Book Arts

Mentioning the word book in art class can make for a tough sell, but this really is a great project once you explain the concept of an artist book. Artist books don't even need to have words! (That frase usually gets them) Simply put, artist books are art that you flip! In order to enjoy an artist book, you must take the time to turn the pages and connect the information as you go. I believe this is a clever project to get students thinking about the very complex theme of TIME in a work of art. In many ways, artist books are a lot like movies or comic strips if you think about it.

Students were all over the place concerning concepts for their book. Some students took it very literally and developed a narrative with illustrations, while other students spent time figuring out a way to not have to draw. Some of the best books did not have clear concepts at the beginning and developed slowly, such as books about candy wrappers, inspirational quotes, or secrets. 

Some other great great selling points for this project include:

* The Zine is extremely portable in that students can take them out of class and live with them for a bit.

* Because the project is so conceptually based, I opened the room up to free choice of media - collage, paint, colored pencil, markers...

* You can make easy, quick editions by unfolding a Zine and throwing it in a copy machine. Make a few copies of each students books so they can trade their art with friends!

* Clever way to sneak literacy into the curriculum , including visual and media literacy! Booyah!