When I first read about this book on Boing Boing a while back I commented that collection seemed to be slanted towards a specific area of the city and may not represent the art community properly. Then Erik Kiesewetter commented on my post and offered to send me a copy to review. Erik is the creative director of the Constance project and was kind enough to drop a copy of the book off on my front porch just before Christmas and since then I have been flipping through the book and thinking of exact how to write a review that would do it justice. Given the nature of this community project, I am going to offer up the copy I was given to a reader at the end of this entry (read all the way through for details).

Full review after the jump.

The Constance collection includes work from all types of artists. Inside readers can view graphic design, photography, illustration, graffiti, paint, sculpture, poetry, prose, printmaking, logo design, and mixed media from artists from around the New Orleans area. Each artist is introduced as: So and So, Pre-Katrina Location, Post-Katrina Location or returned to Location. This gives the reader a sense of purpose when paging through the works. You know that this project is truly made of a scattered population of those who were directly effected by the storm and still are trying to recover. The artists themselves are not all established in the art world. Quite a few are either still in school around the city at UNO, Loyola, and Tulane and a couple have only just left school. Each mini bio includes an easy way to contact the artist to learn more about their work. This helps the book turn into a gallery showing brochure with titles of works on display that a normal visitor would be able to find and consider.

Each page is printed in brilliant full color on thick paper. Opening the book also reveals two inserted cards and a sticker for the project. One card has a logo by Erik on it with his short bio on the back. The other is of the first artist in the book, Samia Saleem "previously the treme. currently seattle." She is a graphic designer with a 2004 BA from Loyola. According to the Constance site, purchasers of the book may receive postcards from Jeff Pastorek or Brady Fontenot instead. The sticker is a 4 inch square vinyl piece meant to be attached somewhere public that displays the name of the book: Constance: Replicas+Replacements weareconstance.org. In addition to all this is a piece of the found art mentioned in the original release of the book. The shrink wrapped postcard sized piece is a childlike artwork created from re-purposed Ninth Ward debris.

Based on the acknowledgments page, this is only the first volume from the Constance project, which is a good thing considering this was only a 1000 copy printing.

Based on all of this I have to change my first reaction to this project. Constance is a great way for the art community of our city to get national publicity. Especially given the current drop in visitors to New Orleans. If you have ever been just a little bit interested in independent art and want to support a good cause then head over to the Constance site and order a copy.

Or...

Since this is a community project and really meant to spread the reach or New Orleans artists around the country. To help those artists get greater exposure and recognition I have decided to pass on my copy of the book and all of the extras that came with it. I will mail you the copy via USPS regular ground to anywhere in the 48 Continental United States if you promise to do the following:

• read it (duh)
• post a review of it on your website
• send me a link to said review
• write your name and website on the first page (where it says: Constance, this book belongs to)
• send it on to some one else to do the same

If you can promise to do all these things within two weeks of receipt of the book and don't live in the New Orleans area post a comment below with your location. I will choose one commenter at random on Thursday next week (January 11, 2007, 7pm CST) and contact them via email to get postal information. Only confirmed comments are eligible.