WholeLife Mastery

Banned Books

For Mary's "What if we didn't have ____ ?" book in the Las Vegas Art Stamps AB Club round robin.

The text for the mini-book pages is from the American Library Association's Banned Books Week site and the San Francisco Public Library's Reversing Vandalism exhibit in which a group of altered book artists participated.  I was surprised to find that I have at least two banned books -- Jonathon Livingston Seagull and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- in my personal library. 

Las Vegas Art Stamps Round Robin

Legacy Text on the right is an excerpt from Maya Angelou's (1991) poem "Our Grandmothers". The book is a 1956 edition of the Ladies' Home Journal Treasury.  The spread I altered is in an essay "Our Children Are Going to College" by Charles Samuels.

Las Vegas Art Stamps Round Robin Round 2

Show Me Your Original Face Before You Were Born

Art a la Cart AB Round Robin Spread

"Of all the forms of illusion, woman is the most important" -- Buddha

Art a la Cart Round Robin Spread

The First Lady and the Diva in a book themed "Tell Me an Incredible Tale"

The text under the photo reads:

In July 1939, three months after the historic recital from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt presented contralto Marian Anderson with the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal.  Ms. Anderson was the first African American to be named a permanent member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, as well as the first to perform at the White House.  In 1963, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The booklet tells the story of Ms. Anderson's recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, including the program and Mrs. Roosevelt's letter resigning from the Daughters of the American Revolution. The background on the right is a transfer of Mitchell Jamieson's mural portraying the recital.

Las Vegas Art Stamps Round Robin

Restoration Sign-In and Found Poetry

Found poetry reads:

"How was it damaged?, if you don't mind my asking."

trauma

dividing

broken in a million pieces

Restoration

Next day pulls magnetic

restored so that you could never tell it had been broken

Marvelous

And the most incredible thing happened

Art a la Cart Round Robin Spread and Sign-in

From Vision to Reality

Text on the right page is from John F. Kennedy's 25 May 1961 Special Message to Congress:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

How I'm Feeling Today? Altered Book Spread

                     

Beyond Sex

Tag and spread for Toni Morrison Altered Book Round Robin

“I begin to feel those little bits of color float-ing up into me—deep in me. That streak of green from the june-bug light, the purple from the berries trickling along my thighs, Mama’s lemonade yellow runs sweet in me.  Then I feel like I’m laughing between my legs, and the laughing gets all mixed up with the colors, and I’m afraid I’ll come, and afraid I won’t. But I know I will. And I do.  And it be rainbow all inside. And it lasts and lasts and lasts” The Bluest Eye , p.103.

Copyright

Oh OUCH! I did it. I used some copyrighted images from the web. After being reminded by a knowledgeable soul from the An Art A Day Yahoo Group, I removed the infringing scans from my photo album. For altered book artists this is a major educational and ethical issue. As I tell my students "A simple rule to remember is don’t steal others’ hard work and ideas". Talk about an opportunity to practice WholeLife Mastery: what's good for the scholar is good for the artist!!

The clearest and most readable (i.e. non-legalese and relevant to altered book and collage artists) infomation I found on the topic was Lisa Vollrath's A Big Rant About Copyright and Sarah Ovenall's Derivative Works.