Chromatic Interactions III

Chromatic Interactions III

“CHAPTERS: Book Arts in Southern California” presented at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in LA.

I was commissioned to create an interactive book.

I created “Chromatic Interactions”

Chromatic Interactions is a flag book is comprised of an accordion spine, front and back covers, and flag pages which are pockets with windows cut out of them to reveal both front and back of the cards that visitor participants wrote and drew on, then inserted into the pockets.

 The front and back covers had windows cut out of them that correlated with the windows cut out of the flag pocket pages.

People’s responses, offerings, additions and interactions surprised me…they really did pause and participate.

This is one of my favorites.

May we all have…Joy…in the morning, in the night…all the time.

As Much As Possible.

JOY

Chromatic Interactions II

Chromatic Interactions II

“CHAPTERS: Book Arts in Southern California” presented at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in LA.

I was commissioned to create an interactive book.

I created “Chromatic Interactions”

Chromatic Interactions is a flag book is comprised of an accordion spine, front and back covers, and flag pages which are pockets with windows cut out of them to reveal both front and back of the cards that visitor participants wrote and drew on, then inserted into the pockets.

It was eye-opening to see how people responded, what they wrote and drew, and how the book transformed over time.

I am exploring this phenom through a series of posts, now that the show is over. The CAFAM was kind enough to save and give to me many of the file cards added to the book by the participants who interacted with the piece…keeping it in a continual state of transformation.

The front and back covers had windows cut out of them that correlated with the windows cut out of the flag pocket pages.

Someone had to remove the cards so that new ones could be inserted. I am still not sure if this was the Museum staff, or the patron participants themselves. Here is some of what they wrote….

“STRIKE while the iron is hot”

“Speak Out

Stay Calm

Carry On”

“How can we stop the political train wreck?”

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. *activism….”

“people say don’t hate anything except for hatred”

This one “speaks” for itself.

Actually, they all do.

People

Speak

Out

“Play’s The Thing”: Mask Making and Authenticity

“Play’s The Thing”: Mask Making and Authenticity

Working with the fifth grade ethics class at the Silverlake Independent JCC was an opportunity to use the activity of mask making to explore identity, and the issue and challenge of authenticity.

We started with questions…

What does it really mean to be “authentic”?

Do we wear masks to hide or reveal our identities?

What purposes do masks serve?

We shared about why we might wear a literal or figurative mask, how masks can protect, fool, transform and create, how they can offer us means to explore our identities, perform and present, hide, share, and even become a tool of self-discovery.

We looked at samples of masks and books were on hand filled with images of masks from other countries, societies, cultures and his/herstories.

Fueled by this preparation, students sketched out ideas for their mask characters on paper with pencils and markers.

One later added this drawing to his mask…feeling that he had what he wanted!

Students then made the form, or structure of their masks, seeing how a two-dimensional piece of bright tagboard

can become a three-dimensional wearable piece!

They used the top and bottom areas of the mask for for beards, crowns, ears and hats.

Color choices were made…

Eye holes were cut.  Students worked in pairs to gently mark out where their real eyes were under the masks,

then adults punched a small hole through those marks, so that the students could use scissors and make their eyes any shape and size they chose. Some chose two shapes!

Students then developed their mask characters through embellishment with a range of materials!
They used feathers, “googly eyes”, markers, washi tape, pom poms, shoe laces, ribbon, pipe cleaners, beads and more…

This young artist cleverly used his glasses as part of his mask persona.

Here, a  single googly eyes is centered between two eye holes which bloom with washi tape petals and patterns.

This maker used a paper plate and wooden sticks to build out his half-mask.

A creative choice is made here by crisscrossing the purple feathers at the top.

Great us of lace at the bottom, and washi tape at the top of this creation!

As we donned our masks at the end of class, and gathered once again in a circle,

students had the opportunity to once again introduce themselves, and perform their mask characters…Or were they performing themselves?

Students left class masks on to share with family and friends.

Through the act of becoming someone or something else for a time, the hope is that they are empowered to become more themselves.

And have a blast in the process!

CHAPTERS I : “Chromatic Interactions”

CHAPTERS I: “Chromatic  Interactions”

The wonderful Craft and Folk Art Museum of Los Angeles currently has on view “Chapters: Book Arts in Southern California” through May 7, 2017.

I had the opportunity of creating an interactive book for the show, one that potentially 8000 viewers/participants could become co-creators of by adding and subtracting color, pattern, graphics and text as they so chose.

I created the flag book  structure from book board (covers),

watercolor paper (accordion spine), rice paper (covering the spine),

repurposed file folders (torn into pieces to “cover the covers” and folded to form the flag page pockets), linen thread (to stitch the flag pages/pockets), Lineco Neutral pH Adhesive (for gluing) ,
and colored file cards (to write and draw upon, and insert into the pockets in varied arrangements), to create  “Chromatic Interactions”.
I aligned the ‘windows” in the covers, with the windows cut out of the flag book pockets, 

so that the file cards would read through the front and back cover apertures.
The results of offering the public the opportunity to express themselves through interacting with the book were fascinating.

I was moved that participants were expressing their feelings about current events, and the “state of the nation”. 
Some just got silly and had fun.

Some asked profound questions…reflecting what is on the collective mind.

Some waxed poetic.
And one young artist expressed her feelings through creating a bookmark, as all the windows were filled!

 Perhaps the greatest treasure of all…

Thank you Inez!

And thank you to the wonderful Holly Jerger, curator, for this amazing opportunity to give CAFAM viewers a voice..I am looking forward to seeing what else they have to say.

Process

PROCESS

In process: an interactive book commissioned by a local museum, to engage viewers of an upcoming book arts exhibition!

The book is a flag book, investigating color interactions, with text potentially added by the viewer/participants/co-creators.

The covers are made of book board, resurfaced with torn and crumpled pieces of unique “brown paper bag” colored folders, of  limited quantity, using neutral pH Lineco adhesive .

                      Corresponding stacked windows were cut into the front and back covers,

through which file cards (the piece is partially composed of file folders, after all) of different colors, 

or white…can be seen. The cover colors and composition will change, depending on which cards are used.

Within, untorn and uncrumpled pieces of the same file folders are folded into pockets, edges glued together with a  UHU acid free glue stick, one edge stitched with linen thread, and the other side glued to the book’s concertina spine.

The accordion spine is made of watercolor paper, resurfaced on the back with pieces of torn and singed rice paper. The edge of each fold is covered with the same folder material as the covers, and the inside of the spine. 

The flag page pockets will have the same size and shape windows cut out of them, all aligning with the front and back cover windows, so that anyone can add and subtract file cards, changing the color balance and composition of the cover and contents.

In this way, the viewers can become true creative participants and co-creators of the piece, creating chromatic interactions and meditations through their own actions…interactions with it! 

Mask Magic

Mask Magic

At a building owned by the Community Corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM), I conducted a two-part mask making workshop! Families who rented units in the building attended, with children, spouses, and neighbors.

The work created is breathtaking, and will be shown Friday November 4th at an exhibition entitled,
“The Artists Among Us“.

Here is this chapter of their story.The mask is formed of clay….then painted…

then shown.

Women share as they create.

A seasonal offering sculpted…and painted.

https://artissima.wordpress.com/2016/11/08/mask-magic-2/A Dia De los Muertos sugar scull is created…and comes to life with color and pattern.

Clay characters drying.

Color helps to define the mask personalities.

Painted plates are another way to create masks and characters. The round shape suggests a lion, and the paint defines it!

Color, texture, shapes, and the artists’ choices bring the forms to life.

“Once in a blue moon…” (!)

Emotions are elicited through facial expression, color choices, and the way the paint is applied to the textured, sculpted clay surfaces.

What a line-up!

Strong sense of design and pattern.

Focused artists

Meticulous painting creates detail.

Bringing out the eyes…

   Proud participating artist with her creations.

The fruits of love’s labor.

The Sheltering Book Chapter 3

The Sheltering Book Chapter 3

I am honored to have been one of 17 artists who received an inaugural ‘The WORD Grant 2016: The Bruce Geller Memorial Prize” from the Institute for Jewish Creativity, a project of American Jewish University, to create, “The Sheltering Book“.

“The Sheltering Book will be a life-sized book structure which will become the backdrop for community bookmaking workshops drawing parallels between the meaning and architecture of the book, and that of the Sukkah. The project also explores the relationship between the public sphere and private space, whether that space be our personal creativity, where we create, or what we create.” —Debra Disman

“The WORD Grant, a project of American Jewish University’s Institute for Jewish Creativity, supports artists creating projects that explore Jewish ideas, themes, tradition, history, and identity. We believe in supporting a contemporary, vibrant, Jewish cultural landscape in Los Angeles.”  —The Institute for Jewish Creativity

Made of corrugated cardboard, primed, base-painted, and treated with layers of transparent color, the Sheltering Book becomes a Sukkah With the addition of dyed netting stenciled with ferns, the “s’chach“, roof of the Sukkah.

The Sheltering Book at The Braid Theatre Gallery, Home of the Jewish Women’s Theatre

   Our first community bookmaking workshop was held at the lovely Braid Theatre Gallery.

The Sheltering Book onstage, becomes a theatrical backdrop, a set, and a theater in and of itself, as participants create their books nearby,

using brilliant and beautiful materials.

Mother and daughter work side by side.

Participants focus on”building”, then developing their flag books.

Documenting while doing.

Putting together word and image,

color,

text and texture,

themes.

and adding titles.

   Then we shared….in the safety of The Sheltering Book.

Was it a fluke that black was the predominant clothing color that day? Creating a striking contrast between Book and Bookmaker.

Glorious…and sublime.

…to be continued…

And A Ribbon Ran Through It 1

And A Ribbon Ran Through It 1

Beyond adornment…ribbon can add mystery, privacy, secrecy…to a piece. When tied shut with a ribbon, an extra effort is required to open the book, and plummet its depths.

Side bound.

Front and back.

Single signature with stitched ribbon.

Single signature with glued ribbon and stitched edge.

Front and back inside cover ribbon framing.

Ribbon closure with button and and stitched buttonhole.

Ribbon embellishment.

Hyper ribbon embellishment.

Tied ribbon, woven ribbon, glued ribbon.

Woven and wrapped ribbon with repurposed felt button closure.

Accordion book ribbon ties using two ribbons.

Accordion book ribbon closures using one ribbon.

Accordion book ribbon glued under cover adornment.

Fan book ribbon ornament.

Color In Mar Vista

Color In Mar Vista

Discovery! Painted utility boxes in Mar Vista on Venice.

And a two-story mural.  Just marvelous. Venice near Sawtelle.

Mock-ups and Murals…

Mock-ups and Murals…

It was great fun to teach a “mock-up to mural painting” program at the Montana Branch Library in Santa Monica this past Saturday.

We called it a

and attendees looked at a number of my live and in-person mock-ups (to-scale miniatures of planned murals), and images on my site of the finished murals.

Oshun Center

Planning for Elders in the Central City

Exterior Mural done on fence 2 stories up, seen through kitchen window.

Garden mural done on patio fence.

Living Room Wall Mural

We talked color, scale, technique, and then they painted their own mock-ups on project display boards. Big Fun!

The results were magnificent.

Each participant expressed her own style, color personality, and visual story.

 

What a privilege to work with these artists, and watch them express themselves in paint, color, line shape and imagery.

Gratitudes!