I CHING DIARY:

About the Book

When the pandemic hit the country in February 2020, Kirk Chernansky opened a book she had often turned to for guidance when faced with overwhelming challenges. The I Ching or Book of Changes: A Guide to Life’s Turning Points by Brian Browne Walker became just the antidote. She began writing about her experiences in the radically changing world of COVID and the sage advice she was receiving. With the hope that sharing this ancient Chinese wisdom might help others as well, it became a weekly blog and now this book. By including her art with her writing, Kirk’s book becomes a metaphorical storyboard of change. The image of an apple striving to become a tree merges with the miming of Marcel Marceau whose facial expressions and body language are incorporated into each illustration. Together, the images and writings capture the humble, steadfast approach to change inherent in the writings of the I Ching.

About the Author

Kirk Chernansky is an alumna of the University of Kansas School of Design. Following graduation, she worked for fifteen years in advertising art direction that took her to New York where she honed conceptual and design skills at the School of Visual Arts. In 1995, she left the for-profit business world and made the leap to social work, acquiring a master of arts degree from the University of Chicago and in 2007 began taking courses at Northwestern in art therapy to bridge the two paths. Kirk’s artwork is an important component of her writing. The result is a combination of her two careers using the skills and tools of a commercial artist in her visuals that accompany her writing to enhance a narrative story. Themes often reflect a synthesis of opposites that is inspired by her previous work as a dialectical behavior therapist and personal experience of coping with change.