Saturday, July 12th, 9:30-11:00am

Part journal, part scrapbook, part idea generator, your commonplace book (CB) can be used to enhance your art, writing, cooking, music, relationships, and anything else you can imagine.

Keeping a commonplace book is a centuries-old practice. Leonardo da Vinci, Virginia Woolf, Susan Sontag, and Ralph Waldo Emerson all kept commonplace books. A CB is a personal repository of quotes, observations, questions, and ideas. A CB encourages you to engage deeply with the world around you.

In this class, I will introduce you to the concept of the CB and show you how to build a rich, idiosyncratic record of your life. The CB becomes an object to cherish. Keeping one is a way to slow down, to feed your curiosity, and find patterns in a life that can feel random.

What you will need:

A new notebook, preferably one with numbered pages. I will recommend some at the beginning of class. Stickers, sketches, and aspirational photos (the type you might find on a vision board) are all fair game when it comes to a CB. Colored pens and pencils can enhance your experience. If you bring a blank book without numbered pages, please number them before you arrive, leaving a few pages in the front to create an index.

Please note, this is an in-person class only at FLAX. Space is limited, so please make sure you can attend prior to signing up. Classes are non-refundable.