“We Right The Book” VI

“We Right The Book” VI

I was honored to serve as Artist in Residence at Verdugo Hill High School in Tujunga,  CA (Los Angeles) for a group of 41 Senior English class Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) students.

Our project ,  “We Right the Book” was supported by an Artist in Residence grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.  I worked with the students on a series of bookmaking projects during weekly workshops held right in the classroom from September – December, 2017.

The students’ completed book works were exhibited at the Sunland-Tujunga Branch Library on December 13, 2017.
Accordion fold books, flag books, tunnel books, scrolls, and side bound books…the results were stunning.
Below is a digital tour through the show.

Each student’s works were displayed together, except the scrolls, which were hung on the walls.

Students created extraordinary Tunnel Books with whimsical, innovative and imaginative use of materials.

They made Flag Books…with “Found” (collected from existing print media) Writing.

and Accordion Fold Books…

with elaborate pop-ups.

 

The students completed their final projects for the class in their side bound books…the theme: IDENTITY…Who they are…Where they want to go…How they see themselves.

A Junior VAPA English student peruses the side bound books. She looked at each and every one.

I would love to work with her next year!

Fingers Crossed for next year’s Residency!
Thank you, LA DCA.

“We Right The Book” V

“We Right The Book” V

I was honored to serve as Artist in Residence at Verdugo Hill High School in Tujunga,  CA (Los Angeles) for a group of 41 Senior English class Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) students.

Our project ,  “We Right the Book” was supported by an Artist in Residence grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.  I worked with the students on a series of bookmaking projects during weekly workshops held right in the classroom from September – December, 2017. Students also assisted with bookmaking workshops held for the community at-large in the Sunland-Tujunga Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.

In our Library Program on November 29, 2017, five wonderful student artist teacher assistants helped to teach the Flag Book structure, to a group of children ranging in age  from 5 – 12, accompanied by parents, grandparents and other family members.

The students demonstrated how to fold the accordion spines from “bright tagboard”, add railroad board covers, and finally, attach the flag pages.

The students shone at showing techniques, then moved through the crowd, assisting participants one-on-one.

Once the books were assembled, participants could experience the joy of developing them….

adding color, collage, drawing, stickers,

and Titles!

Mothers worked side by side with their children…

Upon completion, participants proudly shared their books with the group.

It was beautiful to see and hear! 

LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library II

LACMA in NoHo: Exploring Bookmaking at the Valley Plaza Library II
We Write The Book

In December 2017 we had a blast making Tunnel Books at the Valley Plaza Branch Library, in North Hollywood (NoHo).

I was honored to serve as a teaching artist for LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to lead this program.

The stars of the program were mothers, daughters, SISTERS, girls and women.
YEAH! Girl Power! 

“Raw” tunnel book, all in black, ready to have content added to the frames and create a story, scene, drama or all three!

Fun use of stamping in different ways on the frame and backdrop if the book. What is the coyote howling at?

Sisters working side by side.

Smiling mom with her two daughters must be enjoying the creative break, and the opportunity to create side by side with them.

Animals parade through flora under celestial bodies, all in primary technicolors!

Wonderful use of trim….spanning on end of the “stage” to the other, with a butterfly attached!

These four beauties created gorgeous pieces, with attention to detail, and total concentration!

Older sis…

and younger (the middle child!).

Great use of zig zags to create a sea life theme!

A line-up of works in from of Mom.

Pink continues to rule…

Let’s celebrate….Girl Power! 

Tunneling our Way Through…Making Tunnel Books

Tunneling our Way Through…Making Tunnel Books

For the last class of our recent children’s bookmaking class at LACMA, we made tunnel books…comprised of two spines or sides, a back “page” holding them together.

To prepare for our project, we visited the beautiful LACMA Directors Roundtable Garden, resplendent with its Alexander Calder sculptures: mobiles and stabiles.

We observed how perspective is created by distance, saw how things looked smaller the farther away we are from them, and did a group exercise where each student in turn stated what they saw behind what the previous student said they saw…learning to see in “distance layers” (my terminology), I.E. in perspective.  We also explored the idea of scale seeing how large or small objects are in relation to each other.

Finally, we repaired to the lovely glassed in Plaza Studio, to put our learnings and observations into action, and create our books, exploring color, character, story and setting/environment in the process.

The results are…well, you can see for yourself why I called this class our “Seven From Heaven”!

Students of their own volition devised a theme,

such as this figure hiking,

and followed it through, in this case in silhouette form.

This young artist found images from magazines,

and created a scene with them.

Some created land, city and seascapes through cutting and shaping paper and cardstock strips, and adhering them to the spines,

to beautiful effect.

Students” individual color choices are always interesting…

and often very consistent…also with their clothing color choices, and probably more.

This innovative and well-traveled maker added the words, “Paris, London, New York” on these strips. her travels and where she has lived with her creative family is an important part of her identity.

The red spines on either side create a theatrical effect in this piece, that this bookmaker worked on with meticulous attention to detail, and tender loving care, as she did with all her projects.

I am so going to miss this class. It truly was heavenly to work with such motivated, thoughtful and devoted young creatives in the nurturing, inspirational and magnificent setting of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. May the “Seven From Heaven” ride LACMA art-mobile again soon, and may it be with me!

“Let’s Make Books” at LACMA

“Let’s Make Books” at LACMA

It has been wonderful to teach a family bookmaking class: “Let’s Make Books” for ages 5 and up at LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

Parents can attend with their children, and spend three hours visiting and drawing in LACMA’s galleries, grounds and gardens, walking through its architecture, and learning about its collection, before returning to one of the LACMA Art Studios to work together on art projects related to what has been visited and viewed.  A total experience of art immersion!

In this class thus far we have made accordion books with pop-ups, “folded fan” books with “windows and doors”, flag books, and tunnel books. A grand time has been had by all, including myself.  It is wonderful to work with families, see parents and siblings interacting, and the grown-ups getting a creative break which hopefully will refresh and rejuvenate them when they leave LACMA, and return to their daily lives.

Folded fan book with “windows” that open.

“Playing” with washi tape.

HeARTfelt…

The tunnel book can fold up, stand up, and stretch.

Using LACMA exhibition announcements and postcards as part of the artwork.

Doors closed….

Doors open…

In process…

A colorful collection of magnificent tunnel books!

The creative endeavor of our kindly assistant…who played imaginatively with the tunnel book structure!

Kindness, creativity, imagination, play…these are the hallmarks of our program, and were in abundance during our class. Hurray for LACMA!

We have a bookmaking class for children aged 10-13 starting in early April…check it out!  We would love to have your children in our class…making art together.