NahumAlbright_final_paper - Parsons School of Design | Art, Media

Transcription

A Conversation
about Death
Michelle Nahum-Albright
Thesis 2010
Professors:
Katherine Moriwaki,
Louisa Campbell
Abstract
A Conversation with Death provides an opportunity
to deepen a viewers’ understanding of the imprint that
death leaves on life. A unique set of physical and virtual
book artifacts describe death as an intimate process,
transition and passage within an individual’s life. This
project is a self-driven journey of discovery. Aided by
an online blog to access available resources the
viewer considers the effects of death related issues in
their life. Tactile and virtual form, hand drawn images
and first person interview excerpts blend within
selected book formats to trigger personal insights and
associations. The final output is fine art touching on
death education and Thanatology.
2
Contents
3
Abstract
1
Image citations
4
Introduction and motivation
6
Domains and precedents
11
Methodology
17
Conclusion & evaluation
43
Works consulted
46
Appendix A Artists’ book images
54
Appendix B Journal interview excerpts
66
Appendix C Journal image
105
Appendix D Artists book image
108
Appendix E Dedication image
110
Appendix E Game iteration scenario
113
Footnotes /endnotes
114
Acknowledgements
117
4
Figure 1
Tales from the Cyrpt Comic Book
Figure 2
Gino Nahum - my Father
Figure 3
Sad, Mad and Scared material
Prototypes therapeutic tools 5-7 year olds
Figure 4
Woodstock - An Aquarian Exposition
3 Days of Peace and Music-1969 - poster
Figure 5
,
Figure 6
Coretta Scott King -Martin Luther King, Funeral
Jacqueline Kennedy and children
John Kennedy’s funeral
Figure 7
First Moonwalk
Figure 8
Dennis Hopper - Ameriprise TV Ad
Figure 9
Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Wash, DC
Figure 10
Six Feet Under - TV Show - Promo poster
Figure 11
Six Feet Under - TV Show - Promo poster
Figure 12
Patchwork Quilt - Romare Bearden - collage
Figure 13
The Very Hungry Catepillar- Illustration
Eric Carle
Figure 14
Sorrows of the King - collage
Matisse
Figure 15
The Tijuana Brass Double Feature
animation screen capture
Figure 16
Andre Francois -Illustration
Figure 17
Maira Kalman - illustration
Figure 18
James Victore - Dirty Dishes - poster
Figure 19
Javier Mariscal
A Drawing Life
Chapter head
5
Figure 20
John Rombola - personal sketch
Figure 21
Ed Ruscha -Twenty Six
Gasoline Stations - Artists’ Book
Figure 22
TITS The Indignities
Thrust on Sisters
Ruth E Edwards
Figure 23
Eggs By Rebecca Goodale
Figure 24
Walking on trainlines - Claudia Moniz
Figure 25
The White Alphabet - Ron King
Figure 26
The History of the Accordion Book
Peter and Donna Thomas
Figure 27
I Robot
Jan and Jarmila Sobota
Figure 28
Pebbles on a Jewish headstone
Figure 29
Accordion Book - Front
Figure 30
Accordion Book - Back
Figure 31
Accordion Book - Closeup
Figure 32
Dedication -with engraved pebbles
Figure 33
Book portfolio
Figure 34
Open journal
Figure 35-37
James Fragelino - prototype scenario
Figure 38-40
Mary Heller - prototype scenario
Introduction
& Motivation
Introduction
This thesis is part of a growing dialogue
focused on aging and end of life issues. As a
personal expression built around the book form and
inspired by my own grief journey the four elements
become a springboard for thought and emotional
resolution. Those interacting with project are
encouraged to reflect, understand and process
the death related issues from their lives.
A Conversation with Death finds a place at the
intersection of design, technology, and the human
condition. The evolution of the book form is used as
a way to express the pain and process associated with
the end of life. The project invites viewers to
uncover and appreciate their own death stories.
As readers experience the materials, both
the intensely intimate nature of the experience and
the yearning for intimacy it engenders becomes clear.
I have challenged myself to provide an opportunity
to deepen understanding of and the effects of death
for individuals.
The narrative artwork is woven from a patchwork of
first person story slivers. Quotes chosen for emotional
resonance are dramatized to create an environment for
personal meditation. The book becomes a witness and
storyteller through a crosssection of different voices.
Hand written words and hand drawn images derived
from my interviews combine to create a meeting of
individual experience and internal dialogue.
Indiviiduals evolve towards personal emotional
discovery. The support blog:
aconversatonaboutdeath.com
encourages sharing, provides an arena for
discussion and serves as a hub to suggest available
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emotional and functional support in this area.
Death is inevitable. Dealing with the grief of a loved
ones passing can be overwhelming and isolating.
Thoughts of my death still bring me uncomfortably
close to the larger unknown. It is difficult to contemplate
my own mortality without fear. I hope to inspire
participants to make personal realizations, to
find a way to come to terms with death. In our this
culture, it is all too common for intimate feelings
about loss to stay trapped inside, choking us. This
hidden personal experience is unavailable
for us learn and teach others.
The people of the United States have been referred to
as having a death-defying attitude.1 Orthodoxy todayThough macabre visuals find their way into popular
culture, we do our best to ignore the truth of the subject.
We are not encouraged to keen or lament. In a vain
attempt to create camouflage, we use euphemisms
when we speak of death. We are not trained for the
introspectionrequired to face the issues brought forth by
the death of a loved one or the specter of our own death.
Though it is not often admitted, those who are grieving
may find themselves avoided with embarrassment. Leaving life may be our most intimate experience or a very
Figure 1 Tales from the Cyrpt
Comic Book
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lonely journey. In contemporary American society, the
old rituals are falling away. As time passes, religon is no
longer the panecea it once was. We just don’t know
what to do in approaching this sensitive area. I suggest
We may choose to approach death as both an event
and a process leading us towards new paths to
improvedunderstanding. As this thesis presents the
residual impact of death on the living. It loosely
guides us to make peace with our own issues.
Motivation
I came to know grief too intimately in 2008 and 2009.
With the death of my parents I plunged into a web of
complex decisions and emotional pain. Since I could
not leave this pain behind , I chose to use it as a starting
point for my thesis investigation. I continued my MFA
studies. As I struggled to come to terms with my losses.
Even with a large loving and supportive family I found
myself constantly buffeted by uneven waves of emotion.
I desperately held onto these studies as an island of
reassuring stability. I thought about how confusing this
loss situation would be for children, so I began to think
about the idea of developing animated therapeutic tools
to be used in children’s grief counseling.
Figure 2 Gino Nahum
My Father 2006
Figure 3 Test materials
Mad, Sad and Scared
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I researched the loss experienced by children, consulting
Joeseph Primo - the director of Good Grief, an organization
in Summit, New Jersey exclusively dedicated to counseling
children and families dealing with loss.2 his ad vice was suppodted bt Katie Burns of Erins House for Greiving children in
Indianopolis, Indiana and was advised 3 children must handle
the same emotions experienced by adults but the instability
and the vulnerability is different. As I focused in specfically
on 5-7 year old children, I found thinking is literal. The ability to use reason is limited. Children feel intensely but do
not always know what they are feeling and what to do with
those feelings. They have a lower tolerance for emotional
pain. Young children in this age group tend to think the world
revolves around them. The things that assault all of us during bereavement can be even more threatening for them.
This leaves this group open to magical thinking and often
generating guilty feelings about events they cannot control.
They may experience a gamut of emotions including: fear,
confusion,bewilderment and anger. The working name of
this original concept was Mad, Sad and Scared. As I continued to read and explore, my inquiries evolvedto look at
the feelings of adults. Mad, Sad and Scared” are feelings
shared by mourners off all ages. My final concept grew
from my own suffering and confusion, as well as conversations with my peers. In the lost and lonely time after
my parents died, I had trouble just getting through the
days. I cried spontanously on subways and
department stores.Devastated, I struggled everyday to
support meaningful personal connections in the face of
this loss. My life was filled with insecurity and constantly
shifting emotions. The grief resulting from the loss of key
support figures had a profound and disconcerting
effect. My worst fears floated to the surface. On one
level, everything appeared the same, but was it had
fundementally changed. After the initial shock it became
clear I would not be alone. My generation - the baby
boomers are heading from middle age into their senior
years. They will all need to navigate significant loss as
they continue. I had considered them to be a specialized
study group, instead I chose them as representative of
broad issues to ultimately be faced by a wide varied
audience.
This is a very personal thesis. It is about turning my
tumultous grief journey into something beautiful,
beneficial, engaging and positive. The thesis quickly
becamean exploration of the emotional distress that
death leaves in it’s wake. I focus on the individuality of
dealing with death overlaid on a life as well the
common nature of elements within the loss experience.
Working with this theme I interviewed ordinary
people about the ways death touched their lives.
I developed visual materials based on their interviews.
There is a school of thought based on the work of
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. This is documented in her
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book, “On Death and Dying.” 3.
She identified the following five stages:.
•
Denial (this isn’t happening to me!)
•
Anger (why is this happening to me?)
•
Bargaining (I promise I’ll be a better person if...)
•
Depression (I don’t care anymore)
•
Acceptance (I’m ready for whatever comes)
Another definition of the stages of grief can be found in
Dr. Roberta Temes’ book, “Living With An Empty Chair a guide through grief.”.4
These are:
•
Numbness
(mechanical functioning /social insulation)
•
Disorganization
(intensely painful feelings of loss)
•
Reorganization
(re-entry into a more ‘normal’ social life
Much contemporary thinking indicates that grief has a
loose set of stages that adhere to no specific time frame
and may not all be experienced by each individual.
Livestrong.com 5 in speaking to cancersurvivors and their
families describes it this way:
•
•
•
•
•
10
These five stages can occur in either the
sequence presented or in any variety of sequence.
The stages can recur during a loss experience.
One stage can last a long time, uninterrupted.
These five stages can occur in either the sequence
presented or in any variety of sequence.
The loss process can last anywhere from 3
months to 3 years.
Domains
& Precedents
• These stages of grief are normal and are to
be expected.
• It is healthier to accept these stages and recognize
them for what they are rather than to fight them
off or to ignore them.
• Working out each stage of the loss response
ensures a return to emotional health and
adaptive functioning.
• Getting outside support and help during the
grieving process will assist in gaining objectivity
and understanding.”
Loss changes us. With splintered families,
tradition falling away and a desperate need to rush
forward our fast paced society is not fully equiped to
help us to deal with these pressing emotional needs. To
honor the deceased and reach the final stage of
acceptance there are only general guidelines. No
defined paths exist. We seek our own way.
As we feel our way through this experience we need to
call on our strength and reselience. The thesis is
introduced by a dedication to my parents addressing
the personal place of death has claimed in my life and
the cycle of life.Moving forward requires we choose
resilience to engage and re-embrace life. Death issues
are complex and become inseparable from the way we
conduct our daily lives. This project seeks help aid
others in finding that resolution they need to move forward. The unresolved can bury the living with the dead.
There are eight major value principles relating to death
within the Hebrew tradition.7 I found it very helpful in
facing my parents death, the idea of my own mortality
and the challenges of this thesis subject.5
These concepts are:
• the reality of death,
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
a respect for the dead,
human equality
simplicity,
the venting of emotions openly,
communal responsibility
communal support
affirmation for life.
The Jewish perspective discourages a morbid
preoccupation with death as well as a refusal to
acknowledge our mortality. It is taught that life
on earth is a divine gift to be cherished. Death
is a tragic but natural event.
The main domains of my research are books, graphics,
family relationships, faith, narrative, psychology, sociology
and death. These broad domains touch on religious
observance, societal customs, social culture and
emotional health but death crosses all boundaries.
This project begins to enter the domain of Thanatology.
This growing study is concerned with the circumstances
surrounding a person’s death, the grief experienced by
the deceased’s loved ones, and larger social attitudes towards death such as ritual and commemoration.
It deals within academic and scientific study. In marrying
the disciplines of medicine, sociology, psychology and
the spiritual dimensions of existence Thanatology takes
a holistic approach to living and dying.
12
.
Baby boomers 8
How does a generation that wanted to stay young forever
make sense of death? Since baby boomers would form
the core of my research group it became important to
understand their context and motivation. Do the values
that distinguish them as a generation: individualism,
radical expectation, entitlement and activism effect their
responses to loss. Would the generation raised on
breaking of boundaries and constant forward motion
that deal with the meeting of life and death, resulting in
bereavement in their own unique way.
Figure 4 Woodstock
An Aquarian Exposition
3 Days of Peace and Music
1969
Figure 5 Coretta Scot King
Mourning
Figure 6 Jacqueline Kennedy
and children -
Figure 7 First moonwalk
13
From 1946 to 1964 the American birth rate went up
22 % from the preceding years. 78 million baby
boomers joined the population. The huge spike in the
birthrate lasted 18 years. This period is now widely
known as “The Baby Boom”.
No other generation has shown as significant an
influence on overall social and political fabric.
Many of this generation came of age with Woodstock.
They identified a distinctive youth culture and changed
the societal perception of youth. This massive group
currently faces the challenge of growing old,
as well as the grief process, as their parents falter
and succome greater numbers. It is through these ailing and dying parents that boomers are often forced to
first face and recognize their own mortality. With elders
gone boomers see less barriers between living and
the leaving life. There is a perceived vulerabilty. A baby
boomer friend - Lynda Zahor informed me that she felt
”up next”.
Baby boomers watched as a man landed on the moon
and a president was assassinated, helped stop a war,
fought for civil rights, explored sexuality, altered the role
of women in society, married later, divorced more and
had fewer children than previous generations
They defined their own rules as they went.
Dennis Hopper was the poster boy for the 60’s
idea of a cultural revolution and the star of the
iconic movie Easy Rider. In middle age, he
does commercials designed to appeal to boomers
for the Ameriprise pension plan. In the commercial, he
throws away the definition of retirement and states that this
generation will not be playing bingo. It is
interesting to consider that though the definition of death
cannot be discarded, it is possible the approach to death, its
rituals and grieving may come to reflect the unique outlook
that this group brought to all their other life passages.
Figure 8 Dennis Hopper
Ameriprise TV Ad
Figure 9 Vietnam
Memorial Wall Wash, DC
Figure 10 Six Feet
Under
Promo poster
The Vietnam War is a defining event in the consciousness
of many baby boomer Americans. Some were soldiers,
others protested, still others fled to country to Canada to
escape conscription. A memorial emphasizing on the
individual and a lack of traditional trappings is appropriate for
this generation. Maya. Lin designed the national monument
in Washington DC. as uniquely modern concept of memorial:
without ornament, without self-aggrandizement and using a
more subtle celebration of patriotism. Lin’s concept was to
create the opening or a wound in the earth to symbolize
the gravity of the loss. As a modern Wailing Wall, it
acknowledges grief and loss on national level. While
their stories cannot be told here in depth,
the individuality of the fallen soldiers is preserved in their
engraved names. They were part of a nstional wound as well
as part of an honored group. Sadly when contacted, The New
Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and the Vietnam Era Educational Center in Holmdel, New Jersey was extremely
uncooperative in helping me locate veterans to add
their perspective to my work.
The popularity of the television show Six Feet Under 7 reflects
a growing popular interest in death. Print publishers have had
significant success with How to Die and 1000 Places to See
Before You Die. On film we can find The Bucket List, a tale
of two dying men fulfilling the wishes they had previously
neglected and Love Happens - a film about a popular culture
bereavement counselor facing his own losses. As American
Figure 11 Six Feet Under
Promo poster
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Demographics described it: “When 75 million American
confront an issue it becomes culturally significant”.
Evidence of this new boomer awareness of death can
be found everywhere, including the VISA campaign:
“Things to do while you’re alive.”
This was clearly a generation with a different
perspective. On June 22, 1944 Congress signed the
Serviceman’s Readjustment Act to help returning GIs be
absorbed quickly into American life. It helped veterans
to buy homes and access to higher education with
relative ease. Veterans could receive reimbursement
for a proportion of college tuition or vocational training,
mortgage loan guarantees for home buying, and cash
payments for those unemployed after discharge. This
bill made a college education an attainable goal for
veterans of any class, race, or religion. The privilege
of higher education had previously been available to
America’s upper class and a very select portion of the
middle class.
This time of government supported expansion and
growth was conceived as a way to avoid the kind of
recession that greeted returning GIs after World War I.
The bill was instrumental in encouraging the rapid
growth of suburbia after 1945. These benefits changed
the future of returning GIs and their children. Because
their parents now understood the life changing benefits
of higher education baby boomers became the most
widely educated generation to date, The mortgage
subsidies fueled the building of suburbia nd a life of
relative affluence. This generation born in peace had the
time and opportunity to look around their world.
Boomers are often divided into two cohortsleading edge boomers - age 55-64 and younger cohort
15
boomers - age 45-54. These two groups have much
in common. They are marked by change, challenge and
questioning of authority. They share a devotion to hard
workand youthfulness. They thirst for experience,
learning and adventure. There is an underlying individualism in both groups. Very different events formed the perceptions of each cohort leading to some interesting
different characteristics.
The leading edge baby boomer cohort born from 1946 to
1954 shows the key characteristics of experimental individualism, a free spirited approach and social cause orientation.
It is generally thought that the baby boomers born from
1955 to 1964 are less optimistic, to have a greater distrust of
government and a more general cynicism. Two-thirds of the
Boomer generation belongs to cohort #2.
The baby boomer generation has transformed family and
work patterns, religion and politics. Health advances have
created the possibility for a more robust old age and active
sex life. Recently male members of this generation have
acquired a new “Pill” and face their own sexual revolution.
Viagra has allowed this generation of males to extend their
sex lives and child bearing years well beyond previous
generations, additionally complicating family structure
estate issues.
With the invention of the “pill“ the sexual revolution erupted.
Reliable birth control allowed women govern their own
work life and sexual activity. Sex and procreation were no
longer exclusively or intimately tied together. This lead to
delayed child bearing . Pregnancies later in life and
medical intervention andncreasing life expectancies have
lead baby boomers to find themselves the “sandwich” generation with dual caregiving responsibilities for both parents
and children. Many members of the baby-boom cohorts
16
begin to care for their aging parents just as they finish
with child rearing. Because of this new dual respsonsibility, the ealities of extended life and aging can almost
assault Boomers. Difficult choices not faced by earlier
generations must be dealt with and death is inevitable
an issue that cannot be avoided or changed.
The unique caregiving responsibilities becoming
apparent were discussed with Cantor Martha Novick.7
a religious professional who cares for two aging
infirm parents as well as her children“We are the
sandwich generation. We are faced with entirely new
challenges. It’s the challenges we face with our parents
generation. Is this a good and wholesome life for them?
We weren’t raised for this. We weren’t prepared for this.
We are in a vacuum, forging new territory
for generations to come.”
Methodology
Expert research input
As important part of primary research I have approached
baby boomers about their personal reactions to the
death of their parents, thoughts about personal mortality
and memory. I have consulted bereavement counselor
Tracy Sandman of Hospice for Hope 8and Good Grief
director Joseph Primo1 about structuring developmental
prototypes and research. At various times I have spoken
to several members of the Association for Death
Education and Counseling for directional input.
These include:
• Dr. Sandra Bertsman.9
Author, Lecturer,
Distinguished Professor of Thanatology and Arts
17
•
•
National Center for Death Education
Mount Ida College.
Dr. David Balk 10
Brooklyn College
Director./ developer graduate program
Advanced Certificate in Grief Counseling
Phylliss R. Silverman Phd.11
Public health and Social work
Researcher, teacher, author
Bereavement and death within society
Scholar in Residence Women’s
Studies Research Center
Brandeis University
When I reviewed my modified thesis direction with
Dayna D. Wood, Ed.S. NCC, LMHC 12, a bereavement
counselor with Visiting Nurse Service New York
specialing in creative approaches to grief and
bereavement counseling. She saw my thesis as a
possible source of comfort,with potential to open a
door for those dealing with the feelings of isolation
and help them to an understanding of themselves
as part of a larger community. She reinforced the
idea that grief is an individualized experience.
Guidelines may be marked for adults, but there are no
hard and fast rules. It is a personal pathwith no hard
and fast rules,. Following up on this conversation I
spoke briefly with David Balk10 Professor and Director,
Graduate Studies in Thanatology at Brooklyn College,
who reinforced many of her comments. He was aware
of very few peo;le dealing with greiving through a creative outlet.
Positive feedback was received from David Balk about
the validity of my creative visual approach to death and
dying support. Ms. Woods has suggested research into
18
the work of Irving Yalom - a psychotherapist whose work
centers on human denial and fleeing from death. I spoke
with Dr. Kenneth J. Doka, Professor of Gerontology at the
Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle and Senior
Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America, a prolific
author and former chair of the Association for Death Education and Counseling.14 He suggested additional research
resources. I am already familiar with his work as a consultant
the Bill Moyers PBS special, “On Our Own Terms- Moyers on
Dying.”
I was encouraged in my overall creative approach by Sandra
L. Bertman, Ph . Bertman9 currently at Mount Ida college has
been Professor of Humanities in Medicine at the University
of Massachusetts Medical School and Graduate School of
Nursing, and founding Director of the Program of Medical
Humanities and Arts in Healthcare. She is the unusual
death professional specializing in cultivating therapeutic
imaginations in clinical and academic settings. She strongly
beleives in using the arts and humanities to comfort and
teach end-of-life care.
Faith and loss
There are conflicts present within the grieving
process. In the life of a mourner, grief can be a
pervasive and unwelcome presence, yet there can
be a strange comfort in mourning. It is a way of
retaining a closeness to those no longer physically
present. Loss is not a single event with predictable
consequences. It includes fear and helplessness as well
as hope. This roller coaster experience can be devestate
or lead to renewed growth. It is a process that fits
within the context of a society, a culture and a
spiritual tradition.
19
In a way a life is made up of long-term relationships
that outlive the death of the physical body. Often we
come to know people differently after they leave life.
Robert Benchley was very perceptive when he said:
“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”
Most faiths are unified in creating ritual to honor an
individual as they leave life and seek to support those
who survive. Wakes and funerals are very clear examples of this combination of honor and support Religious
and spiritual traditions and practices around death
and mourning contribute to an individual’s experience
with grief. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and
Buddhism all represent major populations in the USA
with historic and contempoary traditions. In death they
all honor the living a life, leaving a life and the individual
as part of a community. Today many people follow less
formally organized spiritual teachings so they develop
their own rituals of tribute. Budda has advised us that”
Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived
wisely.”
I am most familiar with the Jewish traditions.
These directly underlay my work. It includes the eight
major principles guiding behavior in relation to death
detailed later. These values guide funeral
and burial procedure. They are clearly demonstrated
during Shiva, a period of mourning during which the
immediate family of the deceased is cared for by
friends and extended family as the mourners stop
their lives to consider their loss and grieve. After 11
months of saying ”The Mourner’s Kaddish”( prayers
said for the dead to help them in their journey towards
god) most mourning rituals cease. The Jewish mourner
returns more fully dedicated to living.
20
After a loss, memory colors our way of seeing. We
mentally revisit the sights, sounds and smells associated
with those we have loved and lost. We keep those who
are no longer alive with us in story and memory. My
mothers’ sister Charlotte Russell has said she speaks of
my mother more often after her death. It keeps her
actively alive in her heart
In developing a narrative perspective, I considered the
discomfort often felt in approaching the subject of life’s
ultimate conclusion. To bypass this natural reluctance I
chose a light almost whimsical visual style. This is a way
of reaching out in a warm inviting manner with both
openness and intimacy. After considering color and
collage, I chose the directness of simple hand drawn
black and white line clearly reflecting the prescence of
human touch in the work.
Image precedents
Using a combination of stones, papers and drawings.
I have aimed at creating a peaceful and tactile with a
warm quality acroass the work.
Figure 12 Patchwork Quilt
Romare Bearden
Figure 13 Sorrows of the King
Matisse
21
The collage work of Romare Bearden, combined
photographic images, cut paper, painting and drawing
to produce evocative images with an undeniable
immediacy and personal quality. In working with
texture I am inspired by the warm simplicity of
expression and complexity of perception in
Patchwork Quilt.
Simple shapes provide a sense of motion and active
space in Henri Matisse’s 1952 piece The Sorrows of the
King. Subtle variation is provided by the hand-painted
color within the cut shapes. Th s use of dynamic space
is crucial as i seek to appeal to the emotion as we;ll as
th intellect.
There is a joy, simplicity, warmth, whimsy and wit that
touches the heart in illustrator Eric Carle’s work. His use
of tissue papers hand painted with color and texture
makes direct connection with the viewer. My work aims
for the same heartwarming connection to the audience.
Figure 14 The Very Hungry
Catepillar - Eric Carle
Figure 15 The Tijuans Brass
Double Feature
Figure 16 Andre Francois
I particularly admire the graphic line quality
characteristic of the independent film work of Faith
and John Hubley. The Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass
Double Feature has a whimsical quality and creates
an intimate stylized environment all its own. I seek to
emulate their carefully imperfect expressive quality in
visuals.
The images of Illustrator Andre Francois’s are amusing
and elegant, capturing a lightness, subtle joy and “of the
moment“ quality.In his work we find a good of example
of how serious ideas may be broached with a delicate
touch.
In much of her work, Maira Kalman surrounds her
idiosyncratic painted or drawn images with
written text. The words as written feel like a voice
speaking directly to you. The result takes on the
personal quality of a diary or artists’ sketchbook.
In my accordion book assorted subjects are visually
“heard”. Their stories translated into a cohesive
flowing drawn and written visual document.
James Victore uses images as a kind guerrilla visual
communication. He intermingles drawings and hand
text to create a single visual unit. I have populated my
work with what I call “written images”, melding words
and drawings for the same type of singular impression.
Figure 17 Maira Kalman
22
Javier Mariscal draws type with warmth, humor, and
sense of life. We feel his emotion and his joy in every
image. Even as I address the subject of death, it is key
to my work that feel the vitality of life.
John Rombola gained a reputation as adecorative
illustrator working with Holiday magazinein the
1950’s and 1960’s. His work shares a guileless
amusing quality with Mariscal. There is an airy
sophisticated visualization to his images.
Figure 18 James Victore
Poster
Figure 19 Javier Mariscal A Drawing Life - Chapter head
Figure 20 John Rombola
personal sketch
Figure 20 John Rombola
personal sketch
23
Psychology, sociology, family relationships and loss
underlay my selection of quotes. I remain inspired
the quirky world views and spirits of John Rombola,
James Victore, Maira Kalman and Andre Francois. Their
unique personal perspective come through in every
image. The aim is to tell visual stories with the same
inviting style and playfulness. These images never
becomes childish but may be childlike in its directness
Artist book precedents
According to Johanna Drucker15, author, book artist,
visual theorist, and cultural critic the space of a book
combines both intimate and public. All books have an
overwhelming power, an intimate force. Artist’s books
are art created using the book as a vehicle for personal
expression of ideas. Maddie Rosenberg curator and
owner of Central Booking defined artist books for me
as any artwork that uses a part of the books vocabulary.
Media and visuals are married in a variety of physical
shapes. This multi-faceted book form adds the power
of the individual vision to the traditional power of the
book. Artists’ books view the book as a unified aesthetic
object. This thesis is anchored in a book space - a
holistic combination of paged book, artifacts
and virtual space, a unique image information combination in artwork form.Books have a long history as the
carriers of information and ideas. They were originally
precious and limited to the elite. Guttenberg began a
democratic revolution of learning when he developed
the printing press as a way to produce larger numbers
of the same book in a more cost and labor effective
manner.
Figure 21 Ed Ruscha
Twenty Six Gasoline Stattons
Figure 22 TITS - The Indignities
Thrust on Sisters
Ruth E Edwards
The modern era of artists’ books as personal statement
seem to have begun with William Blake (1757-1827).
Blake and his wife Catherine wrote illustrated,
and printed, colored and bound editions by hand.
Pillars of the Arts and Crafts movement, they merged
handwritten texts and images. Text, image and form
have remained fundamental concepts in contemporary
artists’ books
Artists’ books found a place with the Italian and Russian
Futurists as well as the Dadaists and Surrealists. Dieter
Roth ushered in the contemporary age of artists’ books
by systematically deconstructing book form in his work
of the fifties and sixties. Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations,
created by Ed Ruscha in Los Angeles, California in 1964
has helped to define the modern genre. Artists’ books
have lost, blurred or transgressed many traditional book
elements. This engenders debate as to where they fit
into craft and fine art traditions. Common terms within
this arena are: artist’s book’, ‘book art’ ‘ “bookworks’ and
“book object”. I consider the work I create as
existing in a unified book space. It is not important
whether it is considered fine or applied art..
Figure 23 Eggs
By Rebecca Goodale
24
New York City hosts many resources for this fertile
creative area including:
• The Center for Book Arts (founded 1974),
• Franklin Furnace
(the collection now housed at MOMA)
• Printed Matter (founded 1976)
• Booklyn, (1999)
Figure 24 Walking on trainlines
• SPACE gallery (2007-2008)
Claudia Moniz
• Central Booking (2009).
Figure 25 The White Alphabet
Ron King
Figure 26 The History of the
Accordion Book
Peter and Donna Thomas
Figure 27 I Robot
Jan and Jarmila Sobota
25
Since the 1970s, recognition for this art form has begun
to emerge in the form of university programs, non-profit
organizations, private and museum collections and
galleries. The Journal of Artists’ Books (JAB) seeks to
“raise the level of critical inquiry about artists’ books.”
Notable university programs include
• Mills College in California (BA)
• The University of the Arts in Philadelphia (MFA)
• Camberwell College of Art in London (MA)
• The College of Creative Studies at the University of
California, Santa Barbara (BA).
Parsons owns a small collection of artists books
available through the Gimbel Library reference librarian.
Significant specialized programs can be found in the
United States, Canada, Lithuania, The United Kingdom,
Australia and Korea.
I was able to view a sampling of the huge scope of the
work available via many online collections and galleries
such as those listed below:
• Otis College of Art and Design16
• Maryland Institute of Art17
• Zybooks18
• The Arthur and Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts18
Florida Atlantic University
• Joan Flasch Artist’s Book Collection20
at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Figure 28 Accordion Book
Front
Back
Close up
26
As book arts become more recognized in the
mainstream more literature on shows, collections and
the general field merges. I have found The Book as Art
Artists books from the National Museum of Women in
the Arts and 500 Handmade Books particularly useful
in looking at the scope of current work. Shown on this
page are a group of artists’ books all working within the
accordion structure. Each is tailored in color, size, shape
and elements to amplify the chosen theme.
Books with pages can be made from a variety of
materials and sized as the project dictates. I chose a
classic accordion contruction with a page size of
13 x 13 inches to create a screen / book suitable for display in a public venue. The project will be displayed in
the Westfield Memorial Library in June 2011. Th book is
large enough to handle comfortably and small enough
to collapse flat into a custom portfolio for storage or
alternate display.. The 6 double-sided pages open to asa
screen in space. Accordions are flexible forms. This allows me to create variable shapes in
space to fit available local community exhibit spaces.
For the right space, it is possible to create a small
enclosure with the book pages, allowing the
involvementto become even more intimate.
The drawings flow from page to page - a sequence of
short narratives. It requires time and attention to read
and digest the integrated words and drawings. They
are meant to be considered. Simple positive and
negative images in black and white emphasize the
contrasting difference between the two states of
being - life and death. The precise craft of the book
is set off by the imperfection and loose quality of the
drawings. In a world of non-tactile digitalization, it is
the humanity otouch and intensity of craft that makes
the artist’s book so suitable to this subject.
General Keywords
• Death
• Aging
• Bereavement
• Grief
• Mourning
• Loss
• Psychology
• Social work
• Life cycle
• Customs
• Culture
• Society
• Sociology
• Philosophy
• Religious traditions
• Spiritual tradition
• Healing,
• Sadness
• Strength
• Resilience
• Growth
• Baby boomer
The Concept Development
The last year of my studies has been inseparable from
bereavement. Since loss colored my vision the process
of developing this thesis can be called making art as
mourning. This is art generated by need as much as
intent.I needed to understand the completely
unexpected state i found myself in and shatelyre what
i learned. As I continue to find my way through the five
stages of grief I need to connect emotion, memory,
learning and community. The thesis theme approaches
human voices speaking about the very human pain and
process associated with the end of life. .As I spoke with
others, shared their experience and translated it into
27
visuals, I was able to get an intimate glimpse into the way
other people grapple with death and it’s consequences.
These areintimidating experiences we cannot fully
understand, may fear but must all ultimately face.
By definition an artist’s book may be a one of a kind or
limited edition designed as a vehicle for an artist’s
perspective. It need not be in the traditional multi-page
codex form. “Conversations about Death” extends the way
I look at books by including a physical sculptural dedication
and online presence in the form of a blog.
I see myself creating an extended book space. The
conceptual realm of books and magazines is evolving past
traditional printed mass produced items. Since my mother
loved every aspect of books, the use of books as my
medium is an especially personal tribute. The thesis uses
the book in four forms. The dedication falls into the
category of book object - a sculptural object that can be
read.
The accordion book is a singular paged book
demonstrating emotional power through both the
physical and visual texture a of this physical object. It is
designed to be read, touched and exhibited. The blog is a
distinctly modern interactive and democratic form of publication. It is a simple easy to access online journal format
to speak about issues, relate to others and share resources
without regard to time or place. This blog encourages the
sharing of experiences as well as emotional and practical
concerns. Because it is self directed, an individual may
relate on whatever level of intimacy is comfortableat a
given time. Th overall book space marries writing,
drawing, blogging and linkingto existing resources as
integrated ways of reaching out to others. This thesis
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starts with the physical and touches the virtual. takes
in the physical and touches the virtual.
Figure 31 pebbles on a
jewish headstone
Figure 32 Dedication
with engraved pebbles
Figure 33 Book portfolio
Figure 34 Open journal
29
Several meaningful personal themes run through the work.
Chai in Hebrew means life and translates to the number
eighteen. There are eighteen engraved stones in the
dedication to my parents. There are eighteen windows
of irregular stone shapes cut through the book sleeve They
represent life and death as intertwined. a yin and yang. The
meaning of death often being found in the life that preceeded
it. Life is often made more precious by the death that will
terminate it.
Like snowflakes no two lives are exactly alike, Element from
our own tint experience to make it our own.its viewing. Even
in dealing with this most individual of experiences, yjere is a
commonthread of life experience to be found. Contemplating death removes us from all we logically know and brings
us closer to the outside borders of our understanding. As the
largest generation to date - thebaby boomers are beginning
their middle years, entering the second half of their lives. In
learning more about the backround of my own generation I
saw them as part of the broader spectrum. Their personal
testimonies are screened for material touching universal
themes, including: the life cycle, friendship, parental relationships, obligations and what we leave behind. In bringing together a series of anecdotes, and quotes gleaned from
actual human experience a trigger is created to help reveal the
ideas and feelings below the surface. We forge ourselves by
the way to access and learn from the unseen to deal with the
emotional debris death has left for us .
Development process
During these two semesters my thesis has evolved around the
subjectof death. In the summer it began as the
development of a set of therapy tools for 5-7 year old children
working through bereavement. Later, I looked at a project
specifcally to assist the large group baby boomers dealing with theapproach of death with passing of friends and
family. Some early concepts focused on death as the final
rite of passageto life. Ultimately, I decided to focus on developing materials around grief as an individual
experience with unifying chacteristics. This allows a wide
variety of people dealing with loss to benefit. It is hoped
that whatis gained from experiencing this project will be
different for each viewer and tailored to their needs because it is self generated.
As I went through a discovery and exploration process
from character animation to stop motion, artists book,
game, back to artist’s book within a human sized pop
up display environment and then finally to a wider
concept of using books as in sprational objects.
The whole first semester was an uncomfortable pulling,
pushing and tugging of the idea and the form. I will
continue to refine the articulation and exploration past
graduation,
The artist’s book concept emerged from Victoria Vesna’s
midterm critique suggestion that my research formed a
strong basis for a book concept. Since my interests lay
in the area of visuals, personal responses and emotion,
I chose to develop a picture book with words as part of
the images exploring this area. I am discussing a joint
project around this concept tp be developed with with
Phyliss Silverman Phd11 for the Women’s Studies Research
Center at Brandeis University.
Final Project Components
• Sculptural dedication
reminiscent of a grave marker
• Accordion artist’s book
Visualization of interviews
30
written images text and drawings
• Journal
expanded interview material
personal experience notes and reflections
• Blog
A hub of grief and bereavement resources
practical referrals and sharing
These elements may be used in dividually or as a suite.
The central thesis visual element is the artists book. It is
introduced by a sculptural dedication to my parents.
Eighteen pebbles engraved with Hebrew letters are
displayed on a slab of polished black marble featuring
my parents’ names. This recalls the Hebrew gravesite
ritual of placing a pebble on a headstone at each visit
as a tribute and remembrance. These letters are an
abbreviation for a blessing commonly found on Jewish
tombstones. Tav, nun, tzadee, bet, hay means “May his
soul be bound up in the bonds of eternal life” In Hebrew
Chai the word for life is equivalent to eighteen
By another definition life remains with us in death.
This dedication acknowledges the importance of
tradition and memory as part of my personal grieving
process. These pebbles may be thought of as tokens of
sorrow as well as tokens of remembrance. The piece
ties together the cycle of life and death. Even in facing
loss, it is always important to remember and appreciate
the life.
This project is built around a singular edition book. The
exclusive use of black and white emphasizes the sharp
delineation between life and death in our perception.
One side is white with black line and text. The book
is printed digitally on textured Arches Infinity a 210 lb
31
digital paper. I have select excerpts from interviews to create
text / picture images. Illustrations are done using black Sharpies. Text and image elements are created separately, scanned,
sized, modified, assembled and retouched.The journal provides
a fuller look at reactions to the research subjects through edited segments from eleven interviews.The book is interspersed
with personal comments based in my own grief and mourning
experience
The blog is a more than just a conduit. Always available,
it is simple and easy to use, a reassuring place to go where
youcan find others who understand the complexity of loss.It is a
place to voice issues and relate to others .The function of online
hub supports this with a sharing of resources.
Implementation - production
The production of each of the elements within the grouping
requires significant learning and process. To make the
physical accordion book and sleeve the following steps have
been required: create methodology for selecting interview
subjects, locate subjects, interview, cull selections, get
participant text approval, draw and modify images, locate
resources for affordable oversize digital printing, learn
oversized digital printing techniques, learn bookbinding and
adhesion techniques, locate specialized supplies, papers and
hinge materials, create supply usage tests, create printing tests,
find out how to make an embossing plate, create plate, create
embossing tests, lasercut art for die cut sleeve test, laser
engrave stones, bookbinding wrap test, produce final
materials, and bind book.
To make the dedication: locate appropriate stones and granite
slab, test laser engraving, layout slab engraving art, engrave final
piece.
32
To make the blog: design a simple direct graphic concept,
skin the blog create custom drawings and graphics, locate
appropriate references and assistance. test with audience.
constructthe blog and post.
Appendix A contains twelve “written illustrations” from the
accordion book. The images are designed to be viewed
sequentially.
Design Advisors
Multiple talented advisors generously aided me in the
visual development of this project. Frances Jetter has
been serving an outside project advisor reviewing
images as they are developed. She is an award winning
illustrator / printmaker / sculptor, book artist and instructor at
the School of Visual Arts. Parsons instructor Andrea Dezso is
widely known for her unique visual perspective in craft
art, painting and tunnel books. She has provided valuable
guidance in book development. I have been fortunate to work
with book artist and conservator Yasuyo Tanaka as a technical
guide in the construction of books. The development of
hot stamping plates was guided by Gregg Lukasiewicz and
Herman Ramos of Lukasiewicz design. The staff and facilities
at the Robert Blackburn printmaking workshop were invaluable
in learning to control large format digital printing. My husband
Donn Albright illustrator, editor, bibliographer and Pratt
Institute professor was an ever present advisor working with
me tirelessly on the concept, visual impact , meaning and
communication of all the images.
Interviews
Interviews were conducted both in person and over the
phone. Twenty two baby boomers discussed death’s impact on
their lives. Interviews lasted from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours.
Interview Subjects:
• middle class
• mixed marital status
• both men and women
33
•
•
•
•
•
high school education or above
primarily New York area
often - recently deceased parents
some - near death experiences
mixed professions
The following questions are sample interview
questions:
• When were you born?
• Do you consider yourself a baby boomer?
• What does baby boomer mean to you?
• Do you think you act in the same manner
as your parents when they were your
chronological age?
• Has anyone significant died in your life?
• Did this have an important effect on you,
change your life or the way you saw things?
• How do you feel about death?
• Can you tell a story about how
death has touched your life?
• Are you prepared for your own death?
• What have you done to prepare for death?
Interviews have included:
• Gregg Lukasiewicz - 48
•
•
•
•
•
34
Owner Graphic design studio
Christina Hathaway - 46
Psychologist
Denise Wallner - 55
Director of Operations-AAS Parsons
Paul Tillinghast - 52
Photographer
Lynda Zahor - 58
Graphic designer
Jon Eller - 55
Director of the Bradbury Center
Indiana University
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Professor Textual editing
former military intelligence officer
Anna Resnick - 58
Accountant
Roger Bazeley - 60 Transportation safety professional
Allan Jones
Director
Digital Library -The New School
Victoria Leigh - 55
Landscape designer,
Social work professional
Jonathan M Stein - 52
Military writer
Valerie Sable Kopelman - 58
Licensed Real Estate broker
Teacher of the deaf /hearing impaired
Steff Zellwenger
Archivist, surfer
Dr Joyce Fogel - 51
Physician , Section Chief of Geriatrics
Department of Medicine,
St. Vincents Catholic Medical Center,
Associate Professor Medicine,
Liza Alexander -52
Writer, producer, educator
• Julia Poteat - 58
Assistant professor
Parsons The Newschool for Design
AAS fashion
• Maureen Kehoe - 51
Estate attorney
Nichols, Thomson, Peeke and Phelan
• Michael Cohen - 58
Director of the International Affairs Program,
The Newschool
Advisor to the Dean of the Faculty
35
•
•
•
•
of Architecture, Design, and Urban
Planning of the University of Buenos Aires,
Former Senior Advisor to the
World Bank’s Vice-President for
Environmentally Sustainable Development
Cantor Martha Novick - 52
Cantor Temple Emanu-El, Westfield, New Jersey,
Vice President of the American Society
for Jewish Music,
Martin Rothfelder - 52
Attorney, Rothfelder / Stern
Melanie Katz-51
Teacher Mathematics
East -West School for International Studies
Anthony Gugliotta - 50
Lead Chemist Dynamac Corp,
Testing
Three kinds of testing were used during the
development process.
• Imaginary user scenarios were developed
by placing an idealized particpant a likely
scenarios.
• Academic and counseling death professionals
were directly consulted concerning proposed
concepts and visuals during development process.
• Selected respondents were contacted with both
email questionaires and online surveys for reaction
to preliminary design materials and concepts.
All materials were well received, eliciting
positive results to demonstrated images
and graphic concepts and eliciting future
36
interest in seeing moreon the “death” related
stories of interviewees.
User scenario
Profile
male prototype baby boomer
James Fragelino
James was born in 1954. His Brooklyn born father, Tony
enlisted to fight the Nazis as soon as he was 18. He
married his high school sweetheart Teresa. Her parents
immigrated to the United States when she was just two
years old.
James’s mother finished high school, continued
to live with her parents and went to work in a
local Woolworth’s. When her husband came
home they struggled along on her small salary,
living with her parents while he attended to Brooklyn
College on the GI bill. He got an accounting
degree and soon a good job with the Ohrbachs
department store chain. They found a small house
they could barely afford in one of the country’s
first mass produced suburbs in Levittown, Long Island.
The neighborhood was filled with young families
Figure 36-38 James Fragelino
37
making new lives. Soon Teresa was pregnant with
James. Young James grew up in a neighborhood of
stay at home moms and clean crisp sameness. He
went to C.W. Post College. He drank and drugged his
way through college to the sound of the Grateful Dead
and the Rolling Stones. Even though he hated it, he
managed to get through school. studying engineering
to avoid the Vietnam draft. When he finally graduated
he backpacked across Europe with friends for a summer. He hung out as long as he could before his parents
pushed him into getting a job.
He had dreams of going off and exploring the world, of
becoming that macho guy with the tattoo and wild life.
Instead he got a position with Grumman Aeronautics,
worked hard and moved up. He married Susan in a big
white wedding. His wife is the first in her family to get a
college education. After a few freelance writing
assignments she became pregnant and decided to stay
home to raise the baby. Their apartment soon became
too small and they strained to buy a little house, then a
bigger house, which they filled with two more children.
He is now 55. The oldest guy in his department. Everyday
he worries about the stability of his job. He wonders if he
will be out the door with the next set of company layoffs.
His dad passed away last year and Susan found out she
had breast cancer.
James doesn’t know how they would manage without
his corporate health insurance. He has planned for
retirement, but due to stock market crash, he needs to
keep working as long as possible. His mom was just diagnosed with the beginnings of Alzheimer’s. She
currently lives with them. His son has just graduated college and is living at home while he looks for a job
in this tough economy. This isn’t how he planned it.
38
User scenario
Profile
female prototype baby boomer
Mary Heller
Mary was born in 1958 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her
mom-Betsy and dad-Alvin were brought up on
neighboring farms near Farmland, Indiana. Her father
thought it was his patriotic duty to fight for his country, just like his father had. He enlisted as soon as he
could. They had known each other all the way through
school and been going together for one year, when
they agreed to get engaged. They married right before
Alvin shipped out. He wrote every few days and she
worried every day that he wouldn’t come home. He
was wounded, but made it home. When he returned
after being in Europe the world looked bigger than the
family farm.
He decided to take advantage of the new GI bill and go
to college in Indianapolis. Married and with a pregnant
wife he headed off to school. She waitressed in a small
restaurant to make ends meet while he worked hard at
getting that degree. When he graduated he was lucky
enough to get a job at the local pharmaceutical company-Eli Lily.
Figure 39-41 Mary Heller
39
Her mother brought up Mary with two brothers. Her
dad was always traveling and working. Her mom never
complained. He did very well rising up to become
executive vice president of Insulin marketing. They
lived in a lovely old Indianapolis neighborhood and
went to church every Sunday. They were the first
people in their neighborhood to have a new Buick
Impala. Mary never felt she belonged. There always
seemed to be another world out there she wanted to
see. When the time came to go to college she con
vinced her parents to send her to The Art Center in
Los Angeles. San Francisco drew her. To her parents
great disappointment she dropped out of school to live
the hippie life in Haight-Ashbury.
Those were exciting times. She regularly went
to the Fillmore East to hear bands like Jefferson
Airplane and Janis Joplin and the Holding
company. Eventually she met an older manLance and they made a good life together as artists.
They became illustrators working happily on
children’s books together. After many years
together and two children, they married.
She is 57 today. Last year her husband passed away
after a long battle with leukemia. What little savings
they had were wiped out by his illness. She works as
a part time teacher, but has no health insurance. She
is beginning to get painful arthritis. Her children help
when they can, but they live far away and have their
own responsibilities. She lives in constant fear of becoming ill or worse yet indigent.
These two people represent baby boomers from
different parts of the country. Their life choices lead
to different paths and concerns.By working with my
thesis project people such as these may see how their
concerns are common or in contrast to the concerns
of other members their generation as they age and start
looking towards the end of life.
User scenario - game
Using Christina Hathaway as the actor, a scenario was
imagined to show situation and game play and of a
death centered game. It was proposed as a board game
baby boomer age in a home atmosphere. This boarsboard game was based on the landmarks of aging /
40
death. These interviews are designed to understand a baby
boomer point of view as well as find out if a game is a
welcome and appealing form of this thesis.
See Appendix B for sample interviews
See Appendix F for game scenario concept.
Game context
The intention of this work has been repositioned since
the game iteration. At that time the thesis was planned to
be a widely playable game. The intention was to create a
game that could be played for amusement but also pass
along knowledge that could help participants consider their
choices and mineralize their fears. It has been said that
baby boomers do not prepare adequately for leaving life.
I planned this game version to help inform them so they
can be knowledgeable, better prepared and more comfortable with the subject overall. The idea was to comfortably
change attitudes and enhance awareness of the relationships between youth and death for baby boomers. As irealized the scope of personal issues that add to the complexities iof dealing with death and its fallout i chose to move
away from working with factsand more tpwards creating a
forum for people to deal with the individuality of emotional
impact.
One of my precedents is a teaching board game called Gerontology. Rodger Isreal and George J. Caranasos developed
it at the University of Florida in 1991.
While teaching about aging, the game offers the
opportunity to understand what it is like to grow old, develop chronic illnesses, lose their driving licenses, lose
loved ones and not have enough funds to live comfortably.
It helps health professionals and students gain awareness
about aging-related changes. The game achieved its educational goals because it was
41
While teaching about aging, the game offers the
opportunity to understand what it is like to grow old,
develop chronic illnesses, lose their driving licenses,
lose loved ones and not have enough funds to live
comfortably. It helps health professionals and students
gain awareness about aging-related changes. The
game achieved its educational goals because it was
interesting, easy to play, and enjoyable. Sadly the game
was in limited production. It is no longer distributed
or available.
42
Evaluations
& Conclusion
Working with Death
A Conversation about Death is about the words,
pictures and physical form working together.
The material is most successful processed by the
viewer in response to their own death related
experience.The end project walks the line
between fine art and death education, close to
the realm of Thanatology.
The development of this thesis became a kind of
catharsis for me. I have faced the fears that have
haunted me since my parents passed awayin the last
two years. In developing this project, I am proud to have
created a gentle aid to help others dealing with this
crucial life transition., This work is all about examining
yourworld viewed in ormed by the knowlwdge of
others struggles indealing with mortality. .During thr
symposium exhibit I was pleased to hear that a stranger
who had recently lost her father was very moved by the
work. tT me this was an important success.
This thesis examines that intimate relationship through
interviews and their visualization. I ask all vsitors to
share the experience of others and start a conversation
about death. Untold and unprocessed personal stories
cannot keep the spirit of our loved ones alive and
nurture us. We are nourished w ith additional strength
in a deep sense when we share and learn in this realm
This becomes particularly important since the way we
deal with aging, death and dying are the way we tell the
end chapter in a life story. The project aims to create an
awareness that may open the way to new information,
changes in behavior, acceptance or peace with our
choices.
43
In the realm of the senses
As our society and digital media evolve the question of
the form and the future of the book will continue as an
important topic. The Nook, the Kindle and the IPad are
only the beginning of a new book future. Traditional
books transcend this world using both sensual and
intellectual means to transport a reader. They have
access to all five senses. Currently digital readers and
the world of e-paper may access only two senses
-sound and sight.
The greatest challenge facing the use of e-readers is in
this realm of the senses. Factual information may
function well in a standardized digital dispenser. The
book as an experience and entertainment loses a
portion of the quality to engage when it lacks fuller use
of all the senses. I believe in the intimacy of the tactile.
Something fundamental is lost in experience without it.
A sensitivity to the richness of tactile messaging runs
though all the physical artifacts of my project. The
physical is full of associations and memories that can be
released by touch. Textures have been carefully selected
to have a subliminal as well as conscious impact. The
smoothness of bone and stone elements complements
the soft pebble nature of the paper, yet send messages
all there own. The simple black and white line drawings
use text as a visual texture. A Japanese paper reminiscent of a shroud, helps you enter the journal of interview
impressions. Information is designed to come to thereader
as a symphony of impressions to stimulatepersonal emotional and intellectual associations. These physical cues
help me touch the reader and the reader learn for themselves what they need to know.
The future.
As a package designer I spent many years living in the
44
world of objects as things of trade and ways to entice a purchase. I find myself literally seeing things
differently. I have been reminded of the joy of the
physical act of making. I will go forward
rexamining form and shape in view of touch.
I want to look ta small corner of how this realm of
tactile objects may advance technologically without
loosing this sensual joy and emotional messaging
of touch.. I am interested in future more complex
directed used of the laser cutter.
Since the laser may deal with things hands cannot
do alone.this seems like a natural place to begin a
marriage between my love of the experience of
traditional books, the craft of making , the joy of
material surfaces , the field of artists’ booksand
drawing.
i want to first explore the pop -up book. This is a
form traditionally created with a great deal of hand
work and paper engineering. An understanding of
materials and their capabilities in relation to laser
could evolve the form in interesting directions.
The last thing i want to address is death itself. While
i will pursue working in this creative realm it is time
to follow the advice below and take a vacation from
death.to make sure the birds of sorrow don’t get too
comfortable
One cannot prevent the birds of sorrow
from flying overhead;
but you can prevent them
from building nests in your hair.
Chinese proverb
45
Works consulted
Primary Resources
Interviews / Discussions
Wallner, Denise, New York, New York, October 29, 2009
Personal Interview - baby boomer
Lukasiewicz, Gregg, New York, New York,
October 30, 2009 Personal Interview - baby boomer
Dayna D. Wood, Ed.S. NCC, LMHC
September 26, 2009, Visiting Nurse Service
bereavementtherapist using play therapy
Rosemarie Greene, conversation, July 22, 2009,
Bereavement counselor
Joe Primo, director-Good Grief, conversation,
July 19, 2009
Katie Burns – Erin’s house for Grieving Children,
conversation July 6, 2009
Dr Robert Stein-psychologist, conversation,
June 25, 2009
Dr. Christina Hathaway, psychologist
June 16, 2009
Sandra L. Bertman, PhD, FT, Distinguished Professor of
Thanatology and Arts at the National Center for Death
Education, Mount Ida College. Conversation-Synthesizing visual and creative arts in dealing with death,
March 1, 2010
46
Secondary Resources
Books
Angel, Rabbi Marc D. PhD, 1987, The Orphaned Adult Confronting the Death of a Parent, InSight Books
Brody, Jane, Jane Brody’s Guide to the Great Beyond,
Random House, New York
Brown, Marc and Krasny Brown, Laurie. When
Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death, Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers, 1996 Targeted for 4-6
year olds - this book explains the basic facts and issues
around dying clearly, simply and with images children
can relate to. Easy to understand illustrations.
Brokaw, Tom, 2007, Boom! Voices of the Sixties
Personal reflections on the 60’s and Today, Random
House
Croker, Richard, The Boomer Century 1946-2046How America’s most influential Generation Changed
Everything, Springboard Press, 2007
De Paola, Tomi, Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs,
New York, New York: Putnam Juvenile, 2000, A picture
book portrayal of loving intergenerational relationships
and death
The Dougy Center -The National Center for Grieving
Children and Families, Helping Children Cope with
Death, Portland Oregon: 1997, 2004, Comprehensives
guide to children’s grief responses following a death,
accompanied by support strategies.
47
The Dougy Center -The National Center for Grieving Children and Families, 35 Ways to Help a Grieving
Child Portland Oregon: 2000, 2004, p 12
This is a simple easy to understand guide for parents.
Dychtwald, PHD, Ken, Age Power, How the 21st century will be ruled by the new old, Jeremy P. Tarcher
/ Putnam, 1999Dychtwald, PHD, Ken, Age Wave, the
challenges and opportunities of an aging America,
Jeremy P. Tarcher / Putnam, 1989
Heidegger, Martin, Discourse on Thinking, Harper
Torchbooks, Harper & Row Publishers, 1959
Kubler-Ross, Elizabeth, 1970. On Death and Dying,
New York, New York: New York: Macmillan
paperbacks, 1970
Freeman, Lucy, 1969. Exploring the Mind of Man
Sigmund Freud and the Age of Psychology New York;
Grosset & Dunlap
Freidan, Betty, The Fountain of Age, Simon and
Schuster, 1993
Gilbert, Sandra M, Death’s Door, Modern Dying and
the Ways we Grieve, New York, London, W.W. Norton &
Company Ltd.
Queenan, Joe, Balsamic Dreams, Henry Holt and
company, 2001
Steinborn, Leonard, The Greater Generation, in defense
of the Baby boom legacy, St.Martin’s Press, Tomas
48
Wolfelt, Alan, D. Healing a Child’s Grieving Heart 100
Practical Ideas for Families, Friends and Caregivers
Fort Collins, Colorado: Companion Press, 2001 An
expert in the field of grief and children explains in
simple direct ways how to comfort a grieving child.
Design Books
Barton, Carol, The Pocket Paper Engineer, How to
make pop-ups Step by Step, Volume 2, basic forms,
Popular Kinetics Press, 2008
Barton, Carol, The Pocket Paper Engineer, How to
make pop-ups Step by Step,Volume 2 platforms and
props, Popular Kinetics Press 2008
Carter, David A., 600 Black Spots, A pop-up book for
children of all ages, Little Simon, 2006
Carter, David A., Blue 2, A pop-up book for children
of all ages, Little Simon, 2006
Heller, Steven, Ilic, Mikko, Handwritten, expressive
lettering in the digital age, Thames &Hudson, 2004
Mariscal, Javier, Mariscal Drawing Life, Phaidon Press
Inc.2009
Rinehart, D, Benjamin, Creating Books & Boxes,
Quarry, 2007Rosenberg, Harold, Saul Steinberg,
Borzhoi Books, Alfred A Knopf 1978
Sakol, Dawn Devries, 1000 Artist Journal Pages,
Quarry 2008
49
Smith, Esther, K, Magic Books & Paper Toys, Potter
Craft, 2009
Smith, Esther, K, How to Make Books, Potter Craft, 2009
Vienne, Veronique, Tardiff, Melissa, Seymour Chwast,
The Obsessive Images of Seymour Chwast Chronicle
Books, 2009
Vienne, Veronique, Tardiff, Melissa John Rombola,
Eclectic Eccentric, Chronicle Books, 2009
Wasserman, Krystyna, The Book as Art, Artists books
from the National Museum of Women in the Arts,
Princeton Architectural Press, 2007
500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations of a
Timeless Form, Lark, 2008
Online
A Look at the New field of Palliative Care -The Philadelphia Enquirer, http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_
page/20100228_A_look_at_the_new_field_of_palliative_car, (March 10, 2010)
American Dream on Life Support: Boomer-Plus Americans Believe They Will Leave World in Worse Shape,
http://www.aarp.org/aarp/presscenter/pressrelease/
articles/American_Dream_on_Life_Support__BoomerPlus_Americans_Believe_They_Will_Leave_World_in_
Worse_Shape.html (Accessed September19, 2009)
The Association for Death Education and Counseling
http://www.adec.org/about/index.cfm
50
Artists Books online, http://www.artistsbooksonline.
org/ Digital presentation ofartists’ books, University
of Virginia (accessed October 10, 2009)
Booklyn Artists Alliance http://www.booklyn.org/,
Artist and bookmakers’ organization headquartered
n Greenpoint, Brooklyn.(Accessed October 10, 2009)
Christ, Grace H., Insights on the Mind of the Grieving
Child, NY Times, March 28, 2000, http://www.nytimes.
com/2000/03/28/health/experts-offer-fresh-insightsinto-the-mind-of-the-grieving-child.html (August
13,2009)
Caring Connections, http://www.caringinfo.org/Home.
htm,(March 10, 2010)
Cremation on the Rise – Designer Urns http://www.
smallbusinessboomers.com/cremation-on-the-risedesigner-urns/
(Accessed September 25,2009)
Dying in Comfort Forbes.com ,palliative and hospice care http://www.forbes.com/2005/04/22/cz_
rw_0422palliative.html
Doka, Kenneth J., 2000. A Guide to Grief, On Our
Own Terms, Moyers on Dying (accessed September
25,2009)
Elkin, Dr. Joshua, 2009. A Time to Grieve, A Time to
Teach A Challenge to Parents and Educators:
51
Teaching, Children about Death and Dying, The United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism http://www.uscj.
org/Explaining_Death_to_5200.html (Accessed August
10, 2009)
Handbook of Death & Dying, Volumes 1-2 edited by
Clifton D. Bryant, http://books.google.com/books?id=3z
9EpgisKOgC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=music+thanatol
ogy+baby+boomers&source=bl&o
National Cancer Institute, http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/bereavement/Patient/
allpages/print ( accessed September 30, 2009)
McNamara, Melissa, 2006. Growing Old Boomer Style,
CBS News Health http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/10/health/webmd/main1195879.shtml (accessed September 28,2009)
Mpr News radio, How to Prepare for the End of Life.
Jane Brody http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/
web/2009/03/20/midmorning1/
Otis Collections online, http://www.otis.edu/life_otis/
library/collections_online/artists_books.html. A
collection of 2000 artists’ books (accessed October 10,
2009)
O’Rouke, Meghan, Good Grief Is There a Better Way
to Be Bereaved,The New Yorker,http://www.newyorker.
com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/02/01/100201crat_atlarge_orourke ( accessed February 2, 2010 )
52
O’Toole, Donna, 1993 revised 2005. Helping Yourself
and Others. Healing and Growing through Grief- Understanding and normalizing grief reactions http://
www.compassionbooks.com/store/ (accessed
September 10, 2009)
Robert A Sabuda, http://www.robertsabuda.com/
Pop up children’s books (accessed November 5, 2009)
Shriver, Maria, Alzheimer’s: A Baby Boomer Epidemic,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-shriver/azheimers-a-baby-boomer-e_b_199360.html (accessed November 18, 2009)
The Center for Book Arts, http://www.centerforbookarts.org/classes and workshops in book related fields,
(accessed October 10, 2009)
The Business of Hospice Care, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1493 (accessed
September 25,2009)
The Five Wishes - living will
http://www.livingwills-freelegal.org/Five-Wishes-Living-Will.html(accessed March 10, 2010)
The Hospice Foundation, http://www.hospicefoundation.org (March 10, 2010)
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization,
Living wills - http://www.nhpco.org/i4a/pages/index.
cfm?pageID=6239, (March 12, 2010)
Slate magazine, The long Goodbye, http://www.slate.
53
com/id/2211257/ (accessed March 18, 2010)
It’s My Funeral and I’ll Serve Ice Cream if I Want To,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/
fashion/20funeral.html?_r=1
(accessed March 18, 2009)
Zybooks.http://www.zyarts.com/zybooks/index.html,
online atistsbok gallery
(October 10, 2009)
Exhibits
Slash-Paper under the Knife, Museum of Arts and Design (visited October 15, 2009 )
Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics,
Museum of Arts and Design (visited August 13, 2009)
Tim Burton, Museum of Modern Art
(Visited December 5, 2009)
Games
Gerontology, Israel, Rodger D, Caranasos, George J.,
a game for geriatric education
Film/motion
Good-bye Mister Hooper, Episode 0198,Children’s Television Workshop, Sesame Street, http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=YZTvDZHRFrU
(Accessed February 10, 2010)
Henry Poole is Here, 2008, Camelot Pictures, Lakeshore Entertainment
54
McNamara, 2006. Melissa Growing Old Boomer Style,
CBS News Healthhttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/10/health/webmd/main1195879.shtml
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood -1692- What Do you do with
the Mad that you Feel? ,Schoolhouse Rock, ABC television 1973-1986
Six Feet Under, 2001, HBO films
The Big Chill, 1986, Columbia Pictures
The Bucket List, 2007, Warner Bros
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, 2004,
Hallmark Entertainment
Tuesdays with Morrie , 1999, Touchstone Home
Entertainment,Oprah Winfrey presents
a Harpo Films production
Wit, 2001, HBO Entertainment
55
56
Artist book Illustrations - Appendix A
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
Steff Zellinger
Age
51
Born
1958
Surfer, musician,
former substance abuser
Mother in nursing care
with Alzheimer’s/dementia
Single,
raised Catholic
68
Journal Interviews - Appendix B
Because it’s right
I have certain moral intent. I always believed in doing things
because they were right. (If I was in the right, meaning
unaltered state of mind) not afterlife rewards.
A Guy about it
I’m a guy about it (death), we don’t contemplate things...that
much! Female surfers they over think ..They look and say
what could happen to me out there…?
When it Happens
I think I’ll deal with death when it happens. It’s typical of my
life… Everything has been... I’ll deal with it when it happens.
I am not a planner.
Possibilities....
I don’t believe in an interventionist god. I don’t buy it!
The idea of reincarnation I think makes some sense to me.
I believe in the possibility of it. There are possibilities that my
persona may still be here after I die...
69
Enjoyment of Life
It’s about day-to-day life and the enjoyment of said life. Not this
crap (living in fear, waiting for retirement. to live your own life)
Going to Hell
Everything I heard about God was so contradictory. If you don’t
believe in Jesus Christ you are going to hell. What happened?
He is.no longer
a loving, forgiving God. That’s crap…
What I Loathe
I hate God-fear… that is what I loathe… That was structured
by man.
A Choice
I found myself in the hospital. Basically I thought.
was trying to kill myself. I would just drink until I passed out...
Either I wanted to kill myself or. I wanted to be unconscious.
I came out of that I was a frigging wreck. I was in a room with
two beds with a guy dying of AIDS. He had a week or two. He
was wasted. I had a choice. Anthony had no choice.
This brought home the whole thing!
!
70
Jonathan M. Stein
Age
52
Born
1957
Industrial medical
and military writer
Mountain hiker, swimmer,
longboard surfer, former Kung fu fighter,
former marathon runner
Two children,
divorced, congential heart issues
converted to Christianity from Judasim
after being called to Christ.
71
When I Died
One night in 2006 I stopped breathing, in complete congestive
heart failure. While my family saw me in a hospital in a
drug-induced coma, I knew I was dead.
in the other realm
I walked perilously along the narrow the ledge of an enormous
cliff. Clouds obscured the view and there were two people
covered in grey ash. My hands were held by a kind of
man-wolf creature. Two creatures argued about who would
take charge. One took me to a theater where I remained trapped
for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I watched a private
cartoon and marionette performance. Cartoons from the
1930s played, as I listened to 1920’s music, interrupted by ads for
obsolete candy. I was finally told I was ready to meet other
dead people. I knew some, while others were strangers. I asked
some strangers how we could communicate despite being
unable to move my lips. They taught me to communicate
telepathically only by exchanging thoughts. I had only been
hospitalized a week and a half, yet it seemed an eternity.
72
I became desperate to end the experience. I realized prayer was
the only way out. I was confused, thinking if I was already
dead prayer could not be an option. I said the Lord’s Prayer in my
mind and awoke. I began to hear the sounds of real people saying
“We’re taking this out of your mouth, don’t move”,
and “let him rest”.
Eyes Open
I turned my head. The walls looked like they were covered with ants.
. I saw my parents. “Muv, Favre; you should not be here, I’m dead.,
You’re not, This is not for you,” I made the nurse show me her
Columbia Cornell hospital ID to prove I was really alive.
No Fear of Death
I was never afraid of dying. All men are afraid of pain or combat,
but death is different, especially if one is not maimed in war.
No soldier has ever said he was fearless. Death was not too
different than life. As Scripture says, there was no emotional or
psychological pain; no ‘gnashing of teeth”.
Back
Something within me had changed. It didn’t feel
wonderful to be alive. Like a prisoner of 20 years who can’t cope
with release from a prison cell, I was more comfortable with
dead people. They were friendlier. The material world became
meaningless. The Tao says, the man who is one with himself
does not strive or seek the recognition of others.
73
Joyce Fogel
Age
51
Born
1958
Physician , Section Chief of Geriatrics
Department of Medicine,
St. Vincents Catholic Medical Center,
Associate Professor Medicine,
New York Medical College
Three children,
mother & father
deceased 2008/2009
Jewish
74
Journal Interviews - Appendix 2
Powerless
(Did it make it easier being a physician?)
In some ways it maybe it was harder I felt powerless
(to watch my mother fade) This is what I do! Why can’t I make
it better? I knew I couldn’t fix it. I wanted her not to have pain
when she was suffering. It was really hard.
Three in the Morning
The night before she went home. She (my mother) was in really
great distress. I just said.. God, you just have to get me through
another hour until she can have the morphine. There was no
one else to speak to at three in the morning.
I Baked a Cake
I baked a cake and I wanted to bring a piece to them
(my parents). but there was no one to bring it to.
Suffering
Mommy can’t live like this.. She needs to die Please don’t make
her live like this. She just can’t suffer …
75
Journal Interviews - Appendix 2
Meatballs
I have been having fragmented sleep and bad dreams. After I
fell asleep on the couch my husband woke me up “Why did you
wake me I was having such a good dream… I dreamed about
my mother’s meatballs”.
My Job
When you deal in terms of Geriatrics, they (my patients) have
lived a life. These people have had a life. My job is to make
their end of life better.
Sharing
Sometimes I am just at a loss. I want to pick up the phone and
talk to mom. I want to share a food item or something I see in a
store. I see fried eggplant and I think” Oh Gino (dad) would
have loved that greasy eggplant”.
76
Kaddish
Saying Kaddish every day was a way of doing something
still for someone who was gone. Praising God in this person’s
name you are elevating their soul. When you are doing this in
a community where other people are mourning, you share a
bond of difficulties and what you have gone through,
as a spiritual community.
It Reminds me
Because of all the losses we have had. it hits me differently,
reminds me of something related to me. There are times
someone, something hits a chord. There was a patient who
reminded me of Rose (my mother in law). She had a massive
stroke. When she was dying, a decision was made to take her off
a respirator, the way the family rallied around,
I felt it deeply.
Hospice
I will share with families on some level. On numerous
occasions when I have referred people to hospice - I told
families what good care we had with hospice and it has
made a difference ( to them ).
77
Liza Alexander
Age
51
Born
1958
Writer, producer, educator,
married, Two children
No religion,
brought up Episcopalian, student of yoga
& interested in Buddhism,
father deceased in 2009
78
Hospice
I had not known about “hospice at home” care until the last
of the six months of Daddy’s hospitalization, prior to his death.
(He was 85 and up until the night before his first surgery he
was a practicing lawyer. In the OR he joked with the
doctors, “I haven’t been in the hospital since prison camp
in the war—WWII—and both facilities were simply marvelous!”)
From then on the system pretty much took over and it
was down hill. My family felt in the belly of the beast that
is American healthcare. Several incidents stood out as particularly
egregious. One being the fact that no social worker nor
other health professional told my family that there was such
a thing as “hospice at home”. We imagined hospice as a grim,
Victorian institution. In what would become his last couple
of weeks of life, the subject of palliative care just happened to
come up in a writing assignment so I asked the hospital about it,
and we found out too late that if a doc stated that “it would not be
surprising if Daddy died in six months time”, insurance
79
would pay for the home care. In a nutshell our experience was
great with procedures and surgery (they usually were
successful, but then a week or two later dire complications
would occur prompting more emergency procedures), but
information on the big picture, from his ever-revolving
health care team, was terrible. We were left to construct that
picture ourselves. I don’t know how we would have
gotten through the illness, including I.C.U. psychosis and
dementia, without the coincidence that a relative is a
cardiologist in one of the hospitals where Daddy was treated.
Charlie is the rare doc who actually believes in talking to
the family. He was never officially on my father’s team but he
would go way out of his way to get us information. One time
he literally left the OR to intervene in my father’s treatment,
to have him transferred to a hospital that could do the
procedures Daddy needed.
80
What I Miss
Only now do I fully appreciate his keen intelligence and brilliant
sense of humor... and his bottomless well of love for his
family. He was the best grandfather to my children I could
possibly imagine.
Next up
I have the feeling of a wall being breached, a generational one,
I am closer to my own mortality.
First Reaction
My first emotion was relief. Daddy had been in such great pain
and mental distress for six months…it was a good that his
suffering was over.
Reality
I only saw him about once every other month. He lived far away.
I am used to him not being with me... so sometimes I think about
him but don’t actually remember he is dead.
Other times I consciously remember and appreciate his quirks.
81
Hollowness
Being with him for the entire last week I accepted his death to
some extent, but there was hollowness and then exhaustion.
Now, sometimes I think I still believe he’s alive.
Gratitude
I felt flooded with gratitude for my nuclear family, my husband
and two kids. I felt a sanctuary in their presence.
PTS
After he died I felt like I had PTS - Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
I was walled away from reality a little. It was not the
isolation of depression It was a distance from others who were
not experiencing grief.
Connected
My dad and I shared an interest in history and politics. My career
didn’t go that way but strangely I think he kept that part of
me alive. Without him I feel less connected
to those worlds.
Dr. Molly Burke
I don’t believe in such a thing as closure for deep grief. My dear
friend, a psychiatrist, who recently lost her mother
advised me, “The only way to deal with grief is by making a
place for it in your life…you accommodate it.”
So I guess that’s what I’m trying to do.
82
Maureen Kehoe
Age
51
Born
1959
Estate attorney Nichols, Thomson, Peeke and Phelan
Mother, divorced, Three children
Unitarian, brought up Catholic,
83
Gracious
My friend described caring for her father when he was dying.
“He was gracious enough to allow us to help him”. Nobody ever
wants to ask for help. Especially when you are old and sick.
You Just Can’t Ask Them That
Marty was at the hospital with his father 24/7 He was on a
morphine pump. By day three, he actually had to hold his
mother back from literally chasing a nurse down the hall to beg
her give his father too much morphine. She just couldn’t
stand to see him in such agony. .Marty physically had to hold
her back and tell her “You can’t ask her that, you just
can’t ask her that”.
Dementia
Four or five years after, she (my mother in-law) was diagnosed
with dementia. she seemed so cast adrift after her husband
died…You always wonder when something like that starts? She
didn’t have the same energy she had before…She had
always been the Energizer Bunny.
84
Hospice
It was night and day compared to what her husband had
been through. As she gradually needed more care she was in
the kind of place where they could gradually provide it.
She died a much more comfortable and pain free death than her
husband, Bill had, surrounded by her family. I remember
thinking thank God… Just thank God for the progress in
hospice care. I don’t know if Marty could handle
being the guy always there again.
Almost Gone
When I was three, I decided the adult pool at my aunts’
motel looked like more fun than the kiddy pool. I
remember sinking, struggling for a while and then
just looking up at the light. I felt I was certainly gone. I have
absolutely no recollection of my aunt pulling me out of the
pool. She’s not around any more, so I can’t ask her now.
I distinctly remember sitting there looking up at the light.
It was the most peaceful feeling in
the world...
85
God Exists
I almost bled out on the (operating) table. I lost 2 liters of
blood. I lost at least 40% of my blood supply. I was in a coma for
at least 24 hours. It‘s very strange I distinctly recall I
felt stripped down to the smallest essence of being. Everything
turned down to the pilot light. I had gotten to
the point where I could make a choice - if I was going to
live or die. Knowing I would have to fight like hell to come out of
that, also feeling this tremendous energy around me - this.
incredible force I could tap into. For me this is proof God exists..
Incredible… incredible… feeling to be surrounded
by that energy.
The Dryer Buzzer
When Jeff’s mother died he was holding her hand as she was
taking her last breath. As she exhales. he and the nurse
were holding their breath, realizing this is really the moment.
Literally a second after she stopped breathing the dryer buzzer
went off. They were jolted back to reality from this spiritual
moment. To have something so remarkably mundane like the
dryer buzzer going off… Everytime he hears the dryer buzzer
now, he thinks of that moment.
86
DNR
At least twice a year my father calls me up out of the blue.
“You know I don’t want anything being done if I am ready to go… I gotta
go. I’ve been thinking about having DNR tattooed across
my chest”….Yeah... Dad,,,,, “I really don’t want to be hooked up
to any machines.. If I go into the hospital maybe I should take
a sharpie and write across my chest.” Really…Dad you
have made your wishes abundantly clear.”
Unitarian
A funeral is what made me a Unitarian. A friend of mine died.
He was playing basketball on his lunch hour and just dropped
dead of a heart attack. It was the only memorial service I ever
went to I actually liked - a true memorial to his life. It wasn’t
dark. I have been to many funerals where you were just one
person in a dark space. This service connected the dots for
every single person in the room…
Hell
I have a friend who was raised in a small town in West Virginia.
Her father was a preacher. Their life was all around the
church. She say ”of all the things in my faith I can’t live without.
..it is the idea of hell I can’t let go of it. There are evil people
in the world who need to be there…. Like people
who molest children”.
87
Michael Cohen
Age
65
Born
1944
Director of the International Affairs Program,
The Newschool,
Advisor to the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture,
Design, and Urban Planning of the University
of Buenos Aires, Former Senior Advisor to the
World Bank’s Vice-President for Environmentally
Sustainable Development,
Two children,
married, Jewish
88
Talking
My first wife refused to talk about death. She wouldn’t deal
with any spiritual or religious issues.
A Scientist
My father is a scientist. He sees the whole thing ( life )
as a miracle - how the cells function - biology.
Buried
My mother is buried in a small place in Cape Cod. My father
has a plot in Cape Cod. My wife lives most of the year
in Buenos Aires. I spend a good part of the time in New York.
I don’t know if my wife and I will be buried together..I don’t
know if I care.
My College Roommate
In college my roommate was the son of the president of a
small African country. His father was assassinated while we
shared a room.
89
Almost
I have come close to dying several times . When I was
traveling in Jerusalem, I tried to hitch a ride. I was really mad
when a truck on the road passed me by. Three hours later while
I was riding in the truck that finally picked me up, we passed
the first truck on the road. The driver was hung dead on the
rear view mirror. On a trip from Paris to Central Africa the
engine fell off the plane. The plane flew in on a severe tilt.
Another time a bullet just missed my ear. Didn’t think much
about any of it. Life was moving too fast.
Grateful
I run a graduate program with four hundred students from
all over the world. There a life giving energy there. I’m grateful.
90
Valerie Kubie
Sable Kopelman
Age
59
Born
1950
Licensed Associate Broker,
Hudson Homes Real Estate, Tarrytown, NY
Former speech therapist and teacher
of deaf and language impaired
Gardener and garden writer,
Two children, Jewish
91
My Father’s Death
My father’s yahrzeit, (the anniversary of his death) was this
past Friday. That was my first real loss of family…. When he died I
felt just like a little girl again. It was winter. It was cold. I was
worried about him being down there under the earth. Was he
cold? I could cry now just thinking about it!. I can’t see
him dead.! To me he still seems still a living person
under that earth. That’s why I cry.
After this Life
I don’t know… after this life I hope you are just put out. In
the same way, that you drift off under anesthesia before
surgery, that absence of sensation. then the heart just stops and
I’m gone. Anyway. . I’m hoping, I’m hoping.....
My Work
I often work with estates. I go into homes after an owner
has died. These are the shells of lives, filled with things.
Things we planned, things we loved and things that just
happened. and no one wants them! Everything that was
important, everything that was vital., becomes nothing!
92
Now I am trying not to hold onto things. I have a house,
every room crammed with things. Its an awful thought no
one wanting them. It’s a concern. So I have begun simplifying,
finding homes for things.... a kind of object adoption.
God
I believe in God not the representational god, not
the big man from above, not the master puppeteer.
I hope the afterlife is not like Dante’s Inferno or
the hell we see in opera. I hope we just go...I believe in God.
but as something I can’t really fathom. It’s hard to
understand... seeing bad things in the world. I guess
I wonder, how can he allow that?
The Worst
My college English teacher, Nora McGrath, invited a few
of us (her inner circle) to her Greenwich Village apartment
for a sort of poetry reading. That was popular then.
Before we could meet, I read in the newspaper that
she died the previous night in a fire in her apartment.
A cigarette in bed. gone. like that. We could never talk or
read poetry together again.
93
Cantor
Martha Novick
Age
55
Born
1954
Cantor Temple Emanu-El Westfield,
New Jersey,
Vice President of the American Society
for Jewish Music,
Mother, married
Two children,
94
The Other Side of Death
I have sick aged parents. Being on the other side of death. I live in
fear of their deaths. I am responsible for their care.
The Sandwich
We are the sandwich generation. We are faced with entirely
new challenges. It’s the challenges we face with our parents
generation. Is this a good and wholesome life for them? We
weren’t raised for this. We weren’t prepared for this. We are
in a vacuum, forging new territory for
generations to come.
What Does the World Mean?
You wonder. . I look at my mother who is so frail. Their lives are
just staying at home? My father has dementia. My mother just
recently broke her pelvis. .Except for a visit from me… what does
the world mean to her anymore? Is this life?
95
The Families
You need to say the right thing when dealing with families of the
dying. What do I do? Who do I call? They ask me what
happens next. You’ve got to know, because they need to know,.
beyond that moment of death. The practical is just as important
as the emotional. Information is so valuable. Even when they
seem glassy eyed- information is so comforting.
Too Painful
She was the unconditional love member of the family. When
she died, I lost my desire to listen to music. Beautiful
music was just too painful to listen to.
Life is Great
When I was a child, my fathers’ mother died unexpectedly. I was
whisked home from the skating rink. When I got homemy grandfather on my mothers’ side (who had been living
with us). said your grandmother died - I said you mean Zaidemy other grandfather. I knew he had been in the hospital
No.. I was told your Bubbe died on the way to visit your
grandfather in the hospital. 2 weeks later he (my mothers’ father)
died in our house. I was only about 10 years old but those
experiences formed who I was. I learned to appreciate life
I would say life is a gift.
A Cycle
I held off becoming a cantor because I was afraid I couldn’t
handle the death and dying.. Now I teach at Union Theological
Seminary… a part of the lifecycle class about death and dying.
96
Martin Rothfelder
Age
53
Born
1956
Attorney, Former president of the
Unitarian church Summit N.J.,
Father, divorced,
Three children,
Agnostic, raised Lutheran.
97
On Earth
I am an agnostic. My faith is focused in life here on
earth. It is what we do here that matters - hopefully
to be of some benefit. Everyday counts.
(Re: mother) I felt a little bit more alone with her not
in the world. It made me focus more on making
every day count.
Stollen
I am always thinking about my mother when I
am making her stollen. Even in the years when I am
not making the stollen, I think of her.
It comforts me to connect with my mother
in that way.
Crooked
(With a big smile on his face Marty Rothfelder told this story):
My father was in the final days of his life, bedridden with
disease very like a bone marrow cancer. I spent the last 2 weeks
with him. One day he was a bit a crooked in bed. The nurse asked
me to help straighten him out. On three, we pulled the sheet. My
dad looked up with a smile and said, “I bet you have been
waiting your whole life to straighten me out” His humor and
spirit was still there.
98
Victoria Leigh
Age
52
Born
1957
Interior and landscape designer,
social work professional,
Suffered stroke-subarachnoid hemorrhage,
received personal higher power
guidance while in the hospital
Mother, divorced, Three children, Catholic
99
After my Seizure.
A higher power was trying to speak to me in my language.
I reviewed my life I had a sense of whether not I needed to stay
here. The only thing that came to my mind was my
youngest son. There was a reason to
be here… for him.
Not Afraid
Fear of death was never a problem. I was never particularly afraid
of death. I am more aware of it. I realize the potential for
it to happen at anytime.
Bliss
Life after death is bliss, being content, an emotional state, not
a physical state. I went to Catholic grammar school. That
teaching, that passion, the consistency,
stays with you.
Mourning
From childhood I recall the experience of mourning as
being bittersweet, the celebration, more sweet than bitter. There
was family. There were people supporting one another and
loving one another.
Strength
The thing I have and I will leave behind is my strength. My young
son just just recently told me how proud he was of
me, my strength.
100
Allan Jones
Age
39
Born
1970
Director - Digital Library Programs
The Newschool,
former social work professional
Married, One daughter,
Pentecostal Christian
101
Making Peace
“Dad if you were hit by a bus tomorrow I wouldn’t know
what to do.” His response was “my will is in my upper right hand
dresser drawer” followed by “Don’t spend a lot of money
on a funeral” and a laundry list of instructions. My mother
was horrified. He really prepared me for his death in another
conversation sitting on a rock in Central Park. a week
before he died. We started out discussing why I love New York.
What we really talked about were the choices I had made
in life. We had shared some really rocky times and I needed to
know if he approved of my choices and me. Was I good
enough? When I brought this up, he said “Are you happy?”
I responded “happier than any other time in my life”.
“It shouldn’t matter what I think. All I ever wanted was for you
to be happy. I envy what you have done. I have been an
asshole sometimes but I have worried about your happiness” “
“For me its all about figuring things out. I cannot figure out
all your decisions but we must be able to live together”After
this conversation we had a new relationship…more equal.
Nothing was left unresolved. I told my wife if he died tomorrow I
would be OK. When he died a week later I felt robbed. Up to the
very last minute I saw him…. he was my dad.
(I miss him)
102
Melanie Katz
Age
47
Born
1962
Math teacher-East-West School
of International Studies,
married, two children, Executive board member,
Hollis Hills Jewish Center.
Mother, Two children, Jewish,
mother deceased in 2009
103
A Sigh
My mother had Alzheimer’s and had been declining for six years.
She was really never the same after she broke her hip. When
she died it was as if I could finally breathe again. I was able to let
the air out… Like a deep sigh.
Hospice
In the nursing home I would find my mother in bed, dirty or
unwashed. I was not their favorite person. I came across as a bit
cold. I was always pushing. Hospice was a whole different story.
They handled her in a loving way from the first day.
What Happens?
I don’t know. I don’t believe in heaven and hell. White robes.
clouds. I have no idea what happens to the soul (after death).
Do I wonder? No. I don’t! I don’t know if I believe…
Temple
I went to temple most of last year. Said Kaddish for 11 months
Was glad to go to temple. Was glad when it was over.
I was counting the days. I do feel that I needed some break from
it. Just the drain of the every night minyan was exhausting.
I made a commitment to go once a week now
104
Anthony Gugliotta
Age
49
Born
1961
Lead Chemist Dynamac Corp,
Bicyclist, father died during his childhood
Father, One child
Catholic,
105
The Main Event
My father passed away in 1970. I was 9 years old. It was the main
event of my childhood.
Alex and Anthony
My father died when I was 9 years old. I try to be a good father
following his example. Death rippled through my whole life.
It is always on my mind, especially when I think
of my son.
The Aunts
When dad passed away he asked his two sisters from Brazil
to help take care of us. That’s what family is about. Carmine and
Teresa had a tuxedo store in Brooklyn. They walked to work each
day, dressed simply and lived simply. They helped in
every way and had alot to say about how my brother and I were
raised. We had three mothers, but the aunts didn’t have any
maternal instinct and my mother was ill equipped.
They made mistakes...
106
107
Journal Photographic Images- Appendix C
108
Journal photographic Images - Appendix C
109
Journal Photographic Images- Appendix C
110
Artist book photographic Images - Appendix D
111
Artist book photographic images- Appendix D
112
Artist book photographic Images - Appendix D
Iteration test-game concept
Use Case- actor/actress
The actress for this use case is Christine Hathaway, a
second cohort Baby Boomer. She is a dedicated 48-year
old mother of two: Clare age12 and Alex age17. This
psychologist amicably shares joint custody with her
ex-husband an unemployed rights management specialist for the publishing. Industry. She has a long-term
boyfriend but their lives are based in different states, so
being together involves a lot of juggling. She has strong,
ethical and moral perspectives that do not center on the
teachings of any organized religion. Her financial stability has been broadly affected by both her ex-husband’s
situation and the general economic recession. She was
raised in a family of thoughtful academics. Though she
falls into the baby boomer demographic, she does not
identify herself as a baby boomer. She does not believe
boomers to be unified by any particular values except
consumerism.
The Whole experience- imagined
Christina has been receiving teasing e-mails from various friends. Each one came with a personal note. At first
she doesn’t know what to make of them but they intrigue her and she knows they are from friends.
The first one reads
“Boom it’s over” Are you a baby boomer?
Visit us at www.Boom.com
The second one reads
,” Boomers know how to die happy?”
113
Dedication Images - Appendix E
The third one reads,
”Do you win if you die first”
The fourth one reads, ”Will you still need me,
Will you still feed me when I’m 64?”
The fifth one reads, “I died more times than you did”
Visit us www.Boom.com
The last one reads, “What if you could decide how
you died?”
Finally when she has time between appointments
she goes to Boom.com.The site invites her to “Come
meet your end” She is invited to a Friday night game
of “Cheat Death” at her friend Maureen’s house. The
site lists the six other friends who are invited. Each
person is asked to bring a selection of music from
his or her youth. Instructions are to dress like it is
1967.
The site says: “Come join your friends and have fun
cheating death” The game is described as a funny,
poignant, look back at boomer beginnings and a
practical look towards the end.
Christina could really use a break. She is pretty busy
juggling her work, her kids, shared custody
arrangements and he boyfriend but this sounds
like good cheap, fun with some folks she really likes.
She runs through her CDs and pulls out a Beatles
114
Dedication - Images Appendix E
compilation. The kids will be with her ex husband for
the weekend and her boyfriend won’t be over until
tomorrow. She thinks” wow a night with the girls”.
Upon arriving at Maureen’s, the hostess sets the mood
by loading all the music. Maureen has on a tie-dyed
shirt and beaded headband. Christy unearthed an old
mini dress. Guests are in bellbottoms, go-go boots
and granny glasses.
After everyone has arrived, the music is turned on.
Chatting about the music and the memories begins.
Everyone sits down at the table with a glass of wine.
The death education function of this game is very
important, but it appears incidental to the game’s
face-to-face group dynamic and the side exchange
of nostalgia that occurs.
A board is set out on the table, amusing markers
designed to look like boomers nostalgic items
are offered. (Such as a mini metal peace sign,
a red Volkswagen bus, a yellow happy face disc
or a 1970’s yellow plastic submarine) This is modeled
on the common board games of boomer youth such
as Monopoly.
You roll dice to move around the board. You land on
various stops along the road of life. Different stops allow
you to select from illness, celebration, life preparation,
relationship and estate cards. The aim is to see the mix
of good and bad events that can lead to your death and
how you can find ways to improve the process to die “a
good or satisfying death” by making the right moves.
115
Dedication Images - Appendix E
Christine sits down at the table and giggles as she selects her playing piece- the Volkswagen bus. She tells
about a family friend who had an old red and white
Volkswagen bus and how they would all pack in for a
Sunday afternoon trip.
A couple of other friends pitch in with stories and the
game gets started with each person rolling to see
how much money they will have in the bank.
The board has a bright playful look with bold
psychedelic colors. As play proceeds, you can hear
moans, laughter, jokes and most importantly comments indicating learning. The game lasts a couple of
hours with food breaks. As everyone gets up to heads
home you hear comments like,” I guess I should see if
my will is up to date” “A green cemetery… how about
that” Christine really likes the concept of an ethical
will, something she had never heard of previously.
She is considering preparing one.
116
Test game scenario - Appendix F
Endnotes
1 Orthodoxy today, http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles4/JohnsonDeath.php ( accessed march 11, 2010)
2 Good Grief,. http://www.good-grief.org/aboutUs.html
(accessed July 11, 2009)
3 Katie Burns – Erin’s house for Grieving Children,
conversation July 6, 2009
4 Living with an Empty Chair, a Guide through grief
Irving ton Publishers inc, USA 19 77
5 Livestrong, http://www.livestrong.com/article/14684stages-of-the-loss-process/ page 10 ,( accessed April
18,2010)
12 Dayna D. Wood, Ed.S. NCC, LMHC
and creative support
7 Elkin, Dr. Joshua, 2009. A Time to Grieve, A Time to
Teach A Challenge to Parents and Educators:
Teaching, Children about Death and Dying, The Unitedy synagogue of Conservative Judaism http://www.
uscj.org/Explaining_Death_to_5200.html (Accessed
August 10, 2009)
8 Brokaw, Tom, 2007, Boom! Voices of the Sixties
Personal reflections on the 60’s and Today, Random
House
117
9 Sandra L. Bertman, PhD, FT, Distinguished Professor
of Thanatology and Arts at the National Center for
Death Education, Mount Ida College. ConversationSynthesizing visual and creative arts in dealing with
death, March 1, 2010
10 David Balk, Brooklyn College, Director./ developer
graduate program ,Advanced Certificate in Grief
Counseling phone interview (September30, 2009)
11Phylliss R. Silverman Phd. Public health and Social
work ,Researcher, teacher, author, Bereavement and
death within society ,Scholar in Residence Women’s
Studies Research Center, Brandeis University phone
interview (January 20, 2009)
12 Dayna D. Wood, Ed.S. NCC, LMHC
13 Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (On Death and Dying, 1975)
14 Doka, Kenneth J., 2000. A Guide to Grief, On Our
Own Terms, Moyers on Dying (accessed September
25 ,2009)
15 Joanna Drucker, The Century of Artists’ Books,
(Granary books, 1995)
16 Artists Books online, http://www.artistsbooksonline.org/ Digital presentation ofartists’ books, University of Virginia (accessed October 10, 2009)
118
17 Otis Collections online, http://www.otis.edu/life_otis/
library/collections_online/artists_books.html. A
collection of 2000 artists’ books (accessed October 10,
2009)
18 Zybooks.http://www.zyarts.com/zybooks/index.html,
online atistsbok gallery (October 10, 2009)
19 The Arthur and Mata Jaffe Center for Book arts,
http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/spc/JaffeCenter/jaffethecollection.htm (October 10, 2009)
20 Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection, University of
Chicago, http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm4/index_
jfabc.php?CISOROOT=/jfabc (October 10, 2009)
119
Thank You
I end this paper with grateful aknowledgement
of the people who assisted me in developing and
creating this work. This was a journey for me on
many levels both personal and academic. Both
old and new friends guided me along my way.
Special thanks to Katherine Moriwaki. Anezka Sebek,
Barbara Morris and Louisa Campbell my dedicated 5hesis
faculty as well as Julia Warshski my faculty advisor- for
encouragement ans advice on all levels
Parsons the New school for Design
Art, Media and Technology
Yasuyo Tanaka- technical development
Robert Blackburn printmaking studio
Technical and image advice Frances Jetter
The School of Visual Art
Conceptual development Andrea Deszo
Illustration
Image development:
Donn Albright
Professor Pratt Institute
Lasercutter guidance
Chris Hennelly, Glendon Jones, Greg Kaplan
Wordpress skinning:
Umut Ozover
MFA student
120

NahumAlbright_final_paper - Parsons School of Design | Art, Media

Transcription

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