Bringing A Book to Life Castleton students are encouraged to pursue their passions and expand their experience through hands-on, experiential learning opportunity like internships. Junior Richmond Rathbun is doing just that. Rathbun, a double major in Graphic Design and Media and Communication, is helping multimedia artist and poet Ruth Hamilton publish an illustrated children’s book. Hamilton is multi-medium artist who has shown her work throughout New England and has explored artistic expressions through art and poetry all her life. She is a founding member of the Poultney Area Artists Guild as well as a board member of Compass Music and Arts Foundation. Hamilton is currently working on publishing an illustrated children’s book, a project that has been in development for quite some time. Originally, she had planned to work with Castleton University Assistant Professor Bill DeForest on the graphic design for the book cover as well as the InDesign layout for the book, organizing the text and art on page in a cohesive way. However, circumstances were complicated by the impact of COVID-19 and the project was set aside. Now, with a majority of students back on campus, DeForest was able to connect Graphic Design and Media and Communications student Richmond Rathbun with Hamilton. “It’s been a lot of a learning things I’ve never done. I’ve never made a book in the sense of putting it in order, but it’s been
fun. And Ruth is very, very, nice. She’s very sweet. She’s really excited about this whole book,” Rathbun said. The story follows a young girl and her imaginary friend as they experience grand adventures together. However, after a falling out from an argument, they become separated. By the end of the story we learn that her imaginary friend is more real than she could have ever imagined. “This is my first individual large project where I have to make all the executive decisions, and other people’s opinions aren’t involved yet,” they said. One challenge for Rathbun has been bridging the gap in language when it comes to discussing the details of design. “When you have this knowledge of how describe things, like san-serif and serif fonts, it’s much easier. But with somebody who has never done that, who doesn’t do graphic design, there’s a bit of a gap as far as that goes,” they said. Hamilton will be self-publishing the book through Lulu, an on-demand printing service, which allows for Hamilton and Rathbun to take their time as they work on the project. Aspiring to be a freelancer once they graduate from Castleton, Rathbun is appreciative of the opportunity to build their professional portfolio by working on this project “It’s an opportunity to say I’ve actually made a book and I have experience publishing,” they said.
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