Studio Sunday/Accordion School

Maybe the reason that the accordion is my favorite book form is the family history of accordion playing. Here is a photo of John Roman's Accordion School Class of 1938 in Linden, NJ. My father is in the back row, the eighth in from the left. Here is something I wrote to accompany a photograph at a memorial display I exhibited at the Newburyport Public Library in 2000.

My father wanted desperately to play the accordion, and to play it well. He worked hard, delivering newspapers first and then working for a peddler, to earn the money to take lessons and buy an instrument. Every week he took the bus to Linden with his accordion for a lesson at John Roman’s Accordion School. He got the first part of his dream, but the second eluded him, and eventually he stopped taking lessons. I still have his accordion with Alfred in sparkling letters. In later years, he would sometimes play for his own pleasure.

I was required to follow the tradition but it didn't go as smoothly. My ability to memorize encouraged my teacher (also in Linden and one of my father's classmates) which led to the requirement of more and more practice. When the expectation grew to an hour and a half a day and my mother got fed up with fighting with me to sit down with the accordion, lessons ended, although not without tears.

I take out my accordion very rarely now (maybe once every ten years) and spend my time with the book version of the instrument.

Virgin Gorda Accordion Book

When I purchased this box of ginger tea in Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands in March, I knew it would be a box for an accordion book. On this July day with temperatures similar to our days on the island, I made this accordion book for a gift. What a joy to experience our trip—the Baths, the Crawl, Savannah Bay, and especially our little vacation home at Guavaberry Spring Bay— again!

National Poetry Month/Diamante Poem

Diamante poems are favorites at many of the schools I go to. There are many versions but at its most basic, it is a noun/2 adjectives/3 verbs ending in ing/2 adjectives/a noun. The words are centered on the page forming a diamond. This four page accordion with yarn threaded through provides a perfect home for two diamante poems.

Fold a four page accordion (written directions with links to video and pdfs)

Homes for Poems, my ebook of books for poetry including the diamante poem available at lulu.com

National Poetry Month/Color Poems

Mary O'Neill's color poems were among my favorites in The Random House Book of Poetry that I used to read to my kids. They led me to the complete collection on her book, Hailstones and Halibut Bones, which in turn inspired me to make an accordion book of color poems.

The first was made with torn colored tissue. The second book was made after my conversion to recycled materials. I used a piece of copy paper with writing on one side folded in half with the writing on the inside for the pages and cereal boxes for the covers. The colored papers came from the collage box. When I was in conversation with a museum about using recycled materials for a family workshop, they questioned if the books would be of an appropriate quality for their audience. I made this sample to show that they would indeed be charming and beautiful.

Red is a ruby
Set in a ring.
Red is the color
That makes my heart sing.

Green are the leaves
Sprouting in the spring,
Green is the color
Of a luna moth's wing.

Orange is a pumpkin,
Orange is a cat,
Sleeping in the sun
On an orange mat.

Purple is a grape,
One of a bunch,
Purple is the jelly
In the sandwich
I ate for lunch.

Flowers from the Collage Box

It's spring! I see snowdrops and crocuses, welcome signs of the season and the many flowers to come. These accordion books use papers from the collage box to create flowers from the imagination.

The book above started with a piece of recycled copy paper folded in half with the writing on the inside. The bottom started with the front or back panel of a grocery bag cut in half the long way.

My collage box is probably my favorite thing in the studio. When Jean Van Hutl in an interview in The Artful Parent asked me if I could encourage parents to do one bookmaking activity, what would it be, I answered:

The thing I would say is that every house needs a collage box filled with bits and pieces of paper. Mine has been a source of hours of joy for me and those who come to my workshops. I cut up any interesting paper that comes my way- wrapping paper from a package, paper bags, the inside patterns on security envelopes, origami paper, art papers, etc.--into squares about an index finger long (no more inches). I find that the smaller size wastes less paper and seems to stimulate creativity in a way that large pieces of paper don't.

Written Directions

In Spanish

Video


BOOKS AND LINKS


Planting a Rainbow is a vibrant and beautiful book of collage flowers by Lois Ehlert.

The Parts of a Flower
Flower parts worksheet with a link to print a worksheet for students without the names.

Flower Parts
This site goes into more detail. I like it because it illustrates the parts with photos.

Valentine Count Up/ Heart Accordion

This Valentine book is made with three different size accordions: one of the largest, two of the middle size, and four of the smallest.

When making the heart shape, it's easiest if you cut through all the layers at once so leave the accordion folded. Make a heart pattern that will fit on top of the folded accordion, or just cut the heart shape by eye. Make sure you leave part of each side of the accordion uncut. If you don't, you'll have four separate hearts.

I made the largest accordion without a pointed bottom so the book could stand. I then made two smaller heart-shaped accordions and glued one (back of its first and last pages) into each double-page spread of the larger accordion. I added the four smaller accordions in the same way.

You can find directions for a four page accordion at makingbooks.com. You don't need to make a cover.

See all the Valentine Count Up posts at susangaylord.com.

Raindow of Hands Library Book

When I enter a library, I see a rainbow of hands reaching across time and space to offer me knowledge, wisdom, and inspiration.

I am working on a handmade book that will be displayed at and used as the introductory image to a talk I am giving at the South Carolina School Library Association Conference in March. On the panels of the accordion I will be writing the names of authors through time and around the world.

There is room for 288 names. I welcome your suggestions, from you as individuals or from your class. I am looking for both children's and adult authors. I'd love suggestions of authors from other countries as my experience is primarily with English and American authors.

In addition to the image being used in the talk, it will also be posted on my blog. There will be an accompanying pdf with the names of all the authors.

To participate:
please comment to this post with your recommendation of author(s) and a sentence or two describing why you think (s)he should be included and your name so credit can be given.

Thank you in advance.

Gingerbread House Accordion Book

While it doesn't have the pungent aroma of baked gingerbread or the sweetness of the icing and candy, this gingerbread house and accordion book is a treat. I used the bottom of a grocery bag for the house and half the front panel of a grocery bag for the gingerbread men. You may want to glue your accordion into the house which I forgot to demonstrate on the video.



Patterns for gingerbread men and candy


Books and Links

Delightful story of the Gingerbread Baby's new friends with Jan Brett's always engaging illustrations. I find I spend more time with the pictures than the words in her books.

How to Make a Gingerbread House
I haven't tried the recipe but her description of the process fits what I learned (the hard way) in several years of gingerbread house construction.

A Gingerbread Tradition
A little bit of the history of gingerbread by Alice Ross.

Bee Accordion

And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,

I always read John Keats's poem To Autumn at this time of year. My favorite lines are the first two, "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun", but bees are on my mind this year. Our summer trip to Utah brought us images of old fashioned beehives as they are the symbol of Utah and appear on every state highway sign. My mother-in-law gave us a a jar of delicious honey from her hive along with tales of its retrieval. And I love watching the collection of bees and pollinators of all sorts on our flowers.

I made a four-page accordion from the back panel of a grocery bag cut in half the long way. I then cut the folded pages into the shape of a hive, leaving the two sides untouched until about 2/3 of the way up the side of the book. (You can make all kinds of shapes but always have to remember to keep some of the sides intact. Otherwise, you'll have four separate pieces instead of an accordion.) I used a cereal box panel for the covers and made them just a tiny bit larger than the pages. I then covered the covers with pieces of grocery bag.

Written directions

in Spanish

Video

A closer look at My Book About Honeybees


LINKS

Tales from the Hive
NOVA page on the honeybee.

Honey Bees Life Cycle Video
Excellent youtube video with lots of close-up views. And on TeacherTube.

Life Cycle of Bee PDF
Life cycle of bees illustrated with photographs.

Busy Bees
A website by students at Heard Elementary Academy.

Beekeeping and Children
Information on beekeeping from the Liberty 4-H in Petaluma, CA.

Name Book

We made this simple name book as the introductory activity in the teacher workshop in Utah this summer. Each person had one sheet of copy paper with writing on one side, two covers cut from cereal boxes (for US Letter paper the covers were 3" x 4.5"), glue stick, scrap paper, and scissors. On each table was a pile of miscellaneous collage papers. A good way to place them is in styrofoam trays for vegetables from the supermarket. I led the class through the construction of the accordion book. Each person then cut the letters of her (or his) name out of the collage papers and glued them across the accordion.

I like starting with this activity because it gives a taste of both aspects of bookmaking in one small package: following directions in the construction phase and independent creative work in the name phase. It also uses the accordion book as one long panel rather than separate pages and sends the message that book s can be places to experiment and have fun.

We did a show and tell of our books and used them to introduce ourselves. We then hung them from a yarn line for some instant room decoration. You could also have branches in a container and hang the books.

If you are doing it with a class, I think it's important for you to make a book along with the children. I think we need to take every opportunity we can to show our students that we are all in this together. We often forget that we are asking them to put themselves on the line every time they write something and share it and we need to acknowledge it and sometimes do the same.

Written directions

in Spanish

Video

Links and a Book

Meaning of Names
I thought this was the easiest to navigate (and no pictures of pregnant bellies as on the baby name sites). Susan means lily in Hebrew.

Popular Baby Names
Look up the most popular names by year as registered with the Social Security Administration. Susan was number 6 in the year I was born.

Name Days
In many cultures, name days are celebrated in addition to or in place of birthdays. My name day is August 11. Here's the wikipedia entry.

Happy Name Day
Find your name day here.

The Name Game: A Look Behind the Labels
by Donna M. Jackson
Interesting collection of information about names including babies, pets, hurricanes, companies, and more. Comic illustrations by Ted Stearns.

Father's Day Book

At a few of the family and student workshops I gave in the past week, kids made books for their fathers for Father's Day. It inspired me to make one in memory of mine. Several of the kids made books about their father's favorite things.

I used a piece of US Letter/A4 paper with writing on one side and a cereal box for the covers. I used paper from the collage box for the illustrations. I like the look of the design that extends across the pages but if you do it with collage papers, you'll have to recrease the folds for the book to fold up easily.


Written directions

in Spanish

Video

Some of the books from the workshop

Newspapers and Books

When it comes to the 3 Rs (reduce, recycle, reuse) and newspapers, our house follows the last two but not the first. As subscribers to the New York Times, The Boston Globe, and our local Daily News plus a gift subscription to the weekly Washington Post, I sometimes feel we are personally keeping the newspaper industry afloat. I have been using newspaper in bookmaking for a while, but was inspired to include it as this month's project by a visit to the Paper House in Rockport, MA which was constructed of newspaper in the 1920s and is filled with furniture made from newspapers.

The photos here show two accordion books. The top is A Book to Heal the Spirit with pages made from one half of a front panel of a grocery bag and illustrations cut from a newspaper.

The second book, A Time Line Accordion, was made from a newspaper page (one, not a double spread) folded in half the long way and glued together. I cut slits in the pages and threaded a piece of old videotape through the slits to make the line.

Both of these projects will be in my new book, Handmade Books for a Healthy Planet. It takes the projects in Multicultural Books To Make And Share and updates them to use recycled materials and reflect a freer approach to making books. It will have a new shape and design as well as the major revision in process of making the books. I am working on it now and expect it to be published in April for Earth Day.

Accordion Book Directions on youtube

Written Directions

LINKS
The Paper House in Rockport
Here is the site for the Newspaper House in Rockport with some photos and an interview with the caretaker who is the grand niece of Elis F. Stenman, a mechanical engineer who designed the machines that make paper clips and built his summer home out of paper as a hobby.

How Newspapers Work at howstuffworks.com
A thorough explanation of the process of making a newspaper with a behind-the-scenes look at the Herald-Sun of Durham, N.C. as a real-world example.

History of Newspapers
Information about the development of the newspaper from Europe in the early 1600s until today.

In Memory of Ted Kennedy

I was so moved by the ceremonies for the passing of Senator Kennedy that I made a small book to remember both the occasions and the man. The inside of the accordion book (shown in photo) contains the line from Psalm 72 repeated in the Responsorial Psalm read by Kara Kennedy at the Funeral Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Here's a pdf for you to print out on US Letter size paper and make a book of your own. To make the book, fold the paper in half the long way with the writing on the outside. Follow the written or video directions for folding an accordion book. When you make the first accordion fold, Justice shall ... should be on the outside.

You can see a pdf of the Funeral Service program here.

And here is my favorite photo in all the coverage by Frederick G.S. Clow, Special to the Gloucester Daily Times in Gloucester, MA.

Recycled Alphabet Accordion Book

I had so much fun making this accordion alphabet book of letters formed with materials from my collection of recycled materials. The pages were made from foam core left over from a political campaign project. You can also use pieces of corrugated cardboard cut from boxes. To attach the letters, I poked holes in the foam core with an awl and used yarn, ribbon, and twist ties to hold the materials in place.

I made the book in three sections as the full length accordion was too bulky and awkward to transport to workshops. I joined the individual pages by taping them in the back, leaving a little bit of space between the pages.

You can see the complete Recycled Alphabet here.

LINKS
There are too many wonderful alphabet books to choose one or two to feature so I'm giving links to some bibliographies and other websites.

From the Kalamazoo Public Library
A good list with pictures of the covers and short descriptions

From the Boston Children's Museum
A long list with a particular focus on different cultures and parts of the world

A is for Archive: One Hundred Years of Alphabet Books
View page-by-page presentations alphabet books from history. There's an Anti-Slavery Alphabet Book from 1847 (I just saw a facsimile at the Smithsonian on a recent trip to Washington) and an Alphabet of Celebrities from 1901 which include Diogenes, Darwin, and Dante for D.

Abecedarium: An Exhibit of Alphabet Books
Members of the Guild of Bookworkers created artists' books for this 1998 exhibit. An inspiring collection.

Umbrella Accordion Book

YouTube Tutorial

written directions (web and pdf)

umbrella pattern

This month's Umbrella Accordion Book is a tribute to Judith Hoffberg, the creator and editor of Umbrella magazine, who passed away in January. This wonderful magazine had an emphasis on artists' books, mail art, and Fluxus, but was filled with Judith's wide knowledge of the art world and her intrepid spirit. Most recently an online publication, it was for most of thirty years printed on blue paper. It was the only magazine that I always read the day it came in the mail. Judith also was the creator of The International Edible Book Festival which occurs annually on April 1st.

The accordions here have no covers. The blue book was made from a piece of used copy paper folded in half the long way with the writing on the inside. I glued the two sides together to give the paper more support since I was cutting the narrow umbrella stems. The second accordion was made from the front panel of a grocery bag cut in half the long way.

Each umbrella has a verse to a count-down poem:
There were four umbrellas sitting in a row.
The purple one said," I'm going out to feel the rain on me."
And now there are three.
The red one said, "I'm going out to see something new."
And then there were two.
The blue one said,"I'm going out to have some fun."
And then there was one.
The green one said, "I'll stay inside. Here comes the sun."

I have no idea why but February 10 is Umbrella Day.

BOOKS AND LINKS

Yellow Umbrella, a wordless book by Jae Soo Liu accompanied by a CD with music by Dong Il Sheen
The entire book is shown from high above, looking down on a rainy day. One yellow umbrella leaves the house and we follow it as other umbrellas join it on its journey. The beautiful paintings leave lots of room for imagination. The writer/illustrator wrote: "...whenever it rains, I watch for children carrying their colorful umbrellas. Whether they were boys or girls, fat or skinny, tall or short, I realized that under their umbrellas their differences disappeared. What remained in my mind was the visual image of the harmonized colors and movements of their umbrellas. It seemed to me that these children were claiming that they were all equal in spite of their differences."
There is an accompanying CD of piano music.

Umbrella by Taro Yashima
A tender story of a young girl who impatiently waits for the time when she can use her new umbrella.

The Umbrella Party by Janet Lunn, pictures by Katy MacDonad Denton
Christie loves umbrellas so much that she asks all her friends for umbrellas for her birthday. An eventful party at the beach ensues.

Judith Hoffberg's Umbrella magazine

Judith's obituary in the LA Times

Wikipedia information on umbrellas

Kids in Action: Young Inventor from Japan Gets Patent for His "Umbrella Ghost"

Giving Thanks Accordion Book

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

I was inspired by the book Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message to make this book for Thanksgiving. Chief Jake Swamp says in his author's note: "The words in this book are based on the Thanksgiving Address, an ancient message of peace and appreciation of Mother Earth and all her inhabitants. These words of thanks come to us from the Native people known as the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois or Six Nations."

Since the accordion has four pages, I chose to reflect on each of the four seasons and write about what I give thanks to. I used the front panel of a grocery bag folded in half the long way with the writing inside. It made an accordion substantial enough to not need a cover. I used cut and torn paper for the illustrations and a fine black sharpie marker. This would be a good project to keep the kids busy on Thanksgiving morning while the adults are involved in cooking or in the classroom.



Giving Thanks Teachers Guide
http://www.leeandlow.com/p/thanks_tg.mhtml

You are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving
Interactive website for children with a teacher's guide from Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA
http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html#

People of the First Light: Teacher Resources on Native American History and Culture
developed by the Children's Museum of Boston
Take a look at the Professional Development for workshops related to Wampanoag culture if you are in the area.
http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/educators/wampanoag.html#

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe website
http://mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/history.html

Adinkra Symbols Accordion Book

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

When I was thinking about hearts and Valentine's Day, I remembered that a couple of the adinkra symbols from Ghana are heart-shaped and how attached to the symbols I became when I included an adinkra paper cloth project in Multicultural Books To Make And Share. Here's some additional information from the book:

Adinkra cloths are made in Ghana. First made as mourning cloths, they came to be used for other occasions as well. Kings and rich people commissioned cloths to speak of their power. People embarking on a new venture, such as starting a business, might commission a cloth. Most cloths are printed, although some are appliqued. The stamps for printing are cut from a gourd. The black dye is a mixture made from the boiled bark of the badie tree and an iron-rich stone. The dye is called adinkra, which means farewell. The symbols used in printing have a long tradition and deep significance. Through the symbols, each cloth communicates information about the owner, living or dead. The symbols are so much a part of Ghanaian culture that they are often used by the government and clergy. The logo of the Standards Board in Ghana is the measuring rod, which stands for excellence and intolerance of imperfection.

I used one-half of the back panel of a grocery bag for the pages and the front panel of a cereal box for the covers. I covered the covers with paper cut from the other half of the grocery bag panel. You can use this pdf from Multicultural Books To Make And Share to make patterns to trace for your own adinkra symbols book. They are designed to be traced on a folded piece of paper, then cut and opened to form the complete pattern. I traced the patterns with pencil and then outlined and colored them with black marker. For a longer book, you can follow the directions for attaching sections in the directions for the Index Card Accordion.

Links

Adinkra Symbols & Meanings
http://www.welltempered.net/adinkra/htmls/adinkra_index.htm
Extensive collection of adinkra symbols with information on meaning and in some cases images of the symbols being used in West Africa

Cool Planet: Oxfam's Site for Kids
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/schools/adinkra/adinkrah.htm
Information on the history, how the cloths are made, the symbols, and a printmaking activity

Adinkra Resources
http://www.riscwebsite.org.uk/adinkra/
This website was created to accompany a book for educators. Of particular interest are the image pages which include cloths and printing blocks, production, and uses of the symbols.

The Talking Cloth by Rhonda Mitchell

African- American Amber visits her Aunt Phoebe whose house is full of things Amber's father calls junk and her aunt calls her "collection of life." Amber's favorite is an adinkra cloth from Ghana. There are descriptions of the cloth and the meaning of some of the symbols. Amber imagines the cloths she would make for her family.



Adapted from the February 2008 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Snowflake Book

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

We are experiencing a thaw at the moment but so far this has been a winter of snow. This month's project is an accordion book with snowflakes. I first made a book with snowflakes made from the metal bases of tea light candles (this recycle, reuse, repurpose thing has really got me thinking). I made a second one with paper snowflakes which is more appropriate for children. The links lead you to information about how snowflakes are formed as well as some fun online and by hand activities.

For the top book, I used the side panel of a large cereal box for the accordion. Because it was sturdy, I didn't make covers. I made a snowflake from a tea light base for each page. I attached the snowflakes to squares cut from a leftover gift box by poking holes in the squares with a push pin and using thin wire to hold the snowflakes in place. I used tape that held various parts of a new printer in place to attach the mounted snowflakes to the accordion.

For the second book, I used the front panel of a cereal box and made the snowflakes out of paper. For a longer book, you can follow the directions for attaching sections in the directions for the Index Card Accordion.

Links
Make a paper snowflake
http://www.highhopes.com/snowflakes.html

Directions for making a paper snowflake

A Pop-up Snowflake from Robert Sabuda
http://robertsabuda.com/popmake/popmake_snowflake-step1.asp

You can make two snowflakes for a four page accordion book.

Online guide to snowflakes, snow crystals, and other ice phenomena
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/
A comprehensive site from Kenneth G. Libbrecht who has created several books of photographs of snow crystals. Lots of beautiful images to view as well as clear scientific information.

Make a virtual snowflake
http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/
Make your own snowflake online. It took me a minute to understand how the scissors worked but once I did, it was fun.

Snowflake Bentley
http://snowflakebentley.com/index.htm
Vermont farmer Wilson Bentley made the first photographs of snowflakes in 1885. This website is maintained by the Jericho Historical Society which has an exhibit of his photographs.
He is the subject of a wonderful book by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Mary Azarian.


Robert's Snow: For Cancer's Cure
http://www.gracelin.com/content.php?page=book_snowflake&display=behind_the_story

Grace Lin wrote Robert's Snow to cheer up husband Robert after he was diagnosed with cancer and could not enjoy the winter weather. After Robert's subsequent relapse, Grace turned to her illustrator friends and asked them to contribute their collective talents to the fight. The response was tremendous--the artwork created was so amazing that the 2004 snowflakes were immortalized in the book, Robert's Snowflakes. There is an annual fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute every year in December.

Adapted from the January 2008 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Peace Star Book

http://www.makingbooks.com/accordion.shtml

This past weekend I was in a shop called Ten Thousand Villages in Northampton, MA which sells fair trade handcrafts from around the world. I was charmed by a star ornament which is the inspiration for the peace stars in this month's project. The links lead to a sampling of stars in art and craft.

I used half of a back panel of a brown grocery bag for my accordion pages, a cereal box for the cover, and yarn for a tie. Each page has a peace star on it. You can print the peace stars in this pdf or make your own. Another idea is to put a peace star on the cover and inside write 4 things you can do to make a more peaceful world, one per page. For a longer book, you can follow the directions for attaching sections in the directions for the Index Card Accordion.

Links

Norwegian Peace Star
A sculpture in Oslo, Norway by Vebjorn Sand has been given the name the Peace Star. The structure draws its inspiration from a star-form first conceived by German astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630.) It consists of twenty three-sided pyramids radiating from the core. The Star itself is 14-meters high and 14-meters wide. The giant structure was covered in specially fractured glass to create a dazzling illuminated sculpture visible from the air and floating above the fir trees of the countryside.

Star Corona
acrylic sculpture by George W. Hart

The Star Chamber
Sculptor Chris Drury created this domed stone chamber at Vanderbilt University. An aperture on the top functions as a camera obscura so that the sky and horizons are reflected on the walls of the chamber.

Star Book Directions
These directions are by Diane Weintraub and are one of a series from the San Diego Museum of Art.

Moravian Stars
are illuminated Advent or Christmas decorations popular in Germany and in places in America and Europe where there are Moravian congregations. The first ones were made in the 1830's at the Moravian School in Niesky, Germany as a geometry lesson or project. The geometry is beyond me as were the directions for these supposedly simpler paper stars. My mother was taught how to make them by a German neighbor when I was young but I never learned. I am not defeated but have not had the time to complete the directions on this website. You may want to try. They are lovely.

How to draw an Eight-point Star
There are directions for using the computer and for drawing with a ruler and freehand. The freehand version is the same as the star that Eric Carle says his grandmother drew for him in Draw Me A Star.


Adapted from the December 2007 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com.

Joseph Cornell Accordion Book

http://www.makingbooks.com/indexcard.shtml

Last week I went to see a wonderful exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum called Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination. While best known for his boxes, Joseph Cornell also made collages, films, and a few books. There was one book that would fit into the category of altered book, several portfolio style boxes, and one accordion book.

His work combines found objects and images in surprising ways. I liked one of the descriptive tags so much I copied it. "In the late 1930's a chance encounter with caged tropical birds displayed against a pet shop's stark white walls made such a 'dazzling' impression that Cornell believed it changed his way of seeing 'the simplicity of magic' in the everyday." Our project for the month is an accordion book where we can express the "simplicity of magic" of the everyday in our lives.

Making the Book
You will need two long pieces of sturdy paper or cover stock or the back panel of a brown grocery bag cut in half vertically. I used the front panel of a large cereal box cut in half vertically. It was a little awkward to fold but made an accordion that stood up well for display.

This accordion will have eight pages. Follow the directions for making the accordion. Trim off the tab at the end. You are ready to add your collage images. Joseph Cornell used images of the things that he loved, including birds, ballerinas, and movie stars. Collect images of things you care about- flowers, musicians, baseball players, birds, and make your own book. Magazines and catalogs are good sources of imagery.

Links

Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination
The Peabody Essex Museum has an excellent interactive online companion to the exhibition.
http://pem.org/cornell/

Guardian article by Jonathan Safran Foer, editor of A Convergence of Birds, original fiction and poetry inspired by the work of Joseph Cornell
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1778945,00.html

Straightforward presentations of images of Joseph Cornells' collages and boxes
http://josephcornell.org/list.html

Smithsonian Archives of American Art
Collections Online: Joseph Cornell
View some of his papers including diaries, letters, art works, and ephemera.
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectionsonline/cornjose/index.cfm/fuseaction/Main.Overview

Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Information about Joseph Cornell and one of Soap Bubble Set boxes with suggestions for an activity for children
http://www.albrightknox.org/ArtStart/Cornell.html

in good spirit Blog
More reflections on the Joseph Cornell exhibit and Edward Hopper at the MFA in Boston are on my art blog, ingoodspirit. Both exhibits close on August 19.

Adapted from the August 2007 issue of Making Books Monthly
Free subscriptions available at makingbooks.com