The Pyramid Atlantic Experience

At first, I was a little skeptical about going to Pyramid Atlantic. I did not like the idea of having to drive up to Silver Spring, Maryland (meaning paying for your own gas money) and then on top of the extreme gas prices that are occurring at this very moment, we had to pay twenty-five dollars just to get in the place. I understood that this fee covered our materials and would also pay the artists that would be helping us there, but I was still upset.

When I turned onto Georgia Avenue, I began my search for the ridiculous red building that is Pyramid Atlantic. Well, let’s just say that even though it was red, I missed it about five times. Then, I had to find parking. Fortunately, there was a parking deck right behind the big red building and it was FREE!!! Molly and I walked up to the building and found a door. Unfortunately, that was the incorrect door because it had a “Please use other door” sign on it. So, we walked around the building again and found the correct door. So far, this trip was not going well.

After I got in the building and started looking around while the staff there was clad in colorful rain boots, I asked myself, “What is this place?”

Fortunately, I had a lot of fun doing all of the planned activities at Pyramid Atlantic. I really enjoyed making my art book. I thought the place was really trendy and must be a fun place to work.

With my art book project, I was not completely sure of what I wanted my book to be about. I kept finding cool things in the recycled paper bin and I was trying to figure out a way to tie everything together. I found some really cool blue paper that was similar to tissue paper. It had flecks of gold in it surrounded by different shades of blue all melted together. Then, I found a card that had a white background with red polka dots. After that, I found some prints of flowers that I wanted to use. Suddenly, I thought of my theme. Things we smell. So, I put together my art book with pictures combined with text of things that we smell. It is cleverly titled, “What a nose… knows. I had a lot of fun putting the rest of the book together. It was pretty easy finding stuff to put in there once I was set on my theme.

I also thought the printing press was really interesting. I really enjoyed putting my text together. It was like putting a puzzle together because you had to find the pieces and then fit them in a way that you are not used to (upside down).

I thought that our “poem” came out pretty well, too. Even though they were randomly selected sentences, the poem sort of makes sense in a very odd and twisted way.

I cannot wait for the handmade paper to come in. I thought that was so cool that we got to make our own paper in really pretty colors. I am so excited to see how they came out.

Overall, I had a great time at Pyramid Atlantic and I really enjoyed learning about art book and printing.