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Charley Trujillo visits with faculty and students

(2010 © Jim Escalante)
Charley Trujillo is a small publisher and author. Several years after serving in Viet Nam, he wrote about his wartime experience in his book “Soldados: The Chicano Experience in Viet Nam.” He included stories of 19 fellow Chicano veterans from Corcoran, California. A great lesson for all of us is that his manuscript was rejected by dozens of publishers. It left him with no alternative, but to publish the book himself. In 1991 he received the American Book Award. He has a small publishing company called Chusma House Publishing which is located in San Jose, CA.

  • September 13, 2010
  • In Book Arts
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Books made from one sheet of paper


It is not that important to find a definitive answer to the question “Can you make a book using only one sheet of paper.” For some turning over a sheet of paper or unfolding it, is enough. At the very least, the viewer must pick up a sheet of paper and turn it over or in some way interact with it. Does the simple act of picking up a sheet of a paper make it a book? Maybe, maybe not. But Margaret Mackenzie’s adaptation of a mobius strip surely is an interesting use of form and content. She hand wrote the lyrics to a never ending song. I will add more photos of student examples as soon as I take the photos! Please stop back.

Kathleen O’Connell Speaks to Book Artists

(2010 © Jim Escalante)
Kathleen O’Connell speaking to the Art 446 Artists’ Book class about her exhibit in the Rockford College Art Gallery, Rockford, Illinois. The show, is titled “Observations from the New World”. Kathleen currently live in Lima Peru. Her exhibition combines the disciplines of printmaking and book arts in her show. The work is inspired by her relocation to Peru. We enjoy having her participate in an informal class critique.

Starting point for a new book.

(2010 © Jim Escalante)How does one start working a new book? What sparks the idea? What is the first step for the new project? For book artists’ it most likely is some type of visual element. Maybe an idea for a new structure, new imagery or the possibility for a new collaboration. Regardless of the starting point, something has to come first.
Another question can be posed as a starting point for the fall 2010 Art 446 Artists’ Book class; “Can you make a book from one sheet of paper?” It could be argued that a single sheet of paper, if left unchanged or un folded can’t be called a book. What is the minimum that we have to do to move it closer to becoming a book.
If we rolled the sheet of paper and call it a scroll. Is that the first step to becoming a book? How about folding it into an accordion fold. Does that move it away from only being a flat sheet of paper. Does that make it a book? If we cut sections of the book so that it folds and unfolds into a book like format, does that bring it closer to becoming a book. It will be fun to see how many mutations we can change a single sheet of paper.

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