Under the Red Read Canopy: The Big Read at Los Angeles Central Library

Under the Red Read Canopy: The Big Read at Los Angeles Central Library

On Saturday, May 21, 2016,  The Los Angeles Central Library held a “BIG READ” Festival, and bookmaking was a part of it!

Come one, come all.

And they came

Bright-eyes youngsters

with a merry heart…

Elders and medical students,

Younger sisters and older after school enrichment providers.

Family groups,

overflowing  with talent!

They cut,

layered,

glued,

And made amazing use of the wondrous materials provided.

The beautiful cover stock was filled with snowy pages,

and the pamphlet stitch was taught.

Fathers helped their children,

and big brothers videotaped the process.

The results were as varied as the participants.

Each maker has their own design sense, color preferences, material attractions.

And they expressed them,

displaying their creativity, imagination and aesthetic proudly through their books.

  They worked with a love, and a devotion,

that was a joy to behold.

Thank you.

This one is for you, Vic.

This Big Read Workshop is dedicated to art angels Victor Brown and Debbie Josendale, in blessed memory of Vic Brown.

Thank you.

Wave your Flag!: Teens Create Flag Books in Honor of The Big Read

Wave your Flag!: Teens Create Flag Books in Honor of The Big Read

As a program of The Big Read in LA, 2016, I taught a flag bookmaking workshop at Verduga Hills High School. The Big Read book is Ray Bradbury‘s “Fahrenheit 451“, in which firemen light fires to burn books, instead of rescuing them from the flames. Although published over 60 years ago, the book remains uncomfortably relatable to present day issues. Even prescient at times.

Conducting the workshop with the teens was great.  I loved it, the students loved it, the school librarian loved it, and the classroom teacher loved it.  Here are a few images of what the students made.

Students had a choice of “flag” pages: rectangles of uniform size, cut from tagboard in an array of bright colors, repurposed library return cards offered up by the school librarian (treasures!), pieces of  sketchbook covers, and  one off items such at the card above, painted in black chalkboard paint and adorned with red letters and numbers.

Students used a variety of materials to create layered meaning through text and image.

They mixed it up, playing with pattern, visual texture and color in their compositions.

A curated selection of quotes from the book were available, and a number of students used them in their books.

These young artists had the passion!

They spoke their hearts.

“Meaningful elements remind us to live”

“Pura Vida” = Pure Life.  Setting the intention?

The color combinations were striking, and students had the chance to see first had how the red accordion spine looked different pared with green….

and blue. This ambitious young artist reassembled the words that had been cut from this sketchbook cover, to striking effect on his book.

The Flag Book is a potent vehicle for personal expression, allowing for visual and verbal content on its numerous surfaces, places and spaces, in the form of writing, drawing, collaging, note taking, photographs, and combinations of any and all of these.

Once makers see and experience the possibilities, they are off to the races, their creativity limited only by time and space.

Let the flags of your own creativity, ideas, thoughts and feelings wave! Ray Bradbury did.