Questions to ask (and to be ready to answer) for each project you make for the class:
·How does the binding I choose relate to the subject? Historically, regionally, traditionally…
·How does the ease (or difficulty) of viewing reveal or hide my subject matter? Is the viewer gaining full access to my content and if not, why?
·How does the size of my book effect the viewer's reaction to the content? Does it need to be gigantic or miniscule to really tell the story well?
·How do the materials I have chosen relate to the content? Is the cover material appropriate for the subject matter I am addressing? Is the text paper? The endpapers (if any)?
·How fragile is my book? Will it standup to many people handling it? Where will it be read? On a table, in a lap, on a pedestal, etc?
·How does the over structure and feel of the book function with the overall content? Does the form enhance the content?
Combining images and text
(Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics)
For this introductory project, choose one visual source and one text source that you will combine in a simple book format. Think about your selection process very carefully, i.e., what is your idea and which sources make the most sense in order to explore that concept? You will be asked to manipulate the images and texts, their order, to think about the movement from page to page, changing typography, what or what not to reveal to the reader, if you will alter them in any way, and titling.
·Consider the “Voice” of a text. Chose a work, literature or poetry, find a type face that will reflect that language.
·Consider the layout and structure to reflect the rhythm of the language and images.
·Design the format of this work to reflect the content.
·The book can function as a vehicle for documentation, as an archive of a collection, or a journal. It can be a poem or a narrative. Formats that you may refer to include photo narrative with text, polysemiotic narratives, documentary narratives, non-narrative visual sequences, scores, albums and inventories, illustrated books, and mail art. We will focus on text as a communicative tool.
Re-Text
Find a book that fascinates you, with or without images, paperback or hardback, old or new. Rewrite it, using our discussion of Tom Phillips and Roland Barthes to guide you. Please challenge the verb “to write” considerably—your interventions should take multiple forms. The quality of your craft and the structure of your interventions are quite important.
Explore the book as space, a sculptural environment that can be opened and folded, collapsed or expanded. Consider the contemporary art forms that have been inspired from the cells of the book.
·Consider text as object, paper as a wall for projection, and the cover as an enclosure.
·Given the time of year, this work must be small.
Pop up Book
Develop the story, characters, imagery and architectural environment for a pop-up book. Make a lot of models and sketches. Produce the book and hand-bind it. Your pop-up book should be exquisitely crafted and should look like something you would find on a shelf in a bookstore.
History Memory:
Students will make a book in which you identify a particular moment in time or a historical event/incident. You will enrich our understanding of that moment or event through the use of three well-developed perspectives (additional perspectives optional), problematize it and complicate it, and reveal the layers and versions of "truth." Consider how different disciplines and perspectives can tell stories distinctly. Source options include newspapers, oral histories, personal letters, legal documents, etc. You can appropriate texts and images, but you should also be creating your own that will weave into the book. Again, think about manipulating images and texts, revising them, if necessary, to suit your needs. You should be aware of differences in language and tone, incorporating, for example, 1st person/3rd person, point of view, etc. You will further explore how book design can reflect your book concept.
Production of a scroll to protect you from one thing--inspired by Ethiopian protective scrolls, and a 2-4 page paper detailing your conception, execution, and critical estimation of your scroll. Oral presentation of scroll to class. (15%)
Production of a "Classroom Edition": 1 copy for each class member, 2 copies for the instructor. A book with text and/or image by you bound in an appropriate format. This means that your books will be identical. Everything about them will be exactly the same. When you are trying to make decisions about papers, materials, content, size, format, sewing style, etc, you should work all of these questions out in a mock-up book. This is not to be part of your edition, but rather a working proof.
Basic Binding Demonstrations:
Stamping
Accordian
Book box
Basic cover
Sewing:
(loose leaf, sewn, saddle stitch, rivet, screw and post, and spiral)
Accordion,: 10%
Popup: 10 %
Book box
Pamphlets: book as bookmark
Complete an edition
Sewn structures
Taped Binding
Assignments
