Art & Book Launch
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Art & Book Overview
What started out as a "quick lil idea" quickly morphed into a grief journey that tested my resolve, broke down barriers and helped me heal.
Fanelda Westphalen wrote The ABC Book of Marriage in 2003 as a gift for a new bride. A significant word was chosen for each letter, centering around building a strong foundation for marriage. From A to Z, Fanelda shares God’s word and imparts her own wisdom and experience on how to create and maintain a faith-filled marriage.
Two decades later, her daughter, Marla Schoening, illustrated and published her work. The illustrations were created using a meditative and therapeutic approach to symbolize each word in an abstract radial design. Because the artwork is symmetric and circular, it holds great symbolism of the unity of marriage, the representation of birth to death, and the infinite love from our heavenly Creator.
Through art making, Marla felt a sense of mom-daughter spirit and collaboration, in spite of her mother being in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. This passion project to honor her mother and bring more awareness to various forms of dementia quickly served as a cathartic and healing opportunity for Marla as she slowly says goodbye to her mom.
Pre-Launch of the Book
On September 14, 2023, my children and I were able to present my mom with the cover of her pre-launched book, The ABC Book of Marriage. After nine months of intentional art making, meditation and grief, the prototype of the first edition was almost complete.
I used the graphic making app, Canva, along with a beautiful photograph of my parents hands to design the cover to the book. Using the website, www.blockposters.com, I enlarged the image onto a foam board and mod podged the poster to use as a promotional tool for the book showcase and art show, Remember Me, on September 21, 2023.
Alzheimer's Walk 2023
My invitations were inspired by the wrinkles in the brain. I used purple, as it is the color for Alzheimer's Awareness. Using 4 different sections of a larger piece, the invitations can be arranged to connect with each other to look like a brain.
During the Art & Book Showcase, Remember Me, two of my students used the invitations to create a mural of the brain.
One roadblock after roadblock! I am so proud to recognize that this is the longest most challenging project that I have ever taken on without quitting!
When I hit a wall of progress and wanted to quit!
T-Shirts and Stickers
One of the most fulfilling and fun parts of this whole process was to host an art showcase. This allowed me to auction off my pieces both in-person and online. This was extremely vulnerable for me, as I believe artwork can be a very private and personal experience. When you share it with an audience, it can be extremely intimidating. Fortunately, many sold and I was able to increase my contribution to the Alzheimer's Awareness Association.