On Thursday, October 8, Liz Fox taught us at the South Beach Community Center how to turn old photographs and small treasures into something you can hold in your hand. The workshop was Mixed Media Montage, and the idea is a simple one. You take pictures of the people and animals you want to remember, add the little objects that belong with them, and build it all into a keepsake.
The supply tables were a treasure hunt in themselves. There were tins of buttons and a box of old postage stamps, vintage paperbacks and magazines, feathers and shells, stalks of dried wheat, wooden hearts and stars, and a handful of tiny gold crowns. Matchboxes and small tins waited to become frames. Long tables were covered in kraft paper, with scissors, cutting mats, and glue within reach, and a typewriter stood by for anyone who wanted to type a title or a few words to go with their piece.
A lot of what came out of it honored animals who have shared our lives. One wooden frame held a whole collage of a beloved dog, edged with wheat and a feather, with a matchbox of golden sunflowers tucked in the corner and a clay medallion hanging below. A shadow box crowned a row of cats and a bearded dragon, each in a golden crown against a field of daisies, with a gold fish skeleton and a feather at their feet. A Queen of Spades became a little person with a Boston terrier’s face and pipe cleaner arms and legs. A small round tin held a painted landscape, a raven perched on a wooden heart, and a typed strip that reads “inspiration will find you.”
Other pieces pulled in the coast itself. One assemblage laid a coastal map under driftwood, a black feather, and a sprig of fern. Another tucked a tiny raven, a brass bell, and a hinge inside a matchbox.
This is what our monthly gatherings are for. A few hours in a warm room with neighbors, hands busy, making something you carry back out into the world. October is the season for remembering, and it turns out a matchbox is a good size for it.
Our gatherings continue on the second Thursday of every month, from 5 to 8 pm. The next one is Thursday, November 12, at the South Beach Community Center, and it will be a fun, low-stress doodling and drawing class. We will share the details and open registration soon, so watch our events page.
There is also news about where we meet. Beginning in January 2027, our monthly gatherings move to the Samaritan Center for Health Education at 740 SW 9th Street in Newport. The first one there is Thursday, January 14. Each month’s gathering will also be listed on Samaritan’s community calendar, in print, and in their email newsletter, which reaches hundreds of local residents, so more of our neighbors will find us.
Photos From the Evening
