I really enjoyed our class in special collections. I love working there so much and to have time to look at all the cool stuff that exists that I didn’t know about is so enjoyable. Being able to see Allison Bechdel’s process too was so fascinating, I was surprised that she wrote the words before doing the frames. Because the text and drawings blend so well together, I thought they were done at the same time. I was sad to be sick on Thursday, but aside from that, it was a very good week!
I enjoyed our discussion of Citizen on Thursday, specifically towards the end when we focused in on the artistic side of it and analyzed the statue. While I am in no way averse to artistic analysis, I just tend to gravitate towards text in novels (I almost exclusively use audiobooks), so discussing with others the specific art and its significance in Citizen was so interesting to me.
This week has really had me thinking about text as an experience: even outside of class, I’ve been a little more aware of how I’m reacting to the things I read/watch, and how that becomes almost a part of the text that I’m using. I’m so used to the art gallery version of appreciating media, where I stay still and try to understand text instead of bringing myself to the interaction, that I’m not sure whether it’s helping me. Either way, it’s probably useful to be thinking about as I move further into research on Citizen and the avant-garde.
We spent a lot of time looking at unique ways to present writing far outside of what I had ever seen before. Citizen paired with the unique books in Special Collections really opened my eyes to the immense care that goes into the creation of books including the writing itself and the physical book as well. I enjoyed seeing Alison Bechdel’s sketches as well as all the reference photos she used and all the scenes she took out and how much purpose each image has in creative works.
This special collections class was super fun and cool! I really enjoyed looking specifically at the pamphlets and reading them. I also enjoyed feeling the books made with fabric, it was very interesting to see the mix of textiles and it also made me miss my sewing machine and sewing. Our class on Thursday was very engaging. It was nice to read a very modern and relevant text that gave me a lot of great inspiration for the final essay. It was also great to hear what everyone though of it because it was unique and our conversation about dog whistles was very productive.
I was only able to attend one class this week, but I really enjoyed it! Special Collections was really cool and I honestly had no idea how many resources were available there. I was especially interested by the distinction between a “book” and a “text”. It’s true that we tend to conflate them, when really the text is the words and the book is the layout and presentation. I never realized how much the layout can change the meaning of the text.
I enjoyed spending Tuesday’s class in the special collections classroom. It was eye-opening to see Bechdel’s original sketches and even see some scenes that never made the final cut. One thing I noticed with her process is she will draw images multiple times. Her process was very delicate and well-thought-out. In addition, seeing the different styles of books such as the silk poetry book and the triangle book that had the same passage written was interesting. Being able to see how an author or artist is displaying their work is also intriguing and striking. The special collections space is so unique and fun and I’m so glad it is a resource we have on campus!
I’ve always been interested in really old books- the history behind them, hand-written annotations, the texture of the paper, the smell of the pages, etc. That being said, the class we had on Tuesday was so, so much fun for me! I absolutely adored being able to hold Alison Bechdel’s first drafts in my hands, and examining all of the other historic archives from Smith’s collection. It made me appreciate the process of writing and book-making so much more. I will definitely be coming back in the future to learn about many more records!
The class in Special Collections was really fun this week. I loved being able to flip through Bechdel’s process and see how extensive and how varied the papers are. Some of the papers were what I expected, and some were complete surprises, but all of them were so fascinating and added so much depth to Fun Home, even after we’ve technically finished discussing it.
The other books were also so interesting, especially the art books. The ones I ended up spending more time with were the one printed on paper made from clothing and legal documents from inmates and the one with handwritten poems alongside the other artist’s work. However, I also loved seeing the archived books like the Audre Lorde collection.
I really enjoyed Special Collections and getting to experience a small amount of how many ways literature can be presented. The artistic aspects of the books themselves was super interesting as I feel like with books the most commonly recognized artistic aspect is the literature or the cover, but not necessarily the book itself. One of the books that sticks out the me is the book made of silk pages, especially because silk is such a difficult material to work with. I really demonstrates the commitment to creating a book with so many different layers to its meaning.
This week I really loved going to special collections! It really challenged my perspective of what a text can be; a few of my favorites were the triangle book, and the cloth book!
I also loved seeing the evolution of Fun Home, especially the tracing paper drafts, where I could really see the thought process behind each panel. With each layer outlined in pencil, than gone over with in sharpie.
I also really enjoyed our conversation of Citizen, and was intrigued with our discussion especially surrounding the photographs and artwork! It gave me a lot better insight into the role of each picture.
I’m really glad we got to visit Special Collections this week! I feel like I learned a lot from the presentation, especially about how books are more than their texts; they are embodied objects that preserve people, ideas, and history. Since each copy is unique, it was so cool to me to see a copy of Giovanni’s Room from back in the 1950s when it was released because it made me think about how someone or some people with inevitably different contexts and worldviews ought to have read it. It was also interesting to me to carry how a book is embodied into our discussion of Citizen on Thursday. Harman mentioned how she could see the fingerprints on her book and it bothered them, but it makes the reading experience that much more personal. Combined with the second person, I wouldn’t say it makes the reading of the lyric targeted, but it does make it intimate in a way that allows the reader to internalize the discussion on race deeply and seriously.
I really enjoyed our trip to the special collections in the library this week! I was particularly interested by Bechdel’s sketches for fun home, and seeing the progression of formatting for some of the pages of the book. Also, I thought it was really interesting how for the opening scene there were multiple images and perspectives, which I think adds more meaning to the images she chose to publish. This trip reminded me how intentional authors are with their published work and helped me appreciate the texts we’ve read so far.
I really enjoyed spending Tuesday’s class in the Special Collections. I had heard of Special Collections before but I knew nothing about it, so it was really cool to be able to see some of the papers and books they have! Being able to see Alison Bechdel’s papers was really insightful and made me even more appreciative of all of the work that went into creating Fun Home. I also really enjoyed getting to look at and feel all of the artist books, especially the one with silk pages, the one with stitches, and the one with the pages cut up (the “triangle book”). I didn’t know that books could be created like that, and now I’m curious to explore how other artists manipulate the book as an art form.
This week, I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore special collections! Particularly, I was fascinated by the care put into choosing different paper types for different texts (i.e. “Citizen” versus the text on silk or the text with paper that could withstand stitching over certain paragraphs) – it isn’t something I’ve ever thought about before, and helped me appreciate the design of Citizen more during our Thursday class.
I really enjoyed our class in special collections. I love working there so much and to have time to look at all the cool stuff that exists that I didn’t know about is so enjoyable. Being able to see Allison Bechdel’s process too was so fascinating, I was surprised that she wrote the words before doing the frames. Because the text and drawings blend so well together, I thought they were done at the same time. I was sad to be sick on Thursday, but aside from that, it was a very good week!
I enjoyed our discussion of Citizen on Thursday, specifically towards the end when we focused in on the artistic side of it and analyzed the statue. While I am in no way averse to artistic analysis, I just tend to gravitate towards text in novels (I almost exclusively use audiobooks), so discussing with others the specific art and its significance in Citizen was so interesting to me.
This week has really had me thinking about text as an experience: even outside of class, I’ve been a little more aware of how I’m reacting to the things I read/watch, and how that becomes almost a part of the text that I’m using. I’m so used to the art gallery version of appreciating media, where I stay still and try to understand text instead of bringing myself to the interaction, that I’m not sure whether it’s helping me. Either way, it’s probably useful to be thinking about as I move further into research on Citizen and the avant-garde.
We spent a lot of time looking at unique ways to present writing far outside of what I had ever seen before. Citizen paired with the unique books in Special Collections really opened my eyes to the immense care that goes into the creation of books including the writing itself and the physical book as well. I enjoyed seeing Alison Bechdel’s sketches as well as all the reference photos she used and all the scenes she took out and how much purpose each image has in creative works.
This special collections class was super fun and cool! I really enjoyed looking specifically at the pamphlets and reading them. I also enjoyed feeling the books made with fabric, it was very interesting to see the mix of textiles and it also made me miss my sewing machine and sewing. Our class on Thursday was very engaging. It was nice to read a very modern and relevant text that gave me a lot of great inspiration for the final essay. It was also great to hear what everyone though of it because it was unique and our conversation about dog whistles was very productive.
I was only able to attend one class this week, but I really enjoyed it! Special Collections was really cool and I honestly had no idea how many resources were available there. I was especially interested by the distinction between a “book” and a “text”. It’s true that we tend to conflate them, when really the text is the words and the book is the layout and presentation. I never realized how much the layout can change the meaning of the text.
I enjoyed spending Tuesday’s class in the special collections classroom. It was eye-opening to see Bechdel’s original sketches and even see some scenes that never made the final cut. One thing I noticed with her process is she will draw images multiple times. Her process was very delicate and well-thought-out. In addition, seeing the different styles of books such as the silk poetry book and the triangle book that had the same passage written was interesting. Being able to see how an author or artist is displaying their work is also intriguing and striking. The special collections space is so unique and fun and I’m so glad it is a resource we have on campus!
I’ve always been interested in really old books- the history behind them, hand-written annotations, the texture of the paper, the smell of the pages, etc. That being said, the class we had on Tuesday was so, so much fun for me! I absolutely adored being able to hold Alison Bechdel’s first drafts in my hands, and examining all of the other historic archives from Smith’s collection. It made me appreciate the process of writing and book-making so much more. I will definitely be coming back in the future to learn about many more records!
The class in Special Collections was really fun this week. I loved being able to flip through Bechdel’s process and see how extensive and how varied the papers are. Some of the papers were what I expected, and some were complete surprises, but all of them were so fascinating and added so much depth to Fun Home, even after we’ve technically finished discussing it.
The other books were also so interesting, especially the art books. The ones I ended up spending more time with were the one printed on paper made from clothing and legal documents from inmates and the one with handwritten poems alongside the other artist’s work. However, I also loved seeing the archived books like the Audre Lorde collection.
I really enjoyed Special Collections and getting to experience a small amount of how many ways literature can be presented. The artistic aspects of the books themselves was super interesting as I feel like with books the most commonly recognized artistic aspect is the literature or the cover, but not necessarily the book itself. One of the books that sticks out the me is the book made of silk pages, especially because silk is such a difficult material to work with. I really demonstrates the commitment to creating a book with so many different layers to its meaning.
This week I really loved going to special collections! It really challenged my perspective of what a text can be; a few of my favorites were the triangle book, and the cloth book!
I also loved seeing the evolution of Fun Home, especially the tracing paper drafts, where I could really see the thought process behind each panel. With each layer outlined in pencil, than gone over with in sharpie.
I also really enjoyed our conversation of Citizen, and was intrigued with our discussion especially surrounding the photographs and artwork! It gave me a lot better insight into the role of each picture.
I’m really glad we got to visit Special Collections this week! I feel like I learned a lot from the presentation, especially about how books are more than their texts; they are embodied objects that preserve people, ideas, and history. Since each copy is unique, it was so cool to me to see a copy of Giovanni’s Room from back in the 1950s when it was released because it made me think about how someone or some people with inevitably different contexts and worldviews ought to have read it. It was also interesting to me to carry how a book is embodied into our discussion of Citizen on Thursday. Harman mentioned how she could see the fingerprints on her book and it bothered them, but it makes the reading experience that much more personal. Combined with the second person, I wouldn’t say it makes the reading of the lyric targeted, but it does make it intimate in a way that allows the reader to internalize the discussion on race deeply and seriously.
I really enjoyed our trip to the special collections in the library this week! I was particularly interested by Bechdel’s sketches for fun home, and seeing the progression of formatting for some of the pages of the book. Also, I thought it was really interesting how for the opening scene there were multiple images and perspectives, which I think adds more meaning to the images she chose to publish. This trip reminded me how intentional authors are with their published work and helped me appreciate the texts we’ve read so far.
I really enjoyed spending Tuesday’s class in the Special Collections. I had heard of Special Collections before but I knew nothing about it, so it was really cool to be able to see some of the papers and books they have! Being able to see Alison Bechdel’s papers was really insightful and made me even more appreciative of all of the work that went into creating Fun Home. I also really enjoyed getting to look at and feel all of the artist books, especially the one with silk pages, the one with stitches, and the one with the pages cut up (the “triangle book”). I didn’t know that books could be created like that, and now I’m curious to explore how other artists manipulate the book as an art form.
This week, I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore special collections! Particularly, I was fascinated by the care put into choosing different paper types for different texts (i.e. “Citizen” versus the text on silk or the text with paper that could withstand stitching over certain paragraphs) – it isn’t something I’ve ever thought about before, and helped me appreciate the design of Citizen more during our Thursday class.