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The Arrival by Shaun Tan
We used to have a saying in our house, "Never try to make a happy baby happier." The idea was that if everything was going beautifully, tossing in another toy might disrupt the balance. Well, I feel...
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Mapping the Maps at the de Young Museum
Tuesday was free day at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, and because I had an assignment from the book arts educators reading group to go see the Mapping the Contemporary Printexhibit, I made a...
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Distressed Book Covers
Need a stress-reliever camouflaged as an art project? You can relax and make some nice looking book covers with 4-ply museum board and acrylic inks. But first, take up your mallet! Hit metal objects...
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Ecotopia: An Interview with Celeste Connor
My friend and colleague Celeste Connor, who already holds a PhD in Art History, worked toward her MFA in Fine Arts for seven years while she taught at CCA. She installed her culminating MFA exhibition...
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Customizing the Plain Black Journal
We've made many journals together, you and I. You would think, as I wrote on the last pages of my plain black (bought) sketchbook—it spanned nearly two years—I would be eager to try out one of the many...
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A Book Angle on Lebbeus Woods
A quote on the wall of the Lebbeus Woods exhibit at SFMOMA knocked me over, which unfortunately I did not transcribe at the time. He wrote, in essence, that we spend much of our life resisting...
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At the Edge
The moment before. Standing on a bluff overlooking the ocean, no railing. Discovering a drawer you didn't know was there. Waiting at the door for a friend you haven't seen in twenty years. Teasing....
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Star 82 Review: Issue 1.2
Our latest issue of Star 82 Review is now available for your perusal and purchase, should you so desire to own your very own. All proceeds go toward maintaining the costs of the magazine.Online (always...
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The Untitled Library or How Titles Work
All the covers are white. You have to flip through each book to find out what it's about. As chores go, this is a pleasant one because you have plenty of time and you are looking for something that...
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Salted Stars on a Painted Sky
Feeling blue? Is your mood indigo? Maybe you adore the midnight blue Crayola crayon or just the night sky in general. Anyway, if you feel like seeing stars and want to try out or develop your painted...
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Reading to Sleep
It's not keeping me awake, but I've been looking for a quote by Daniel Pinkwater. I've scoured his books of essays, Fish Whistle: Commentaries, Uncommentaries, and Vulgar Excesses and Chicago...
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If on a winter's night in Gilead: An Odd Couple
If you read If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino you would surely say it is one of the most unusual formats of any novel you have read. But if you go from there to Gilead: A Novel by...
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Rewriting: Disturbing the Sentence
In the article, "Revising your writing again? Blame the Modernists: How self-editing became the first commandment of literature," Craig Fehrman writes an encapsulated essay about the history of...
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Revising with Fonts and Cats
Last post I was thinking about revisions and rewrites, the book The Work of Revision by Hannah Sullivan, a review of her book, and the book How to Write by Gertrude Stein. One more thought on this:...
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The Edition I Made on My Summer Vacation
Most of the summer I've spent working on the book for the show that Julie Chen is organizing at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado this Winter based on the Ideation Cards that she devised with...
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Working for Free
Our culture seems to be on the verge of an overhaul. A high school diploma doesn't get a terrific job, and even a college degree isn't a guarantee you'll get hired. Internships are unpaid and all the...
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Literati Café in Los Angeles
Veggie melt on wheat. Mint lemonade. And book-related art decor. Heaven in Los Angeles? You, too, can go to the Literati Café on Wilshire Blvd.>haiku, evolve, peace, noir, knowing, poetry<wooden...
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Watercolor Postcards
Between projects I've been painting on watercolor postcards. It is a nice feeling to complete a little picture in an hour or two.felt bird pondering flight (bird mail)palette people (seen in an image...
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Being Creative on Demand
Craft nights. Art parties. Workshops. I've always been envious of the people who can attend them and find their groove making art—normally a solitary activity, at least for me—in the middle of a crowd....
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Using Resistance
A colleague and I were talking about the Ideation Cards (explanation in this post), since we both have used them to create work recently. She mentioned that she had tried to use some of the guidelines,...
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