Isabelle Walek

​On June 22, 1956 Ann Hamilton was born. She was raised in Ohio and still lives there today with her husband, Michael Mercil, who is an artist as well. She graduated with a degree in textile design at the University of Kansas and an MFA in sculpture at Yale. She began to grow as a visual artist in the 1980’s and is known for her large-scale multimedia installations. She has also taught in the art department in California and in Ohio. Through her life she became fascinated with reading, the relationship between things, photography, and performance. "I read a lot of books. The reading is not only to gather information but looking for the way a thing is said. I don't have a studio. Reading is my main process when I'm not on site on a project” Ann Hamilton told Hunter Drohojowska-Philp. These elements that struck her interest, along with the talents from her degree, made her the wide ranged artist she is today.
In 1989, Ann Hamilton collaborated with Kathryn Clark for an installation called palimpsest, which was part of the larger exhibition “Strange Attractors: Signs of Chaos." The installation was created in two part, in two different rooms in the exhibition. In a display window facing outside The New Museum of Contemporary Art, the first display of palimpsest was shown.  The walls were covered with block-printed texts that used shoe polish as ink. In the center, a tall stool was placed under a broken wire and a felt hat sat on the stool covered in beeswax and graphite. In the second room inside, the air was turned on high and the smell of the beeswax filled up the room. Covering the walls were small pieces of newsprint with memories written on them. With the air on high, these pieces of paper shook and fluttered. In the center of the room was a display case with 2 cabbages inside, slowing being eaten by snails. This installation was intended to show the visitors the loss of memory and the memories we experience. 

​In the summer of 1994, at the Ruth Bloom Gallery in Santa Monica, California, Ann Hamilton came out with a book series. Her performance piece, lineament, consisted only of plywood walls, a seat, table, light projector, and a woman cutting strips of text out of a prepared book and winding them, creating a ball of text. In front of the woman lays all of the balls of text on the table and the book she is cutting from. These balls turned into unfinished letters. “The piece aimed to link the process of breaking text and making it into a textile” (Drohojowska-Philp). This shows the process of an artist and the visitor can see the process through her silhouette on the wall from the projector. Before the installation, Ann Hamilton pre-cut the pages of the books into strips so they can just be torn out and balled together more easily during the installation. The act of destroying about 40 books to create something new is a bold statement; watching her do this over and over again enhances the meaning of it into something much greater. 

​Today, Ann Hamilton continues to share her talents today. Her most recent project, Side by Side, was shown at the Contemporary Textile Art Biennial in  Guimarães, Portugal in 2018. Not only does she live for telling stories, but she aches to hear the stories of those that she crosses paths with. 

Francisco Garcia 
 
            José Guadalupe Posada Aguilar was a Mexican political printmaker, engraver and a cartoonist when photo-mechanical technology was at its beginning stages. He was born in Aguascalientes Mexico, February 2, 1852 and died in January 20, 1913. His life can be divided into three stages: Aguascalientes 1852-1872; León 1872-1889 (with 1888 as a year of transition), Mexico City 1889-1913.
 
            His work has influenced many Latin American artist because of his political messages and social engagement. He created art work with skulls also known as “calaveras”, and bones to make political and cultural critiques. Amongst his famous works one that is well known is the infamous “La Catrina”. Some of the Artist and muralist that he influenced amongst Mexico were Diego Rivera, Alfaro Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco, Frida Kahlo and Jean Charlot. In 1925 Charlot wrote a  “Revista de Revistas” article. Charlot thought the art of José Posada, was connective to Mexico’s history and influential to the modern Mexican art movement. Charlot had a working relationship with one of the most important muralist in Mexico which was Diego Rivera. I believe it is worth mentioning that Jean Charot painted  a mural in the administration building at the time (1951), at Arizona State College (ASU) named “Hopi Snare Dance and Preparing Anti-Venom Serum”it measures 25 x 25 feet.
 
            One of the key publications that highlighted Jose Posada was “Mexican Folkways” which was a Mexico City based magazine published from 1925-1937. The magazine was in Spanish and English and  founder/publisher was Frances Toor. Jean Charlot was also her art editor from 1924-1926 and Diego Rivera, became the magazine's art editor in 1926. In the 1928 edition, with cover art by Rivera, the first significant article about José Guadalupe Posada appeared to have been written by Frances Toor.
 
            Another great legacy that Jose Posada left was the inspiration  to the creation of  the “Taller Editorial de Gráfica” (Popularthe Printmaking workshop) which was founded in 1937 by a group of artists who had supported the goals of the Mexican Revolution. Its founders built off a rich tradition of printmaking in Mexico, particularly the legacy of Jose Posada.Additionally, the community of artists in which they associated and collaborated would have an influence on Posada’s growing notoriety thus, begins the resurrection of Posada in the 1920s after his death.
 
            Many of the Mexican Muralist that rose out of the Mexican Revolution were inspired by the works of Posada. Some of the muralist traveled to different parts of the world such as Europe, South America, and America and created works with the same revolutionary spirit. 
 
During the Franklin Roosevelt the New Deal was made to cultivate the U.S. economic health and one of the important pieces was to promote arts and culture. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were amongst the first artist from Mexico to be invited and create art works in the country. Diego Rivera created murals for the Rockefeller Center in New York, The Art Institute in San Francisco, and Detroit Institute of Arts Museum in Michigan to name a few. Alfaro Siqueiros was also invited also created political murals in California in what we know as the “Placita Olvera” on Olvera St in Downtown Los Angeles. The mural he created was named “America Tropicana” which was controversial at the time and was white washed. That mural was one of the murals that inspired muralist during the Chicano Renaissance in the 1960’s. Leading the biggest Mexican American art movements in U.S. history. Many of the artist that came from the Chicano Art movement were creating printmaking, public artwork, paintings, sculptures, photographs, political posters, for social justice. It is amazing to me to see the influence and impact that someone's art can have generations to come.  
 

 
 

The theme of the family is also seen in the painting of Ucchin's <Village>  painted in 1957.
Most of the material that Ucchin liked to appear in this painting which corresponds to the early works. The sun, mountains, trees, birds, cows, and dogs were portrayed as a family. The man with a mustache who looks like an artist himself and the family living in a crowded house in the lower part of the house are living peacefully and peacefully with animals expressing intimately.

Ucchin Chang, Village, 40.5×27.5cm, 1957

In 1976, "The Family" painted the family members outside the house. This painting features a screen composition and a simple expressive technique. It is a work of simplicity that comes from an unconventional composition rather than a formative inquiry that pursues a strong color contrast or a simple screen composition. Above all, on a special occasion, a composition makes a nostalgia, just like taking a memorial photo away from home.

Ucchin Chang, The Family, 13.7x17cm, 1976

​In addition to the oil paintings that are considered as representative works of the family series, there are drawings that can find the love of Urchin's family. It is freehand drawing regardless of forms and materials. In 1972, when people see simple drawings of a family member drawn by a magic marker, people can feel the unfamiliar appearance of him. The drawing shows his view toward his family as a father rather than a painter.​ These drawings show simple, candid and warm wit for his family. 

Ucchin Chang, drawings, 1972

Although the drawing took a short time to draw, it expresses only the characteristics of family members with a simple and clear line. It is a drawing that shows the intuition and painting characteristics of him.  Freedom that is not tied to a particular material has transformed the magic marker into a material that expresses rich colors and vibrant paintings. The work attitude of Ucchin, who was alert to fixation in a certain frame when painting, overlaps with the attitude of life that has tried to have a more flexible and free mind.

Whenever I see Ucchin's family series, I think of my father who died seven years ago. Father always showed mercy and infinite love to his family, but he always had responsibility. I can not feel my father's love directly from him now, but I am comforted by the words and paintings that Ucchin did.
Ucchin Chang, a painter, said, "I love my family more than anyone else. The fact that love is understood through painting is different from the others. " But now I know that Jang 's family love is not different from our family love. His painting is a language of love that anyone can understand.


​

References:

                  - Chang Ucchin Museum of Art Yangju City (2014), Chang Ucchin, p.66, p.67, p.75
                  - http://www.yangju.go.kr/changucchin/
                  - https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=3576993&cid=58862&categoryId=58878


​

The 16th century was known as the century of great herbals when the dedicated study of herbalism flourished. This allowed for many books to be created based on fieldwork and scientific fact. At around 1507, a German physician and botanist, Leonhart Fuchs, began his greatest work, unbeknownst at the time, that would take 35 years to make and it would make him known as “The Third of the German Fathers of Botany (Glasgow, 2002).”  During his 35-year span of research, he studied about 497 plants, jotting down their uses, descriptions, and medicinal purposes as well as borrowing research from previous herbals. During this time, Fuchs also grew all of these plants in his own garden, which allowed him to first-hand observe them. This let him create the most accurate drawings of these plants that anyone had ever seen before. Before his first-hand observation, a lot of illustrations of plants in herbals were inaccurate due to people using the same images for various plants or mislabeling them since a lot of people had never actually seen them.

In 1542, Fuchs research was published in Basel, Switzerland by Michael Isingrin as the Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes (Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants). An herbal of 896 pages which contained over 511 woodcut illustrations that were illustrated by Albercht Meyer, the illustrations were transferred to woodblocks by Heinrich Füllmaurer, and they were cut and printed by Rudolph Speckle. The book was first published in Latin and Greek, but it was quickly published to German. “During Fuchs' lifetime, the herbal and its various abridgments went through 39 printings in Latin, German, French, Spanish, and Dutch (Stanford University Press, n.d).” It wasn’t until 20 years after he died that it was finally published in English. All of the plants in all editions are organized alphabetically by their Greek names.

This book brought a lot of firsts for its time. It became known as the best-illustrated book of all time by the Stanford University Press, it is regarded as the most beautiful of all printed herbals, and it is the most accurate for identification purposes. It is the very first book to ever publish about plants from the Americas like pumpkin, maize, marigold, potatoes, tobacco, and chili peppers were described for the first time in this book.  It is also the very first book to illustrate over 100 species of plants for the first time and the first to include portraits of both the author and the illustrators. Later on, a smaller pocket-sized version of this book was created to improve on the identification of plants out in the field.

 As of today, there are only 150 surviving copies, where 54 of them are hand-colored copies of the first edition and 2 of them are a handsome boxed set. The last recorded book to be sold was in 1997 and it was sold for $17,000. Both the University of Cambridge’s Digital Library and the Smithsonian Library provide a digital copy of this book to the public. These digital copies show the beauty of both books in two forms. The University of Cambridge’s copy is a hand painted copy of the book that was donated by King George I, while the Smithsonian’s copy is a regular copy that has not been hand painted.
​

Erin Kuhn

This research is formulated around the narration of pillows, the historical materials used in it’s aesthetic make-up, and how it has been conceptualized in the contemporary art world today. Though the pillow is used as a universal comforting object, the history of pillows and its cultural differences may shock you. 
We can find the oldest pillows date back to around 7,000 BC in ancient Mesopotamia. Made of stone the pillow becomes anything, but comforting compared to our fluffy pillows today (inspired after the Greeks and Romans). Though they might have kept the bugs away, the idea of sleeping on a cold stone seems torturous, depending on how tired you are. In Egypt they were made out of wood, carved with hieroglyphics, and illustrated with depictions of gods to keep away bad spirits. 

In China they used many different materials from wood, jade bamboo and ceramic. The different materials were believed to hold some healing effect upon the sleeper. Jade’s hard surface was used to heighten the sleepers intellect. Where soft pillows were believed to steal a person’s energy from them. Ceramic pillows take further consideration into aesthetics. The ornate figures and forms holding up the structure was used as a symbol to portray a person’s status. China painting was used to decorate and illustrate the forms further.  ​

​This ceramic pillow, from the Jin Dynasty, illustrates a poem. ‘The wind rustles flowers under a snow white moon’. The decoration was clearly meant to be seen and discussed, even though placed in an intimate and private area.Most of the ceramic pillows from this era were of lounging women. Never would a man be caught lounging 

​This cizhou ceramic pillow was illustrated in a manner the appropriated the domesticated gender rolls. It’s this specific narration of the pillows that I am focused on in my research. A woman owned this pillow to remind them of their maternal roll in the bedroom. The pillow being associated with a women and a feminist views on contemporary culture today. The activities of a woman’s marital role has change in the past hundred years. Even the maternal expectations of a young women getting pregnant has changes. All of these topics of conversations were once pointedly illustrated on these ceramic pillows. Though the feminist research of pillows related to a feminist identity is a continuation of my work it is still something I am learning about. This current research leads me into talking about, the context behind the body of a pillow used in other artist working in the contemporary arts. ​

.  Mika Negishi Laidlaw is a Japanese, artist who specializes in complex ceramics. Her ceramic pillows capture a surreal weightlessness to the physical body of the material and form. The contradiction to our minds eye. Her work primarily centers around this idea of “Unconditional Love” and “Memory of Cells”. The time she had spent nurturing and caring for her children is a strong relations to the form and figure of her work. These ceramic pillows balancing onto of each other and embracing these colorful organic forms clearly demonstrates this. I wonder if Mika realizes that the historical background of the chinese ceramic pillows has a strong relationship to her current work. In that the ceramic pillow was used to illustrate a woman’s nurturing maternal role. 

By Ren Ta 

Dó paper is Vietnamese traditional hand-made paper that first presented itself to Vietnam in the 3rd century; however, its origins began in the 13th century.  It is a resilient, chemical-free paper, that is so durable, it could last up to 800 years. This type of paper was commonly used in Vietnamese folk art, with such artists like the legendary painter Dong Ho as a user of this paper.  Since the rapid industrialization and urbanization that has been continually occurring in Vietnam, the craft of traditional paper making has halted. The lack of desire for this process of papermaking has created a project to inform the community about the art of this paper. The Zo project has really brought back the cultural dynamics of papermaking and informed many on the ethnical ties that this paper has to the Vietnamese culture. 

Dó paper is made from the bark of the Rhamnoneuron balansae tree, which the Vietnamese call the Dó tree found in the Northern parts of Vietnam. Behind the paper itself, there is a process of over 100 steps to get it to be the paper that it is. However, the modern day process has made it attainable within ten steps. Since this process is made of all raw material, those materials have to be collected, harvested, and steamed. After that, the bark of the Dó tree is boiled with a 12% lime solution and continuously mixed. From there, the bark is then beaten by an oak stick so that the fibers could be loosened. Onwards, the pulp from the beating, water, and "mo" are throughly stirred into a mixture, in which the mixture would be shaken back and forth evenly on a bamboo screen (liềm seo). The water from the pulp would then be drained and repeated for a desired thickness. Finally, the water should be all pressed out, sheets should be stripped apart, and left to dry out in the sun. The paper could also be colored by fresh plants as well. 

Now-a-days, the Dó paper is at risk of extinction. Modern day urbanization and the shortage of Dó sets back the already so rare production of Dó paper. On top of that, Dó paper is only seasonally produced because it is only good to harvest in between August and October when the bark strips itself away from the tree. What once used to employ a whole village of people is now the labor of only two important families that are willing to keep the tradition of heritage alive, Mr. Pham Van Tam and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong being one of those families have more than 20 varieties of Dó paper in their store. They reside in the Bac Ninh province, famously known as Phong Khe village. This village is now being taken over for industrial paper production, resulting in the lessening of Dó paper. 

Dong Ho painting called "Rat Wedding" His traditional folk paintings usually include every-day activities and farmers religious routines painted on Dó ​ paper. 

Dó paper being flattened out by shaking back and forth on the bamboo screen. 

Citations.
1. http://zopaper.com/do-paper-making-process/
2. https://www.vietnamonline.com/culture/dong-ho-paintings.html
3. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160817-the-handmade-paper-that-lasts-800-years
4. https://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/art-entertainment/159872/stories-behind-vietnam-s-traditional-do-paper.html
5. ​http://zopaper.com/general-informations-on-do-paper/
6. http://zopaper.com/do-paper-made-by-phong-khe-village/

Qingyun Zou
​The five major philosophical schools in ancient China
1. Confucianism
Confucianism is the most influential school in ancient China. As a manifestation of the inherent value system of China, Confucianism is not an academic or a school in the usual sense.
Confucianism has a profound influence on Chinese culture. For thousands of years, the society has taught the four books and the Five Classics. The traditional sense of responsibility, moderation, and loyalty and filial piety are the result of the combination of Confucianism and authoritarian rule. Therefore, Confucianism is the mainstream thought along with the contemporary.

​2. Legalist
The Legalist is a political spokesperson for civilians during the Warring States Period. As a major faction, they have put forward the ideas and concepts of the rule of law that still have far-reaching influence. This is easy to see that they pay great attention to the legal system and the law, using law as a kind of compulsory tool for organizing social rule. These ideas embodying the construction of the legal system, have been used until now, and have become the main ruling means for the centralists to stabilize social unrest. The birth of contemporary Chinese law is influenced by the thought of Legalism. The legalist, cultural, and moral constraints of a country are still very strong, and the impact on the modern legal system is also profound.

​3.Taoist
In the Spring and Autumn Period time, Laozi gathered the wisdom of the ancient sages. Taoist sums up the essence of ancient Taoist thoughts and forms a moral theory of "doing nothing for nothing", which indicates that Taoist thought has been formally formed.
Taoism takes "Tao" as the core, believes that Heaven and Taoism is inaction, advocates Taoism and nature, and proposes political and military strategies such as inaction, female protects male, use softness to fight with doughty.
It is one of the most important philosophical schools in China is in the cultural fields of China and has a tremendous impact on the culture of China and the world. A large number of Chinese and foreign scholars have begun to notice and draw on the positive thoughts of Taoism. Therefore, scholars say: "Taoism can be seen as a great product of the Chinese nation. It is the center of national thought, and there are many people who see it as a benevolent person. It is said that the people use it without knowing the temperament."

​4. Mohist
The main ideas of the Mohist School are: equal love among people, opposition to war of aggression, promotion of thrifty, inherit the cultural wealth of predecessors, master the natural law and so on.
Because of the unique political attributes of the Mohist thought, and the official and collusive policies of the Western Han Dynasty Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "the slogan of the unique Confucianism", the Mohist family was constantly suppressed and gradually lost the realistic foundation of the existence of the Mohist thoughts; At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, scholars re-excavated the Mohist family from the pile of paper, and found its progressiveness. In recent years, through the efforts of many new ink-makers, the Mohist theory has recovered, and it has shown its potential for progress.

5．Military
The military family is a school that studied military theory in China in the early Qin and early Han dynasties and engaged in military activities. It is the essence of the ancient Han military thought. One of the hundred families. According to the "Han·Yi Wen Zhi" records, the military family is divided into four categories: military power, military situation, soldiers, yin and yang, and military skill. Representatives of the military family include Sun Wu and Sima Yi in the Spring and Autumn Period, Sun Wei, Wu Qi, Yan, Zhao Lux, Bai Qi, Han Liang, Zhang Han, Han Xin, etc. Today, there are military books such as "The Art of War", "Sun Bing's Art of War", "Wu Zi", "Six ", "Xunzi" and so on. The military family's works are rich in naive materialism and dialectic thinking.
Sophistry, or debate itself, is a methodology. More precisely, the debate is a method of argumentation. Its fundamental feature is a distorted argument. The sophistry is different from arbitrary and rumors. There is no reason at all for arbitrariness. People treat it as a strong word; rumors are made out of nothing, sounds malicious. However, when being argued about its truth, it always needs a lot of "bases" to prove it. So, it can always confuse people.

Famous Debate Stories:
You Are Not a Fish
Zhuangzi and his friend Hui Shi walked on a bridge in Surabaya.
Zhuangzi looked at the squid in the water and said, "The squid is leisurely in the water. This is the joy of the fish."
Keiko said: "You are not a fish, how do you know the happiness of the fish?"
Zhuangzi said: "You are not me, how do you know that I don't know the happiness of the fish?"
Keiko said: "I am not you, I didn't know you. You are not a fish. You don't know the happiness of the fish. It is completely OK."
Zhuangzi said: "Please return to the topic we started. You said: 'Where do you know the happiness of the fish', etc., I already know that I know the joy of the fish and ask me, I know it on the banks of the Lishui River. "
 
White Horse is not a Horse (sophistry)
Guest: Can you say that white horse is not a horse?
Gong Sunlong: Yes.
Guest: Why?
Gong Sunlong: "Horse" is the regulation of the "shape" of the object, and "White Horse" is the regulation of the "color" of the horse. The regulations on the "color" and the prescriptiveness on the "shape" are obviously different. Therefore, the result of different regulations on different concepts, white horse and horse are also different.
Guest: Here is a white horse. It cannot be said that no horse is here. Since it can't be said that there is no horse, then isn't the white horse a horse? Since there are white horses called horses, why are white horses not horses?
Gong Sunlong: If you ask for a "horse", both the yellow horse and the black horse can meet the requirements; if you ask for a "white horse", the yellow horse and the black horse cannot meet the requirements. If the white horse is a horse, then asking for a horse is exactly the same as asking for a white horse. However, if there is no difference between asking for a horse and asking for a white horse, then why do yellow horses and black horses sometimes agree to have horses instead of agreeing to have white horses? "Since you can promise to have a horse and you can't promise a white horse." This clearly shows that asking for a "horse" is completely different from asking for a "white horse." Therefore, the same yellow horse or black horse can promise to have a horse, and can not promise a white horse. "This is to say that the original "White Horse is a horse" hypothesis cannot be established." Therefore, "white horse is different from horse" is a clear truth.
Guest: As you can see, it is different from a horse to have a color. But there are no colorless horses in the world. So, can you say that horses with colors in the world are not horses?
Gong Sunlong: Ma has a color, so there is a white horse. If the horse has no color, there is only a "horse". How can it be called a white horse? However, the horse that stipulates that the horse is white is different from the "horse". The so-called white horse is limited to white, and the horse that is limited to white is different from the horse. Therefore, the white horse is not a horse.
Guest: Ma, is a horse that is not limited by "white"; white is white that is not limited by "horse". It is certainly not possible to combine the two concepts of white and horse to define and become a new concept to call an unrestricted concept. Therefore, it is wrong to think that a white horse is not a horse.
Gong Sunlong: As you can see, there are horses in the white horse, but can you say "Is there a yellow horse in the white horse?"
Guest: Of course you can't say that.
Gong Sunlong (the answerer again): Since acknowledging that "there is a difference between having a horse and having a yellow horse" is to distinguish the yellow horse from the horse. This means that the yellow horse is not a horse; since the yellow horse is separated from the horse Come, instead of equating the white horse with the horse, isn’t this just a bird that sinks into the water and makes it so funny in the West? This is a complete logical mess.
Gong Sunlong: I think that there is no white horse to say that there is no horse. This is not to consider the "white horse" but the horse shape. However, "White Horse" is a concept of "cannot be separated" with horses. Therefore, the concept of a white horse cannot be called a horse. Therefore, what is called a "horse" is simply called a horse in the shape of a horse, but cannot be called a horse in a white horse. Therefore, the concept of a horse is not a concept of any specific colored horse.
White is not limited to the whiteness of any kind of thing. The specific thing does not hinder the essence of "white" as "white", so it can be ignored. White horse is a horse limited to white. White (such as white horses) limited to specific things is different from abstract, general "white." "The same reason", "horse" is not limited to which color, so yellow horses and black horses can count; white horses are limited to white horses, yellow horses and black horses have "white horses" Different colors can't count. Therefore, only White Horse can count. "In other words, only White Horse can agree to the concept of "White Horse". Both Huang Ma and Dark Horse can't agree with the concept of "White Horse". The concept of unqualified is different from the concept of being limited. So, there is a difference between white horse and horse.
 
Divide Strength and White
I can't see the stone's strength, I can only see the white color of the stone, so "no strength". My hand can't feel the white color of the stone, it can only feel the stone's strong, so "no white"; when you see white, you can't feel its Strength, when I can't see the white, I feel strong, seeing and not seeing, and the result is separated. It is inferred that the "strength" and "white" in the "stone" cannot coexist, so they are separated from each other.

References：
​https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%AF%B8%E5%AD%90%E7%99%BE%E5%AE%B6/16808
​https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%A3%E5%93%B2%E7%90%86%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B%E5%A4%A7%E8%A7%82

Art has a unique power to bring abstract scientific concepts into a tangible experience. I am interested in presenting my research and imagery from this semester as an interactive installation in which the participants learn about the topics and are then given a chance to practice what they have learned. Borrowing from examples of scientific studies and psychological art works, I plan to spend next semester building a show that is both educational and experiential.
 
Last summer I was fortunate enough to encounter Ozge Samanci’s and Gabriel Caniglia’s You Are the Ocean in SIGGRAPH’s Art Gallery:
 
“A participant wears an EEG (Electroencephalography) headset that measures the user’s approximate attention and meditation levels via brain waves. Through relaxation and concentration, the subject can control the water and sky.”*

Controlling the landscape through brainwaves was an incredible and impactful experience, but I have since been dreaming of how much more impactful it would be to watch a real-time rendering of another’s emotional response as I attempt to empathize with them. I recently discovered Guto Requena’s Mapped Empathy, a large, CNC structure with projected light and sound that maps the heartbeats of interactors:
 
“In each session, guests’ heartbeats are recorded in real time at the touch of a finger via sensors installed on the bench. This vital data is sent to speakers and lights that transform the architecture into a large sculpture of emotions. At the beginning of the session every individual heartbeat can be heard, and then they gradually mix and transform into a symphony driven by the vibrant pulse of life.”**
 
The artist was inspired by the quote, “empathy is feeling with the heart of another.”**

The combined concepts and techniques of You Are the Ocean and Mapped Empathy reminded me of one of my favorite studies on validation and emotional state. In a 2011 social experiment conducted by Allan Fruzzetti and Chad Shenk, participants were divided into two groups and were all given math problems that appeared easy but were actually impossible to solve. Stress levels were measured before the participants were given the problems and then after solving the problems was attempted, via EEG. As would be expected, stress levels rose as the participants became frustrated with the task. Participants in both groups were asked how they were doing by the test administrator; they generally responded to indicate frustration and anxiety. The test administrator in one group assured participants that everyone got stressed and their emotional responses were normal, while the administrator in the other group told participants that their responses were unusual and most people found the problems easy. Stress levels were measure by EEG once again: the stress of the validated group began to drop closer to the levels before the task was presented, but stress levels of the invalidated group continued to rise. Validation/empathy acted to regulate the heightened emotional state and give the stressed person the ability to be calm.***
 
Next semester I plan to use this research as inspiration for an interactive installation that will allow participants to learn empathy and validation techniques, practice what they learned by listening to the stories of a fellow participant, and see real time renderings of how their empathy and validation (or non-empathy and invalidation) affect the emotional state of the other.
 
* https://s2018.siggraph.org/conference/conference-overview/art-gallery/  
**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSkSprG138E  
***https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/pdf/10.1521/jscp.2011.30.2.163?download=true

Chelsey Boyle
​
This research is focused on Bruce Licher, who is a musician, artist, entrepreneur, and designer currently based in Sedona, Arizona. Licher was originally born in Los Angeles where he attended the UCLA Fine Arts Department and studied various art forms such as film, photography, silk screen printing, and sculpture. But while his pieces often reflect the work of a graphic designer, Bruce never studied graphic design. After graduating college, he got his start in professional printing at the Women’s Graphic Center. There, he took a letterpress class learning how to create album covers for his own band SAVAGE REPUBLIC. Licher was able to combine two of his passions and from there, he turned to printing a variety of things such as postcards, record sleeves/jackets, and so on (Licher Art and Design, n.d.). He was commissioned by many bands, especially underground LA bands. 

Following his education at the Women’s Graphic Center, in 1982, he founded the Independent Project Press (IPR) as both a record label and art experiment. Over the years he has created album covers, postcards, promotional stamps, stationary, invitations, wine labels, promotional booklets, and much more. On several occasions, Licher has also collaborated with his wife who is a visual artist. Everything produced in the Independent Project Press is printed on the Chandler and Price Platen presses or the Vandercook 219 Power Proofing Press. The shop also contains a vintage Rosback pinhole perforator and other various antique type, ornaments, paper cutters corner rounders, and sequential numbering machines. Along with that, many projects at the Independent Project Press are created from digital files that are made into magnesium, copper, or photo-polymer plates for printing on one of the many presses. (Licher, n.d.)

Bruce is well known in the letterpress community and one of the reasons he is so widely recognized as Richard Kegler says is “Bruce Licher’s Independent Project Press is a contemporary studio that has bridged technological eras and produced an unparalleled body of work. It has culled from the past while simultaneously turning it on its head with a distinct visual vocabulary that continues to influence current aesthetics” (Richard Kegler, n.d.) His graphic design and letterpress printing work has been featured “in two exhibits at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City -- the "Mixing Messages: Graphic Design in Contemporary Culture" show in 1996, and the first "National Design Triennial: Design Culture Now" show in Spring of 2000” (Licher Art and Design, n.d.).
​ 
While Bruce’s style has evolved over the years, his work is most well-known by the chipboard and metallic inks he prints with which has become his signature style. It is important to note that printing on chipboard is in no way consistent as it is made from recycled materials and thus every sheet may be different in shade, color, or texture. These inconsistencies with the chipboard make Licher’s trademark printing even more unique as each and every piece is truly different. (Yardumian, 2016). This approach to design and printing can be traced to the constructivists, dadaists, and most specifically to HN Werkman (Heller, 2018). For this signature design of his he has been nominated twice for a Grammy for his album packing. Lastly, while many trends go uncredited to the original artist, Bruce is recognized for starting the trend of using letterpress printing on chipboard.

Madison Pennisi

Named after one of the book’s many owners, Wilfrid Voynich, The Voynich Manuscript is a 9x6 inch vellum codex that dates between 1404 and 1438. (1) It is partially damaged with 240 of 272 pages intact, but is otherwise in readable condition. It was hypothesized the book is a type of medicinal guide due to its illustrations of plants, zodiac charts, and various images of women bathing. This manuscript is a famous cryptography case due to its mysterious writing system, only becoming partially deciphered last year. Up until then, armature cryptographers and WW1 and WW2 code breakers have not been able to decipher the text.

The text remains infamous for its many wild hypotheses: was it written by aliens or part of a government conspiracy?  Or was the language was completely fabricated by its author? Guesses for its language include Latin, medieval Hebrew, Malay, Arabic, and Amharic.  (2)
​
After hundreds of years of mystery, Amet Ardic, a Canadian researcher, claims the text resembles the Turkish language from his home country and was “written in a poetic, rhythmic method called "Phonemic Orthography" which describes speech visually” (3). Working with his son, he was able to translate one of the manuscript’s many astronomical calendar pages. Months like November are roughly translated into modern Turkish as “Seper Ayi” meaning “moon of rain”.  

Folio 67-R depicting the 12 months as a type of astronomical calendar.

Folio 33-v (which depicts two blue blooming flowers surrounded by text) was successfully translated; here are some notable portions:

“…the head of the plant becomes heavy and bends its head to a side and might surprisingly split the stalk.” In the accompanying illustration, you can see a wilting flower below the right flower.

“The taste of the first fruits (nuts) and the attractive appearance of the ornamented crown captivates those buying the plant and takes full control of the buyer (impressing), for even the dying person will remain impressed.”
​
“The harvester (farmer) cuts the spikes and fills the bag and barn. The buyer weighs it and feels heart warmed (satisfied).” (4)

Folio 33-V depicting three blue flowers, one of them wilted and hidden

Combined “P” and “L” making a visual representation of an “eep” sound, which translates into Turkik as “rope”. The visual depiction is rope-like. The word below translates to “measurements”, meaning the whole word is “rope measurements”.

However, Ardic’s research isn’t free from criticism. It is hypothesized that the manuscript draws from multiple languages, not just Turkish. Another team of Canadian researchers approached this book, this time with AI and Google Translate to help. Using a manmade computer algorithm, the researchers were able to identify 80% of the sampled manuscript pages as Hebrew. When it came time to decipher the phrases, they relied on Google Translate with some luck.  However, because the text is written in some form of Medieval Hebrew, and not Modern Hebrew, there is more room for error. The goal of this study was to specifically pinpoint the code and language used in the Voynich Manuscript, not to translate the entire book.
​
What could be translated and observed by studying the scrip’s illustrations reveals this text is most likely women’s health guide and herbiary. Major portions of the book are dedicated to illustrations of plants that have been identified as “native to or cultivated in the Mediterranean region, in particular, Italy”. (5) Though some of these illustrations have fantasy elements (the roots of the plant in folio 90-V are cats’ bodies), it can be understood that it is some sort of plant guide. The illustrations of round women bathing in green liquid leave more to the imagination, however. 

Citations:

1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/6-things-know-about-mysterious-voynich-manuscript-180964847/
2. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/voynich-manuscript-cipher-code-hebrew-europe-spd/
3. https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/voynich-manuscript-code-0010859
4. http://voynich-manuskript.de/ms408/index.php?id=folexi33v
5. http://www.edithsherwood.com/voynich_botanical_plants/

Yezi Dai

          In this research, I would like to talk about some history of binding books in China. As is known to all, China is a country with an ancient civilization. The records of letters appeared as early as 4000 years ago. These letters revolved over a thousand years into the Chinese we use now. Printing, paper making and bindi8ng also evolved over thousands of years. Throughout the history pf the spread of Chinese characters, from oracle to the present, the way of communication has gone through many forms such as oracle bones, bronze, bamboo, silk, carving stones, rubbings, writing and printing. Among them, the oracle bones, bronze and stone carving can be seen the predecessor of books. However, they are not book and they do not have binding.
          Jian ce binding is the earliest binding method in the true sense of China. it is a book made of bamboo and wood with holes in it. And all the pieces were connected by ropes. The title was putted in the back of the last bamboo piece. When the Jian ce was rolling up, we can see the title above the book. This kind of binding form were used during Shang and Zhou dynasties. When the paper was made and used in the book, this binding form was replaced by other binding forms.
          Then, scroll binding and folded binding went into the history. Scroll binding form consists of four parts, namely, scroll, scroll, and belt. It is similar to Jian ce binding with different materials. The head of a roll is usually attached to a piece of paper or silk called "float", which is tough and unwritten. The head is then tied with a silk "band" to protect and bind the scroll. This kind of binding always used in binding drawing and writing works. Folded binding is a long scroll, along the book space, one back and one positive fold, forming a rectangular fold. The first and last two pages of hard paper binding form. It is totally different from the two binding forms I wrote before. It seems much like the books now. The ancient Buddhists, perhaps influenced by the Buddhist sutra binding from India, prefer to use the folded folder binding.
          Then the butterfly binding and back binding appeared. These two binding methods were similar. Butterfly binding is the predecessor of back binding. In the process of long-term reading, the connected part of folding books is often broken. After breaking, there is a situation of one page and one page, which gives people enlightenment, and gradually appears the bookbinding system with pages. It appeared in the late tang dynasty and prevailed in the song dynasty. It is a binding form in which the leaves of the book are arranged according to the middle slit, the printed side is turned in and folded in half. Then the middle slit is used to align the pages of the book, stick to another wrapping paper with paste, and finally cut into a book. When people reading these kind of books, the pages just like butterfly and this is the origin of its name. However, people found that this kind of binding will make book has many white pages. Then, they change the direction of the fold. And this kind of binding is back binding.
          Finally, line binding appeared. It is a binding form in which the pages are bound together with the front and back over. It used in the recent hundreds of China. 
I really consider the traditional bindings are so amazing and they can bring me ideas to mix them with new things.
 
Reference:
https://www.sohu.com/a/203602799_562249
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/5149657014?red_tag=1859244969
http://www.sohu.com/a/201973902_292883
A book called: 《中华印刷通史》

​

Sam Fresquez
​
Xu Bing was born in Chongqing China in 1955. His mother was a librarian and his father was the head of the history department at Peking University. In 1975 the Cultural Revolution was coming to an end in China. As a part of Mao Zedong's "re-education" policy he was moved into the countryside and forced to work as a sign painter making propaganda.This experience eventually became the foundation to the work he would make. In 1977 he returned to Beijing and enrolled in the Central Academy of Fine Art to study printmaking. He earned his masters in 1987, and later in 1990, moved to the United States because of the pressure being put on artists after Tiananmen Square. He lived in the States until being appointed the new vice president of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2008. ​

Another piece he is known for is New English Calligraphy, a projected he started after living in the United States for four years. He designed characters that were made to look like Chinese but are actually made out of English words. He then gave lessons on how to write in these characters. When New English Calligraphy is displayed he often uses nursery rhymes to give an example. ​

Bibliography: 

(1) Http://www.grahamhay.com.au/paperclay.html. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.grahamhay.com.au/paperclay.html#.W-ulDXpKjMI
(2)     How to Make Paper Clay. (2018, August 02). Retrieved November 13, 2018, from https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/ceramic-supplies/pottery-clay/make-paper-clay/ 
   Tardio-Brise, L. (n.d.). PAPERCLAY. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from         http://www.terrepapier.com/paperclay-en.php 

                   Carol Farrow: http://www.carolfarrow.net
                   Sara Ransford: http://pyrogirlaspen.com
                   Angela Mellor: http://www.angelamellor.com
                   Nathalie Domingo: http://nathaliedomingo.com
                   Jerry Bennett: http://jerrybennett.net/
                   Chris Campbell: http://www.ccpottery.com
                   Thérèsa Lebrun: http://www.wcc-bf.org/membre/lebrun-thérèse

By Chayna Truex
​
​Illuminated Manuscripts are a type of book form that was used primarily during the middle ages. The word ‘manuscript’ was taken from the Latin term ‘manus scriptus’ which means ‘handwritten’. This term refers to the creation of illuminated manuscripts and the painstaking process of making these books by hand. Illuminated manuscripts date back to the 4th century the earliest being the Vergilius Augusteus which is only seven pages and many scholars believe it to be from a larger recreation of Virgil’s literature. The manor of creating illuminated manuscripts had changed significantly over the years. One can see the shift in its creation through the work of, the Ambrosian Iliad that dates back to the 5th century CE, an illuminated manuscript that details Homer’s work. Though technically this work is used to signify the shift to what many of us know as the medieval version of illuminated manuscripts; which use colors like gold, silver, and make use of bold lettering. We know a great amount about the creation of illuminated manuscripts due to their popularity though very few have survived today. It was until the 13th century that illuminated manuscripts were primarily created by monks in a place called a scriptorium. Scriptoriums were rooms that were used strictly for the many processes of creating illuminated manuscripts such as the writing, copying, binding, and illuminating of these books. The creations of illuminated manuscripts was a huge group effort that could take from months to years to finish depending on the level of detail.   The materials used in the creation of illuminated manuscripts is a bit different than what we would use in our modern books today. Illuminated manuscripts were written on animal skins until around 1450 BCE and were referred to as parchment or vellum. After the parchment was done it was then ruled or scored, so the scribe was able to write in straight lines. They then used lead based or colored ink and used a quill pen, taken from a goose or swan. The illumination was done by embellishing the drawings done by the quill, by painting over it with gold leaf. They would then use substances such as bole, which is a red clay, or sap to make the material stick. It was during this process that the illuminator would then mix pigments and add the rest of the colors to the drawing. The last process in creating the illuminated manuscript was the binding where they would fold together the parchment pages and sew them together using leather cords. They would then lace together supports taken from wood boards and cover the book in a leather binding.
Illuminated manuscripts are still a significant piece of book history and are still looked on today due to the amount of detail that was put into them. It is because of painstaking process in their creation that cause them to be studied by scholars today to understand the importance of art in the middle ages during a time before we had printing presses. It is easy for us to see today why these books were major symbols of art. “People often don’t realize that the greatest artists, the finest artists, of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are illuminated manuscripts” (Samplers).

​ 
                                                                                         Bibliography
Mark, Joshua J. “Illuminated Manuscripts.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 13 Nov. 2018, www.ancient.eu/Illuminated_Manuscripts/.
Samplers, Dropcloth, et al. “How Illuminated Manuscripts Were Created During the Middle Ages.” My Modern Met, 10 Mar. 2018, mymodernmet.com/how-to-make-medieval-illuminated-manuscripts/.
Wight. “An Introduction to Illuminated Manuscripts by the British Library.” The British Library, The British Library, 25 Aug. 2005, www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourIntroGen.asp

By Noa Paden

By Samantha Vo

BIBLIOGRAPHY

​“An Awesome Page.” , Artist - Video Sculpture Artwork and Exhibit - Nanoscapes, joantruckenbrod.com/joan-truckenbrod.html.

Cox, Donna, et al. New Media Futures The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts. University of Illinois Press, 2018.

Truckenbrod, Joan. “Biography.” Teaching Texture Mapping Visually - Page 9, 2000, www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/Truckenbrod/biography.html.

Truckenbrod, Joan, director. Joan Truckenbrod. Vimeo, 13 Nov. 2018, vimeo.com/286992423.

Wenhart, Nina. “Prehysteries of New Media.” 06/25/08, 2008, prehysteries.blogspot.com/2008/07/ruth-leavitt-artist-and-computer-1976.html.

By Zelda Hurd
​
“I hope to raise questions about these changes, the ephemeral and fragile nature in which we now obtain knowledge, and the future of books.”-Cara Barer
Cara Barer is an American Artist from Texas  born in 1956 who transforms old books into a form that is very beautiful. Barer uses books that have been abandoned and that no longer have a purpose. She has seen the shift of books and how technology is taking over the physicality of having a book. Cara hopes to make her viewers think about the fragile aspect of books. Another inspiration came from yellow pages that she saw soaked from rain on the ground outside and intrigued by the new form it created she documented the book using photography. Barer examines the books before starting her process and depending on the content she sometimes will leave the book the way it is. Barer explains that she sometimes arrives with her image by chance through experimentation, using clothing pins, curling irons, water and dye. Creating by chance and not as planned allows her to create her artworks with flow. She says that sometimes she catches herself reading the book, instead of creating art. She then captures her book sculptures with photography to document and symbolize how fragile the physicality of books are and that technology is taking over for every resource.
Cara Barer has been showcasing her work in Canada and the United States since 1994 and her most recent exhibition is called Scrapbooks. It is the first exhibition of monograph of her sculptures. She has taken memories, such as pictures, and guest traveling books, and made a book out of them, and then starts her process of turning that book of memory into something new. Her thesis for this exhibition is “ that a book is never broken, and memory never lost, only made anew with time.” This exhibition is dedicated to the flood in Houston Texas. As she continues this journey of creating abstract art with books, she hopes to capture a lot of information.
 Jacqueline Rush Lee an artist from Hawaii, has a very similar art concept as Cara Barer, she states that these books aren’t being ruined, they are given a new life. Lee creates her form using experimentation too, but she uses a kiln- firing approach. She fires each book in a different temperature and this depends on the book itself. Lee discovered that the books made in 1940s and 1950s had a better paper quality that holds up better in the heat of the kiln.  One of her books called Absolute Depth changes form before the viewer by decaying and dissolving in water, as an example of transformation. Like Barer, Lee only uses old, books and volumes that she then buys a lot of.
Both artists use books that have content, in which they gain their inspiration. Barer looks at the book before she starts her experimentation in a way of remembering the book in it’s old form before its transformation and Lee uses the content of her book for inspiration and only uses the book if the contents resonate with her.

​

by Ren Ta

Dinh Q Le. is a contemporary, fine arts photographer who is known for his works of addressing war, especially the Vietnam War, and Cambodia's influence on Vietnam. Born in 1968 in the town of Ha Tien, Vietnam, a small town that was on the near the border of Cambodia, Le lived there in turmoil and anguish for the first ten years of his life. In 1979, he escaped to Los Angeles, California from the ruthless invasion by Khmer Rouge. From there on out, he started his studies at the University of California, where he studied photography, and later graduated in 1992 with a MFA from the School of Arts, New York. Now, for half a year at a time, he lives in his four story studio in Ho Chi Minh City, where he also started an artist-run exhibition space that advocates for young Vietnamese artists. For the other half of the year, he spends in Los Angeles where the rest of his family resides. 

Divided by the upbringings of his Western life and his Vietnamese roots, Dinh Q. Le creates art that visually represents his hybrid life. In 1989, Le took a class on the Vietnam War that focused on the hardships of Americans and from there it ignited his interests in the contrasts of Vietnam and Western relations with conflict. Using these these themes of nostalgia, remembrance, and identity, his later works of photo weaving evokes all the emotions that makes him the internationally acclaimed artists that he is today. 

The intricate intertwining of photos was influenced by Dinh Q Le's aunt that taught him how to weave as a child. Le's aunt would teach him how to weave traditional Vietnamese grass mats, in which those techniques that he learned are still used today in his most famous works. It was important that Le learned these techniques at that time due to the state of conflict and anguish he was constantly in. Le lived in an area that was one of the most dangerous cities in Vietnam due to the Cambodian invaders. This trauma could easily be seen as a spark to his passion and interest in war and its relation to Vietnam. He started this photo-weaving in a series he did in 1989, where he wove himself a self portrait of large scale photos of himself and images of Italian Renaissance paintings into one. 

One of the most influential works he has ever produced is a series called Cambodia: Splendor and Darkness in 1997. It was of his signature photo weaving that included images of complex carvings found in temples from the county of Tuol Sleng, Cambodia and the devastatingly painful portraits of the victim taken by the Khmer Rouge. This series was prompted by his visitation to Angkor Wat and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum when he traveled to Cambodia after he returned to Vietnam for the first time since his flee. He was amazed and at the same time appalled by the distinguishable contrast between the beautiful temples of the Khmer Empire and the cruel history that Cambodia represented centuries later. 

Now-a-days, DInh Q. Le collects historic artifacts as much as he can and incorporates it into his recent artworks. This series is called Crossing the Farther Shore, where he displays photographs from the the 1940s-1980s. The juxtaposition of the photographs are meant to be given off as a display of a collection of data and how the Southern Vietnamese people were living like. The images are only of few records that have slipped out of the North Vietnamese' communist governments grasp as a way to erase the history of the South during the pre-1975 era. 

Bibliography 

"Dinh Q. Le (Vietnamese- American, b. 1968)." Gund Gallery, http://www.thegundgallery.org/2015/02/dinh-q-le/.

Kolesnikov-Jessop, Sonia. “How Vietnamese Artist Dinh Q Lê Manages to Create Beauty with Tragedy.” Prestige Online - Society's Luxury Authority, Hubert Burda Media, 22 May 2018, prestigeonline.com/sg/art-culture/-/beauty-tragedy-artist-dinh-q-le-captures-cambodias-dark-past/.

​“Dinh Q. Lê.” ArtAsiaPacific: Bharti Kher, artasiapacific.com/Magazine/85/DinhQLe.

Bibliography 
​
Behrens, Roy. “The Gift of Gabberjabbs.” Print, vol. 51, no. 1, 1997, pp. 64–71

Derrida, Jacques. “Living on.” Deconstruction & Criticism. New York: Continuum, 1979, pp. 75
76.

Hamady, Walter. For the Hundredth Time &Quot;Gaebboerjabb Number (5) Five&Quot; : 12
&Amp; 17 November 1980 : Journal Liftings. Perishable Press, 1981.

Lydon, Mary. "The Trojan Horse of Art: Walter Hamady, the Perishable Press Limited and "Gabberjabbs 1-6"." Visible Language, vol. 25, no. 2, 1991, pp. 151. ProQuest. 

​By Kenna Connelly

Independent bookstores offer the opportunity for readers to receive an experience that is not offered at large book-selling chains like Barnes and Noble or Amazon, which tend to highlight the already popular reading selection. When referring to business, “independent” refers to a bookstore that operates within the scope of one or two stores and is usually exclusive to one locality. Many of these bookstores sell literature and zines from local authors and artists, and provide an exceptionally inclusive space for all voices to tell their stories.

An example of inclusive bookstores are Quimby’s, and Women and Children First, both located in Chicago, Illinois. Quimby’s specializes in alternative comics, graphic novels, obscure small-press books and, “...in particular, photocopied, self-published zines”. Women & Children First is known for its’ diverse and queer-friendly selection of literature, and is women-owned and operated.

Within these spaces, one can see just by the covers of these books that this is no ordinary bookstore. Looking at the shelves, there are professionally published indie books, hand-bound artist books, and stapled-together zines that all tell and illustrate stories with both vulnerability and freedom. In addition to the difference in the tactile quality of these books, the stories they share are also different. There is a deep honesty about experiences- mundane and intense alike. ​

A peek into Quimby's Bookstore:

Bibliography

https://www.womenandchildrenfirst.com/wcf-history-and-purpose
https://www.quimbys.com/
http://www.afsaadmin.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Creating-an-Inclusive-Environment-handout.pdf

Merryn Alaka


        Alisa Banks is a full time visual artist whose work confronts memory, tradition, and notions of home, place and self. Growing up as a black woman in the 60’s and 70’s, Banks work often incorporates fibers materials and found objects that reflect on personal experiences, and cross-cultural tones of intolerance during that time period. Banks received her BS from Oklahoma State University and later her MFA from Texas Woman’s University. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in several private and public collections. Currently Banks resides in Dallas, Texas. 
       Cotton, doilies, wood, silk and synthetic hair are all materials Alisa Banks interlaces within and throughout books, transforming them into meticulously crafted, intimate sculptural objects. Underlying themes of identity and cultural memories are commonly explored through Banks’ repurposed books. In a series of work titled “Edges”, the artist elaborately crochets synthetic hair to the edges of each page of the book. Presented open faced the transformed book resembles a half circle, embodying a gravity defying, frizz prone, African hairstyle. The series of four books presents four different hairstyles of traditional African braiding techniques. The hair fibers create textures against the pages while simultaneously embellishing the edges of the pages symbolizing “ the marginal, the end, the between, and duality.” Banks states, “the hair treatment symbolizes how much activity, creativity, and life happens at the ‘edges’ of mainstream society, regardless of whether or not it is recognized…” Growing up during a time period of racial integration, Banks edge series captures the tones of intolerance faced during the 60’s and 70’s and even today when regarding immigration status. 

       ​Continuing on her research about the manner in which black hair has been politicized throughout history, Banks creates an altered book entitled “Bad Hair”. She uses an old Texas Law book but alters the interior creating a flag book. Conceptually, the flags mimic locs or braids and their unruly aesthetic as perceived by white dominated workplaces. For many women in the 60’s and 70’s natural African hairstyles were unacceptable for work environments and even regarded as unprofessional. The text within the book was taken from news articles found from research on early struggles black women’s hair. 

​         Banks southern Louisiana upbringing influences many of her decisions to use certain materials. One of her sculptural books- “Our Lady of the Lawn”- takes on the form of a homemade shrine and garden that were typical in homes throughout southern Louisiana where Madonna statues adorned many lawns. Banks uses crocheted lace, beaded rosary and medallions throughout the shrine to reference the histories of the shrines and the objects found along them. Inside the shrine is a fragment of a story written by the artist. 

       Similar in style is Banks’s book entitled “Armoire”. Here she crafts a small scale Armoire closet using a wooden box containing intimate items like photographs, fragments of texts, and partial clothing materials. Reflecting on her childhood memories Banks recalls the exhilarating feeling of exploring her grandmother’s armoire and learning the stories of the personal objects found inside. Closets in most cases are intimate spaces, commonly off limits, but full of memories while revealing something about its owner. To Banks, the armoire “remains a repository of memory, culture, history, and tradition.”

​  Jose Ulises Heredia
 
Some of the first examples of interactive art can be dated back to the 1920s. This is an art form that needs the spectator in order to achieve its purpose or fullest potential. Interactive art continues to grow and evolve rapidly, gaining attention from numerous museums, venues, and urban installations as they integrate the genre into their collections in greater numbers. On the other hand, art books date back to the Medieval Period. Although practiced for generations, art books found the ancestor of their true form in the works of William Blake, who set the tone for later artists’ books by merging handwritten text and images. Nowadays, an art book could be anything- a traditional book of poems, a braid of hair, different types of sand, or even microscopic experimentations and their findings. If we merge interactive art with an art book, the result elevates its component parts to a new, higher form. Such an example lies in the book “My 9 Migraine Cures” by Ann Kalmbach and Tatana Kellner, which I came across while experiencing the Special Collections at Arizona State University’s Hayden Library. 

​“My 9 Migraine Cures” is a KAKE action book from the year 1987. The artists Ann Kalmbach and Tatana Kellner created the acronym “KaKe” by combining their last names, as Kellner has been Kalmbach’s longtime collaborator in the art bookmaking process. Ann Kalmbach is currently the Women’s Studio Workshop Executive Director, possessing a Masters of Fine Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology, along with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from SUNY New Paltz. She has served as artist in residence at the Visual Studies Workshop, the University of Southern Maine, and the MacDowell Colony. Her involvement and interest in artists’ books extends beyond the personal, as she has helped hundreds of artists in the creation of portfolios and art books of their own. 

​Coming across “My 9 Migraine Cures” in the Special Collection, I was initially drawn to its unique cover. Bearing the dark, high contrast image of a young woman and a peculiar selection of font made me open it and discover its interactive nature. I found it very smart the way the artist was able to manipulate paper with printed imagery as a means for giving instruction to interactivity through simple hints. For example, simple arrows or wording with instructions placed strategically alongside or near manipulative elements of the page drew the user’s attention to the interactive elements. The pages’ text, a childish, somewhat creepy handwriting-style font made the experience at times almost unsettling. The content of the book itself was simple- dark, scary even, with a focus on the cerebral or mental.  In this way, the book reminded me of the way in which art books, especially interactive art books, can be a powerful tool in opening up topics otherwise taboo or uncomfortable such as mental health. At that moment, I was able to make an even deeper connection. As an artist, I have also addressed the topic of mental health through dark components and interactivity through other means such as music recordings. Likewise, as mental health is a topic of continual exploration and understanding, so too are the genres of artbooks and interactive art continually expanding and changing, offering new ways to help those who experience them.

​Kalmbach, A., & Kellner, T. (1987). My 9 migraine cures. Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop.