Upcoming Events
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Past Events
With photos and video clips
The Artobiography Experience is not an art or writing workshop, no special talents are necessary—just a willingness to participate and an interest in personal insight. If a piece is created that’s worthy of keeping, that’s a bonus. All materials are provided: magazines, scissors, glue sticks, etc. We spend some time selecting and cutting out pictures and headlines or sections of text with words, whatever seems appealing, keeping this thought in mind: More than anything, I’d like you to know this about me.
When we’re finished the spontaneous collage boards are put up on a wall. There are no signatures, everything is anonymous. I ask for interpretations about what the person who created this is trying to communicate about themselves. That person gets to hear what others think they have revealed. (Sometimes it’s surprising to them.)
The conversations are most lively, entertaining and insightful when the people involved are friends and know each other well. At the first Artobiography Experience I facilitated, the group was intent on figuring out who had done each piece and, much to my surprise, immediately guessed every one.
“As the child of a critical father, I, in particular, related to this memoir. The Artobiography Experience of “spontaneous collage,” which was a wonderful evening with close friends, revealed to me something quite personal about a cross- road I am facing right now. That it is game time for me (one of the words I unconsciously put in the center of my collage) became quite clear.”
—Anya Kirva
“The piece I made seemed to be a snapshot of this moment in my life. I wanted to put a date on it to mark this time. The collage I made looks like it’s from another era. My mother passed away 9 days earlier and I’m filled with memories of her, steeped in a lifetime of her possessions. Making the collage helped me see and embrace, own actually, how much of my mother is a part of me … and I have this collage to help with this passage in a very sweet way.”
—Sally Powell-Ashby
If you’re interested in arranging a workshop with your friends or book group call Tina Collen 303-440-4464.
2 Week Virtual Book Blogging Tour
With photos and video clips
February 10, 2013
March 7, 2012
December 15, 2011
Kabbalah Live Lecture Series
Goldberger Center, Denver, Colorado
3599 S. Ivanhoe Street
Denver, CO
Each presentation offers a different artist or writer at the top of their game to speak about their AHA moment
June 25, 2011
“Book of the Year” Gold medal winner
ForeWord magazine reviews 2000-plus books a year from the country’s top small presses for the magazine’s readership of librarians, booksellers, and 125,000 website visitors.
June 2, 2011
Talk, Presentation & Book signing
BOULDER JCC
3800 Kalmia Avenue
Boulder 80301
May 25, 2011
BookExpo America book signing
Jacob Javits Convention Center NYC
May 25, 2011
Interview on Sirius XM Radio
with Maggie Linton
May 25, 2011
Listen to interview on KGNU Radio
with Sharon Jogerst
“Collen’s talks are inspiritational and audiences for her multimedia presentations have been growing steadily. At her last book event, the Denver Eclectics, she addressed an audience of 250. She concludes her presentations with a shocker—the story of what transpired (after she finished writing the book) between her and her father who is now 95.” —KGNU Radio, Denver Colorado
Aspen Comedy Festival, of all places
Excerpt reading
Revealing self portrait mystery
May 14, 2011
Barbed Wire Books
504 Main Street
Longmont, CO 80501
(303) 827-3620
May 1, 2011
2011 Nautilus Book Award gold medal winner
“Nautilus Book Awards recognize the leading edge of the leading edge of books about where the culture is heading by the people who are taking it there.”
They review and acknowledge books that promote conscious living and positive social change, books that offer life-affirming options to a world that longs for a new story. Their process is long and labor-intensive and is carried out by three teams of judges—highly qualified, experienced reviewers located across the U.S. with successful careers as editors, writers, publishers, librarians, college professors and bookstore owners. Previous winners include the Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Andrew Weil, Barbara Kingsolver, Marianne Williamson, Naomi Wolf and on. The Essential Box Set of Landmark Speeches & Sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. won a silver in 2010.
March 19, 2011
Colorado Independent Publisher’s Association
Panelist and Round table leader – Autobiography/Memoir
Red Lion Inn
4040 Quebec Street
Denver, CO 80216
303 321-6666
February 23, 2011
2 Week Virtual Book Blogging Tour
| WEEK 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1/31/2011 | James R. Ament | http://www.jamesrament.com/ | 2/01/2011 | Book Fetish | http://bookfetish.org | 2/02/2011 | Found Not Lost | http://jmomfinds.amoores.com | 2/03/2011 | Sandra’s Book Club | http://sandrasbookclub.blogspot.com | 2/04/2011 | Doing it with Grace | http://doingitwithgrace.blogspot.com | WEEK 2 | 2/07/2011 | CIPA Bookshelf | http://booksatcipa.wordpress.com | 2/08/2011 | Minding Spot | http://booksatcipa.wordpress.com | 2/09/2011 | Faye Quam Heimerl | http://fayequamheimerl.wordpress.com/ | 2/10/2011 | Thoughts in Progress | http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com |
| 2/11/2011 | Live from Las Vegas Linda Lou | http://www.vegaslindalou.blogspot.com/ |
February 20, 2011
Book giveaway
The author is giving away an autographed book to the reader who posts the most thought-provoking answer to this question:
Oftentimes the objects we hold onto contain cryptic clues that point towards something deeper about ourselves. Take a look around your house (or your room) at the things with which you have surrounded yourself. Is there anything you are still hanging onto that seems to contain a hidden message for you?
A book went to Karelle who commented:
In my kitchen I saw the wok that my mother gave me so many years ago and was reminded of the feeling I carried around for so long that she was still trying to control me from the grave. When I was bringing up my daughter I would think about what my mother would do and then I would do the exact opposite. Now I’m reminded of all the things she told me that turned out to be true.
January 10, 2011
Excerpts from the Blog Tour
DOING IT WITH GRACE (https://doingitwithgrace.blogspot.com)
Storm of the i, an ‘artobiography’ by author/artist Tina Collen, is a cohesive marriage of exhibition and memoir. She opens her life’s portfolio and gives us a dazzling view of her aesthetic triumphs while battling the bedevilment of unanswered questions. Beautifully designed and well-written, her book pays homage to the scraps, trophies and mementos that have become her tapestry. Images of her artwork, family photographs, treasured relics and poems treat us to a candid and refreshingly amusing view of her personal and professional journey.”
January 10, 2011
Excerpts
QUESTION:
What started you writing this book? It’s such an dramatic mix of emotional narrative and graphic images.
ANSWER:
The galvanizing energy struck me like a Zeus lightning bolt from, of all places, the stage of a comedy festival on Valentine’s Day in Aspen, Colorado. That evening took a turn I didn’t expect: