Friday, November 06, 2009

Living room at conference




An exciting thing is happening for Living Room at the end of the month. We have been accepted to present a 4'x8' poster at the Into the Light: Transforming Mental Health in Canada conference at the Hotel Vancouver. This is a national conference put on by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Vancouver Coastal Health, and Simon Fraser University.

This is exciting because it will be our first opportunity to showcase what we do in a mainstream national conference. An opportunity to highlight the importance of faith to mental well-being. An important opportunity to show what churches have it in their power to do, if they only would.

At certain times during the event I will be expected to be at the poster to interact with the attendees. I will, of course, have brochures with me to hand out, as well as manuals available for sale to those who are interested.

Over the last little while I've been designing three 24"x36" poster which will hang on the board. It has been a fun process. In doing it I had to learn to use Microsoft Publisher. Neat to see what I have the "power" to do using this program.

This creative work has helped me escape the dip in my mood that was threatening after the excitement of the open house was all over. Creative projects always do that for me. Good medicine.

I've posted the three posters here for you to have a look at, though I may still fine-tune them a bit. But I can't wait to share.

12 comments:

sbwrites said...

Marja,
Congratulations. That's great news. I'm delighted that you'll be able to go "mainstream."

Susan

marja said...

Thanks, Susan. Still struggling with the poster designs though. A friend thinks that using florals give too much of a feminine flavour. What do you think?

Tearing my hair out just a wee bit.
marja

Anonymous said...

Hi, Marja -

This is so awesome! So many people are being impacted for the good because of your work!

Way to go!

- Marie (Coming Out of the Trees)

marja said...

I hope so, Marie. So many people are needing this. And many may be impacted, but it needs to go further than this, much further. We need to keep working and not give up.

Thanks for visiting.
marja

Spin said...

AWESOME!!!

(Gender neutral is important for the poster)

marja said...

Thanks, Writing Works. Glad you like them. However, after a lot of playing around with the posters, I've gone back to the floral theme. It suggests hope and growth. And the Living Room website has a floral theme as well.

Spin said...

Living Room is associated with the floral theme, and that's cool. I don't think that changing it up is the answer. The idea is to be recognizable.

marja said...

Right! And the bleeding heart is on our manuals and brochures.

sbwrites said...

Marja,
Sorry I didn't respond earlier. (I've been feeling a little under the weather and gardening every day.)

Anyway, I don't think flowers are too feminine, and agree that they represent new life and growth.

Maybe trees are more gender neutral, however. Just a thought.

And...there are some wonderful cactus that flower, which almost seem architectural.

Best of luck with this!

Susan

marja said...

Thanks, Susan. I tried using some tree pictures I had - trees in fall - but the pictures were darkish and certainly didn't suggest new growth. So - not having much more time at my disposal, and not having any patience left - I've decided to go back to the flowers pictured here.
Thank you for your input.
marja

sbwrites said...

Marja,
Personally, I think they're quite beautiful!

Susan

marja said...

Thanks, Susan.