SUSAN's done it again

Susan Kapuscinsky Gaylord, creator of the Elephant Rag's  own elephant, has a new book, Handmade Books for a Healthy Planet.   Susan writes, "I am inspired by book forms from different cultures. I use recycled materials and keep the process as simple as possible—no rulers allowed here. I believe we are all creative beings. I encourage you to celebrate that creativity with books of your own."   I already gave my copy away to someone I adore.  This book is a celebration of the art form of books but also of creativity itself. 

Mexico in December

My first book was a story I wrote for my mother and gave to her as a Christmas present. I continued to write her stories, great leaps of fantasy from a nugget of real life. I loved J.R.R. Tolkein's Father Christmas Letters about the antics of elves at the North Pole. One year I wrote my mother a story about the elves of Cushing Academy in Massachusetts where she went to school. Here it is December again, and I want to make a handmade book to give as a gift.
This desire comes at the same time as a December trip my daughter and I are taking to Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico. This led me to Susan Gaylord's Multicultural Books to Make and Share where I found a small accordian book called a curandero book. It was made by healers of the Otomi Indians of Mexico. I loved the idea that I could fold an acccordian book in this ancient tradition of healers to hold my story. So that is my goal this December, to give a story in a curandero book.

I've also started to find children's books about the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca and other areas of Mexico. Pictured is La Boda: A Mexican Wedding Celebration by Nancy Van Laan, illus. by Andrea Arroyo about a Zapotec Indian wedding in Oaxaca. Here are two excellent reading lists that include books set in Mexico: University of North Carolina and Duke University run a Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and offer a Children's Book List.
Colorin colorado, a Spanish/English bilingual site for families and educators, offers a list of recommended children's books. Please pass on your recommendations from your corner of the world.

A Sewn Book Waiting for Her Own Words: Interview With Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord

"Living in this world of media saturation, it is easy to think that all the important things are happening somewhere else. Making books about our own stories and our own lives reminds us that we are the center of our own lives."

After Susan created The Elephant Rag logo, she told me more about her art, her passion for books, her exploration of the bindings and paper used around the world, and her belief in inviting others to make art.


Terry: Based on the number of workshops you do, you must think it’s important for kids – and adults – to make their own books, and probably fill them with their own stories.
Susan: I absolutely think it's important. When I started to make books on a regular basis, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher as well as a doer. Because I work with a lot of simple forms, the construction is simple and the materials are easy to gather (especially now that I focus on recycled ones). To me making books is the perfect introduction to art and creative exercise. I think it is important that we take the time to tell our own stories. Living in this world of media saturation, it is easy to think that all the important things are happening somewhere else. Making books about our own stories and our own lives reminds us that we are the center of our own lives and helps us to value ourselves and our families and friends. However I also have another sense of the book which comes more from the art side of things: the book as an object. I have books in my collection that are in languages I can't read and yet I take great pleasure in looking at them and turning the pages. It is the book as book and the pattern of the marks on the page that I find so beautiful. I like to think of books as celebrations. They can celebrate a memory or a story but they can also celebrate your particular interaction with that particular collection of materials at that particular time.


Read the full text of the interview.