Bookmaking has become a popular educational tool. My favorite type of book is the accordion book because they are relatively easy to make and don’t require a lot of materials. Here’s how I make simple accordion books with my students and how I integrate them into my curriculum.

Why bookmaking?

Bookmaking has many advantages. I believe the most important reason is making a connection between literacy and art. It’s a great way to add reading and writing skills into art class while still creating art.

I also think students have a greater sense of accomplishment seeing a finished book compared to a single work of art. A book takes more time and is a collection of many works of art put together, in a way it is like a mini portfolio of work. This collection of work makes students feel good about the time and hard work they put forth in creating a larger project. In the end, these positive feelings create happy and confident artists wanting to create more art. 

Choosing the subject

The options are endless as far as what to put in an accordion book. I have made three different accordion books with my classes. The first was an Art History Book that begins with cave art and travels through time to contemporary art. I really like this approach to art making and seeing how past genres have influenced other genres. In addition, my classes had many discussions about the meaning of art and why art is created.

The second book I made was an Art In World Cultures Book. I liked the idea of traveling through time, so I took the same approach to traveling around the world. The artwork in the book contains examples and descriptions of art from various countries around the world. I like that it adds diversity to my curriculum.

Lastly, I made an Elements and Principles of Design Book to reinforce the Elements of Art and made a connection to the Principles of Design. So each artwork combines both an element and a principle, such as unity and color or emphasis and line. This has been a perfect book to use with my beginning art classes.

How to make an accordion book

Now to make the book. I use a long piece of paper folded like an accordion, hence the name. I cut 6” x 36” strips from a 24” x 36” piece of light to medium weight tagboard.  This is the “accordion” used to glue the artwork and descriptions to. Next, I use black railroad board for the front and back cover, I cut 5” x 7” pieces from a 24” x 36” piece. Finally students use blank 4” x 6” index cards for the artwork. Often I will cut 4” x 6” pieces of special paper for certain lessons. I have used Kraft paper for cave art, graph paper for mosaics, PlasterKraft sheets for frescos and acetate for stained glass windows.

My books are constructed so that one side of each panel in the book is artwork and the other side is descriptions (see photo). I have typed descriptions of the genre, definitions of the element and principles, or information about the culture to be glued on the backside of the artwork. In addition, I add a table of contents to the front and a self-portrait and artist statement to the back of the book. Watch the video below if you’d like to see an accordion book being constructed.

How to implement bookmaking into your curriculum

I have taught the accordion books many different ways. I’ve used it as a basic curriculum for the entire semester. I taught each lesson and used supplemental videos courtesy of Khan Academy to reinforce the genre or region. I incorporated larger lessons when necessary. For example, when learning about Renaissance art, my students drew a realistic self portrait focusing on shading with drawing pencils on larger pieces of paper. I call these larger projects portfolio pieces.

I have also used the books as a supplement. In this method, we work on other lessons Monday through Thursday and then every Friday students take a break from their current lesson and work on a page for the book. I give instructions to the whole class and we keep the same pace.

The final way I have used the accordion books in my class is using them as an independent project. I created videos and step by step directions to accompany each lesson so my students could complete the whole book independently. 

My three accordion book lesson packages are available for anyone interested.

ART HISTORY Accordion Book
________
ART IN WORLD CULTURES Accordion Book
________
ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF ART Accordion Book

Happy Bookmaking! – Trista

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