Lite Brite Lawns

Kelsey // 20 // Chicago

Third year BFAW student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who enjoys long books and chai tea. This blog correlates with a DIY Publishing class, and will feature the work created throughout the semester (as well as some previous, related artwork). The projects made will include chapbooks, zines, artist books, and print-on-demand books.

Links:

Website / Class Blog

Classmates:

Andrew / Anna / Christl / Heather / Ian / Kayla / Kelsey K. / Stacey / Tara / Wendy

© Kelsey Gauert

Just wanted to add some more to the proposal I wrote last week after our meetings last Friday. My plan for my final project is still pretty much the same: cutting up Immortal Kitty’s poetry from my misprinted Lulu book and re-arranging it into new poems, then weaving the poems together and storing them in gold-leafed boxes. My goal is to make twenty weavings, more if I can. I will also be making my own paper since it seems to fit the overall cut-up theme.

I did a little more research on artists who make boxes, and am really interested in Joseph Cornell’s work. He was well known for his beautiful boxed assemblages. He usually made wooden boxes with glass fronts to display his assemblages, and although I wouldn’t be able to do that for my final, it’s certainly inspirational. To see some of his work, go here. As for my boxes, I’m still working out what size they will be and what materials I’ll use, but I’ve nixed the collections idea and decided on just having each weaving in it’s own individual box, so that each person who gets a box will have a unique piece.

So my artist book is still incomplete due to further printing issues. I re-made the front and back covers to fix the resolution issues, and I think they look much nicer. I had the covers ready to print today, but when I went to print on the color printers at school I realized you can’t use your own paper because they keep the paper drawers locked. My own printer is still not cooperating, and I would have gone to Kinkos/Staples but the money I had for printing is all on my articard. Wah wah. So unfortunately I don’t have any bound, complete artist books to show, but I’m uploading some images of the covers and interior files so you can get a sense of what it will look like when it finally comes together.

I’ve lately had an interest in dissecting writing and presenting it in new ways from the original text. With my own writing, I feel there are stronger sentences/passages/phrases than others, and often I wish I could expand on only those parts without focusing solely on the narrative structure of the original piece. When doing my research for my final project, I became particularly interested in William S. Burroughs’ cut-up technique, which I plan on using for my final project. I recently came into possession of an (arguably) bad book of love poems (courtesy of Lulu), which I would like to use the cut-up technique on and try to re-arrange into better poetry. This might pose a challenge since I don’t normally write poetry, but it is something that I have always wanted to explore further.

As far as presentation of the material, I would like to explore an alternate method of re-arrangement. I plan on writing the cut-up lines on strips of paper, which I will then weave together to create a final “piece.” I’m interested in possibly making my own paper for the project, since I really enjoy the look and feel of hand-made paper, although I’m not sure what purpose, besides aesthetical, it would serve the overall project.

Since paper weavings can be quite delicate, I plan on containing each weaving inside a (most likely hand-constructed) box, which I would like to cover in gold leaf. I would like to make twenty to twenty-five individual weavings, but this will depend on the cut-up content. Depending on how many individual weavings I’m able to make, I might contain the boxes with the weavings in one big collection, or have each box stand on its own.

After much tedious, back-and-forth emailing, Lulu has finally decided that they made a printing error, and will be sending me a new book. For free! Hooray.

Today I received the proof of my book. After ecstatically ripping apart the meticulous packaging, I come to the realization that it is, in fact, not my book. The cover is fine, exactly what I uploaded, although there are some things I plan on fixing.

But the entire interior is not my writing, but rather “The Heart of My Immortal” by Immortal Kitty. I’m completely serious.

And completely confused. I sent a strongly worded email to Lulu (because apparently there’s no way to contact them by phone), and asked for either a refund or a new, correct copy. I’ll keep you updated on how things go…