The book project came as I was just beginning to return to the rhythm of school work, and art class- formulating cohesive conceptual ideas. My book title “The Chronology of Water” left me with a canvas as vast and deep as the ocean. Looking around the class after the end of the first day, and classmates seemed to have beautifully colored pages, while I sat at my desktop without a hint in my mind as to how I would turn my topic into a concept that would engage readers.
To begin, I collected pictures throughout the city: a little girl playing in the fountain at Washington Square Park, the murky water in the fountain in Union Square, an old photo of a man in Brooklyn protected from the rain under a brightly colored umbrella. But still, no story.
Over the weekend I borrowed a friend’s dslr camera and headed to Brooklyn to snap some photos, but still no theme held in my mind to bind the book together. At best, I knew that water moved, it flowed, it was consumed, and it was treated to be made drinkable. I wanted to improve my skills in InDesign and Photoshop so I took photos and altered them- changing background colors, creating shapes out of text, and repeating pictures across the page. To the right are a two pages from my first version lacking cohesion:
I knew I had nothing I liked, but the draft was due so I printed my meager pages and put them together. During our classmate discussions my classmate confirmed my sentiment, that there was no theme. She liked several of the pages, but didn’t have an idea for how I could help them to flow from one to the next. I was sure that the page I liked the most was an outline of the Hudson and East Rivers that I had filled with collaged text, but this page had taken me several hours. I knew I wouldn’t be able to repeat it with the time left until print, nor would I be able to help the concept to maintain freshness over 16 pages. During our professor one-one Annette pulled all of my pages apart and noticed that the spliced text pieces fit well next to the photos I had collected: landscape shots of the Newtown Creek and Newtown Wastewater Treatment plant.
With a semblance of cohesion finally materialized (with assistance) in my mind, I was able to create my book: a compilation of text collages layed out next to sprawling industrial waterfront scenes. My favorite text was an excerpt I pulled from a Japanese Koan, “No Water, No Moon”.
I’m still unsatisfied with the final product- I think I would have collected pictures from different industrial scenes throughout the city, the Brooklyn Marina being one, instead of only having one landscape to work with. I would have also liked to collect more quotes about water, and about the catalyzing relationship between water and industry.
