Since I've started working on my chapbook, I have found that it has been an entirely new experience for me to visit my poetry on the page as a part of a larger entity as opposed to by itself on a single page. For the first time I have to consider how the pages work together, how the text flows, margin size, font type, etc. The people that work at The Center For Book Arts are veterans when it comes to these matters.
I really enjoyed the Harvey Tulcensky Notebook Project. I’m really interested in using regular pen ink as a medium. I especially think that blue pen ink is pretty and underrated as an object used everyday. Tulcensky’s work reminded me of Andre Masson’s Automatic Drawing. I like the thoughtless arrangement of the lines. The pen strokes create so many different textures than I thought were possible! I completely agree with Tulcensky’s idea to put the different accordion pages together and display them all at once on the wall. It really gives the audience a much broader perspective when viewing the different textures. Sometimes, they appear like waves of ink. My favorite pages are those that include some white space. I see it as a much desired breath amongst the narrative.
I can really appreciate the poetics of such a project. The ink of the page isn’t in word-form, but it seems to be transcribing an unspoken narrative. I bet if you could touch the work, you could feel the indentation of the ink. Perhaps on a stressful day, it would be deeper than others. I also find it fascinating that this project could fold up into a relatively conventional book. I think I would really like to sit with each page, one at a time. Each page can be experienced as it’s own entity but also as a part of the greater whole displayed on the wall.
Overall, The Center For Book Arts was a really cool place. It seems like a really calming sanctuary for both writers and artists. It’s a great fusing of arts and I hope to indulge in a book making class there in the future!
