Make

Recently I came into some circumstances which called for me to exhibit some of the more artistically driven and hand-crafted work I've produced. When I set out to earn my Visual Communications degree I never sought to be pigeon-holed into a certain design genre so to speak, but instead looked forward to learning how to further hone the creative and artistic skills which I already put into practice and become more adept at rationalizing my processes. An artist since childhood I also paint, draw, sew, repurpose objects and sculpt, among other pursuits. I think I've done a good job of intertwining craftsmanship, art and design in my understanding and practice.

Nonetheless coming out of college my path to creative success seemed much more tangible on the graphic design side of things and so I poured my efforts into building a graphic design portfolio. Somehow though the purest enjoyment I get happens when I'm simply making things, something I dearly wish I had more time to do. And now here I was, faced with the need to showcase my other endeavors which didn't fall on the digital side of things.

So what did I do? Hand-crafted a book of course! And so, Make came into existence.

Several really special elements just happened while I was assembling this. One of my favorites is the recycled confetti paper title page (pictured at top), which I did on a whim. It has a really rich texture in person and the speckling of colour tied into the colours of the covers well. Which brings me to that; the covers were woven out of 1/2 inch strips of paper shopping bags that I had on hand and one gift bag from something my cousin had sent me. The handmade tactile feel of these elements and uniqueness of each side really emphasized the content itself. The circle and stripe cut paper pieces on the ends were the very last addition, because the overall effect was not quite balanced without. I love the charm of them.

 

 

 

This process was so freeing and a complete joy, because there were no directions either than what my imagination came up with and I was able to organically put together something that entirely reflected my personal aesthetic. I'm pretty enthusiastic about the results and am looking forward to now adding this to my design portfolio as a personal piece.

As for those circumstances, details are still outstanding – but more on those in a post to come.



~ TM

 
Design: Tara MacDonald  7" × 9", accordion fold book, featuring hand-woven covers. 

Side A includes: repurposed pieces and projects from my apartment, which reflect my personal style; baked grapefruit christmas ornaments and my dressed tree from this past year; constructed Zac Posen inspired dress I sewed sans pattern.

Side B  includes: derivative cut-paper elephant sculpture; the Make book itself; various drawing and painting pieces; colour theory exercises.