Thursday, March 09, 2006
This blog is being set up for the discussion and documentation of the Round Robin Altered Book project being done by MysticSpiral, NoDuplicates, exboyfriend, redandgreenbutterfly, ElenaMary, and allyouneedislove for the Etsy CoProduction Contest.
The title of the blog and the url, were inspired by a quirk of the Etsy chat feature. In an effort to keep the tone of conversation in the chat rooms as family friendly as possible, the creators decided to code the chat room to substitute other words for common swear words. Unfortunately, the system substitutes "fantastic" for the letters "A" "S" "S" at the beginning of any word. This can be either humerous or annoying and was actually both during our chat discussion of how to produce a group collage assemblage.
So, here are the details of the project as I understood them from the conversation:
The title of the blog and the url, were inspired by a quirk of the Etsy chat feature. In an effort to keep the tone of conversation in the chat rooms as family friendly as possible, the creators decided to code the chat room to substitute other words for common swear words. Unfortunately, the system substitutes "fantastic" for the letters "A" "S" "S" at the beginning of any word. This can be either humerous or annoying and was actually both during our chat discussion of how to produce a group collage assemblage.
So, here are the details of the project as I understood them from the conversation:
- The six people named above are working together to produce an altered book with the unifying theme of "Women."
- The book will be arranged in a more or less chronological fashion, like a timeline or a history of women.
- Each participant will produce a minimum of 2 spreads that are 2 pages each.
- If time permits, a participant may create up to 5 spreads. (Anything more is completely unrealistic in the time available.)
- All participants in the project will have access to this blog and be able to contribute and update. Photos or scans of the page spreads in progress, as well as images of the finished pages, will allow everyone involved in the project to see how it is developing.
- The finished book will be mailed to NoDuplicates who will list it for sale in her Etsy shop.
- The deadline to enter the competition is April 20th 2006. The book must reach NoDuplicates no later than April 15th to allow her to complete her page spreads and take photos for the listing.
- The URL for this blog will be included in the final Etsy Listing so that buyers can learn more about the processes used, the inspiration for the individual spreads, and the artists who created this unique work.
- The proceeds from the sale will be donated to the fundraising effort to rebuild the New Orleans Public Library system.
- Mailing order. I believe that we decided that ElenaMary would be the first artist to work on the book. Since she's on the west coast and NoDuplicates is on the east coast, we should try to figure out a mailing order which will travel more or less directly from west to east.
- Do we want each person to work on an assigned era, or will we each kinda skip around the book, inserting page spreads in more or less chronological order?
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I can see advantages and disadvantages to both assigned eras and working throughout the book.
If we arrange the book chronologically and then assign eras, everyone's work will be in a distinct block.
If we don't assign eras, then a single artist might decide to do a spread on cleopatra, and one on 1950s housewives. The next artist might build on the Egyptian theme by doing an adjacent spread on Nefertiti or maybe on Egyptian goddesses. Yet another artist might do a Rosie the Riveter spread just before the 1950s housewife spread to contrast the two different roles.
It's probably more representative of my own biases but I really like the way that different artists work interact in that type of book. At the same time, I know that some people find it disjointed and prefer to see each artist's work as a unified presentation.
If we arrange the book chronologically and then assign eras, everyone's work will be in a distinct block.
If we don't assign eras, then a single artist might decide to do a spread on cleopatra, and one on 1950s housewives. The next artist might build on the Egyptian theme by doing an adjacent spread on Nefertiti or maybe on Egyptian goddesses. Yet another artist might do a Rosie the Riveter spread just before the 1950s housewife spread to contrast the two different roles.
It's probably more representative of my own biases but I really like the way that different artists work interact in that type of book. At the same time, I know that some people find it disjointed and prefer to see each artist's work as a unified presentation.
AYNIL's concerns about not being able to really connect with a specific era is part of the reason that I'm not really inclined toward assigned eras. I'm an issues kinda girl, and I can probably find issues in any era that I can work with, but sometimes it's harder to find inspiration than others.
The last round robin that I did, each artist worked on several pages which were randomly scattered through the book. There is actually no reason why we have to completely obscure every page of the original book. Some pages can be torn out. Others can be painted over with faux finishes without actually designing a complete page spread. Still others can be left with the original text to put the alterations into a context.
When you alter a book in this way, you get a book that gradually reveals itself as the viewer turns the pages. One artist's work contrasts with another. The end result is more collaborative and interactive rather than episodic or an anthology of alterations.
Well, I'm on the road. I wish the timing of all of this were a bit better. I'd love to be in a position to divide myself in half and leave half at home to prepare for my upcoming shows and keep up with email, etc. Right now, however, I think my husband and I need this time away from home and the baby will really enjoy her time on the beach.
The last round robin that I did, each artist worked on several pages which were randomly scattered through the book. There is actually no reason why we have to completely obscure every page of the original book. Some pages can be torn out. Others can be painted over with faux finishes without actually designing a complete page spread. Still others can be left with the original text to put the alterations into a context.
When you alter a book in this way, you get a book that gradually reveals itself as the viewer turns the pages. One artist's work contrasts with another. The end result is more collaborative and interactive rather than episodic or an anthology of alterations.
Well, I'm on the road. I wish the timing of all of this were a bit better. I'd love to be in a position to divide myself in half and leave half at home to prepare for my upcoming shows and keep up with email, etc. Right now, however, I think my husband and I need this time away from home and the baby will really enjoy her time on the beach.
Everyone...check your Convos on Etsy...left some size and cover info there for you. Still missing a couple of addresses, et al...As you can see, I can access this, so leave feedback here or there..whichever is easier for you.
So glad you received the book. Can't wait to see what you've created. I'm afraid I had to forward Elena's pics to Andi, so she could upload them. I don't have a clue how to do it either :> So maybe you can go that route also. I hate to put it all on her shoulders, but I'm not all that familiar with this site either.
Glad to hear you're coming right along. I may get it sooner than I thought..oooohhh got to do some plannin'.. Do you have Andis' address? If not, I do, just email me and I'll send it on to you. I haven't really looked yet for a stand, so when I go to Walmarts tomorrow I'll give a look. There's also a Linen's and Things in the same plaza, so maybe they would have something. Have no idea what it would cost, altho I did see some online for less than $10, and they looked pretty good in the pics. I know I bookmarked them, so if I find them I'll forward the link to everyone.
I certainly don't mind posting stuff for everyone. There may be a slight delay because the baby has been really high needs and I haven't gotten much computer time recently. Since you're both able to comment under your own accounts, rather than anonymously, it should be possible for you both to post new entries. Try going to Blogger.com and entering your account information just like you would to comment. That should take you to your "Blogger Dashboard" and you should see a listing for FantasticEmblage with a plus sign and a gear next to it. The gear is for changing settings, you probably don't need to worry about that. The plus sign is for a new entry. It's a lot like using webmail (yahoo, gmail, etc). I recommend using the compose mode.
Diana...go back to the dashboard, and click the edit profile. If you scroll down a bit it tells you how to post a pic or pics to a blog. looks like it's pretty easy. good luck.
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