Assignment 5: Colour Book

On The Street Where You Live. By Madeson Singh. 2025. 
14 pg single stitch Coptic Binding 

For this assignment I wanted to create an archive of colour I see in my community. The book is compromised of different colour pallets encountered in two different parts of the city. The right side of the book features houses found in Lethbridge  South, while the right side of the book features houses found in Lethbridge West. Arranging these two different houses next to one another creates a juxtaposition, which really highlights the differences found in not only their colours but also their designs. While I went on my photo walks, I noticed so much more than I had initially expected. I’d like to further explore the contexts that influence the experience of a house, to consider things like what does the appearance of a house say about those who reside there? What impact does the different experiences of geographical location within a city or community have on an individual? What might this say about experiences of class, and access to wealth and resources? I think it would also be interesting to investigate the political alignment of each neighbourhood, as I noticed considerably more signs that endorsed local political candidates on lawns in the South side than those on the West.

Assignment 4: Japanese Bookbinding

four books in Japanese binding

around the fur, Japanese 4-hole Stab Binding

uly-scii: Japanese Tortoise Shell Binding 

pawetic musings: Japanese Hemp Leaf Binding 

I loved learning all the new binding techniques for this assignment. I also had a lot of fun making the fridge poems, ascii art and graphic design content found within each of my books. I think I will make some more copies for my friends and family <3 

Text Art

Type-writer art & ASCII art have been sources of inspiration for my latest bookmaking project. I used Photoshop and some photos I took of my cat Ulysses to make my text artworks. I really want to use this technique for future projects & I'd especially like to play around with screen printing my text art designs. Here are a selection of text artworks I've found online. 

.     .       .  .   . .   .   . .    +  .
  .     .  :     .    .. :. .___---------___.
       .  .   .    .  :.:. _".^ .^ ^.  '.. :"-_. .
    .  :       .  .  .:../:            . .^  :.:\.
        .   . :: +. :.:/: .   .    .        . . .:\
 .  :    .     . _ :::/:               .  ^ .  . .:\
  .. . .   . - : :.:./.                        .  .:\
  .      .     . :..|:                    .  .  ^. .:|
    .       . : : ..||        .                . . !:|
  .     . . . ::. ::\(                           . :)/
 .   .     : . : .:.|. ######              .#######::|
  :.. .  :-  : .:  ::|.#######           ..########:|
 .  .  .  ..  .  .. :\ ########          :######## :/
  .        .+ :: : -.:\ ########       . ########.:/
    .  .+   . . . . :.:\. #######       #######..:/
      :: . . . . ::.:..:.\           .   .   ..:/
   .   .   .  .. :  -::::.\.       | |     . .:/
      .  :  .  .  .-:.":.::.\             ..:/
 .      -.   . . . .: .:::.:.\.           .:/
.   .   .  :      : ....::_:..:\   ___.  :/
   .   .  .   .:. .. .  .: :.:.:\       :/
     +   .   .   : . ::. :.:. .:.|\  .:/|
     .         +   .  .  ...:: ..|  --.:|
.      . . .   .  .  . ... :..:.."(  ..)"
 .   .       .      :  .   .: ::/  .  .::\ unknown

           .-._   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
 .-''-.__.-'00  '-' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '-.
'.___ '    .   .--_'-' '-' '-' _'-' '._
 V: V 'vv-'   '_   '.       .'  _..' '.'.
   '=.____.=_.--'   :_.__.__:_   '.   : :
           (((____.-'        '-.  /   : :
 snd                         (((-'\ .' /
                           _____..'  .'
                          '-._____.-'

                                                                          
              `>.___    o-.--.-o    ___,<'                                
               /    `.   / ,, \   .'    \                                 
              {       `.; ,__, ;.'       }                                
               `._      }`.__.'{      _.'                                 
                  `,=."'        `".=,'                                    
                 .'   /`-.____.-'_   `,                                   
                 \_.';`-.______.-':`._/                                   
                     `+-.______.-''                                       
                       `-.____.-'                                         
                        /  ||  \                                         
                       ;   ;;   ;                                        
                       `-./  \.-'     fsc                                
   
        ,---.
       |:  ,+--.
       |: |:  \|
       |: |: >=|
       |: |:  /|
       |`.|:  _(
       (_ |`._)``.
        `=(_      `._
           `=='`-----'     hjw


         \_/-.--.--.--.--.--.
         (")__)__)__)__)__)__)
     jgs  ^ "" "" "" "" "" ""
                         ,_  .--.
                   , ,   _)\/    ;--.
           . ' .    \_\-'   |  .'    \
          -= * =-   (.-,   /  /       |
           ' .\'    ).  ))/ .'   _/\ /
               \_   \_  /( /     \ /(
               /_\ .--'   `-.    //  \
               ||\/        , '._//    |
               ||/ /`(_ (_,;`-._/     /
               \_.'   )   /`\       .'
                    .' .  |  ;.   /`
                   /      |\(  `.(
                  |   |/  | `    `
                  |   |  /
                  |   |.'
               __/'  /
           _ .'  _.-`
        _.` `.-;`/
       /_.-'` / /
             | /
      jgs   ( /
           /_/

          .
        ('
        '|
        |'
       [::]
       [::]   _......_
       [::].-'      _.-`.
       [:.'    .-. '-._.-`.
       [/ /\   |  \        `-..
       / / |   `-.'      .-.   `-.
      /  `-'            (   `.    `.
     |           /\      `-._/      \
     '    .'\   /  `.           _.-'|
    /    /  /   \_.-'        _.':;:/
  .'     \_/             _.-':;_.-'
 /   .-.             _.-' \;.-'
/   (   \       _..-'     |
\    `._/  _..-'    .--.  |
 `-.....-'/  _ _  .'    '.|
          | |_|_| |      | \  (o)
     (o)  | |_|_| |      | | (\'/)
    (\'/)/  ''''' |     o|  \;:;
     :;  |        |      |  |/)
 LGB  ;: `-.._    /__..--'\.' ;:
          :;  `--' :;   :;  


All artworks sourced from: Ascii Art Dictionary

Assignment 2: Leporello

Documentation of my screen printed Leporello Directed by David Lynch. Ten pages + two page colophon, all pages have at least two layers, while the tenth page has three. This accordion folded limited edition zine measures 5.25 x 4.25" and is centred on the feature films of David Lynch's filmography. This zine serves as a tribute to one of my favourite directors, his work has been influential to me as both an artist and person.  

 

Making my Leporello

  ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ Some documentation in the making ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ 
                     of my Leporello 

Cutting & folding paper 

Cut paper ready for folding

Stacks upon stacks of paper 

Paper mock-up

 

Paper mock-up

Images prepared with mineral oil

Preparing images with mineral oil

Placing images to be exposed on screen

Images burned into the silk screen

Screen printing pages 

Army of Glinda test prints 

♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪

Assignment 3: Altered book

Book cover

Table of contents

Chapter title

Beadwork details

Beaded page

Beaded page

Stitching details

I started this assignment considering the discussions we had in class regarding the project. I found that hearing about the reasons other students brought books to alter was helpful. Because I did not wish to alter a book I had an attachment to, I searched for a book that I felt needed improvement. 

I found a book at the thrift store titled “Alberta in the 20th Century: The Birth of The Province 1900-1910” and edited by Tim Byfield. It’s volume two of a twelve part series that reflects upon the history of Alberta. After identifying that this book was authored in the early 1990s, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that it was one that did not consider Indigenous perspectives. In this book that contained hundreds of pages, there was only one chapter dedicated to Indigenous experiences and history in Alberta. This chapter (only about 10 pages in total) was titled “The mismanagement and the misapprehension of the unhappy Indians.” I was really unsettled by this title, it felt reflective of the Indigenous erasure I had noticed in the book overall. 

Historically Indigenous perspectives and Ways of Knowing have been systematically erased and silenced. Most notably through the implementation of the Indian Residential School system. These were institutions ran by the Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian Churches, that isolated Indigenous children from their families, to assimilate them into the white, western, Eurocentric society. This was achieved through the passing of the Indian Act, created in 1876. I found references to residential school in this chapter of the book, alongside images of the children who were forced to attend these “schools” where they faced significant harm and abuse. Several members of my family have attended residential school (and day school), and the last residential school closed in 1996. That means that at the time this book was published, First Nations children were still attending residential schools. I find that extremely disturbing. 

I wanted to consider the idea of history, to consider treaty relationships, to question who gets the right to have their histories told, and accurately represented? History is often considered evidence, and the hardcover form of the book feels relevant, as history cannot be changed, it's "set in stone".... solid, like the hardcover found on this book. I wanted to bring attention to this part of Albertan history, to highlight the impact that residential schools had and continue to have on Indigenous communities. Beading has been used to document oral history and treaty making. I decided to bead the pages of this chapter. I chose to bead around the borders of photos of the children at residential schools with orange beads --- I chose the orange colour to allude to the Orange Shirt Day movement associated with The National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, I thought about the phrase "Every Child Matters." I carefully stitched around the photos, bead by bead. Beading is a practise that is significant to many Indigenous cultures, and is a symbol of the cultures that the residential schools sought to eliminate. The practice of beading is an Indigenous technology, and the beads in my piece are found alongside western technologies of writing and bookmaking. Seeing these two technologies alongside one another asserts the importance, and significance of Indigenous technologies and knowledge systems. Beading these photos and this chapter was an act of resistance and a reminder, that despite attempted assimilation, Indigenous Peoples are still here, and we are still practicing our cultures. The beads stitched into these pages create an Indigenous presence and show that while we might not have history books written about us, we have always had a physical presence on these lands.

Nadia Myre: Beading the Indian Act

Nadia Myre's Beading the Indian Act (2000-2002) was a huge inspiration to how I wanted to approach the altered book assignment.

Assignment 1: Postcard Diptych

 

I made this postcard for my twin sister Mykalah, I used an illustration from a vintage children's book. It was from a story called The Twins, about a pair of ladybug twins. The title of the story immediately reminded me of my twin, and made me nostalgic for the days we'd spend outside looking for ladybugs. I chose a beluga whale stamp from Canada Post's 2022 collection Endangered Whales.

Postcard Archive

Postcards I've been sent 

Dear Reader, 

Here are some postcards I've received over the years. The beadwork postcard is from Seattle (sent by my pal Katie Jo), the spaceship one is from Hong Kong (sent by my pal Rachel), the Kentucky, Las Vegas, and Royal Tyrell Museum travelled from their respective places (sent by my twin sister on her travels), and the remaining donkey postcard is from Edmonton (sent from my sister again).

My sister and I have been collecting and sending postcards and letters to each other, family, friends, and internet pen pals since we were in high school, about 10 years now I suppose.

I've also been collecting post cards for this long as well. My collection has grown to 55+ and many of my postcards have been sourced from thrift stores & stationary shops across B.C, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. It would take much too long to scan all the postcards so I've scanned a select few that are my favourites. I'm not sure I'll ever part with these postcards, I'm considering acquiring a photo album to store my collection in for safe keeping, perhaps some day I will make a postcard wall in my house. 

Postcards in my collection