Mar 08 2009
The Art of the Family Tree
I was in the library in Franklin, NC the other day and happened to run across a book in their “new books” section called The Art of the Family Tree: Creative Family History Projects Using Paper Art, Fabric and Collage by Jenn Mason. I picked it up, thinking it was a book for those just beginning their ancestral quest (the subtitle had completely escaped my attention). When I opened it, I found all these amazing items that had been made based on family history, using pictures and copies of old letters and whatnot. Then it hit me: this wasn’t a book for beginning genealogists, but for genealogists who are also crafters.
While this book does feature a simple guide to tracing one’s ancestry (Chapters 1 and 6), I recommend that most people skip this and instead go straight to the meat of the book: ancestry as art. Using step-by-step directions, Mason guides the reader through the creation of several interesing, visually appealing projects, from shadow boxes, to three-dimensional fan charts as part of a pop-up book, to family trees made from pictures mounted on painted canvases. The methods used also encourage the reader to experiment with unusual items (like coin books). Any of these would make wonderful gifts to those who aren’t nuts about digging up their roots, but they are also items that could be made and kept as decoration in the creator’s home.
I highly recommend this book for those interested in finding unique ways to display and gift their ancestry.
