14 & 15 SEPTEMBER
14 & 15 SEPTEMBER
Junk journaling began as a way to capture memories, scraps, and everyday moments, a practice rooted in the handmade and the deeply personal. With the rise of digital tools like AI, new possibilities are emerging to extend this tradition without replacing its heart.
In this session, participants will explore how traditional collage, storytelling, and mark-making can sit comfortably alongside digital inspiration. Using tactile, handmade materials such as textured papers, paint, paint markers, stamping techniques, and embellishments like gems, alongside AI-generated imagery, educators will craft a personal junk journal that celebrates layered meaning, creative play, and mindful making.
Participants will create their own collage papers and mixed media elements, deepening personal expression and opening new possibilities for engaging student voice and creativity in the contemporary classroom.
Francesca Spillane is an artist, educator, and curriculum designer based in Melbourne, Australia. Her mixed media practice is rooted in the art of collecting, gathering objects, photographs, sketches, and materials that she repurposes into richly layered collages. Often using found objects as stamps, she captures memories through texture and mark-making, creating visual narratives that echo the scrapbooks of her childhood.
Francesca works across media including paint, oil pastels, gouache, and watercolour, handcrafting her own collage papers both traditionally and digitally. Recently, she has begun exploring AI as a creative tool, using it to inspire style, visualise ideas and support inclusive practices for students of all abilities.
As part of the Zart Art Education team, Francesca designs curriculum and delivers professional development programs to empower teachers with creative, accessible approaches to learning. Her work reflects a deep belief that creativity should be accessible, meaningful and central to how we connect with ourselves and the world.
