Bookbinding 101: L. Reece

Another teacher, L. Reece, is an elementary art educator in the Olathe School District.  I think it is great she took the course and plans to teach some of her young students bookbinding techniques as well!  I particularly liked her Accordion Flag book she created in class based on the artist Keith Jacobshagen.

Bookbinding 101: T. Kennedy

T. Kennedy is another Liberty HS teacher who created some great books during the course and after for her assignment.  I like how the flag book turned out with the family photos.  

books T. Kennedy made in class over weekend

Custom designed book about her family...

with Flag Accordion Technique

Side view of technique

Bookbinding 101: D. Martin

Another one of my students in the December class... she even invented her own sewing technique based on some of the ones she learned!  All works in this post are by D. Martin from Liberty HS.

Her Coptic Stitch book #2 -one she created on her own at home!  Not an easy task, but she did it!  If any are interested in my Coptic Stitch Tutorial on the Art House Co-op Website, here is the link:

http://arthousecoop.tumblr.com/tagged/Tip+Jar+Thursdays/page/2

(currently it's on page 2 of their Tip Jar Thursday... Just look for my name, and Oct. 11 2012 post!)

multiple samples D. made in class

pieces that D. Martin created on her own at home - looks like many sketchbooks to share!

her own binding technique after learning the basics!

sample from her book she created about the Principles and Elements of Art for her students - and I believe they were going to make some of their own too!

Bookbinding 101, Dec. 14-16 2012

I taught a basic beginning bookbinding course Dec. 14-16 with a few complicated stitches added.  The basic techniques were a Zine based on Van Gogh, Accordion fold books (simple and flag), Japanese Stab Binding, Signature and Coptic Stitch.  Class participants really exceeded my expectations and were a fun, enthusiastic group to work with.  Here are some of their finished pieces (from class and then studio work from home) - more to follow in future posts!:

Soft bound examples of Stab Binding techniques by K. Meneses, Ft. Osage Art Teacher

Soft bound pamphlet and Coptic stitch examples by K. Meneses, Ft. Osage HS

BEAUTIFUL flag book based on Aboriginal Art - sample made in class - by K. Meneses; idea was for teachers to create a flag book based on an artist or genre of art or art movement.  K chose Aboriginal art and I found her finished piece to really stand out!

Hard bound examples from class, K. Meneses, Ft. Osage HS

Completed books on own time for studio component of class, K. Meneses, Ft. Osage HS

K chose a theme of recycled materials for her new books - really fun ideas she came up with!

'Sound of Music' Flag Accordion book by K. Meneses, Ft. Osage HS

'Sound of Music' Flag Accordion book (detail) by K. Meneses, Ft. Osage HS

Crushed Paper and Memory

The next project dealt with creating mixed media drawings based on memory.  First the teachers drew a crushed piece of paper from observation with full value.  The next part of the activity is that they had to study their drawing for a few minutes along with their crushed paper.  Then they put these two items aside and created abstract drawings/images from memory, trying to keep the drawing in same scale.  The results varied and it was great to see how each person's personality came through when working form memory.  (Images #5 and 6 by B.B. were either for this or later tool project; I really liked the abstract quality of these images - very Picasso/surrealist-esque - but cannot remember which project they were for!  Sorry B.B!)

Mixed Media Drawing class: Collage Drawings (finished)

You can see how line, texture, pattern, and rhythm plays into each drawing.  And how important it is to emphasize that the more mark making one does, the more lines, layered, detailed you can be, the better... (only a few of the finished pieces... if you were in my class and have an image of your finished piece, please email it to me; I'll add it to the blog!)

Mixed Media Drawing Class: Collage Drawings (in process)

I took random images from an old encyclopedia/nature book.  The images emphasized patterns and interesting textures on objects.  The teachers had to take one of these images, collage them somewhere on their page, and be inspired by them to continue/create a drawing around their image.  These first set of photos are as the teachers are working...