A few weeks ago I went to an exhibition where I bumped into my old art teacher and mail art artist Ko de Jonge. I had not seen or spoken Ko for over 30 years and this renewed acquaintance was really fun. Since we both are busy with art and I also dappled in mail art, we had a lot to talk about. Besides ‘everything mail art’, Ko told me he also collects small artists’ books. He sends out empty booklets to artists, asks them to fill the pages with their art and then return it to him. He has done this for years and is the curator of quite an archive now.
You felt it coming, right?
Right!
I received an empty booklet from Ko (by snail mail of course!) to fill with my own art.
The booklet has the title of the project Art = Start + and I had to leave the title that way, but I was free to do whatever I wanted.
Here’s how my booklet turned out, enjoy!
Each page has a small strip with text glued on it.
I cut the texts out of an old children’s book (1892) and it’s therefor that the spelling is ‘Old Dutch’.
In English:
The whole day.
At dawn.
Early in the morning.
It was afternoon already.
Late in the evening.
After midnight.
Too late.
Have a great weekend, enjoy every minute of it!
Wow! How cool is that! I would love to run into my old art teacher! I LOVE what you did with the tiny journal! Did you make a copy to keep for yourself before you sent it back to him? Your found poetry always inspires me!
Thanks for the compliment Michell! I took pictures, not only of the booklet in the hand (my beloved’s) but also of the pages laying flat. I could not make a copy of this booklet because every page is a unique collage/mixed media piece.
What a brilliant idea, and love how yours has turned out.
Wat ziet het er práchtig uit! Ko zal er vast blij mee zijn.
Je hebt weer iets héél moois gemaakt.
Wat leuk om je oude leraar tegen te komen! Het boekjes project vind ik een super idee. Mooi wat jij ervan gemaakt hebt. Echt helemaal jij.
Xx Monica
Wat een super idee! Ik laat mensen wel eens wat schrijven of tekenen in mijn journal, maar zo’n heel boekje laten vullen is wel een hele uitdaging. Leuk zeg! En…zeer mooi geworden. Complimentjes!
Oh Marit wat mooi!!!!!
A-M
Love it SO much. I love small books, and little art books are da BOMB!