When working in the art building today, I really started to tune into what I wanted my artist book to become. Since I am in the Painted Book 3D with Professor Gorham, I feel I am able to explore a lot more avenues of creativity with the techniques I am learning in her class. If I was not in her class in tandem with poetry, I may have ended up with an artist book I’m not super proud of. I feel like this is the case with the artist book I made for short fiction. I’m not saying it was a bad artist book, but it definitely had more potential. When coming into class today I had the feeling of wanting to make an artist book that looked like a typical book, the chapbook style. But as Professor Gorham was demonstrating the different styles, I decided I wanted to stray a little bit from the nice precise lines of the chapbook/accordion style artist books and do pages of different sizes and shapes. I feel like this will better encapsulate my poems in a way that doesn’t only focus on the words and drawings I plan on putting in. Especially since some poems are much shorter than others I want to include, I think the different size pages will come in really handy when connecting the words/colors/imagery I want to use. I will be doing a lot of work outside of class on this but I am excited to see my creativity blossom through this book.
Today, working in the art building with Professor Gorham really made me believe I can make my artist book come to life. I think the process when first beginning was intimidating, but once I truly figured out how I wanted my book to look like it was positively supported and makes me excited to continue to work on it. I really thought about what I want my artist book to encapsulate while also acknowledging the poems I would like to use. I originally said I was going to do a chapbook, and I still am, but with the idea I had in mind my book will be in the shape of a butterfly. Not only will it represent my main poem very well, but I feel like it is a unique way to show off my work. At first I was nervous, but now I just feel excitement about this project and I am hoping it turns out well. I also learned that this project can be as broad or as simple as you want, and still be beautiful, and it is amazing to see how everyone takes on their own aspect for their artist book. Professor Gorham I think did a great job helping us and explaining how to create these artist book styles. I also am really thankful for the time we had in the art building especially with everything going on in the state of Maine right now.
My time in the art building was a little less productive than I hoped. Coming in, I had a vague idea of the theme I wanted to stick with but began to doubt myself once I had the paper in my hands. I still plan on doing a chapbook but am hesitating between two themes. I think, I might try to do both since one of my poems is about the act of hesitation, specifically in relationships. It might be an interesting way to connect multiple poems. But now, I am tasked with deciding how exactly to do this. I think focusing and homing in on this over the weekend will be a good way to take my mind off the events of the past few days. I think I will end up buying some of my own supplies, since there are specific colors and textures I have in mind for the book. I think today was a lot of brainstorming through the fog, but now that I have a template, I can start to make real decisions.
The workshop class in the art studio last class with Prof. Gorham was super helpful – being in an artistic space for the creation of our books felt like a nice place to begin to envision how the creative work we do in the writing space can merge together. I learned how to create an accordion-style artist’s book, which I had never done before, really the making of any book. The process was very productive for me; by the end of class, I had my book almost entirely finished, but I left the gluing process for later in case I needed to make any changes to the number of pages. I also, in a way, learned how to make a Chapbook as I listened to Prof. Gorham go through the steps for both choices, which I thought was really cool because I could make one if I ever wanted to. I loved the style that went into my selection of book covers as well – I think the theme of my poems and personality can come through with the front and back cover and be consistent with my ideas of the art I want inside my book, too. I had an idea during the workshop that I might want to add some different textures of paper to my book, and I will look into doing a tissue paper layer between the title page and the end of my book. For me, the next steps look like further solidifying the poems I want to exhibit in this book and then playing around with the craft that will go within the pages.
The workshop with Professor Gorham was helpful, as it showed how different materials can be used to enhance an artist book. She showed us how to make chapbook and accordian-style artist books, however, I still want to go forth with my initial idea of letters. I found materials to help me with making my letters, specificially the paper used for accordian books, as I was able to tear the edges to create a jagged look, especially for the first poems/letters, as my idea is to have the speaker go through an arc of healing after a heartbreak related to the subject ‘you’ of all of the poems. I’m planning on having each poem/letter have its own theme, with the edges of the letters decorated in some way, and each letter inside a small envelope along with small, themed items. Those envelopes will be in a larger envelope to keep them together, which will be decorated based on the overall themes of the poems.
I am very grateful for our time spent in the art studio on Friday. It was the only class I attended that day and I think it was a good thing that I went, for productivity on this project, but also as a way to spend time being creative. It served as time away from everything else going on in Maine and being creative is a helpful way to cope. I am also grateful for the art studio professor (I cannot remember her name sadly) for teaching us the technical parts of making the artists books, something that I was worried about doing. She demonstrated the process in a clear and helpful way. I felt a little lost once we were free to choose different decorative papers and such since I had a very vague idea of what I wanted to do. Since I’m doing the chapbook I want to use decorative paper in between pages of writing, or as “breathing space”, so picking out the “right” paper was important for me. I ended up grabbing a few different options and cutting them to size. I also cut to size some of the off white paper with rough edges since I want to use that for the pages containing writing. I decided to hold off on actually putting the papers together to form the chapbook because I was still unsure of how I wanted to utilize the decorative paper and how many poems or which poems I want to put in there. I did notice however that the decorative papers I was choosing had some similarities in color. They were mostly earthy colors, greens, oranges, etc. I really liked the tan paper that was more textured and earthy, there were literally some woodchips in it. I also noticed that two of my favorite decorative papers were mixed colors, like marble, and had some glitter in it. This might be influenced by the example artists book that I really enjoyed looking at in class.
Looking back at our time at the art studio I can confidently say that a lot got done. I was nervous about the whole chapbook because I had no idea how to sow, shoutout to Jenna for the help. I went for a dark green map paper with rope stitching. This was very difficult as the rope was a challenge to work with. However, I think it gave it a rustic and nautical note to the bok. Almost giving something ancient or a relic per se. I am really impressed with how it turned out but now the hard part is to choose the imagery to use as well as the poems to use will be an interesting process for sure. However, I am looking forward to it.
Last Friday, we had the opportunity to begin the construction of our artist books in the arts building on campus. Thanks to Professor Gorham, our class was able to learn how to create two styles of books: chapbook and accordion. Even though it is slightly more difficult to make, I chose the accordion-style book to showcase some of my work from this semester. The early stages of constructing this book were rather straightforward. All that was necessary in the beginning was to cover the harder material in the chosen variation of paper and to glue it down. What I did not get to were the folding and proper gluing of the book’s interior, made out of cardstock-like paper so it can be more foldable. I will be working on this aspect of the book this week.
Overall, I did not much mind the experience of learning how to make these books, it was nice to work with my hands at college for a change. Now, I would not say that this was the best experience, but it also isn’t the worst that I have had.
I was given much to consider during this class with regards to my final product. Illustrations and other artistic elements are now at the front of my mind as I move into organizing the content for the book. I’d like to stay consistent with my idea of one continuous illustration throughout the book, showing some kind of transformation. This will serve as a metaphor for my time in poetry this semester. I’m sure that the next thoughts, after I finalize my ideas for the illustration portion, will be around the types of poems that I will incorporate into the final artist book. And now, I am both convinced and concerned that my ideas of poems to include will contradict my illustration selection. Hopefully, I can make some final decisions before it’s too late!
Having already done this workshop last year, I was very prepared coming into todays class. I found that last year I was overwhelmed because I am not very good at visual art, but this year I found out what worked and what didn’t and was able to get a lot of work done. I completed the actual vessel for my artist book this time. Last year I barely decided what I wanted to do by this point. I feel much better about the artist book this time around, as I now have a better view of what I want to do. I plan on utilizing collage a lot for my artist book going forward, I really enjoyed the way it looked in a bunch of the examples we were shown. I like how it forces the color to also do a lot of the work telling the story, not just actual pictures. Overall I had a lot of fun in the art room this time, and I was able to actually complete my book and help some other classmates when they had questions. I feel good about where I am and where I am going with my artist book.
I felt that my time in the art studio was very beneficial because it solidified my decision in the artist book. Being able to see a demonstration of its construction allowed me to internally debate which would be best for me. What stuck out to me was how once constructed, there was not much room for changing a chapbook. I liked the various use of material but the fact that more could not be added or taken away swore me off. It only heightened my inclination to do an accordion style. In looking at the demo of an accordion style, specifically Prof. Gorham pointing out its cohesiveness in structure, validated my ideas. In doing an accordion I can focus on the chronological story told throughout my “core 4” poems.
I also enjoyed that I did not have to leave with a complete book. This was a unique aspect to the accordion I slightly explained above. Strategically, I only made the book covers and layout of the pages, making sure not to glue them together. I feel like this allows my creativity to expand, and move toward new ideas as they come. Font was something that came to mind for a new idea. I like the clean look that typed words often conveys, but on paper that cannot be put through a typewriter, I have to seek alternative route. With the sheet Prof. Gorham provided, it got me thinking of how I could cut up newspapers for different words. Doing this allows me space to play with font type, color, size, etc. I think in terms of what’s next with this idea is to see how I use different words in my poem/weigh their importance with font.
Unfortunately I was unable to go to the art building but I am very excited to start building my accordion style book. I have an idea of what I want it to look like and I’ll be youtubing some videos of how best to make some considering I missed the demonstration on how to do it. I’m excited to get my hands on the materials and have an actual book in my hands so that I can start visualizing what poems I want in it and what images I want to go with my poems..
I really enjoyed spending time in the art building for our class and I thought it was a great experience for us all to begin creating our artist books. I personally had never even been to the art building before so right off the bat that was a new experience for me. There were a lot of materials and different kinds of papers to choose from so it was a little overwhelming to gather what you needed to attempt to create a book and capture the vibe you wanted. I think a lot of my classmates would agree with me on that one too, it was almost like you wanted everything and nothing all at once. I am somewhat satisfied with what I have started with my book. I’m looking to make it childish, sweet and somewhat scrapbook/sentimental and I think that slowly but surely that is what I am getting at. I hope that we get another chance to go into the art building towards the end of this project so that we can all use the proper supplies to put the finishing touches on our projects.
During my time in the studio, I really worked on trying to get the right materials for the texture of the book. I want it to be akin to a composition notebook, as many of my poems revolve around the high school experience and my interactions and anecdotes around that time, specifically around romance (or lack thereof) and friendships, coupled with personal feelings. I want my artist book to reflect that in a medium akin to a personal journal or diary. The hardest part was making it hardcover, because I couldn’t really find any material that was close to the loose, floppy yet firm cardboard that composition notebooks usually have. I settled on a firm cardboard and some thin printer paper for the pages as I’m utilizing the chapter book method for it. Later, I put black cardstock over the spine to cover up the binding, and glued a sheet of paper over the cardboard cover to draw on it (not in that order). I also plan on adding some stickers to the cover! I really liked the process of binding the book, selecting the most subtle string I could find so that it wasn’t visible in the book, and trying to find the correct texture for the papers. I think the most daunting aspect of the book has yet to come, which is the actual art part where I have to line each page and make the blank paper cover look like it’s a composition notebook. Then, of course, planning out each poem’s placement in the book, and bedazzling it with various doodles and drawings. It’ll certainly be time consuming, and I hope I can get it all done in time.
13 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 11”
When working in the art building today, I really started to tune into what I wanted my artist book to become. Since I am in the Painted Book 3D with Professor Gorham, I feel I am able to explore a lot more avenues of creativity with the techniques I am learning in her class. If I was not in her class in tandem with poetry, I may have ended up with an artist book I’m not super proud of. I feel like this is the case with the artist book I made for short fiction. I’m not saying it was a bad artist book, but it definitely had more potential. When coming into class today I had the feeling of wanting to make an artist book that looked like a typical book, the chapbook style. But as Professor Gorham was demonstrating the different styles, I decided I wanted to stray a little bit from the nice precise lines of the chapbook/accordion style artist books and do pages of different sizes and shapes. I feel like this will better encapsulate my poems in a way that doesn’t only focus on the words and drawings I plan on putting in. Especially since some poems are much shorter than others I want to include, I think the different size pages will come in really handy when connecting the words/colors/imagery I want to use. I will be doing a lot of work outside of class on this but I am excited to see my creativity blossom through this book.
Today, working in the art building with Professor Gorham really made me believe I can make my artist book come to life. I think the process when first beginning was intimidating, but once I truly figured out how I wanted my book to look like it was positively supported and makes me excited to continue to work on it. I really thought about what I want my artist book to encapsulate while also acknowledging the poems I would like to use. I originally said I was going to do a chapbook, and I still am, but with the idea I had in mind my book will be in the shape of a butterfly. Not only will it represent my main poem very well, but I feel like it is a unique way to show off my work. At first I was nervous, but now I just feel excitement about this project and I am hoping it turns out well. I also learned that this project can be as broad or as simple as you want, and still be beautiful, and it is amazing to see how everyone takes on their own aspect for their artist book. Professor Gorham I think did a great job helping us and explaining how to create these artist book styles. I also am really thankful for the time we had in the art building especially with everything going on in the state of Maine right now.
My time in the art building was a little less productive than I hoped. Coming in, I had a vague idea of the theme I wanted to stick with but began to doubt myself once I had the paper in my hands. I still plan on doing a chapbook but am hesitating between two themes. I think, I might try to do both since one of my poems is about the act of hesitation, specifically in relationships. It might be an interesting way to connect multiple poems. But now, I am tasked with deciding how exactly to do this. I think focusing and homing in on this over the weekend will be a good way to take my mind off the events of the past few days. I think I will end up buying some of my own supplies, since there are specific colors and textures I have in mind for the book. I think today was a lot of brainstorming through the fog, but now that I have a template, I can start to make real decisions.
The workshop class in the art studio last class with Prof. Gorham was super helpful – being in an artistic space for the creation of our books felt like a nice place to begin to envision how the creative work we do in the writing space can merge together. I learned how to create an accordion-style artist’s book, which I had never done before, really the making of any book. The process was very productive for me; by the end of class, I had my book almost entirely finished, but I left the gluing process for later in case I needed to make any changes to the number of pages. I also, in a way, learned how to make a Chapbook as I listened to Prof. Gorham go through the steps for both choices, which I thought was really cool because I could make one if I ever wanted to. I loved the style that went into my selection of book covers as well – I think the theme of my poems and personality can come through with the front and back cover and be consistent with my ideas of the art I want inside my book, too. I had an idea during the workshop that I might want to add some different textures of paper to my book, and I will look into doing a tissue paper layer between the title page and the end of my book. For me, the next steps look like further solidifying the poems I want to exhibit in this book and then playing around with the craft that will go within the pages.
The workshop with Professor Gorham was helpful, as it showed how different materials can be used to enhance an artist book. She showed us how to make chapbook and accordian-style artist books, however, I still want to go forth with my initial idea of letters. I found materials to help me with making my letters, specificially the paper used for accordian books, as I was able to tear the edges to create a jagged look, especially for the first poems/letters, as my idea is to have the speaker go through an arc of healing after a heartbreak related to the subject ‘you’ of all of the poems. I’m planning on having each poem/letter have its own theme, with the edges of the letters decorated in some way, and each letter inside a small envelope along with small, themed items. Those envelopes will be in a larger envelope to keep them together, which will be decorated based on the overall themes of the poems.
I am very grateful for our time spent in the art studio on Friday. It was the only class I attended that day and I think it was a good thing that I went, for productivity on this project, but also as a way to spend time being creative. It served as time away from everything else going on in Maine and being creative is a helpful way to cope. I am also grateful for the art studio professor (I cannot remember her name sadly) for teaching us the technical parts of making the artists books, something that I was worried about doing. She demonstrated the process in a clear and helpful way. I felt a little lost once we were free to choose different decorative papers and such since I had a very vague idea of what I wanted to do. Since I’m doing the chapbook I want to use decorative paper in between pages of writing, or as “breathing space”, so picking out the “right” paper was important for me. I ended up grabbing a few different options and cutting them to size. I also cut to size some of the off white paper with rough edges since I want to use that for the pages containing writing. I decided to hold off on actually putting the papers together to form the chapbook because I was still unsure of how I wanted to utilize the decorative paper and how many poems or which poems I want to put in there. I did notice however that the decorative papers I was choosing had some similarities in color. They were mostly earthy colors, greens, oranges, etc. I really liked the tan paper that was more textured and earthy, there were literally some woodchips in it. I also noticed that two of my favorite decorative papers were mixed colors, like marble, and had some glitter in it. This might be influenced by the example artists book that I really enjoyed looking at in class.
Looking back at our time at the art studio I can confidently say that a lot got done. I was nervous about the whole chapbook because I had no idea how to sow, shoutout to Jenna for the help. I went for a dark green map paper with rope stitching. This was very difficult as the rope was a challenge to work with. However, I think it gave it a rustic and nautical note to the bok. Almost giving something ancient or a relic per se. I am really impressed with how it turned out but now the hard part is to choose the imagery to use as well as the poems to use will be an interesting process for sure. However, I am looking forward to it.
Last Friday, we had the opportunity to begin the construction of our artist books in the arts building on campus. Thanks to Professor Gorham, our class was able to learn how to create two styles of books: chapbook and accordion. Even though it is slightly more difficult to make, I chose the accordion-style book to showcase some of my work from this semester. The early stages of constructing this book were rather straightforward. All that was necessary in the beginning was to cover the harder material in the chosen variation of paper and to glue it down. What I did not get to were the folding and proper gluing of the book’s interior, made out of cardstock-like paper so it can be more foldable. I will be working on this aspect of the book this week.
Overall, I did not much mind the experience of learning how to make these books, it was nice to work with my hands at college for a change. Now, I would not say that this was the best experience, but it also isn’t the worst that I have had.
I was given much to consider during this class with regards to my final product. Illustrations and other artistic elements are now at the front of my mind as I move into organizing the content for the book. I’d like to stay consistent with my idea of one continuous illustration throughout the book, showing some kind of transformation. This will serve as a metaphor for my time in poetry this semester. I’m sure that the next thoughts, after I finalize my ideas for the illustration portion, will be around the types of poems that I will incorporate into the final artist book. And now, I am both convinced and concerned that my ideas of poems to include will contradict my illustration selection. Hopefully, I can make some final decisions before it’s too late!
Having already done this workshop last year, I was very prepared coming into todays class. I found that last year I was overwhelmed because I am not very good at visual art, but this year I found out what worked and what didn’t and was able to get a lot of work done. I completed the actual vessel for my artist book this time. Last year I barely decided what I wanted to do by this point. I feel much better about the artist book this time around, as I now have a better view of what I want to do. I plan on utilizing collage a lot for my artist book going forward, I really enjoyed the way it looked in a bunch of the examples we were shown. I like how it forces the color to also do a lot of the work telling the story, not just actual pictures. Overall I had a lot of fun in the art room this time, and I was able to actually complete my book and help some other classmates when they had questions. I feel good about where I am and where I am going with my artist book.
I felt that my time in the art studio was very beneficial because it solidified my decision in the artist book. Being able to see a demonstration of its construction allowed me to internally debate which would be best for me. What stuck out to me was how once constructed, there was not much room for changing a chapbook. I liked the various use of material but the fact that more could not be added or taken away swore me off. It only heightened my inclination to do an accordion style. In looking at the demo of an accordion style, specifically Prof. Gorham pointing out its cohesiveness in structure, validated my ideas. In doing an accordion I can focus on the chronological story told throughout my “core 4” poems.
I also enjoyed that I did not have to leave with a complete book. This was a unique aspect to the accordion I slightly explained above. Strategically, I only made the book covers and layout of the pages, making sure not to glue them together. I feel like this allows my creativity to expand, and move toward new ideas as they come. Font was something that came to mind for a new idea. I like the clean look that typed words often conveys, but on paper that cannot be put through a typewriter, I have to seek alternative route. With the sheet Prof. Gorham provided, it got me thinking of how I could cut up newspapers for different words. Doing this allows me space to play with font type, color, size, etc. I think in terms of what’s next with this idea is to see how I use different words in my poem/weigh their importance with font.
Unfortunately I was unable to go to the art building but I am very excited to start building my accordion style book. I have an idea of what I want it to look like and I’ll be youtubing some videos of how best to make some considering I missed the demonstration on how to do it. I’m excited to get my hands on the materials and have an actual book in my hands so that I can start visualizing what poems I want in it and what images I want to go with my poems..
I really enjoyed spending time in the art building for our class and I thought it was a great experience for us all to begin creating our artist books. I personally had never even been to the art building before so right off the bat that was a new experience for me. There were a lot of materials and different kinds of papers to choose from so it was a little overwhelming to gather what you needed to attempt to create a book and capture the vibe you wanted. I think a lot of my classmates would agree with me on that one too, it was almost like you wanted everything and nothing all at once. I am somewhat satisfied with what I have started with my book. I’m looking to make it childish, sweet and somewhat scrapbook/sentimental and I think that slowly but surely that is what I am getting at. I hope that we get another chance to go into the art building towards the end of this project so that we can all use the proper supplies to put the finishing touches on our projects.
During my time in the studio, I really worked on trying to get the right materials for the texture of the book. I want it to be akin to a composition notebook, as many of my poems revolve around the high school experience and my interactions and anecdotes around that time, specifically around romance (or lack thereof) and friendships, coupled with personal feelings. I want my artist book to reflect that in a medium akin to a personal journal or diary. The hardest part was making it hardcover, because I couldn’t really find any material that was close to the loose, floppy yet firm cardboard that composition notebooks usually have. I settled on a firm cardboard and some thin printer paper for the pages as I’m utilizing the chapter book method for it. Later, I put black cardstock over the spine to cover up the binding, and glued a sheet of paper over the cardboard cover to draw on it (not in that order). I also plan on adding some stickers to the cover! I really liked the process of binding the book, selecting the most subtle string I could find so that it wasn’t visible in the book, and trying to find the correct texture for the papers. I think the most daunting aspect of the book has yet to come, which is the actual art part where I have to line each page and make the blank paper cover look like it’s a composition notebook. Then, of course, planning out each poem’s placement in the book, and bedazzling it with various doodles and drawings. It’ll certainly be time consuming, and I hope I can get it all done in time.