Week #1
This work was done by Carolyn Lueders in Boston, in class during the last session, 2011 "Experiencing the Book as a New Structure". In her own words:
“The human heart is a theater of longing” I was not relating heavily to this particular quote, but when Googled, I found whole excerpts from John O’Donohue’s book that fleshed out the meaning for me in a really helpful way. So when it came time to go to the copy shop, I armed myself with a load of digital options both personal and copyrighted. The book was only for my personal use and when I thought of longing and connection, Picasso and Van Gogh (among others) hollered out. Reggie, thanks for the beautiful stained glass images as well.
The copy shop experience was very worthwhile for me because I tend to stay away from modern technology.
I was determined to complete as much as possible during class knowing that I would probably not take the time to work on it once class was over, so I took it all home Saturday night. This allowed me to formulate some ideas for the cover and for page layouts. Much of those ideas changed during class on Sunday, but those extra hours enhanced the Sunday process.
Somehow, I could not find a way to incorporate transparencies or the textured papers into my final, much as I loved them. And I have more images to include, too. Generally, I did not attain as much of a non-verso/recto feeling as I would have liked; for me, all of the previous would require way more additional time and thought. Attaching the binding cloth to the pages was fun once you got used to the pernicious behavior of the gaffer’s tape!
11.5x18in, book board, gaffer’s tape, white gel pen, glue stick.
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Week #2
This work was done by Gail Turgeon in Boston, in class during the last session, 2011 "Experiencing the Book as a New Structure". In her own words:
The typical book is experienced sequentially: we begin with page one, proceed to two, and so on. The books produced in the sixth class of Primitive to Modern were anything but typical. The words and their images unfold more like a flower than a printed volume. Pages, which partially obscure and partially reveal other pages, can open from the right, the left, the top, and the bottom of the book’s base.
Step one involved constructing this base. We were given a rectangle of gator board measuring 17 1/2 by 11 ½ inches.“ Using a template and our electric drills, we drilled two holes on the left and right ends of the board. On one side of any page we planned to affix to the base, we added gaffer tape, taping two pieces together and simultaneously sandwiching1/2 inch of our image between the pieces. We punched holes in these gaffer tape binding which corresponded to the holes of the book’s platform. Pages of the book could be now joined to the base using screws and posts.
Where to go from here was the question. I answered it with a picture of our galaxy taken by the Hubbell telescope. This photo, reproduced on an 11 by 17 inch piece of paper, would serve as the last page of my book. From this point, I assembled the pages which would precede this final image.
The text of our book is an excerpt from Anam Cara by John O’Donohue. We were asked to take the first line of the excerpt, “The human heart is a theatre of longing,” and to break in into three segments. Each of these segments would become sections of our book, and each section must include at least four layers. When creating a book with this process, it is important to remember layering. The individual leaf is part of a something bigger as well as an image in itself. Our pages were constructed, for the most part, using photos of stained glass that were reproduced in color and black and white on both paper and transparencies. We also added acrylic gel medium to various papers, thus creating textured materials to use in the project.
I liked how overlapping hearts created spaces of interest into which I could insert text or parts of text. For example, noting that the worked heart contained the word art allowed me to position the text “the human heart” in such a way as to reveal this inner word.
My cover was fashioned using black mat board that I textured with the acrylic medium and cut into spaces to represent the top and bottom of a heart. The bottom overlaps the top when closed, forming another heart shape.
What I completed in Boston is but a chapter in my book. The longing to create is eternal, for it originates in the human heart.
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Week #3
This work was done by Eileen McAllister in Boston, in class during the last session, 2011 "Experiencing the Book as a New Structure". In her own words:
"The human heart is a theatre of longing," were the words of John O'Donohue that Reggie gave us during our weekend session of "The Book as a New Structure." The experience he orchestrated was interesting, fun, confusing, frustrating, chaotic and mysterious, and frequently several of those things at once. Sometimes it was a little like a treasure hunt or game--our collecting of materials carefully laid out on the back tables, the directions to do and measure certain things without knowing exactly why the instructions were important, the choosing of color prints or transparencies before some plan formed in our minds--leading to an understanding of how his Everest book evolved.
My book, in process, is 17 1/2" x 11 1/2" closed and 36 3/4" x 11 1/2" open. So far, I've used some of my photographs, printed at my local Staples, and some of Reggie's beautiful stained glass photos, as well as some Hubble images. I started with the idea of using one of my flower center images toward the beginning of the book, and a close up of a tree trunk ring toward the back. I remembered something about heartwood as being the center part of a tree and that made a loose connection with the quote for me. I thought those images would also lend themselves to a feeling of motion and movement which I liked as a metaphor for longing. With those wisps of ideas, I and my classmates cut, glued, drilled, hole punched and taped all weekend!
After a few days at home, I looked at the book again and was surprised that some new ideas occurred to me. I also realized that setting up the book with the pegs and playing with the sequencing reminded me of an animation class I had taken many years ago, and that the last minute cutting and arranging I had done in class with the words was a lot like the hand work I did with type when I was a graphic designer. While I was in class, I knew something felt familiar about parts of the work, but couldn't put my finger on it until a couple of days passed.
One tip for anyone else who has a lot of corrugated to cut on a curve--my Tajima LC-501 utility knife with the snap off blade worked great as I worked on my intricate cover mock-up!
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Week #4
This work was done by Dave Flattery in Boston, in class during the last session, 2011 "Experiencing the Book as a New Structure". In his own words:
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This was done during the last weekend of the Primitive to Modern year long course. The title "Experiencing the Book as a New Structure" could , and should , be interpreted in two ways. On the obvious structural side , the book opened up from both sides and the pages were not all the same size nice neat rectangles. On the not so obvious side the "story" didn't unfold in a normal sequence. The book became an adventure of discovery, We all used the same quote "The human heart is a theatre of longing.", In my case , not until opening the three pages that made up the cover , then two more inside pages, was the word "heart" revealed,,not until opening two more pages did you get to read "the human".
Reggie gave us a disc of images taken from close up photos of stained glass. We used those images to make color and black and white copies on paper and transparencies for our book pages. Through shapes, cut outs, textures and transparencies the reader was drawn into the book..never seeing everything at once and being anxious to see what was coming next..
Actually assembling the book was a whole different aspect. Reggie gave us very specific instructions for this book . If you have never made multiples of anything that needed to be assembled from parts it was a great eye opener. If you keep an open mind and use your imagination you could take concepts from class and create your own jigs , patterns and templates for your own projects with your own dimensions.
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Week #5
This work was done by Claire Griffin in Boston, the fourth class session in 2011: "DESIGN: Deconstructing the Grid". In her own words:
This piece was done as homework for Reggie’s Boston Primitive to Modern class. After working on the in-class project, I was excited about returning back to my desk at home to start another piece on my own. I inserted the cd of stained glass images Reggie handed out at the end of the weekend into my laptop. The images were incredible, and I must admit, a bit overwhelming, with so many to choose from I had to take a moment to just think about what I wanted to do. After working on some ideas I came up with the quote, “Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons.” I then returned to the overwhelming stained glass selection on the cd and picked out the colors and textures I thought would work, especially a gorgeous red/blue mix that I chose for the ribbons. Then came the really fun part. I got out my waxed piece of Arches paper (thanks to my great classmate, Eileen!). I took the exacto knife and said to myself, “Let the cutting begin!” And begin it did. By cutting and “exploding” the image piece by piece, the image became more and more alive and glowing like a stained glass window. WOW!
I lettered the quote with a B3 nib and copied it in different sizes, choosing a layout that felt right to me and cleaned up the edges, sharpening everything with my 005 pigma. I wanted to achieve the shadow effect when I photographed the piece, so I took little rubber spacers and raised the lettering that I had cut out and trimmed with @1/16th” of white all around. I also trimmed out some of the counters so the background would show through. Using the hot foil pen that I ordered on ebay (cost more to ship than the price, but it was worth it!) I added the foil dots as an accent and let them flow between the quote and the Earth, plus some larger silver and red dots for good measure. DONE... not quite.
Now to photograph the piece and achieve that magic effect that Reggie inspired us to seek was much harder than I expected. But with my trusty lights camera and step stool I found the effect I was looking for, as pictured here. I printed the piece on a good quality, heavyweight photo paper and then breathed. DONE... really.
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Week #6
This work was done by Lois Rossiter in 2011 in Boston for the fourth month's class "Primitive to Modern". In her own words:
"Still working on the grid...and off it: simulated purple-dyed vellum via paste paper and pigments; graphite pencil; Schminke gold pan watercolor ; ruling pen; ball point nib; Fons & Porter white pencil; Prismacolor pencils. Writings of Robert Henri; 8 x 10 "
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Week #7
This is a work I did myself last year for the fourth month's class "Primitive to Modern". It serves as a teaching example for the
processes, techniques, and materials used in this project: background watercolor manipulated in computer, watercolors, sumi ink,
Dr. Martins Bleed proof White, mica powders, pastels, "B" nibs, pointed nibs, brushes, spray fix, acrylics, 23 kt. gold leaf, lemon gold, shell gold, 9" x 12".
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Week #8
This work was done by Victoria Langsford in 2011 in Atlanta. Her web site is: http://www.victorialansford.com/
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