CHAP BOOKS
These artists books are self-published zine-like books by poets and writers. The sample is a chap book made by adjunct faculty at California College of the Arts. The cover is of a mural painted by students in a mural class. Inside are stories written by twenty contingent faculty over the summer when many were on unemployment. They were also coping with looking for housing further away from the college due to gentrification. At the same time, a new course assignment system was being implemented and no schedules had been assigned for the fall as of the beginning of August. Students and parents were the intended audience.
The cover is 8.5"x11" 60# card stock folded in half. It was printed with union funds. Book covers can be color copied, or black and white or black on a single color card stock made on a copy machine.
Each cover can be handmade, collaged or drawn.
The inside sheets are plain 8.5"x11" paper folded in half. At CCA, Donna De La Perriere, a writer and adjunct professor, gathered the stories together from her colleagues.
These books are sewn together with embroidery thread. Some have beads and jute added. For ideas on how to bind the chap books you can search the web. You can also go to Alisa Golden's blog. She is a contingent faculty member at CCA who has published books on the craft of book making.
Alisa led "Bind-in's" as an action. Students, faculty, and staff bound the books together then handed them out in the cafeteria and other public gathering spaces. At the same time they had students sign a petition and call the college president and provost, supporting the adjunct faculty union contract negotiations.
During CEW you can create books that tell your stories of contingency. Invite the community to stand with you in solidarity with your demands for equity.
To see a digital copy of the chap book, click here
BACK POCKET BOOKLET/ZINES
Materials: one piece of 8.5"X11" paper in any color and scissors to make an 8-16 page zine.
Watch this very short video below for direction in how to fold and cut the book
Once the booklet is created (and creating it is fun and can involve illustration or decorative bookmaking), use the 8 or 16 pages for composing a book that serves as a manifesto or other genre of protest. It could even be song lyrics or a photo essay.
The paper itself could be selected to reflect a particular theme—for instance some advertising copy could be used for the 8.5"X11" sheet of paper, and the message could overlap with/subtract from the marketing information to create a palimpsest effect or to demonstrate redaction.
Book Arts
BOOK MARKS
Bookmarks are an easy project, almost no expense and a great way to distribute information about adjunct issues. This is an example of what adjuncts from Colorado State University distributed in 2011. At that time we had an active blog for information. The front of the bookmark featured concrete actions that adjuncts could take for advocacy. The back of the bookmark featured “talking points” that might be used in a variety of situations. Obviously this information changed from year to year. The statistical information came directly from the university published “fact book” and as such was irrefutable data.
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Use any graphics for book marks. This one is from Here