The biggest takeaway I had from Professor Millers visit was the variations of intricate detail/concept an artist book can take on. Meaning that it doesn’t need to bee the greatest work of art to exist, and that even visually simple artist books are meaningful (if not more than the most artistic ones). I found this to be profoundly interesting as someone who has made and looked at artist books previously. This is because I had once believed that artists books were required to be this amazingly artistic representation of one’s written work. That the book itself must stand out to the eye and have loads of creative element. Yet, the ones brought into class ranged from ones with heaps of artistic detail/talent to simpler ones, such as “Fire Within Me”, an artist book I looked at myself. Not to say this one artist book wasn’t gorgeously constructed, but it was much simpler in design. The choices surrounding catching someone’s eye were put into the color scheme, and simplistic art, and cover. There was not use of paint, collage, or even colored pencil. The artist was able to use just construction paper and glue, but still created something stylistically and objectively beautiful. Also, was intertwined with the poetry and concept the artist was attempting to share. I want to keep this in mind as I move forward with the concept I am developing. Overall, to remind myself that less can be more.
Journal #8
