Having had to make an artist book already for creative writing in the fall last year, I was able to approach this piece with a better understanding of the idea. Last year I was more confused by the idea of artist books than anything else. This year I was able to better envision the examples that they were talking about. I really liked making my artist book in the fall. It was an accordion style book with a hard cardboard cover wrapped in decorative paper. On the inside, I used coffee to stain the paper and give it a sort of used journal feel to it. I found myself being proud of the finished outcome, and was actually really happy with how it came out. I am very interested to try this same method with a poem rather than a short story. I feel like there is so much more room for creativity for visual art when it comes to poetry. I feel like when it comes to poetry I am usually drawn to comparing things to nature in some way, so I envision my final artist book to likely be something that has to do with nature. I really liked being able to see how the visual and written art forms were able to work together to create something more moving and meaningful, and I’m excited to get to do it again.
The article “Book as Idea” found on The Victoria and Albert Musem’s website compiled a group of works showcasing the historical beginnings and continually evolving challenge to how and where art can be showcased and breaking the confines of how a book can interact with art. The origins of the artist’s book are found in Ed Ruscha’s Twentysix gasoline stations from 1963, where instead of relying solely on the 26 images of gas stations from LA to his parent’s home in Oklahoma, he employs the medium of a book. The images in sequence, along with the simplicity of the name and location, can deepen and call attention to more than the images themselves but harken to the journey, both literally and figuratively, of flipping through those scenes just as he passed them on the highway. The artist’s book, in this scenario, draws out the concepts behind the art; thus, the emphasis and our understanding can take on whole new meanings. To me, this example showcases how harmonizing these two concepts of art and a book can be. Similarly, I found it interesting in the abstract art example by Simon Cutts that the book presented like an unopened envelope invokes such different feelings for the audience – what came to mind for me was opening mail—the excitement, surprise, speculations, etc., while viewing art. I feel the concept of mixing, embedding, and drawing off these two genres of artwork within a book to be exciting and personal in ways other forms of art are not. There is something private and reflective to the idea that to view one’s art, one person has this book to hold and view instead of the more public grandeur found in an art gallery or showcase, for instance. Concerning our class and poetry, the book is more commonly associated with poetry, but having the possibility to enmesh art with the written word can also deepen this personal factor for both creator and viewer. I am thinking of a travel journal-style book to correlate with my poetry, like small mementos and reminders of my journey this semester writing my poems. Things like clippings that remind me of a certain idea or poem. It could be art, lyrics, moods, weather, articles, magazines for inspiration, or just correlation that can play on the span of time in my writing.
As someone who is an avid collector of the arts, and this includes art books, I couldn’t find myself more excited to create one. I’ve always been a fan of Katsuhiro Otomo’s artbook “Art of Wall” or more well-known creators like KAWS, Jean-Michael Basquiat, or Takashi Murakami. I’ve collected some niche ones from local artists back home and have ordered so many from artists I’m generally a fan of. Seeing such a cultivation from such enigmatic minds depicting so many epigrams through artwork has always baffled me. When I’m at a loss for words art has always been able to tell me more than words can, so I’ve always had an appreciation for it since I grew up surrounded by it. My mother and father would take me to art exhibits or Grounds for Sculptors back in New Jersey. My best friend back home, his parents are artists and have their own art books, so I’ve always been well connected to it in that way. Poetry to me has just been another form of art, as is everything in my opinion. I’m thinking of one surrounding poetry, as this class is about that, but of course I want to make it as visually creative as possible. Maybe I’ll put together photographs of my friends throughout this semester in it and write about them, or maybe just photographs of different things in general. To me artwork can harmonize with poetry in several different ways, the most important in my opinion would be how they can feed off each other through an album cover and music, which really ends up combining three forms of art into one: poetry, art, and song. Another example would be Sayaka Murayama’s use of photography and creativity with hair, an overlapping physical form of art since it’s almost sculpting and photography. Another art form that peoples don’t appreciate would have to be manga, and while I’m biased to say it is an art form that I enjoy, most wouldn’t consider it one; rather a form of media. I think that entertainment could be considered an art form though, so I consider anime and manga alike to be art forms overlapping and synergizing through acts of creation, drawing, and script. I feel that the word “genre” is misused when it comes to art, it’s not something you can file into a cabinet and expect everyone to understand. There are multiple senses, emotions, and overlapping forms that go into art- and it’s subjective at its core.
I think what I like so far about the artist’s books is just how versatile they can be. The traditional book style is always a good fallback to rely on but The Sky Never Stops: poemkon, by Liliane Lijn, 1965, London: published by the artist is certainly a very interesting concept. The cone that Liliane constructs to put her poem onto is certainly fresh when it comes to looking at other works of media. Also, Terrestrial Globe, by Tom Phillips, London: published by the artist, 1992. The globe idea is certainly another fresh take on presenting poetry for sure, one of my favorites personally. However, for me personally, I believe in the basics with a little wiggle room for sure. I will probably end up going to the classic poetry book. I just like the format of having short poems or stories under one roof. However, I am open to these ideas and hopefully spin it to the likes of my major. Like making all the poems and then building them into a stone slab or a monument like an artifact in a museum. But I must admit, the globe idea is pretty cool…I just need to locate a globe. I think all art formats can be tied together no matter the genre. What is rap but poetry, what is painting if not a visionary book for us to digest? All art has a natural form of synergy, it’s just locating where they can flow is a challenge for sure. For me personally, I think street art and storytelling go hand in hand really when, or any painting for that matter. Each artist has their own style or signature and there’s always some story behind it and that’s what makes it interesting. My favorite artist is Jean Beane-Basqutie, who was an African-American artist who certainly had an unusual style. But within those odd lines and details was the story of living. That’s what makes art/street art interesting to me. Everything has a story.
“The Book as Idea” discussed various artist books, showcasing the various different ways that mediums of art can be blended together with examples, and how artist books break the traditional mode of pages bound together, such as Joseph Kosuth’s 1968 piece ‘Four titled abstracts,’ which consists of a black envelope containing four sheets of delicate paper featuring various dictionary entries for the word abstract. In doing this, he manages to illustrate the very nature of the concept of something that is abstract— it cannot be simply define or confined. I find that this example showcases how using various forms of art— in this case the art of words and the nature of the paper itself— highlight the concepts and messages that could be overlooked in a typical format. I find mixed-media art, especially containing sound and text together, incredibly intriguing, as music or sound touches on the abstractness of emotion that text can’t always conceptualize, while the text can help put a name or an identity to the message or emotion. By combining these techniques, it is possible to explore both aspects simultaneously and create a better understanding of what the artist is conveying. I would personally love to combine these two forms, as music has always been very dear to me, and I often use music to aid me in my writing process. In the past, I made a journal for my ENV 101 course where I wrote about— either in observational entries or in the form of poems— the nature that surrounded me, often including physical elements, such as leaves, in the book, and I found the whole process to be inspirational for other projects, as well as a fun way to test out various forms of writing. For this year’s journal, I’d like to find a way to someone incorporate music, poetry, and prose together to tell a story, as at my heart, the thing I love the most about writing is the act of creating a story and telling it.
Before class and reading this article, I had a very vague idea of what an artist book was nor did I know I would be creating one so soon. However I really like the idea and I liked looking at others from the collection. I love to read and I love to collect things and words that mean stuff to me, so the idea of creating an artist book is something that captures my attention for sure. Looking through some if them One that stuck out to me in the collection was Mr. G. White of Messors Green and White. I liked the formatting and how it had to do with the sea and it also looked like a little file cabinet which I thought was really cute. Another one I like was La Prose du Transsiberian. I couldn’t quite make out the words that were written through the picture however I like how it is set up with the colors. It almost looks like someone painted around it with watercolors and it was very pretty. I think that anything can go together somehow, and that there doesn’t have to be designated genres or formats for art. In general art is a very loose term, which is something I like about it. Poems, songs, paintings and even books affect every reader or listener differently based on how they apply it to their life. Some people may find meaning in something that others find completely pointless and that’s because we all live differently.
Artist books are truly something special when the person experiencing the work understands the cross section between art,conceptual thinking, and writing that they hold in their hand. Artist books are not the usual kind of books we think of, they are more than just words on a page. For me, it helps to think about how a poem’s lines may be spaced out. That is an artistic choice the writer chose to implement to make their work “pop”. For artist books, the materials used for the binding, the paper, the artwork used/made in the pages, are all an artistic choice to make the words (or lack thereof)… pop! The simplicity or complexity of a given artist book gives the audience/the reader a better sense of what they might get out of the book. In the article, “Twentysix gasoline stations” by Ed Ruscha is a perfect example of the artistic choice of simplicity. The article gave a super vivid description of this artist’s book by saying it displayed the “flatness” of which the journey from each gas station felt. I also liked “Mr. G. White, of Messrs. Green and White” by Simon Cutts. This takes us away from our thoughts of a traditional book (the pages bound by a spine). This artist book is a box with index cards and blue dividers. The words are minimal, but connect to the dividers by the set up making them look like rolling waves. Although this is a box with index cards, it is still an artist book.
An artist book I would like to make is a series of envelopes, held together by an office clip (the black one with the silver ends to open and close it). I feel like it could be cool to have a series of love letters that a person kept from their past lover. And maybe to make it more sinister/emotional have the letters be dated and start off lovey dovey and then descend into a sort of madness as the person the letters are addressed to moves on with their life after breaking up with the writer of the letters. Including one letter that isn’t addressed because they were no longer able to send letters due to a no contact order/restraining order might be a cool idea.
The artist book is a vessel that serves to stimulate artists by engaging more senses than a typical book would through incorporating a visual medium, textures, and/or sounds. The artist book is able to surpass traditional book guidelines by unlocking a new set of possibilities. The book doesn’t even have to look like a book, it is its own form of artistic expression that transcends. The works can be as complex or as simple as the artist wishes, for even the simplistic styles have layers of meaning. As Dibbets says, “Understanding the entirety of the work is only possible by means of the artist’s book.” The artist book works as puzzle pieces with the written language to create a richer and more meaningful art. Like Simon Cutts book which uses paper to create movement, and space to emphasize the moment of finding something, a name, within a sea of other names. Art works harmoniously with language to fill in mental gaps, highlight specific words or images, or to contrast them.
In the past I made a book-ish artist book. I think my challenge for this semester is to create an artist book that defies the traditional book style, and lands in a new territory. I’m not decided on what my poems will be about, so the content of those will greatly affect my book, but I would like to stay away from a bookish medium if possible for the story I tell in my poems.
Looking at the article Book as Idea really intrigued me because I have never seen anything like this before. Honestly, it took me a little while to really process what an artist’s book is and I love how unique and creative you can make your art in book form. I really liked Liliane Lijn’s ‘Sky Never Stops” because not only is it showing art in such a unique way, but it is just beautiful. I like the idea behind artist’s books and I think at the end of the article where it says “Through these interactions, the book – whatever physical shape it might take – is explored by the reader and in doing so, the artist’s idea is ‘read’,” just explains it in a simple manner although the actual concept of an artist’s book is anything but simple. The idea I have in mind when making an artist’s book is adding photography; pictures I have taken that are meaningful, but also adding poems with the picture to tell a deeper story. I would love to challenge myself and I would have my artist’s book in a different shape, maybe with sea shells for my love of the ocean. I want it to speak to the reader, the words and the picture, and I would hope that others’ who were to look at it could find their own meaning. I think that’s the beauty of it though, yes, it is your creation and it’s beautiful and unique and the reader is looking through your work, but they can still take their own perspective of it and make their own meaning out of such an interesting creation. It’s fascinating how different artist’s books can be, yet still represent what you would like it to represent. I feel like I would really want to combine my love for poetry and photography as one because both can speak to you in such a deep way. Sometimes when you’re not sure what to say, words from a poem can really help, but so can a picture when you really look into it. I hope that as this semester goes on I can understand artist’s books a little better and make the vision I have come to life.
I liked ‘Sky Never Stops’ by Liliane Lijn and their inspiration from Tibetan prayer wheels. They took tradition and spirituality and transported it to a new place and time. It is interesting, the way that they not only combines language and physical sculptures, but also movement of the art through physical space in a way that extends to energetics. I also really liked ‘Real Fiction: an inquiry into the bookresque’ by Helen Douglas and Telfer Stokes. I find it interesting the way they, too, incorporate space into their art to engage the reader into the present moment and physical interaction with the artists book. I also enjoyed the purposeful simplicity of Ed Ruscha’s ‘Twentysix gasoline stations’ which communicates their thoughts on the city of L.A. being “cardboard cut out”.
I am really drawn to the ways in which artists have brought their readers’ attention to the physical space around them, making it an interaction between reader, artists book, and space. I am also really interested in traditional influences, such as Lijn’s work with Tibetan prayer wheels, something that incorporates spirituality. I think the multidirectional interaction is what brings about harmony or synergy. The reader consumes the words or pictures and understands an idea or story being told, while the words and pictures communicate the idea. Every person will understand the idea in a slightly different and personal way, according to their uniqueness as individuals. When space is incorporated into the harmony and synergy it also is able to influence the understanding and interpretation of art. Where, in what way, and when the reader engages, all matters to the way the art is perceived. If the art can incorporate that space it can influence how it is perceived and the reader may be drawn to that and consider it themselves. I think the combination of language, color, image, and sculpture or the shaping, can work together to create a piece of art that is articulate and still open to interpretation according to the readers’ context.
The most interesting use of the artist book I found in this article was Stephen Willats and his book ‘Taking the Short Cut’. I really enjoyed the idea he brought in regard to social interaction and community engagement. He took one common factor of individuals who happened to live in geographic proximity and made it a point of connection. Despite a small detail, it is able to string together a story for this walking path and those who live in the area. Having each description be in the first person tense of the subject makes it feel more personal alongside the photographs. It makes the reader feel part of the story, or part of the group.
I also appreciated the other purpose this book provided, which point back to community engagement. This book promotes to those who live in the area, or really anyone interested, to visit this walking path. It gives the audience agency to be part of the story and the conversation. I could see this being a series for more individuals to participate in over a span of time (ex. 5 years).
In general, I find the artist book interesting because of the layered element it brings to reading. In a world where technology is on the rise, and so is instant satisfaction, reading has tremendously decreased as a method of entertainment. Utilizing a form such as artists books can bring in visual and even interactive elements to storytelling. Being able to engage a reader in multiple ways is a gateway to connection and fulfilling the purpose of the work. Not only as attention grabbing, artists books also convey the message of a body of work without words. Some readers can sometimes struggle with the intention behind ones work. The elements included in an artist book, such as Willats, gives readers the ability to understand in different ways. Readers can choose from descriptions, photography, location, individuals, etc as ways to understand or identify with artists books.
After reading this article, I was still confused about the concept of an “artist’s book.” As I work through writing this journal it should become more evident what this work actually entails, at least that is my hope.
This article was eye-opening to me. I am not into symbolism, nor am I interested in most styles of art, but the styles presented in this piece granted me a wider perspective on what art could look like. The artist book that I found most intriguing was called Taking the Short Cut. This piece was made to describe a certain area in the form of a walking guide, educating people about the history of others who have ventured there and what their experiences were like, all while mapping out the area so that it is navigable. In my mind, it is important for thoughts, ideas, artistic representations, and other things to have some level of clarity or a purpose behind them. This artist book fits those guidelines well. Thought it is early in this journal entry, I believe this is the style of artist book that I would structure mine after.
It is important that I critique the other offered kinds of artist books so that I can become certain about my decision. The work by Ian Hamilton Finlay called 3/3’s perplexes me more than it should. I just do not get it. Is the artist attempting to describe his experience with this boat and this landscape? Is this open to interpretation? Is the work meant to be this simple? How could something this vague and substance-less be so communicative? What’s my opinion? I think that this work took effort to make, but that the real work is in the interpretation when the audience is viewing it. This work could allow someone to reminisce about times they may have had in their past with boats, rivers, or just the outdoors. It also probably holds a deeper value that I am just not fully aware of. Based on that last sentence, and after fleshing out my feelings about this particular kind of artist book, I have become a little more intrigued than I was before. Maybe, just maybe, the artist book that I will create will be a combination of a bunch of concepts that I find artistically provoking.
What will my project likely include? What two or more genres could I mold together to form a concept? I have a reasonable amount of experience working with digital cameras and video cameras, but only the former would be useful considering this work will take place on a piece of paper. In my mind, it makes most sense to have some type of guide to a place. Within this guide, I plan to capture the truth that I see. For example, if I chose the University of New England to make a type of social guide for, I would highlight the common feelings and troubles of students. This would take the place of the surface-level enjoyment that the school advertises its students as experiencing because in my view, that is seldom the case. Ultimately, I will need to keep thinking on this topic as the semester progresses and as I learn more about artist’s books.
I had to make an artists book last semester when I took Professor Brod’s writing class so I have an idea about what these are supposed to be like going into class. I am really intrigued by the “Sky Never Stops” artist book by Liliane Liijn. I think this piece just goes to show that an “Artist’s book” is only limited by our imagination. It doesn’t have to be in a traditional book form. Anything that holds written word can be considered a book.
That being said I will probably try to have a more traditional artists book. I think pictures and written word can go very well together and make very powerful things. So for my artist’s book I may try to combine the two in a way that the pictures reinforce the themes in my poems. Sometimes the things we want to be seen as important can be looked over so I think giving them the time to dedicate pictures to them proves to the reader that these things are important to the writer. I also really liked binding my own book with twine so I think I’ll try to do that again. This time though I’d like there to be a purpose behind the binding. Maybe the color of the twine relates to one of my poems? I’m not sure yet. But I definitely thing color and images can take a piece to a completely different level.
Personally, I don’t really understand the concept of a lot of conceptual art. I feel like art such as that relies far too much on interpretation and although art should generally have a greater meaning behind the work, it should also be enjoyable to look at beyond the hidden meaning. You shouldn’t have to rationalize why you enjoy a piece, and art shouldn’t always have to come with an explanation from the artist themself. Not only this, conceptual art tends to only have one, or at least very few meanings behind it that are usually designed by the artist themself. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but I believe half the fun in enjoying visual art is deriving your own meaning out of it. Even arguing about the meaning of a piece can be fun.
I do think any art form has the potential to synchronize with any other, however I really enjoy the combination of visual art and writing. Between the two, the writing itself can give meaning and character to stories conveying ideas that the art may not have been able to produce on its own, and the art itself can inspire and provoke awe to compliment the writing itself, creating worlds and characters, expressions and perspective that writing wouldn’t be able to do on its own.
14 thoughts on “JOURNAL #1”
Having had to make an artist book already for creative writing in the fall last year, I was able to approach this piece with a better understanding of the idea. Last year I was more confused by the idea of artist books than anything else. This year I was able to better envision the examples that they were talking about. I really liked making my artist book in the fall. It was an accordion style book with a hard cardboard cover wrapped in decorative paper. On the inside, I used coffee to stain the paper and give it a sort of used journal feel to it. I found myself being proud of the finished outcome, and was actually really happy with how it came out. I am very interested to try this same method with a poem rather than a short story. I feel like there is so much more room for creativity for visual art when it comes to poetry. I feel like when it comes to poetry I am usually drawn to comparing things to nature in some way, so I envision my final artist book to likely be something that has to do with nature. I really liked being able to see how the visual and written art forms were able to work together to create something more moving and meaningful, and I’m excited to get to do it again.
The article “Book as Idea” found on The Victoria and Albert Musem’s website compiled a group of works showcasing the historical beginnings and continually evolving challenge to how and where art can be showcased and breaking the confines of how a book can interact with art. The origins of the artist’s book are found in Ed Ruscha’s Twentysix gasoline stations from 1963, where instead of relying solely on the 26 images of gas stations from LA to his parent’s home in Oklahoma, he employs the medium of a book. The images in sequence, along with the simplicity of the name and location, can deepen and call attention to more than the images themselves but harken to the journey, both literally and figuratively, of flipping through those scenes just as he passed them on the highway. The artist’s book, in this scenario, draws out the concepts behind the art; thus, the emphasis and our understanding can take on whole new meanings. To me, this example showcases how harmonizing these two concepts of art and a book can be. Similarly, I found it interesting in the abstract art example by Simon Cutts that the book presented like an unopened envelope invokes such different feelings for the audience – what came to mind for me was opening mail—the excitement, surprise, speculations, etc., while viewing art. I feel the concept of mixing, embedding, and drawing off these two genres of artwork within a book to be exciting and personal in ways other forms of art are not. There is something private and reflective to the idea that to view one’s art, one person has this book to hold and view instead of the more public grandeur found in an art gallery or showcase, for instance. Concerning our class and poetry, the book is more commonly associated with poetry, but having the possibility to enmesh art with the written word can also deepen this personal factor for both creator and viewer. I am thinking of a travel journal-style book to correlate with my poetry, like small mementos and reminders of my journey this semester writing my poems. Things like clippings that remind me of a certain idea or poem. It could be art, lyrics, moods, weather, articles, magazines for inspiration, or just correlation that can play on the span of time in my writing.
Colette Murphy
Professor Miller
WRT 211
9/3/2023
Journal #1
As someone who is an avid collector of the arts, and this includes art books, I couldn’t find myself more excited to create one. I’ve always been a fan of Katsuhiro Otomo’s artbook “Art of Wall” or more well-known creators like KAWS, Jean-Michael Basquiat, or Takashi Murakami. I’ve collected some niche ones from local artists back home and have ordered so many from artists I’m generally a fan of. Seeing such a cultivation from such enigmatic minds depicting so many epigrams through artwork has always baffled me. When I’m at a loss for words art has always been able to tell me more than words can, so I’ve always had an appreciation for it since I grew up surrounded by it. My mother and father would take me to art exhibits or Grounds for Sculptors back in New Jersey. My best friend back home, his parents are artists and have their own art books, so I’ve always been well connected to it in that way. Poetry to me has just been another form of art, as is everything in my opinion. I’m thinking of one surrounding poetry, as this class is about that, but of course I want to make it as visually creative as possible. Maybe I’ll put together photographs of my friends throughout this semester in it and write about them, or maybe just photographs of different things in general. To me artwork can harmonize with poetry in several different ways, the most important in my opinion would be how they can feed off each other through an album cover and music, which really ends up combining three forms of art into one: poetry, art, and song. Another example would be Sayaka Murayama’s use of photography and creativity with hair, an overlapping physical form of art since it’s almost sculpting and photography. Another art form that peoples don’t appreciate would have to be manga, and while I’m biased to say it is an art form that I enjoy, most wouldn’t consider it one; rather a form of media. I think that entertainment could be considered an art form though, so I consider anime and manga alike to be art forms overlapping and synergizing through acts of creation, drawing, and script. I feel that the word “genre” is misused when it comes to art, it’s not something you can file into a cabinet and expect everyone to understand. There are multiple senses, emotions, and overlapping forms that go into art- and it’s subjective at its core.
I think what I like so far about the artist’s books is just how versatile they can be. The traditional book style is always a good fallback to rely on but The Sky Never Stops: poemkon, by Liliane Lijn, 1965, London: published by the artist is certainly a very interesting concept. The cone that Liliane constructs to put her poem onto is certainly fresh when it comes to looking at other works of media. Also, Terrestrial Globe, by Tom Phillips, London: published by the artist, 1992. The globe idea is certainly another fresh take on presenting poetry for sure, one of my favorites personally. However, for me personally, I believe in the basics with a little wiggle room for sure. I will probably end up going to the classic poetry book. I just like the format of having short poems or stories under one roof. However, I am open to these ideas and hopefully spin it to the likes of my major. Like making all the poems and then building them into a stone slab or a monument like an artifact in a museum. But I must admit, the globe idea is pretty cool…I just need to locate a globe. I think all art formats can be tied together no matter the genre. What is rap but poetry, what is painting if not a visionary book for us to digest? All art has a natural form of synergy, it’s just locating where they can flow is a challenge for sure. For me personally, I think street art and storytelling go hand in hand really when, or any painting for that matter. Each artist has their own style or signature and there’s always some story behind it and that’s what makes it interesting. My favorite artist is Jean Beane-Basqutie, who was an African-American artist who certainly had an unusual style. But within those odd lines and details was the story of living. That’s what makes art/street art interesting to me. Everything has a story.
Rachel Deren
“The Book as Idea” discussed various artist books, showcasing the various different ways that mediums of art can be blended together with examples, and how artist books break the traditional mode of pages bound together, such as Joseph Kosuth’s 1968 piece ‘Four titled abstracts,’ which consists of a black envelope containing four sheets of delicate paper featuring various dictionary entries for the word abstract. In doing this, he manages to illustrate the very nature of the concept of something that is abstract— it cannot be simply define or confined. I find that this example showcases how using various forms of art— in this case the art of words and the nature of the paper itself— highlight the concepts and messages that could be overlooked in a typical format. I find mixed-media art, especially containing sound and text together, incredibly intriguing, as music or sound touches on the abstractness of emotion that text can’t always conceptualize, while the text can help put a name or an identity to the message or emotion. By combining these techniques, it is possible to explore both aspects simultaneously and create a better understanding of what the artist is conveying. I would personally love to combine these two forms, as music has always been very dear to me, and I often use music to aid me in my writing process. In the past, I made a journal for my ENV 101 course where I wrote about— either in observational entries or in the form of poems— the nature that surrounded me, often including physical elements, such as leaves, in the book, and I found the whole process to be inspirational for other projects, as well as a fun way to test out various forms of writing. For this year’s journal, I’d like to find a way to someone incorporate music, poetry, and prose together to tell a story, as at my heart, the thing I love the most about writing is the act of creating a story and telling it.
Before class and reading this article, I had a very vague idea of what an artist book was nor did I know I would be creating one so soon. However I really like the idea and I liked looking at others from the collection. I love to read and I love to collect things and words that mean stuff to me, so the idea of creating an artist book is something that captures my attention for sure. Looking through some if them One that stuck out to me in the collection was Mr. G. White of Messors Green and White. I liked the formatting and how it had to do with the sea and it also looked like a little file cabinet which I thought was really cute. Another one I like was La Prose du Transsiberian. I couldn’t quite make out the words that were written through the picture however I like how it is set up with the colors. It almost looks like someone painted around it with watercolors and it was very pretty. I think that anything can go together somehow, and that there doesn’t have to be designated genres or formats for art. In general art is a very loose term, which is something I like about it. Poems, songs, paintings and even books affect every reader or listener differently based on how they apply it to their life. Some people may find meaning in something that others find completely pointless and that’s because we all live differently.
Artist books are truly something special when the person experiencing the work understands the cross section between art,conceptual thinking, and writing that they hold in their hand. Artist books are not the usual kind of books we think of, they are more than just words on a page. For me, it helps to think about how a poem’s lines may be spaced out. That is an artistic choice the writer chose to implement to make their work “pop”. For artist books, the materials used for the binding, the paper, the artwork used/made in the pages, are all an artistic choice to make the words (or lack thereof)… pop! The simplicity or complexity of a given artist book gives the audience/the reader a better sense of what they might get out of the book. In the article, “Twentysix gasoline stations” by Ed Ruscha is a perfect example of the artistic choice of simplicity. The article gave a super vivid description of this artist’s book by saying it displayed the “flatness” of which the journey from each gas station felt. I also liked “Mr. G. White, of Messrs. Green and White” by Simon Cutts. This takes us away from our thoughts of a traditional book (the pages bound by a spine). This artist book is a box with index cards and blue dividers. The words are minimal, but connect to the dividers by the set up making them look like rolling waves. Although this is a box with index cards, it is still an artist book.
An artist book I would like to make is a series of envelopes, held together by an office clip (the black one with the silver ends to open and close it). I feel like it could be cool to have a series of love letters that a person kept from their past lover. And maybe to make it more sinister/emotional have the letters be dated and start off lovey dovey and then descend into a sort of madness as the person the letters are addressed to moves on with their life after breaking up with the writer of the letters. Including one letter that isn’t addressed because they were no longer able to send letters due to a no contact order/restraining order might be a cool idea.
The artist book is a vessel that serves to stimulate artists by engaging more senses than a typical book would through incorporating a visual medium, textures, and/or sounds. The artist book is able to surpass traditional book guidelines by unlocking a new set of possibilities. The book doesn’t even have to look like a book, it is its own form of artistic expression that transcends. The works can be as complex or as simple as the artist wishes, for even the simplistic styles have layers of meaning. As Dibbets says, “Understanding the entirety of the work is only possible by means of the artist’s book.” The artist book works as puzzle pieces with the written language to create a richer and more meaningful art. Like Simon Cutts book which uses paper to create movement, and space to emphasize the moment of finding something, a name, within a sea of other names. Art works harmoniously with language to fill in mental gaps, highlight specific words or images, or to contrast them.
In the past I made a book-ish artist book. I think my challenge for this semester is to create an artist book that defies the traditional book style, and lands in a new territory. I’m not decided on what my poems will be about, so the content of those will greatly affect my book, but I would like to stay away from a bookish medium if possible for the story I tell in my poems.
Looking at the article Book as Idea really intrigued me because I have never seen anything like this before. Honestly, it took me a little while to really process what an artist’s book is and I love how unique and creative you can make your art in book form. I really liked Liliane Lijn’s ‘Sky Never Stops” because not only is it showing art in such a unique way, but it is just beautiful. I like the idea behind artist’s books and I think at the end of the article where it says “Through these interactions, the book – whatever physical shape it might take – is explored by the reader and in doing so, the artist’s idea is ‘read’,” just explains it in a simple manner although the actual concept of an artist’s book is anything but simple. The idea I have in mind when making an artist’s book is adding photography; pictures I have taken that are meaningful, but also adding poems with the picture to tell a deeper story. I would love to challenge myself and I would have my artist’s book in a different shape, maybe with sea shells for my love of the ocean. I want it to speak to the reader, the words and the picture, and I would hope that others’ who were to look at it could find their own meaning. I think that’s the beauty of it though, yes, it is your creation and it’s beautiful and unique and the reader is looking through your work, but they can still take their own perspective of it and make their own meaning out of such an interesting creation. It’s fascinating how different artist’s books can be, yet still represent what you would like it to represent. I feel like I would really want to combine my love for poetry and photography as one because both can speak to you in such a deep way. Sometimes when you’re not sure what to say, words from a poem can really help, but so can a picture when you really look into it. I hope that as this semester goes on I can understand artist’s books a little better and make the vision I have come to life.
I liked ‘Sky Never Stops’ by Liliane Lijn and their inspiration from Tibetan prayer wheels. They took tradition and spirituality and transported it to a new place and time. It is interesting, the way that they not only combines language and physical sculptures, but also movement of the art through physical space in a way that extends to energetics. I also really liked ‘Real Fiction: an inquiry into the bookresque’ by Helen Douglas and Telfer Stokes. I find it interesting the way they, too, incorporate space into their art to engage the reader into the present moment and physical interaction with the artists book. I also enjoyed the purposeful simplicity of Ed Ruscha’s ‘Twentysix gasoline stations’ which communicates their thoughts on the city of L.A. being “cardboard cut out”.
I am really drawn to the ways in which artists have brought their readers’ attention to the physical space around them, making it an interaction between reader, artists book, and space. I am also really interested in traditional influences, such as Lijn’s work with Tibetan prayer wheels, something that incorporates spirituality. I think the multidirectional interaction is what brings about harmony or synergy. The reader consumes the words or pictures and understands an idea or story being told, while the words and pictures communicate the idea. Every person will understand the idea in a slightly different and personal way, according to their uniqueness as individuals. When space is incorporated into the harmony and synergy it also is able to influence the understanding and interpretation of art. Where, in what way, and when the reader engages, all matters to the way the art is perceived. If the art can incorporate that space it can influence how it is perceived and the reader may be drawn to that and consider it themselves. I think the combination of language, color, image, and sculpture or the shaping, can work together to create a piece of art that is articulate and still open to interpretation according to the readers’ context.
The most interesting use of the artist book I found in this article was Stephen Willats and his book ‘Taking the Short Cut’. I really enjoyed the idea he brought in regard to social interaction and community engagement. He took one common factor of individuals who happened to live in geographic proximity and made it a point of connection. Despite a small detail, it is able to string together a story for this walking path and those who live in the area. Having each description be in the first person tense of the subject makes it feel more personal alongside the photographs. It makes the reader feel part of the story, or part of the group.
I also appreciated the other purpose this book provided, which point back to community engagement. This book promotes to those who live in the area, or really anyone interested, to visit this walking path. It gives the audience agency to be part of the story and the conversation. I could see this being a series for more individuals to participate in over a span of time (ex. 5 years).
In general, I find the artist book interesting because of the layered element it brings to reading. In a world where technology is on the rise, and so is instant satisfaction, reading has tremendously decreased as a method of entertainment. Utilizing a form such as artists books can bring in visual and even interactive elements to storytelling. Being able to engage a reader in multiple ways is a gateway to connection and fulfilling the purpose of the work. Not only as attention grabbing, artists books also convey the message of a body of work without words. Some readers can sometimes struggle with the intention behind ones work. The elements included in an artist book, such as Willats, gives readers the ability to understand in different ways. Readers can choose from descriptions, photography, location, individuals, etc as ways to understand or identify with artists books.
After reading this article, I was still confused about the concept of an “artist’s book.” As I work through writing this journal it should become more evident what this work actually entails, at least that is my hope.
This article was eye-opening to me. I am not into symbolism, nor am I interested in most styles of art, but the styles presented in this piece granted me a wider perspective on what art could look like. The artist book that I found most intriguing was called Taking the Short Cut. This piece was made to describe a certain area in the form of a walking guide, educating people about the history of others who have ventured there and what their experiences were like, all while mapping out the area so that it is navigable. In my mind, it is important for thoughts, ideas, artistic representations, and other things to have some level of clarity or a purpose behind them. This artist book fits those guidelines well. Thought it is early in this journal entry, I believe this is the style of artist book that I would structure mine after.
It is important that I critique the other offered kinds of artist books so that I can become certain about my decision. The work by Ian Hamilton Finlay called 3/3’s perplexes me more than it should. I just do not get it. Is the artist attempting to describe his experience with this boat and this landscape? Is this open to interpretation? Is the work meant to be this simple? How could something this vague and substance-less be so communicative? What’s my opinion? I think that this work took effort to make, but that the real work is in the interpretation when the audience is viewing it. This work could allow someone to reminisce about times they may have had in their past with boats, rivers, or just the outdoors. It also probably holds a deeper value that I am just not fully aware of. Based on that last sentence, and after fleshing out my feelings about this particular kind of artist book, I have become a little more intrigued than I was before. Maybe, just maybe, the artist book that I will create will be a combination of a bunch of concepts that I find artistically provoking.
What will my project likely include? What two or more genres could I mold together to form a concept? I have a reasonable amount of experience working with digital cameras and video cameras, but only the former would be useful considering this work will take place on a piece of paper. In my mind, it makes most sense to have some type of guide to a place. Within this guide, I plan to capture the truth that I see. For example, if I chose the University of New England to make a type of social guide for, I would highlight the common feelings and troubles of students. This would take the place of the surface-level enjoyment that the school advertises its students as experiencing because in my view, that is seldom the case. Ultimately, I will need to keep thinking on this topic as the semester progresses and as I learn more about artist’s books.
I had to make an artists book last semester when I took Professor Brod’s writing class so I have an idea about what these are supposed to be like going into class. I am really intrigued by the “Sky Never Stops” artist book by Liliane Liijn. I think this piece just goes to show that an “Artist’s book” is only limited by our imagination. It doesn’t have to be in a traditional book form. Anything that holds written word can be considered a book.
That being said I will probably try to have a more traditional artists book. I think pictures and written word can go very well together and make very powerful things. So for my artist’s book I may try to combine the two in a way that the pictures reinforce the themes in my poems. Sometimes the things we want to be seen as important can be looked over so I think giving them the time to dedicate pictures to them proves to the reader that these things are important to the writer. I also really liked binding my own book with twine so I think I’ll try to do that again. This time though I’d like there to be a purpose behind the binding. Maybe the color of the twine relates to one of my poems? I’m not sure yet. But I definitely thing color and images can take a piece to a completely different level.
Personally, I don’t really understand the concept of a lot of conceptual art. I feel like art such as that relies far too much on interpretation and although art should generally have a greater meaning behind the work, it should also be enjoyable to look at beyond the hidden meaning. You shouldn’t have to rationalize why you enjoy a piece, and art shouldn’t always have to come with an explanation from the artist themself. Not only this, conceptual art tends to only have one, or at least very few meanings behind it that are usually designed by the artist themself. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but I believe half the fun in enjoying visual art is deriving your own meaning out of it. Even arguing about the meaning of a piece can be fun.
I do think any art form has the potential to synchronize with any other, however I really enjoy the combination of visual art and writing. Between the two, the writing itself can give meaning and character to stories conveying ideas that the art may not have been able to produce on its own, and the art itself can inspire and provoke awe to compliment the writing itself, creating worlds and characters, expressions and perspective that writing wouldn’t be able to do on its own.