Product Description

“This is not a story about foiled plans and what’s the use of trying anyway. This is precisely a story about making things–making stories, making plans, making lists, and making love–in the face of the inevitable messiness we will encounter.”
–from the Foreword by Laurie Wagner

Sabrina Ward Harrison, creator of the stunning visual memoirs Spilling Open and Brave on the Rocks, now shares her vibrant new work, which continues her personal journey of growth and discovery. Through striking multimedia collages and prose that is raw and touching and refreshingly authentic, Sabrina explores aspirations, dreams, and commitment–and brings herself to the threshold of true independence.

In the summer of 2001, Sabrina moved from California to New York City, the place where, she felt, any serious artist must eventually wind up. The city struck her as exhilarating and daunting, a brilliant assault on the senses, a concrete landscape of hope and failure. Three months later the horror of September 11 unfolded a few blocks away. Like the rest of the world, Sabrina began to look outside herself with a new clarity and urgency. And on the horizon appeared a man who looked like The One–friend, lover, life partner. With this relationship came larger, more complicated and unanswerable questions: Am I ready for marriage? Where does a career fit in? Does love mean losing my self? Does permanent mean forever? What will I never know about where I’m going if I don’t go?

Harrison reflects on her journey from starry-eyed innocent to responsible adult and expresses it with dazzling visuals and candid insights in Messy Thrilling Life. It is a singular book sure to resonate with readers who have laughed, wept, and grown along with her.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223857 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-31
• Released on: 2004-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From the Inside Flap

"This is not a story about foiled plans and what's the use of trying anyway. This is precisely a story about making things–making stories, making plans, making lists, and making love–in the face of the inevitable messiness we will encounter."
–from the Foreword by Laurie Wagner

Sabrina Ward Harrison, creator of the stunning visual memoirs Spilling Open and Brave on the Rocks, now shares her vibrant new work, which continues her personal journey of growth and discovery. Through striking multimedia collages and prose that is raw and touching and refreshingly authentic, Sabrina explores aspirations, dreams, and commitment–and brings herself to the threshold of true independence.

In the summer of 2001, Sabrina moved from California to New York City, the place where, she felt, any serious artist must eventually wind up. The city struck her as exhilarating and daunting, a brilliant assault on the senses, a concrete landscape of hope and failure. Three months later the horror of September 11 unfolded a few blocks away. Like the rest of the world, Sabrina began to look outside herself with a new clarity and urgency. And on the horizon appeared a man who looked like The One–friend, lover, life partner. With this relationship came larger, more complicated and unanswerable questions: Am I ready for marriage? Where does a career fit in? Does love mean losing my self? Does permanent mean forever? What will I never know about where I'm going if I don't go?

Harrison reflects on her journey from starry-eyed innocent to responsible adult and expresses it with dazzling visuals and candid insights in Messy Thrilling Life. It is a singular book sure to resonate with readers who have laughed, wept, and grown along with her.

About the Author
SABRINA WARD HARRISON was born in Canada and lives in Northern California. She is the author of Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself and Brave on the Rocks: If You Don’t Go, You Don’t See. She continues to teach her workshops on “The Art of Becoming Yourself” throughout the world.

Customer Reviews

I enjoyed it for the art
I never made it all the way through the other book of Ward's that I ran across, but with this one I've finally learned how to "read" them. While I admire her art and her collage style, her writing is more self-absorbed than can hold my interest for a book-length project. But that's a problem I have with a lot of visual artists whose work I love - writing is not their strong suit, and when they start "explaining" what they're doing in a picture, it becomes terribly clichéd. Ward avoids this by not obviously linking her images and her words, but as I gave myself permission to enjoy the luscious artistry without having to read all of the painted text, I took much more pleasure in the book. Now I'm looking forward to going back to her previous books with this same approach.

Great book to encourage your Artistry inside your heart.
I love SARK and I started to like Sabrina! She is cute and honest and sparkling. This is a messy books, with pictures, photos, and words. The words are typed, written, scrapped, painted in all possible way, reminding me of the art class in campus.

Yet, somehow you will =feel= Sabrina. In the darkness, you can always feel the beauty of pure emotions.

This is somehow a bit =darker= than =Spilling Open=, showing some sort of maturity of Sabrina.

I love these sort of Messy Meaningless Meaningful Garbage Talk, the beautifully Ugly handwritings that evoke youe soul, somehow it will connect you with your own heart.

Good for gift for women of all ages (some men will find it meaningless, but some will also like it, i do).

she's done spilling open
Remember this--- Sabrina isn't 22 and wide-eyed anymore, so it only makes sense that her views change, she's not so excited to "know who she is". she's just living. I wanted more text, less art, but otherwise, she shows her evolution well.