The Encyclopedia of Monsters is a community based art project I created for my residency with Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in 2025. The project involves a series of workshops in which community members will explore a difficult memory or experience, break it down into character design and storytelling elements through creative prompts, and then use those elements to create their own monster character. At the end of each workshop, monsters are collected and added to a hand-bound book which will then be displayed at the end of residency exhibition.
The goal of this project is to introduce creativity as a form of emotional literacy, allowing community members to explore and share their feelings in a safe, supportive, and creative way.
The exhibition will take place in June 2025.
Workshops & Events
How to Participate
Go to one of the Monster Maker Workshops (find on the calendar above) at CLP - Allegheny.
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Or complete a mini monster-maker zine available at one of the following locations:
CLP - Allegheny (1230 Federal St.)
City Books (908 Galveston Ave.)
Then either drop of your zine off at the same location or send a picture/scan of your completed zine to angelaoddling@gmail.com
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Or download the mini monster-maker zine here, complete it, and send a scan/image of the completed zine to angelaoddling@gmail.com. If you'd like to work bigger, you can download the monster maker one-sheet instructions here.
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Your monster will be collected and put into a hand-bound book called The Encyclopedia of Monsters. The book, along with artwork by Angela Oddling, will be exhibited at CLP -Allegheny in June (date TBD).
**Mini Monster-Maker zines must be dropped off or sent to the listed email address before June 14th to be included in the Encyclopedia.**
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Get inspired by your monster zine with this extra exercise!
Project Development
A lot of moving parts went into this project. Stay tuned for a detailed journal documenting the progression of The Encyclopedia of Monsters from start to finish!