Enthusiasms and Eccentricities A passion for teaching and typographic innovation are what finds when she visits the Université du Québec à Montréal.
! #$% &%'( )*'+# ,-( of guests (bookbinder, editor, the ./-week course on book professional book designer), design o1ered to third-year suggested readings, hands-on students in the graphic design exercises, individual study program at the Université du and short-term projects Québec à Montréal (56-7), transform the collective Judith Poirier proposes the experience of the class as :nal assignment: a complete a whole along the way. book ready for publication. Typically, the very idea is #$% D-#$%'*!D ) formidable, perplexing and 7('*-, *,%-+ seemingly insurmountable to =e teaching methodology students beginning to explore is organic, evolving through the visual communication a series of phases. =e :rst of ideas through type and task, of choosing a subject, print in book form. consistently proves to be However, rather than the most diFcult. What defeating the student, the passionately interests the intensity and enormity of the student and will sustain challenge fuels the creative :re. their interest? =e next =ere is no safety net for either step demands rigour in the the teacher or the student. gathering of information, Both success and failure will Judith Poirier. the idea being to “exhaust” endow the students with (Nathalie St. Pierre photo) the chosen subject. During valuable lessons and wisdom. this phase the subject may be =e assignment propels re:ned or change completely. students into the mindset of a professional book =e students quickly learn that wriLen texts designer. Students are forced to confront the and acknowledged authorities are not the only uncertainty of the unknown as well as their own sources for comprehensive research. =ey are individual de:ciencies in knowledge and under- encouraged to adopt a technique of uncensored, standing. Reliance on the professor as a guide is non-judgmental observation and information not an option. =eir own unique creative process gathering in a variety of contexts by documenting will shape, enlighten and inform critical inquiry. lived experiences in words and images. Original Imagination is stimulated and expectations thoughts and ideas surface in myriad physical triggered in the teacher and the students in and emotional responses to colour, form, shape, anticipation of the result at the end of term. temperature, time, space, sound, silence, light, Each project is personal to the student. Various dark, smell. =e creative process evidenced by :eld trips such as to the rare books and artists’ Georges Perec in his A!empt at Exhausting a Place books collections of the Bibliothèque et Archives in Paris or Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style nationales du Québec (@-C6), lectures, invited is the aLitude of examination and enquiry used
Bleu marin: Recueil de poésie by Elizabeth Beaudoin. to precipitate new thoughts and deep reYection. same time provided the freedom of scope and =ere is a risk of being overwhelmed by the motivation. =e approach is at once artisanal{ information gathered from a wide variety of steeped in tradition{and contemporary, sources. Paradoxically, being somewhat lost or even futuristic. She views each project as an absorbed by the material becomes the impetus for experiment, as she does in her own art practice. realizing the full potential of the book’s design. By In addition, the approach is a collaborative organizing the information and images in a search and shared venture with the students from the for meaning, eventually a design concept emerges. beginning, so the outcomes are all part of the =e design phase involves the selection of text learning for everyone, including the professor. and images that best represent the subject. Design A sense of community is fostered. Judith’s innate decisions and choices determine a structure, title, curiosity and constant questioning push the rhythm and personality, inviting contrast, hu- limits, engaging students in the process. Faculty mour and possibly controversy. Various formats, member and renowned artist-photographer typography, size of images and layout options are and designer Angela Grauerholz works with questioned and explored. Budget considerations her in developing and :ne-tuning the program and access play a role in determining modes of and alternates with her in teaching the course. production, bookbinding and dissemination. Judith and Angela share a studio lab space known as #- at l’École de design (56-7) - Z [[-\ '-#*&% -]]' -Z$ where they direct “research-creation” projects, # @ ^ ,%+*D! experimenting with typography and publica- When she began teaching book design at tion. =ese interdisciplinary projects are open 56-7 in _``., Judith had her own doubts as to a diversity of collaborations and enhance to whether it would be possible to introduce the teaching of graphic design to students. students to the multi-faceted history of the One of the research projects, la chose imprimée , book, its design and printing as well as to have addresses issues around the book and the them contemplate the future of the book. sensorial experience of the reader. =e website, Requiring students to pursue their own creation LaChoseImprimee.com, includes a journal diary and production of a limited edition at the on the progress and results of the various projects.
X Judith is inspired by her own experience as an artist and professor of typography at 56-7 since . and especially as a master’s student in typography at the Royal College of Art London (.–_``.). Her studies in London followed the co-curating of an exhibition at 56-7 in .X, Typomondo: la leLre dans tous ses états, which aimed to investigate the impact of new technology on typography. =e following year, she organized a workshop for students with the French master of expressive typography Robert Massin. Massin was art director of Éditions Gallimard for over _` years, and his most famous works have been described as “typographic eccentricity,” strongly inYuenced by the late innovative French book designer Pierre Faucheux. Faucheux treated each new book as a new object, and the choice of typeface invariably has some relationship derived from the meaning of the text. With much trepidation, Massin chose the theme of the workshop, one that had preoccupied him for ` years. It was based on an atonal piece of music, Pierrot Lunaire , a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg. Judith’s imagination was immediately captured by this experience, and it has generated further exploration and experimentation over the years with sound, music and animation.
--',-*!!*!D +#5,%!# Z'%-#* !+ Judith’s own method of animating typography involves leLerpress printing directly on .mm and /mm :lm stock, producing a printed publication Colorimétrie by Nicolas Ménard. and a :lm animation companion piece. She won an Alcuin Award for the publication component of such a work, Dialogue , in _`.`. =at same or randomness that cannot be calculated in the year, the book was awarded a Certi:cate for design process, eliciting the excitement of an Typographic Excellence by the Type Directors aleatoric and abstract quality to the outcome. Club (#,Z) New York. In _`.. the book was Other works-in-progress explore :lm shortlisted in the prestigious international book genres: an abstract western-style short :lm design competition held annually in Leipzig. and another one described as “a typographic =e short :lm, Dialogue , was no less successful horror :lm,” featuring the Gothic typeface. and screened at :lm festivals in London =e soundtrack of these :lms is unique and (U.K.), Melbourne, OLawa and Montreal. naturally produced by ink on celluloid. =e leLerpress brings together what she On the occasion of the `th anniversary of the loves most: the smell of ink, the imperfection Alcuin Awards for Excellence in Book Design in and wear of wooden type, the sounds, the Canada (_`._), three student submissions won shapes, the rhythms, the harmony and the awards in the competition’s Limited Editions discord, the relief impression of the leLer on category. All three winners produced their work the paper. Transfer to :lm heightens the chance at 56-7 in the book design course taught by
/ Judith Poirier in the studio. (Laurent Guérin photo)
Judith Poirier. =e win was a tribute to the design students themselves, l’École de design 56-7 and the vision of their graphic design teachers. Elizabeth Beaudoin ( Bleu marin: Recueil de poésie ) and Nicolas Ménard ( Colorimétrie ) were two of the 56-7 winners in a three-way tie for :rst prize. Alcuin judges always try to identify a clear winner in each category, but Px Archive & Correspondance when the skill and talent are of such a high by Emanuel Cohen. standard, they are compelled to acknowledge the achievement. Emanuel Cohen ( P#x Archive & Correspondance ), another student Book Design) to discuss common goals of from 56-7, was singled out as one of two teaching book design and publishing in-house. honourable mentions in the category. Judges are =e legacy of the 56-7 program is now well not obliged to award an honourable mention established, and seminal to the career aspirations but do so on the basis of exceptional merit. of students in graphic design and the future of Judith and Angela represented the three book design and its evolution. As professionals, winning 56-7 students at the award ceremonies Judith and several of her former students con- in Leipzig, Germany, for the international tinue to gain national and international acclaim. competition Best Book Design from all over the World in March _`.. =ey also met the directors of the Hochschule für Gra:k und Marlene Chan is a contributing editor Buchkunst (Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts) of Amphora . and the Institut für Buchkunst (Institute for