Instructor Spotlight: Cecilia Orozco

Tell us about yourself and what inspired you to teach this course

I’ve always loved art, both the making and studying of it. At the same time, the path of education has found a place in my heart over the years, so I was always curious about teaching a course with the ExCollege, I just didn’t know what. Last semester, I took my first artists’ books course, “Artist’s Books Today,” with the amazing part-time lecturer Asuka Ohsawa. In that class, I got the chance to create my own artists’ books, but what really sparked my interest in teaching was a research presentation we did. We worked alongside Darin Murphy at the SMFA library to create a research presentation on the books from their collection and it sparked such interesting conversations amongst the students that I thought this would be a great idea for an ExCollege class.

What is an Artist Book? How have they been used historically? 

Funnily enough, there isn’t a one-set definition for it (which creates the opportunity for interesting commentary when you’re trying to teach a class on it). However, generally, it’s a book that was also approached as an art piece by the artist throughout the making of it. This way, both the content and form of the book represent the concept, which usually leads to very unconventional representations of the book compared to what we are used to. Historically, it was a way for artists to explore themes they hadn’t before in a new art form, but in more recent years, they have been very often adapted to speak on things such as social movements and marginalized identities.

Your course involves using SMFA’s special collections. Can you tell us a little more about this and how you’re using it in your class?

Absolutely! Students at Tufts are lucky enough that we have our own artists’ books collection at the SMFA open for anyone to see. I had to make it a main part of the class, so I’m grateful that Darin Murphy, the manager of special collections at the SMFA and overall amazing person, is kind enough to bring books from the collection to Medford for every class. We usually spend around an hour looking at them, reading them, hearing them, talking about them, and anything else that the book might ask us to do.

What do you hope that students will take away from your course?

I hope students have fun and enjoy the class. However, I also hope that by the end of the class, they create their own conclusions on why art matters, what role it has in the 21st century, and what possibilities artists’ books offer regarding that, both positive and negative. I’m lucky enough to have an awesome group of students that already have a critical eye when it comes to creating and analyzing art, so I just hope they take away a stronger foundation on the importance and uses of art.

What is something you are looking forward to in your course later in the semester?

I am so excited about the final project! Throughout the semester, students have been learning different bookbinding and bookmaking techniques, starting with very simple techniques and learning some that are slightly more complex. So, for the final project, they are creating their own artists’ books! I’m so excited to see what themes they want to explore and how they join concept and craft. I’ve already heard some of the ideas they are thinking about and I’m really excited to see them come to life.

Cecilia Orozco (she/her), is a senior studying Fine Arts with a Combined Degree Master’s in Art Education. Outside of classes, her biggest involvement at Tufts is being a member of Ballet Folklorico.