Art School Teacher: Book Making Class, An Encounter with Man Ray

Assignment #2 - Make an Accordion Book 
(using an image from assignment #1's ABC book)

*****

I overhear Britta talking about Man Ray

and ask
"The Dada artist?"

and she says
"No, the stingray.  From Sponge Bob."

I remember once writing something about Man Ray the artist

so I search and find the post

and think to use it to make an accordion book

since I haven't yet done assignment #1

so have no ABC book from which to fish for images.

M is for Man Ray!

How to start?  

How about with some old scraps

like the remains of those acrylics on watercolor paper

painted when the kids were babies?

How about cropping to fit the envelopes Strathmore gave away at the park this summer?

How about making two line drawings of Man Ray to add to the two I already drew of Lee Miller?

And needing one more to make an odd number

why not a drawing of an assemblage Man Ray called "self-portrait"? 

Scan, print, trim.

With my nondominant hand
I write the words for the portraits on other cards
planning to glue them together
(a little trick one learns)
making the cards more durable and
decreasing the possibility of ruining what I've already made. 

But something isn't right.

The white against white?

I paint a border on the back of each portrait. 

Still not right.

So I rewrite the words in black ink.

Again, no good.

What is right is the brown painting 

I'm planning on using 

as the strip to join the envelopes together.

What is right is the thin refined line of the portraits.

Why not machine print the text and then trim

making rectangular compositions on the brown painting?

Much better!

This process lasts all week

working on it for an hour or two at a time 

taking a break when the Mod Podge needs to dry

learning once again

that the art is in the process

folding the paper

for example

before gluing on the envelopes

or making the title page last

or knowing to follow your instincts

until you sense it's right.

Still

near the end

I screw up

accidentally gluing the envelopes closed

when attaching them to the brown paper. 

I pry them open with a knife

but it looks like crap.

Luckily 

I don't panic 

realizing there's another pack of envelopes

which I glue right onto the first

this time making sure to not seal them shut

though what I should have used

was two-sided tape

which doesn't leave wavy marks.

But my kids devour two-sided tape so I never have it when I want it.

And I'm not patient enough to wait until I get it

being eager to add a string and. . . . voila!

merci