"We are all facing choices that define us. No choice, however messy, is without importance in the overall picture of our lives. We all at our own age have to claim something, even if it is only our own confusion. I am in the middle of growing up and into myself. This book is my life in progress."         Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself is the creative expression of one young woman's attempt to understand herself as she grows into adulthood. Sabrina Ward Harrison shares her private journal and art, offering us lessons in life and empowerment that resonate with fresh, youthful wisdom.         Written when Harrison was between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, Spilling Open captures the artist's journey of self-discovery with a powerful and courageous voice. This book is an intimate and moving picture of what it means to enter a contemporary adult world that is filled with contradictions about womanhood. Harrison reveals with tender honesty that, in spite of the women's movement, she has found more questions than answers about growing up female.         Harrison's writing and multimedia art explore questions about love, faith, growing pains, being true, peer groups, and identity. A truly unique experience, Spilling Open will help open your heart and your mind. Readers of both genders and all generations will find timeless innocence and age-old wisdom in the scrawling, sprawling words of Sabrina Ward Harrison. The format here is a personal journal in which Harrison allows readers to be privy to her colorful pages of free-flowing collages, photographs, and wildly handwritten words. Harrison explores many of the typical questions, confusions, and insights that accompany the journey from adolescence to womanhood. At times her angst feels a tad clichéd ("I am afraid to show you who I really am, because if I show you who I really am, you might not like it--and that's all I got."), but her gutsy presentation and honesty make her words feel fresh and hard-earned, especially in passages such as this: I think God leaves me alone to let me find my own strength because no one else can give it to me. Sometimes it is very lonely. But I know the lonely times teach me the most. I must let go in order to let anything in. No one can love me, for me. Take a big walk protected in the trees. I miss the time before today. Harrison is a gifted writer with an inspiring amount of heart-on-her-sleeve honesty. She even has the maturity to quote two of the big W s--Walt Whitman and Woody Allen--with equal panache. But more importantly, she earns her readers' trust and hearts. As a result, Harrison is a woman to watch and a writer to follow. --Gail Hudson all facing choices that define us. No choice, however messy, is without importance in the overall picture of our lives. We all at our own age have to claim something, even if it is only our own confusion. I am in the middle of growing up and into myself. This book is my life in progress." Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself is the creative expression of one young woman's attempt to understand herself as she grows into adulthood. Sabrina Ward Harrison shares her private journal and art, offering us lessons in life and empowerment that resonate with fresh, youthful wisdom. Written when Harrison was between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, Spilling Open captures the artist's journey of self-discovery with a powerful and courageous voice. This book is an intimate and moving picture of what it means to enter a contemporary adult world that is filled with contradictions about womanh Sabrina Ward Harrison is now twenty-four. She was born in Canada and lives in Oakland, California, in a converted fire station that she uses as her home and studio. Harrison spends her time making art on the floor, exploring with her camera, and teaching a course on the art of becoming yourself. Her work has been exhibited throughout the country and portrays spilling of all sorts. Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself by Sabrina Ward Harrison is a multimedia journal through the life of a young woman and artist. The text from the book is intended to be experienced with the art. A foreward by Sark Backward. Fourword. Four words: This is what is. Sabrina is a luminous mystery, a carousel of feelings, lumps and discoveries. If you could lie down with her journals, you would see genius. That genius is in this book. Yes, she is young, thank God. We might get that much more from/of her. When I read this book, I am reminded of illuminated manuscripts, "deep talking" from Africa, sweet spilling tea and fragrant bedsheets. Your soul will awaken and you may find your bed flying to rare places at night. Do it. Get out of your nightgown and lie naked in moonlight. See through Sabrina eyes. I assure you of a nourishing voyage. There are words and pictures here that move us to cry and float simultaneously. Dive deep. Be surprised by this book and the kindred spirit you will find