Excerpt from An Artists Credo by Ben Shahn

Art Journal 1949 College Art Association.

When the artist takes pen in hand to set down his credo, he places himself in a vulnerable position because tomorrow he might feel quite differently from the way he feels today; and there sits that credo in judgment on him; and also the critic, perhaps holding him to his recorded words. [] I believe that the artist should look upon his work not as a commodity, but as an expression of his feelings about the world. Every human being is endowed with the gift of being an individual, absolutely unique in himself. His feelings about the world are unique, and being so, are of never-ending interest and value to other people.

Shadow boxes become poetic theaters or settings wherein are metamorphosed the element of a childhood pastime.
- Joseph Cornell

Artistic imagination must remain free. It is by definition free from any fidelity to circumstances, especially to the intoxicating circumstances of history.
- Andre Breton

"I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor."
Man Ray, Dada & Surrealist Artist

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.
- Salvador Dal

"orange blossom jasmine cabinet perfumed with pine scent little sugar cube stuck sentry-like on point of bayonet drawn from his gaze and bleeding honey from his fingers on the dove's wings burning at lake bottom in the skillet of his eyes shows up exactly at the happy hour with its flower needle pin prick poised to touch the sea's snout blue bull wingd incandescent spread out at the ocean's rim."
- Pablo Picasso

I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products. - Marcel Duchamp

Consider your Joseph Cornell: World in a Box project as a product of your own memories, feelings, ideas, and artistic creativity.

Using poetry or prose explain, narrate, glorify, exalt, deconstruct, or do anything at all to supplement your Box Project using creative writing. You may explain how the box was made, tell a nostalgic story, write a sonnet or free-verse poem or do whatever else inspires you as long as it takes the form of writing.
Choose your words wisely! How can you best convey your ideas about texture, color, light, shape, form, image, juxtaposition, environment, interactivity, and feeling?