Category Archives: Book Arts

Bibliophiles, Enter Here.

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Kansas City Public Library is the place for book lovers. I posted about wanting to visit the Central Library and I finally did last week. It is a beautiful library. The fifth floor has an open roof top where you can see the city and also play a round of chess with human size chess pieces.

When I first saw photos of the library, I thought the walls were faux books and that is what attracted me and why I chose to visit the Central Library Branch. It turns out the parking garage is designed with faux books. The steps to the garage are stacked cement books. It is so incredibly cool. They are metal and painted with different spine covers. Bibliophiles, you will love this!

Photo: Kansas City Library             Credit: Alie Preusser

If you are in the Kansas City area be sure to visit the Central Library Branch. It is in the Central Business District and close to the Power and Light District.

Enjoy,

~Alie

Final Stage: Altered Book Journal

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By: Alie Preusser

The journal is complete and now it is ready for me to document life, love, parenting, creating art, and all the things I enjoy. After taking a workshop on maps it inspired me to include some maps and journal some of the places I have lived. Now that I am an Army wife the journeys will continue and I am going to include map art from each place we live.

Post about Jill Berry and the map making seminar is, here.

Middle stage post is, here.

Cheers,
~Alie

Kansas City Public Library

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I absolutely love libraries and am a total bibliophile. The library is the first place I seek out in a new place. What I cannot believe is that the coolest library is so incredibly close to me and I have never been there.

While helping my son with a project I saw photographs of the Kansas City, Missouri library. It looks amazing! This is my next adventure and I am so excited. Have you been to this library or heard of it?

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Slideshow photos courtesy of Google Images.

The Middle Stage; Altered Book Journal

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A previous post explains my current project, which is an altered book journal. I am doing this as part of a workshop. There are several layers that I have applied and I am nearly done. Since I am not quite done, I would like to share the middle stage. It is pictured below.

Middle Stage: Front Cover

Beginning Stage: Back Cover

The front cover started with a collage of magazine cut outs, layered onto one another. Then I painted over those and added another layer of scrapbook paper cut outs, and painted on top of those. I also included some gloss varnish and gesso for more texture. Now I will do some more painting and add embellishments.

The back cover has scrapbook paper of sheet music. I am going to layer a map on top of that. I am not sure about the shape yet. I took a map class yesterday and am going to incorporate what I learned on the back cover.

I will post the final product when I am done.

Have a great weekend!
~Alie

Personal Geographies

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Today was the free webinar hosted by Create Mixed Media entitled, My Journey with Maps. Artist Jill Berry shared her passion and knowledge with map making. The class had some interesting ideas and ways to create maps about family, rites of passage, or actual road trips. Jill uses mixed media to create her maps and also Photoshop.

Jill Berry's Book

Her book is on sale for 50% off until the end of the month through Create Mixed Media. Jill also shared some of her map collection with us. She has some nice vintage maps, maps from McDonalds, etc. It truly was fascinating and inspiring.

During the webinar it was brought up that maps are slowly becoming extinct and probably will become extinct. I have a few maps that I am now going to keep and create some treasures with, especially knowing that they will soon be hard to come by.

Photo Courtesy of Jill Berry; Personal Geography

I would strongly urge teachers to visit her blog or purchase her book. She has projects that could be done with elementary through high school students, great for art and English teachers. I know I am strongly inspired to create a few on my own and then create a lesson for some fourth grade students I am working with.

Enjoy,
~Alie

My original post can be found here.

Altered Book Journal

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Well I am still working away with the Jeanne Oliver Creative Workshop projects. Currently, I am working on an altered book journal. I have made these in the past and realized that I have always made them for someone else. As with some projects I was struggling for inspiration and the process was not flowing, I kept painting over certain parts, tearing other parts off and starting over, and then I walked away for a little while.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful muse and it happens to be my husband. He was my muse before we were married too. With his help, I figured out that I needed a purpose other than the workshop to create this journal.  After talking to my muse and watching some inspirational videos from other artists, I decided to make the book for myself.

It will be the place where I write down ideas, questions, wishes, etc. A place other than Evernote where I can store ideas and read through them again. Today has been very productive now that I have a purpose. I am hoping the altered book journal will be done tomorrow so I can post a picture.

~Alie

Vintage Journal

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Photo: Vintage Journal. Credit: Alie Preusser.

The journal featured is one I created in Jeanne Oliver’s Class, Creatively Made. So far, I am really enjoying the class. There are several projects each week that we share with one another. There are guest artist videos and a lot of inspiration. People from all over the world have signed up to be a part of this adventure.

I will continue sharing some of the projects we create throughout the course.

~Alie