There are so many benefits of digital communication. In my own experience with internet and social networking, I've made contacts in Korea, Ireland, parts of the US, and I've maintained friendships that otherwise would have been short lived relationships. And although I find that the internet is a great tool for networking, and can be the best cure for boredom (blogging, researching, entertainment), I've recently found a romanticized richness in handmade networking media. Six years ago I met a friend while backpacking in New Mexico that I still speak to very often. After leaving the backpacking camp to our respective cities, we corresponded via snail mail for the following five years. This friend of mine travelled abroad to Lecce Italy, we wrote letters then. She spent another year at home in Delaware for her last year of high school, we wrote letters then. When we both went to college, we still wrote letters, though significantly less frequently. I find that the beauty of receiving a handwritten letter is like nothing else, not comparable to visual art, not comparable to video chat. When I receive a letter, I'm holding something that embodies feelings and emotions that have travelled across the country or the world, specifically to me. I'm touching the paper that was being held and written on by another human being, and this letter is specific to me still. I can feel the embedded pen that was pushed into the vellum paper, the pen that documents the dialogue being sent to me. The letter is found in a container, a container that physically protects the document. Within the container, often I can find objects: stickers, patches, polaroid photos, scraps of paper, etc.

This experience of letter writing has had such a profound affect on me, that I feel like I need to incorporate that part of my life with my professional life. When we make contacts, more often than not it's through a website, an email, maybe facebook, maybe flickr. I enjoy meeting people and making contacts on the internet because it's easy, and it's familiar always. But I think I'd like to experiment with networking via snailmail. This is where my book starts.

Description of text:

   -Text will be informative

   -Text will be, in a sense, a form to fill out

   -Text will describe how to fill out an ever expanding resumé

   -Text offers room to document upcoming shows as well as past shows

Description of Imagery:

   -Imagery in book will be an identity of sorts

   -Imagery will be used as a textural element to make the resumé make sense to the viewer

   -patterning

   -emblem work

   -examples of work

   -logo identity

Description of composition/physical description/structure:

  Size- approximately 5in by 7in

  Printing process- Screen printing, relief printing

  Typeface- Clear and legible, informative, structured, match type to the work I produce

  Binding- Mix of accordion fold and folders.

  Number of pages- This depends on how the resumé turns out in design, but it will be on large fold out page,

  and the folds of the accordion fold will separate information

  

More info: I'm looking to create a cover that acts as a protective element, and will function in a simple way. The paper used for the cover coating and the paper inside used for book pages will match that of the mailing envelope, and mimmic the aspect of postal treatment. Issue that I will need to address in the piece is the contrast between imagery used in US Postal Service and the imagery used in my work, because although there are elements in my work that will mesh well, there are also elements of the hand that might clash, or even color usage. Postal Service colors can seem cold, whereas the colors I use are often romantic and rich.

Book Production:

   -Recycle materials used in post?

   -Use envelope paper for the paper in the book

   -Glue

   -vellum for folder windows?

   -bondefolder

Approximate Book Cost:

   Coin Envelopes: $20 for pack

   Glue: Yes paste, already have

   Screen printing: Have access through course fees for Adv. Print

   Vellum: $8 for 3 sheets

   Postal Envelopes: Will be funded on my own

              Total Approximate Cost: $28

INTRSTNG PRJCT

Last year I had the opportunity to see the Invisible Children talk at Marquette, and just today stumbled onto this mural project:

http://www.woostercollective.com/2010/10/you_are_what_you_do.html

It has absolutely nothing to do with book making, but Invisible Children is an effort that I'm extremely interested in, and really supportive of. Thought I'd share!

NRTV AND PRSPKTV

To start things off, I just want to critically analyze Susan Viguers’ introduction to her own dissections of other artist books. I’m mainly doing this to help myself understand what she’s really getting at, to simplify her instructions, and to help me relate these ideas to my own work. So after analyzing her intro, I’m going to discuss why I think it’s important to consider perspectives on artist books, followed by a dissection of my own artist book under these ‘loose perspective rules.’

Thesis: “…my primary motivation for this article is my interest in

developing and articulating a lens that can be useful in

approaching other works as well. Indeed, I would suggest that

such a lens could contribute to understanding the nature of

the accomplishment of many artists’ books”

Paragraph #2

Introduces narrative for books.

Good or bad, undecided. But most books have a narrative quality by default.

Paragraph #3

Codes of belief for narrative as focus, not academic structure of narrative.

Paragraph #4

Defines narrative more. Baseball diamond. Home base looks at all other bases. References author that slips from one perspective to another, similar to description being from home base looking out onto 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd, but instead first base is generally the focus, but in context, 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd are all described the same way. Could be described better oops.

Paragraph #5

Artist bookmaker plays not only descriptive game, but also creates description. The artist presents, so concepts and ideas need to pass through perspective of presenter, so ideas in book are personal perspective focused.

            Viguers, off the bat, discusses the focus for her studies. She introduces the idea that it’s important to understand perspective in artist books, and does so in a really gentle way. I like that she’s not writing this in an essay form at all, and instead chooses to let the viewer understand that she’s just presenting an idea, rather than a rule. I believe that this is important because, to begin with, artist books are incredibly visual, and from my perspective, they parallel 2d visual art very much. An artist book, in my opinion, is designed to be dissected from form, to content, and then onto interpretation of these two things.

            She then introduces narrative as a focus for dissection/interpretation. As I was saying before, she’s very passive in introducing the idea. “Not every artist’s book is a narrative, but perhaps no art medium, except film and video, has as much affinity to

Storytelling.” BUT, “Even books that aren’t explicit narratives frequently have narrative elements and thus could also be approached using narrative tools.” So, I think she is trying to tell us that it’s not imperative that we create an artist book with a narrative structure, but because of formal elements and subject matter, it will most inevitably end up having some sort of narrative in place. I definitely agree with this because if you think about it, a book is a page by page structure, so it will most definitely describe time, and if not time, it will describe space. And in visual arts, these two things almost always describe a narrative.

            The next things she discusses is not that important to dissect, but for the sake of examination, why not? Also, I think it shows a character trait in her that is very interesting. She describes narrative as less of an academic structure, but more of something that we feel, or something that describes perspective. Like, if you’re reading a novel, and it switches from 3^rd person to 1^st person, it’s a formal element to interpret. But with an artist book, a perspective can be visual and not an element that is read. This idea is very similar to my book, in that switching from the perspective of industry in war (canvas cover, battle instructions, map structures) to a more humanistic way of drawing (loose, gesture, mixed with instructions that contradict the humanistic element), it is a perspective switch, and it’s one that lends to the structure of the book. And this idea is actually what defines the book as a discussion.

            So I’m getting a little unorganized here, but I’d like to talk about Viguers’ point on perspective. She states, “Narrative, as I am defining it, is a construction of connected events caused or experienced by actors presented through a point of view.” And my immediate visual association looks a lot like this:

            So, I used this diagram of a baseball diamond because I think that it describes perspective very well. If you place yourself as a viewer at home base, you will then look at 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd from an individual perspective. Imagine home base talking to you, gossiping about all of the other bases. Then, imagine home base gets lost, and your left with 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd base, and all you can do is look at all of their experiences together, and/or their interactions from 1^st base’s viewpoint. This is my interpretation of Viguers’ description of perspective in narrative. I think this is good because it explains that it is possible to change perspective in an artist book, and that it’s almost import to do so, so that the book maintains a quality of endlessness. It cycles through perspective, and by doing so, it’s not so definitive and literal.

            So that last section to analyze here is kind of my favorite bit of her writing. She explains that “Central to that complexity is the idea of the narrator as not only a speaker, but also a presenter.” I think is definitely super important to understand while creating an artist book. I don’t believe that it’s something that needs to be used as a tool because it’s actually impossible not to be, but it’s just something that should be understand while creating your book. What she’s saying is that, yes you are a speaker, yes you are explaining this idea, but because you are the presenter, you need to understand that we are reading your book that is written ultimately from your perspective. One will create a book, and it might just be very much fact based, but it’s still the one creating the book that decides what facts we see, they decide what visuals we are to interpret. They also decide the forms to use. The artist/author will decide every element of the book. I tried to use this idea for my own book as a perspective. With our assignment, we were given the loose guideline to use three perspectives, and I chose my own interpretation of the two pre-juxtaposing ideas (industrial/human) to add another element to the discussion.

            I really enjoyed Viguers’ interpreting methods for artists books. I like that these are guidelines to use for interpretation, but they’re also very loose guidelines, and ones that give you a lot of room to play with ideas. Having a lot of room to work in artist books is a great idea, but it’s also good to have a little bit of structure, or at least something to help make points clearly.

LSTNG

The plan for my first book is as follows:

    I'm really interested in developing perspectives on battle, from the most literal interpretation to a more figurative interpretation. I obviously have my own opinions on battle/war, but I'm aiming at juxtaposing ideas to the point where it's almost unreadable as a book about battle, and ultimately leaving the viewer with some breathing room for formulating their own opinion. I'm ultimately aiming to develop a discussion with the viewer, and not leave them with any sort of definite answer, but more of an inquiry. The viewer should finish the book and feel questioned, not told how to think.

MATERIALS

    The aesthetic of the book will be a literal juxtaposition of media. The book will be kept in a leather case, imitating that of the industrial materials used in the military. Encased with the book will be odds and ends that you would find on any person that confront the viewer point blank, showing the human that carries these plans. The book will have an olive green canvas cover, with a strap and a button to keep it closed. The contents of the book will consist of several sketches, each sketch being a form of print. The sketches are considered studies, and I'll look at them as a free-write. Because of it's delicate nature, I'm looking to use rice paper for each page. This will be the second thing that shows the fragility of human life, the first being the odds and ends that confront the viewer. Although the pages will be free-writes or studies, I'd still like to play around with specific contents (altered battle plans, maps, script).

Most of this I already own or have access to, but can be found at utrecht or antique store on 1st St.

-Leather

-Buttons

-Needle and thread

-Screen printing

-Spray paint

-Cut paper

-Canvas

-Military patches

-Battle plans

-Maps

-Rice paper

PROCESS

The most time consuming bit will be the construction of the book. But in terms of process, it should be fairly easy. I'm looking to construct the book with needle and thread, sewing the pages at the spine to the canvas cover. The pages will be mostly an intuitive and playful process, and really once underway should be finished pretty quickly. The book will be constructed very similar to that of a soft cover moleskin sketchbook.

RSRCH

Well, to start things off...

     I'm posting a few images to display a bit of direction for my first book. I'm planning on displaying and describing a few different perspectives on battle plans. To me, battle is a few things. A game. Nostalgia. Really gross. Classy. Not real. Concrete. Fragile. A cluster F*ck of different feelings and ideas that all get pushed into one action. War is very simple, and in some ways it makes so much sense. But ultimately, humanity knows better than what battle accomplishes. So with my book, I'd like to create a discussion with the viewer on what war/battle really is. I'd like to describe the form of battle, the achievements of battle, and the fragility of human life. These things will be presented in a very figurative way, and will not be spoon fed to the viewer. By presenting a literal description, I wouldn't be leaving room for the viewer to formulate their own opinion.