The print shop at Emily Carr is generous with its scrap paper—this time it was long bits of card, Riso edged, with rounded corners. I have played with these scraps with much joy. the pink and orange edge lends a sense of celebration of something… like a plea to be honoured rather than consigned to the bin.
Then there is the business with eyes. I return to unerringly—as an inverted metaphor for the book—to open and close, is an act of knowing. Paper is so forgiving we take little notice of it. But the simple act of folding along a corner, until fatigue makes the break offers a small play – a 5 minute morning piece…. linking all my fun with eyes over the years.
The stack also offers up an invitation for iteration. Here I fashioned a quick linkage to try to trace out a smile—a smile machine… it was a bit fiddly, and I ended up only approximating a clam. However, it feels great to play with every time I pass it, mounted on a wall. It allows me to consider the thousands of other mechanisms that similarly offer a space to doodle, and to have a little bit of fun!
