Altered Books II

Reading Gives you Wings
by Sophie Lackner

Circus Book
by Basti Syed

Here are two finished examples of the altered books ninth graders are working on. I've made videos of them to show how that, like mobiles, they rotate.

The Rowe Gallery

In the lobby of Rowe, we have set up a gallery. We have about ten frames of various sizes. Each week, we put new drawings and paintings in the frames, to showcase the latest efforts of talented student artists. Here are a few recent works of art we've had on display.

Orbit (acrylic)
by Danielle Cole

Dragonfly (acrylic)
by Basti Syed

Helmet (watercolor)
by Casey Cole

If anyone has any decent picture frames they are not using, we'll take them!

Graphic Novel Graphic Organizer

Ghostopolis (colored pencil)
by Jamie Evans

I got this idea from our Learning Focused Schools workbooks. A graphic organizer that shows a character from a book from the beginning of a book and at the end. Each student read a graphic novel. The goal is to illustrate the change that takes place in a character. This teaches students about themes in stories. Students also wrote a brief paper about the graphic novel they chose to read. This student sample is an excellent example of the project. The book she chose is one of the best graphic novels out there -- riveting and thought-provoking.

Editorial Cartoons

by Alli Mahonski

by Colton Roan

Eighth graders made original cartoons illustrating their opinions about the political parties. I am very proud of all my students. They put a lot of thought into it and expressed their views creatively.

Guest Potter

Today we had a visit from Sayre High School student Janine Krench. She is planning to be an art teacher and visited as part of a job shadowing project. In addition to observing, she shared her own knowledge to students. She is quite an accomplished potter and we quickly set up a makeshift wheel throwing station. A few of the students got an introductory lesson in throwing clay on the pottery wheel.

Clay Jack O'Lanterns

Sculpture & Pottery students each made one of these. They turned out great. I let everybody take them home before I realized I hadn't taken any pictures -- except of this one.

Clay Jack O'Lantern
by Mara Tate

Altered Books

I've never made altered books before, but my ninth grade art students and I are learning together. The Waverly Library had several boxes of books that were headed for recycling. We offered to recycle them -- into art! Students have shown a lot of creativity in coming up with their own creative solutions in transforming books into art.

This book is called Doorway to the Galaxy (by Arianna Crawford).
What is an altered book?

An altered book is a form of mixed media artwork that changes a book from its original form into a different form, altering its appearance and/or meaning.

An altered book artist takes a book (old, new, recycled or multiple) and cuts, tears, glues, burns, folds, paints, adds to, collages, rebinds, gold-leafs, creates pop-ups, rubber-stamps, drills, bolts, and/or be-ribbons it. The artist may add pockets and niches to hold tags, rocks, ephemera, or other three-dimensional objects. Some change the shape of the book, or use multiple books in the creation of the finished piece of art.

Altered books may be as simple as adding a drawing or text to a page, or as complex as creating an intricate book sculpture. (Wikipedia, 2010).

Some students are choosing to paint right on the pages, and others are making collages in the book.

If you are interested in seeing a gallery of work by artists who specialize in altared books, visit this website: www.altaredbookartists.com