Another Step Completed

Creating a project like Into the Light has many, many steps.

The concept started three years ago during Disability Studies. Followed by two years of reading, compiling notes, and exploring ways to find a way to share what I wanted to get across about life with illness. Life in general. During the past year I have been writing - creating - editing - asking for permissions - picking images - decided on the box design and weight of pages, all for the creation of the pages of this book-in-a-box. All with huge practical and moral support. 

Crowd funding was another step along the way. This campaign was supported by  John, whom I worked with twenty years ago on an animation series. He saw the need to raise funds and ‘get the word out’. John got me in touch with Brendan, who has been immensely helpful throughout the whole campaign. A Big Thank You to both. I would not have stepped into this adventure without you.

The campaign had many challenges, but has also been hugely rewarding. The support from all those who funded the project- either through Fund It, or through other means. Those who shared my story on social media- those who invited me to do interviews for radio and newspapers. Those who wished me well in person. 

Even during my week in hospital, the support from fellow patients and doctors, for my work was amazing. My goodness. 

Thank You. Each and Every One of You!

Of course, this is not where the story ends.

Friday I was handed the first proofs of the pages. Some need a little work, but that is what proofs are for. To get it absolutely right for the final print.

In August the pages will be printed. The boxes will be made.

The book will be launched in September.

Sunday 6th September at Dzogchen Beara, at the Dechen Shying Care Centre (West Cork) where the book in its current format was conceived.

Thursday 24th September at Lismore Library (Co. Waterford) which includes an exhibition of my works. And several illustrated talks during the month. More about these events later.

For those of you who ordered a book in advance, there is nothing better that The Real Thing. Holding the wooden or linen box in your hand. Hearing the sound while opening it. Being greeting by images of art or nature. Taking in the shared words. Maybe one page is enough for one day. Maybe you’d like to read more. 

Missed the Crowd Funding deadline?

Into the Light can be pre-ordered via my shop 

Orders placed before 15 August will be posted free of charge.

Your book will either be ready for collection at one of the launches, or will be posted out to you if you are unable to travel to Ireland.

The pledged artworks will be - with your permission - included in the exhibition. Thank you.

A big thank you again for having joined me -  and I hope to continue to join me - on this journey Into the Light.

With my deepest gratitude

Corina

Stay up to date with progress on my Facebook page

supported by 

A "How to" guide to Crowd Funding

To explain the workings of the crowd funding platform :fund:it for the likes of many of us who can get a little frazzled by these cyberspace adventures, I wrote a detailed step by step guide to pledge funds toward the printing of Into the Light...

1. Click on http://fundit.ie/project/into-the-light---a-book-in-a-box to get to my Into the Light -Book in a Box page
2. Click on the large :fund:it button, which is located under the video
3. Log in or create an account (which asks for your email address; to make up a password, and your date of birth (to make sure you are not under age, I presume) 
4. You are signed in 
5. The list of rewards comes up on the right hand side of the page
6. Choose one of the ‘rewards’ on offer
7. Or scroll down to the green section below the rewards which says: "or define your own amount" (for this there is no reward in return), Make sure to click that you do not need a reward for this.
8. Enter your payment details
9. You can choose to have your name visible, or pledge anonymously
10. Click Accept the ‘terms and conditions’
11. Click on the :fund:it button to make your pledge
12. A new page with the details of your pledge will show up.
13. Click on this and you will get an email with your pledge details

The money will only be deducted if I reach the target in the allotted 35 days.
If I have been successful, the reward you pledged for will be delivered to you, or will be ready for collection.

It has been quite a journey into the unknown. Walking through the un-explored territories of Crowd Funding land…
It has been interesting, challenging, exciting, exhausting, heartwarming, and a little scary at times to see if I reach the target...
With 5 days to go, the amazing kindness of funders: friends- family- and strangers have raised a brilliant 75%. Of course I still hope and trust I will make it to the finishing line, to publish Into the Light.

Illness and the value of Solitude

A short reflection on how Into the Light came into being.

Last year I really did find it difficult to deal with a deterioration in my health. I had worked so hard to gain independence after the first few years of illness, that going back to needing more support was not easy.

I remember lying in the bath, thinking, “I am stuck in a rough place, but I need to push myself out again.”

I booked a retreat week at the Dechen Shying care centre. (read the story here) . I used my time to rest, to rejuvenate, to talk, to learn, to mediate, to create. I made three small sculptures, including reaching for the light again. During my next stay the book was created. The silence of the place has been instrumental to the creation of my work, and to my overall wellbeing.  
Solitude and silence, and illness, all feature in Into the Light.

Pre-orders of Into the Light, or the pledging for original art which feature in my book, or pledging any amount from €5 upwards, will help me Greatly to fund the printing of the book, and the making of the boxes. The campaign runs until the 16th July 2015

Each book will be signed and numbered and ready for collection at the book launches in September, or can be posted to anywhere in the world. (postage included )
Please log on to http://fundit.ie/project/funders/into-the-light---a-book-in-a-box, to be part of my journey.

Sculptures created during that first stay at Dechen Shying

The Into the Light book-in-a-box, the idea 'conceived' during my second stay 

Illness has many challenges. But so does life in general.

Into the Light was a project I started in earnest during a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig in August 2013.

I created a large mindmap. Since that time, the book has seen many incarnations. From long essays, to what it is today. A book-in-a-box.

Illness in itself dictated the way the book was to turn out.

After a year of struggling with deteriorating health, and an increasing inability to do my writing or my art, I was close to giving up on the project.
But during my second stay at the Dechen Shying Care Centre in West Cork, I was looking at the prayer flags, and how they are a way to share words of wisdom and thoughts.

I started to create my writing in that way. Short observations, on loose sheets. ‘The rest is history’ as the saying goes.

Pre-orders of the book, or the pledging for original art which feature in my book, or pledging any amount from €5 upwards, will help me Greatly to fund the printing of the book, and the making of the boxes.
Your book will be signed and numbered and ready for collection at the book launched in September, or can be posted to anywhere in the world. (postage included), until the 15th of July.

Many thanks for your support, past and present.

supported by

I am ready to hear you-Tapestry

At last!

A year and 6 months after starting this small tapestry I have it completed! 

Well, apart from tying up the warp treads and bringing it to the framers. 

It was a very PROUD moment to be honest, when I cut it off the loom.

"I am ready to hear you" © Corina Duyn 2015 (21x16 cm) 

For months, maybe a year, it stood beside my chair, waiting to be picked up and worked on. I was in too much pain to find a comfortable way to weave. Even with the brackets to attached the frame to the table. 

work in progress, or not...

But now I am using my wheelchair as my 'normal' chair and have the comfort of an amazing cushion, I became able to weave, ten or fifteen minutes at the time! 

I was able to finish it... and add it as an illustration in my soon to be published Into the Light book.

It will go with : 

When the pupil is ready the teacher will come.

Simon Barnes - How to be a Bad Bird Watcher 

(Variations accredited to Buddha, Zen, Tao)

Illness

is like a foreign country

I had

no intention

on visiting

Having no choice

I explore its geography

and learn its language

Hand in hand

with nature

Art

becomes

my guide

Discovering

this new world

to follow

my path

© Corina Duyn -Into the Light 

(The 12th June saw the start of a Crowd Funding Campaign to publish my next book 'Into the Light'. Click for more details on the Fund it link. Thank you!)