For this project, I was assigned to create three handmade books using different bookbinding techniques and design principals. I named them after the three rivers of Pittsburgh and explored the aesthetic principals of manhole covers from my home in the United States and my travels in the UK at the time. I also used text from Pittsburgh poet Mary Soon Lee, who was born in England and has lived in the US for several decades, to explore ideas of home and relocation.
Glasgow School of Art. Fall 2019.
The first book, called Ohio River, used clear pages to compare the different shapes of manhole cover design in the US and Scotland. These designs were hand traced from photos I had taken, and then printed on acetate. It included a fold out at the back that could be used to look at individual pages more clearly: by slipping it behind the page, the reader is able to see just one design at any point in the book.
The second book, Monongahela River, showcases photographs of circular manholes from the United States, mostly from Pittsburgh where I grew up and in New York at and around Vassar College. These images are interspersed with lines from a poem which discusses the rivers of Pittsburgh and decorative paper. The cover is a hand-drawn depiction of the three rivers of Pittsburgh and Glasgow's River Clyde.
With this book, I played with the form and construction of the typical book, creating an unusual object that draws people in and invites them to play with it.
The final book, Allegheny River, uses manhole imagery in contrast with travel details to record my journey from Pittsburgh to Glasgow. I utilized a poem which discussed the process of trans-continental relocation, though the poet Mary Soon Lee explores her transition from life in England to one in the US.
I am very proud of how these books turned out, thought I do know several changes I would have made to it. For example, I would have remade the cover of Allegheny River. Though I do like the idea of contrasting the forms of the rivers, I would have liked to make the text neater and more polished.