Park Report and Thesis Thoughts

So Friday was not as warm as expected... but I went to High Park like I had planned and got the research I wanted anyway. I didn't stay as long though - I got there at around 1 and left around 4. I started at the Bloor entrance (closest to High Park subway station) and walked along West Road to Grenadier Restaurant. I discovered that most of the park's visitors were hiding from the cold in there; one of my questionnaire respondents was in there for a casual meeting regarding a children's art camp that takes the children to the park for the "Shakespeare in the Park" plays in the summer; another answered the questionnaire of their way out of the restaurant. After spending some time there I decided to walk towards the Hillside Gardens where I came across the rest of my questionnaire respondents. After this I walked back up towards Bloor Street taking a different route - a foot path through picnic areas #s 7, 8, and 9 and along the sports fields until I exited the park. I took pictures of all signs and maps that I came across as well as any areas that I thought required signage such as forks in roads, paths, and trails. I discovered that there was a significant amount of signage and other wayfinding systems near the park's entrances but fewer and fewer the closer to the heart of the park you get. Anyway, this and more will go into the group report so I'm going to stop it here about the research assignment.

Now about thesis... I'm still interested in pursuing what I suggested in my original proposal which is to create an entirely hand-crafted book using only manual forms of printing such as linoleum block/ wood block printing, offset printing, etching, screen-printing, and using movable type. The issue is choosing a topic for the book; some options that I have been considering are the history of books - something that I've already got books on because of classes that I've taken at OCAD and, before then, York University - or the history of corsets - something that I've become interested in over the past few years - or the art of henna - something that I've only just become interested in. All of these ideas require varying amounts of research so I am going to start looking for some sources in relation to each of these topics and go from there.