Checking out Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design

So I've finally got around to actually checking out this book and it's looking very inspirational - I'm getting more and more excited about this! The book has some information about DIY (they even mention John Ruskin, William Morris, and the Industrial Revolution [page 1]!) but it seems to be less academic than most of the other sources I've looked at. Although, it's a good way to approach a book on DIY I suppose. It's a collection of artists stories' with a lot of images of their work including their websites which will be a great place to go next. The two that interest me most are Deb Dormody and her business If's Books & Marks (www.ifnbooks.com) - she says, "I think that in this day and age, people are seeking out something that is authentic and personal." (page 10) - and JW & Melissa Buchanan and their business The Little Friends of Printmaking (www.thelittlefriendsofprintmaking.com) - they just make so much cool stuff and it's a great inspiration, I will definitely be checking out their website soon (although in the book they mostly talk about the difference between art and craft and how there is none which sounds way too opinionated [even if I do agree with it] so I'm not sure I'll be quoting them but we'll see... And lastly - an artist that does beadwork had some interesting things to say that I think have some merit; she seems to be doing this craft for very similar reasons to why I'm making a book next year: "I like thinking about how making lampwork beads has been done before, but I am doing it anew, in my way and for myself because I want to see new things. [...] It's funny that lampwork is historical and, in a way, it's traditional, but I make what I do because I want to see things that I have never seen before." (page 22)

Sunday, rainy, Sunday

Something really exciting is about to happen - tomorrow morning I'll be applying for my first printmaking class ever - PRNT 2B26 Nano-Publishing: Independent Publications - it was by a happy accident that I stumbled across this course - not only will it count towards my expansion studio credits but it's EXACTLY what I need to learn/ improve upon for my proposed hand-made book.

YAY!

Ok, now that I've got that out of the way, I've also been looking at more sources for my thesis, the following are from news sources rather than more scholarly texts:

"Pat's New Grant." Surfing Life. Australia's Surfing Life, 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

Simpson, Peter. "DIY Publishing: Stick It to the Printing Press." National Post. Canwest News Service, 19 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

Witthall, Zoe. "The Changing Face of DIY." Web Log post. Quill & Quire. St. Joseph Media, 26 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

The DIY one's focus on changing perceptions of so-called "vanity presses" in the publication industry. Both make a criticism against the unjust preference of indie music and film in modern society over indie publications.

While "Pat's New Grant" was an interview with a surf artist that didn't have much input on my subject(s) of interest except in his closing line; when asked "Do you have any advice for aspiring artists out there?" he responded with "D.I.Y. OR DIE YOU MONGRELS! Make zines, put on your own art shows, promote your own gigs, publish your own books, press your own vinyl, send your heroes mail, and try not to use Photoshop too much."

What a way to end the search for today.

Library Mission

Alright, so I'm at the OCAD library and I've started reading one of the books I cited yesterday as a good source (Bookmaking: Editing/ Design/ Production by Marshall Lee) and it's looking to be one of the most valuable sources yet, not only does it talk about the vital information that I'll need (printing techniques - an entire chapter dedicated to explaining the "four principal printing techniques: relief printing (letterpress) [...] Planographic printing (lithography) [...] Intaglio printing (gravure) [and] Xerographic printing" (Lee 207)) but it also includes other very important research information such as the history of bookmaking, the profession, editorial knowledge, prepress...well pretty much everything - it's really got me excited about doing this! I think it would be an excellent investment to buy this book, so I might be getting it sometime over the summer.

I also found two other books at the library that seem to have valuable research information for me;

Bettley, James. The Art of the Book: from Medieval Manuscript to Graphic Novel. London: V & A Publications, 2001. Print.

Williamson, Hugh. Methods of Book Design; the Practice of an Industrial Craft. London: Oxford UP, 1956. Print.

Methods of Book Design is looking to be another gem (AKA a super-important source!) Very much like Lee's book, this one has all the information anyone would ever need about about book design with detailed information about printing methods. The great thing about this book though, is that it talks even more in-depth about the different kinds of printing - it has three separate chapters on the topic: 13 - letterpress blocks, 14 - letterpress printing, and 15 - surface and recess processes.

The Art of the Book is more of an inspirational reference rather than informational one - I originally thought that it would be a good source of historical information but it really just writes vaguely about the chronology of the works presented. But the works do show a progression of style - something that I will be illustrating throughout my own work.

So...I wrote this Friday - my how things have changed

So it’s been a hectic week in which I’ve had to skip class on Monday for personal reasons, had two giant assignments due on Thursday and another smaller one on Friday. Hopefully this coming week will be better and I’ll have more time to do more research for my thesis proposal.

But first I think it’s important that I put some queries out onto the proverbial table; we had to write a thesis proposal at the end of last semester – I was under the impression that we would be getting those back this semester heavily commented on (is this a good idea, am I on the right track, am I totally off, should I be focussing on something different? Etcetera, or even better – you should talk to this thesis prof. about this idea because they’re into that sort of thing) However – we didn’t get them back at all (unless I missed that this week, in which case I apologize) So how am I supposed to know what to research? I feel like with my previous ideas of what to actually write about are irrelevant and therefore stupid/ bad ideas. I still really want to make a book (seeing as I hope to go into editorial design) and I want to use the traditional methods that I suggested in my proposal but I’m missing an actual topic with makes me think I’m doing this all backwards. My latest idea was to write about the process of making a book the old fashioned way but then I thought – who would want to know about this except for a handful of traditionalists? And why is it important? And does it have to be important? Does it need a greater audience? Should it be bringing others in?

I personally have a lot of interests and more background knowledge/ information than the average art/ design student because of my two years studying cultural studies at York University, but I just don’t know what to research that will intrigue others and garner a semi-respectable audience.

I could think of a million things to write thesis papers about (i.e. comic book culture, Japanese anime/ manga culture, the idea of cool, the loss of proper grammar and language to the uprising of a new high-tech language [lol, ttyl, aps, w/e…], taking the list of endangered/ nearly extinct plants and animals and seeing how each one’s loss would/ will affect our world… I could go on…) but who is this for? What am supposed to be trying to accomplish?

What’s going on? I need some guidance and I don’t see how this class is giving it to me – telling us to blindly research (which is what it sounds like) is not working. The idea of a thesis assignment has always boggled my mind and blindly researching whatever interests me (so…pretty much everything) is not getting me anywhere except more confused.

Ok, so a lot of questions have been answered over the weekend (i.e. I should have gone to Patricio to pick up my thesis proposal from last semester - I don't remember him saying anything about it but that might just be me...) Anyway, now I'm on a much better/ clearer track in regards to my thesis proposal(s) Here they are so far:

Proposal 1: Original Proposal (from last semester + alterations)

At varying levels I have always loved printmaking and books. Ever since making my first potato block prints as a young child I learned that creating one’s own two-dimensional designs by hand is not only possible but also very accessible. I have since experimented with linoleum and wood block printing and have really enjoyed the experience – it can be a tedious job but the finished result always far out ways the struggle. Besides appreciating the process I really enjoy the aesthetic of hand printed materials, particularly books. The idea that an entire book can be – and at some point in history always was – completely handcrafted is one that really appeals to me as a book lover, artist, and designer. There are still many techniques that I have not used and would love to try such as offset printing, etching, screen-printing, and using movable type. Furthermore, I am hoping to go into editorial design after graduation and would like to take on a more artistic approach to something that has become so computerized and mechanical over the past few decades before I am finished school. For these reasons I would like to create an entire book using traditional printing methods.

The subject of the book will be the process of actually creating a handcrafted book using all of the different traditional printing methods, explaining the way each technique is applied, its history, and its influence on society.

I hope this will further legitimize Do-It-Yourself (DIY) culture while also reinstating book making as an art form.

Questions: does the process of using historical methods inform the design of the page layout? What has changed in page layout since the introduction of the computer? (These are Sarah Beck’s suggested questions)

How has one method influenced another?

What are the advantages of hand-pressed book?

How might hand-pressed books inform editorial and publication design?

DIY – rococo – dissatisfaction w/ what’s going on right now

Deskilling - RESKILL

Proposal 2

A topic that needs to constantly be addressed is the importance of biological diversity. As the world faces unprecedented environmental changes it is even more pertinent to address the importance of endangered species. I intend to make a campaign to bring attention to the loss of 26 endangered species – one for each letter of the alphabet, for two reasons; first of all there are far too many species on the endangered species list to address them all in the manner that I intend, and secondly it allows me to use another element to the design – the English alphabet. The main component of this campaign will be a series of 26 posters mimicking the alphabet banners commonly found in pre-schools and kindergarten classes (A is for Altamaha Arcmussel, B is for Brown Teal, etc.) with information about the species’ importance to the biodiversity of its ecosystem and the world as a whole. The goal of this proposal is to inform people of the importance of biodiversity and remind them that without a balance we will eventually become endangered ourselves.

Questions: what are endangered species?

Which animals will people be most responsive to?

Does it make a difference if the animals are local versus exotic?

What harmful side effects will occur once this species is extinct? How will that eventually effect us?

Proposal 3

An interesting theme to consider in the context of graphic design is the idea of cool. It is the cool people after all that make or break a design, they are the ones that determine whether or not a font should be popular, and they are the ones who will proclaim whether or not a brand identity is good enough to be associated with. I want to investigate what “cool” is, and then once this is established, figure out if it is possible to market towards these so-called cool people.

Questions: are cool people born or can they be made?

Is it possible to design for cool people if you, yourself are not cool?

Does cool have an age limit?

Obviously my main proposal and the one I want to work on for thesis/ core project is the first one so I might consider changing my third proposal to an alteration of the first one.

So far these are the sources I've looked at...

These are from last semester:

Chesney, Lee. "Printmaking Today." College Art Journal 19.2 (1960): 158-65. Print.

D'arcy Hughes, Ann, and Hebe Vernon-Morris. The Printmaking Bible: The Complete Guide To Materials And Techniques. San Francisco: Chronicle Books Llc, 2008. Print.

Dewar, James A. "The information age and the printing press: looking backward to see ahead." Ubiquity 1 (2000). Print.

Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. Printing press as an agent of change communications and cultural transformations in early modern Europe. Cambridge [Eng.]: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print.

Febvre, Lucien, and Henri-Jean Martin. The Coming of the Book The Impact of Printing 1450-1800 (Verso Classics, 10). New York: Verso, 1997. Print.

Francis, Pat. "Socialists and the Art of Printing." History Workshop 23 (1987): 154-58. Print.

Ivins, William M. Prints and visual communication. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T.Press, 1969. Print.

Johns, Adrian. Nature of the book print and knowledge in the making. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago, 1998. Print.

Lacy, Lucile P. "Modern Printing Processes." The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science 47.6 (1957): 730-36. Print.

Maruca, Lisa. "Bodies of Type: The Work of Textual Production in English Printers' Manuals." Eighteenth-Century Studies 36.3 (2003): 321-43. Print.

Mayor, A. H. "A Historical Survey of Printmaking." National Art Education Association 17.4 (1964): 4-9. Print.

Paparone, Nick, and Jamie Dillon. Print Liberation The Screen Printing Primer. New York: North Light Books, 2008. Print.

Pollak, Michael. "The Performance of the Wooden Printing Press." The Library Quarterly 42.2 (1972): 218-64. Print.

Rosslyn, Helen. "Lasting impressions." Royal Academy Magazine 102 (2008): 58-59. Print.

Shafer, Robert. "Words for "Printing Block" and the Origin of Printing." Journal of the American Oriental Society 80.4 (1960): 328-29. Print.

Tschichold, Jan. "Chinese and Japanese Colour Wood-Block Printing." Leonardo 4.1 (1971): 75-79. Print.

Twyman, Michael. Early lithographed books a study of the design and production of improper books in the age of the hand press, with a catalogue. London: Farrand & Private Libraries Association, Distributed in the Western Hemisphere by the Book, 1990. Print.

Van Laar, Timothy. "Printmaking: Editions as Artworks." Journal of Aesthetic Education 14.4 (1980): 97-102. Print.

Wallace, Michael, and Arne L. Kalleberg. "Industrial Transformation and the Decline of Craft: The Decomposition of Skill in the Printing Industry, 1931-1978." American Sociological Review 47.3 (1982): 307-24. Print.

"What Is a Print?" MoMA | The Museum of Modern Art. Web. 22 Nov. 2009.

Since then (this includes web-pages that just inspire me):

Allen-Gibson, Summer. "Make Do and Mend." Web Log post. Design Is Mine:. Blogspot, 4 Mar. 2008. Web. Winter 09/10. .

Dewar, Heather. Human Activity and the Environment: Annual Statistics. Rep. no. 16-201-XWE. Statistics Canada, 9 June 2009. Web. Spring 2010. .

"Endangered Species - Why Are Endangered Species Important?" Web. Spring 2010. .

Lee, Marshall. Bookmaking: Editing, Design, Production. New York: Norton, 2004. Print.

Levine, Faythe, and Cortney Heimerl. Handmade Nation: the Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2008. Print.

Mazzotti, Frank J. The Value of Endangered Species: the Importance of Conserving Biological Diversity. Rep. no. SSWIS14. University of Florida, Sept. 2008. Web. Spring 2010. .

"Net Called Great Threat to Rare Species." MSN News. The Associated Press, 21 Mar. 2010. Web. Spring 2010. .

Pearson, David. Books as History: the Importance of Books beyond Their Texts. London: British Library, 2008. Print.

"Scratch Foam Block Printing (plus a Few Bonus Auction Project Tips)." Web Log post. Glittergoods (a Sparkly Life). TypePad, 16 Apr. 2009. Web. Winter 09/10.

I'm sure I've got more that I've looked at and have influenced me so I'll be looking for those over the next few days as well as looking for more new sources. Well that's it for now :)