The JUMBLEDANCE TAROT was created in the summer of 1998, consisting of card-sized collages.

In the Summer of 1998 I was a speaker at the ATA (American Tarot Association) meeting in Denver Colorado, along with my friend and collegue Arnell Ando, creator of the Transformational Tarot. Her presentation on collage and creative use of Tarot symbols was an inspiration to me and an idea which had been in the back of my head suddenly became a top priority. Because I have been between projects since finishing the Wheel of Change Tarot I wanted to keep moving on symbolic art and for some of us the Tarot form just makes so much intrinsic sense! So, with magazines in hand and a pair of sharp scissors I set to work on my very own collage Tarot.

Jumbledance was created mainly as a teaching tool in order to promote and show how in a few months or a year a full deck can be created without having to draw, paint or create your own representations. Collage is a pretty simple artform although the details of color, form and symbol can clearly benefit from an artistic eye. However, I believe most people have a sense that would allow them satisfying creative talent when it comes to collage - as long as they have enough materials!!

The magazines I used in Jumbledance are mainly National Geographic, Audobon, Architectural Digest (a great source for candles!), some catalogs and historical art some of which comes from Dover publishing (a great source of copyright free materials). It's easy to get a stack of magazines from recycling centers , thrift stores etc. and having a huge stack helps! I also made creative use of copy machines using them to resize pictures and in some cases using a B&W copier to copy onto fancy papers. These small packets of fancy Japanese and decorative papers are frequently availible from art supply stores and are immensly useful in collage. I also used gold and silver pens, gold and silver origami paper, a small amount of acrylic paint.

In keeping with the model I used for the Wheel of Change Tarot, I wanted the Minor Arcana to reflect directly the symbol of numerical value as simple pip cards do and to this end, I tried to keep any human representations to a minimum. Where there are people in the Minors I use only body parts - mostly arms, or drawings rather than photographs or put humans only in the background of a scene. I would like to say, also that the cards are incredibly detailed and that in order to prepare them as web graphics we've had to significantly limit their clarity. So keep in mind that these pages don't do justice to the images.

I started Jumbledance in July 98 and finished it in October 98. The first card made was The Star and the last was Judgment. Jumbledance is availible as an entirely handmade art deck for $200. It comes laminated with a simple one color cardstock back. The deck is packaged in a hand-painted and decorated wooden jumbledance box, and each one is numbered. I am also currently at work on a short handmade book describing the symbol and technique in more detail than I can here which will be sent out to purchasers of the deck as soon as it is done.

Alexandra Genetti - Dec. 1998

Addendum -- September 2002: I have recently decided not to produce additional Jumbledance decks for a while. I am still working on the booklet, and have decided to wait to make any more decks until the booklet is done. I'll update the site at that time.

Alexandra