New Media is centering more and more on virtual learning and online exhibitions. NEBA member and book artist, Susan Gaylord‘s video library has been growing to satisfy surging interests in book arts. Her online book projects and video instructions are powerful tools to ignite your creative process. Her newest series, Keepsake Books was made during the pandemic. The books are intended to bring comfort during these difficult times whether it is to commemorate and celebrate lives lived and lost, people missed during quarantine, or to help cope with anxiety and fear.
Gaylord shares her experience,”I started my Youtube channel in 2008 when I was teaching bookmaking in schools. I presented the material just as I would if I were standing in front of a class—no close-ups, no camera changes. I did a lot of sharing of my teaching ideas online through my website (Making Books). It started as a way to market myself as a teacher and presenter but grew into a fairly comprehensive site for teachers and parents on making books with children.
Toward the end of my teaching in schools, I focused on family workshops using recycled materials. Education had become more rigid and test-focused and there was less time in school for creative projects. I felt that if I could introduce bookmaking to parents and kids, they could work together at home. When I stopped teaching in schools after over 20 years, I did workshops for adults using the simplest of bindings and recycled materials. My goal was to make books that didn’t take much time and didn’t require planning. My art has always been a comfort and release and I wanted to bring that to others no matter how busy their lives were or how little previous art experience they had had. Based on that work, I created The Joy of Making Books video series in 2016, presenting small bits of instruction that could be combined.”
