I have conducted the first few rounds of interviews and photo shoots for my “Heirloom” project that I am getting pretty excited about. I figured I would post some shots from today’s work in hopes of enticing more of you to participate! THIS COULD BE YOU!
For my independent research project in my Folk Art and Folk Life class this semester, I am planning to research the story, design, materiality, and personality behind objects members of my generation hold significant or irreplaceable: a study of the Heirloom. I hope to interview anyone and everyone I can in MY generation who has an object they consider irreplaceable and document my findings in a book I will edit, design, and bind by the end of the semester.
This is where you come in. If you are under the age of 26, have an object that you consider unique, irreplaceable, or significant for ANY reason, and (preferably) are located in the Baltimore, MD or West Chester, PA area, please consider letting me interview you for this project; it would be a huge, huge help. If you are interested, or have any questions, post a comment below, shoot me an email, give me a call, or otherwise get in touch with me.
I will be sure to provide status updates as the project moves along!
or at least what I haven’t lost, thrown away, sold, or gifted.
I certainly had a very book centric semester, but I think it worked out quite well in the end. I now have the book thing added to my belt to help me execute some bigger ideas. I will continue to make books over the summer, perhaps some small editions to make some cash. Also, my portfolio will be updated soon as well, perhaps along with my website??? WHO KNOWS! Stay tuned.
My latest book, “The Fruits of Religion”.
4 needle coptic bound, inkjet printed on Daler Rowney Heavyweight, sourced leather wrapped, embossed covers.
This is my first real piece of “political” art, and I am pleased with the response thusfar. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the book or it’s content in the comments. Full pictures of each spread in the complete article.
Some spreads I am working on for my Artist Books final that’s coming up. It’s taking me quite a long time, but I am pleased with what I have done so far. More after the “jump”! (more…)
Please excuse the slacker photos. The assignment was to create a book of book reviews and recommendations by some Graphic Design Majors at MICA. The recommendations were supposed to be creative, anything that could benefit or inspire a designer, but many of them were shallow, obvious, or just blatantly bad books. Hence, the title of the book is “Punk Kids Who Think They Know Shit”. Some of the selections in the book put the title in a quite literal context and make it clear we still have plenty to learn, but the better recommendations flip the relationship and turn the title into satire. Some selected spreads from the 60+ page book below the fold. (more…)
I haven’t blogged about anything in awhile, so I figured I would grab something nearby and take some pictures of it. I completed this 3 book series a month or so ago. My goal was to make what in my mind would be the perfect sketchbook for a fine artist. I came up with these wide format, leatherbound, Rives BFK Gray notebooks. I have already gifted two of them to some very fine artists, and I am sure I will find someone to give the 3rd one to soon. I hope they will draw/paint/watercolor/gouache/doodle all over them, then let me borrow them so I can take some pictures of them worn, when I hope they will be more beautiful and just as intact.
My latest work for Artist Books: A coptic bound piece dedicated to American Muscle Cars. The title page reads:
Great American Dinosaurs
The Muscle Cars of the 60’s and early 70’s were defined by their large engines, affordable price tag, and unmistakable style. They are, in many ways, a representation of America’s Golden Years: inefficient, yet nonetheless beautiful pieces of design and history. Times have rapidly changed, gas prices are an average of 32 times what they were in the 60’s, and these beautiful cars are becoming increasingly hard to find and expensive to maintain. As we grow exponentially closer to a time where fossil fuels are completely unaffordable, these artworks will become extinct.
This book is dedicated to the unique beauty of Muscle Cars and the designers who worked so passionately on them.
The book is 17 individual, single folio signatures with 11 sewing stations along the spine. It took me approximately one million years to bind and it tore in two small places, but overall I am satisfied with the result.
The cover was my first attempt at embossing something and I sort of wung it. I had the letterforms laser-cut from some bookboard and saved all of the negatives and counters. Then, I glued the remaining piece and counterforms on to another piece of book board, wrapped the whole thing in leather from the thrift store, and pressed it after placing the letterforms back in their respective spots on top of the leather. I think it worked out pretty nicely, though the embossed bits may be just a bit too deep. Something to keep in mind for next time.
Hit the “jump” for some more pictures! (CHECK OUT MY BLOG LINGO YO) (more…)
I think material is really important in design. Exceptionally important. And yet, many designers don’t seem to pay much attention to it, doing all their work digitally and getting it printed on whatever paper Kinkos or MICA’s print lab has readily available. I have been trying to use alternative materials in my work for some time now, most notably wood, and I have recently taken the dive into working with leather. I had looked into leather in the past, and was immediately and completely turned off by the price and partially by the fact that some nice animals would be laying down their lives for my work. However, I recently visited my local thrift store in search of leather garments I could recycle into my work, and it was much more successful and rewarding than I expected. The variety and quality of the leather found in all sorts of stylish coats, pants, and shirts amazed and excited me. Not to mention the price was more than right.
I got all of the clothes you see pictured above and below for under $30 on half off Sundays at the Village. I managed to get a wide variety of color, finish, and thickness that should prove useful for all sorts of applications. I am ALL about recycling materials, and this was unbelievably cheap and will hopefully get turned into a plethora of very classy, professional looking things.
A few tips if you plan on getting some leather from your local thrift store:
The reason this kind of re-appropriation is so exciting is because its like a scavenger hunt. Its almost as though you are living in some MMORPG when you find some beautiful pair of burgundy leather pants, because you know that whatever you make out of those pants will be one-of-a-kind. Your book cover, or whatever, will have the embedded history of a nice cow, and a bunch of people from the 80’s, tacked onto it. Beautiful.
