the Nick Bantock postcard challenge which was subsequently published in a book: Tribute to Nick Bantock  – congratulations Miz Jones, another goal bites the dust!

Other Student Vision Boards of Interest:
Maggie Jordan
Susan Ashbrook
Kevin Casey