Have you ever cut up a hardcover book? It goes against everything we are taught about how to treat books. We are supposed to care for them, tucking them carefully away on a shelf. We become more familiar with it’s spine than what’s between its covers.

I think there is something to be said for re-thinking how we use books, especially older books that have been read and re-read and are falling out of date. We don’t know what to do with them. They find their way into used book stores, free book libraries or the recycling. This is why I think that after a book has loyally served its purpose (often for many decades), maybe it’s time to give it a new kind of life.

Decadent Diagrams Workshop

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with a room of quality individuals doing just this. We began with a collaborative drawing project. The end results were fantastic! Here are some pictures of them below.

We then moved into sorting through stacks of book pages, collecting diagrams we found interesting and then took scissor to paper. 🙂 I often consider collage as “thinking with my hands,” because you get into a rhythm of shifting objects in front of you, making decisions instinctively. Trying things. Seeing how pieces want to go together. Your hands start to move quicker than your mental decision-making.

The participants also created monochromatic (single-coloured) ink drawings inspired by their collages. We discussed how you can find easy pathways to abstraction by using methods like these (but we will always know they aren’t truly abstract 😉 )

I wish I took more photos at the end of the class! The juxtapositions between the ink drawings and the black and white collages were stunning. I have been looking forward to seeing these artworks for weeks because there was no way of knowing the end results! This is the magic of creation: it can surprise you!

It’s easy to over-think life and take it too seriously. There can be a lot of weight, which is why I think we need to give ourselves a little breathing room and space for playful exploration and creation. This is why it’s important to gather with like-minded people, put on some baroque music, cut up a book together and make something decadent. Let’s break the rules, give yourself permission, do something out of your comfort zone, find the “best” diagram and turn it into something completely unique. Why? Because it’s good for us.