Book Arts Guild of Vermont exhibit: Shaping Pages, take 2

The Book Arts Guild of Vermont‘s spring exhibit, Shaping Pages has a new venue! The Creative Space Gallery, a great friend to the Guild, is hosting us through late June.

My book Little Known Facts About Crap is in the exhibit. If you didn’t get to see it at the S.P.A.C.E Gallery, you have a second chance!

You can view images from the exhibit on the Guild website. Be sure to check out our review in Seven Days, where the author granted my book a “Funny Award”.

If you’d like to check out the show, here’s the scoop:

Creative Space Gallery
235 Main Street
Vergennes, VT 05491
(802) 877-3850

Dates: May 3, 2012 – June 24, 2012
Gallery Hours: Thursday – Friday 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturday: 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sunday 10:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Shaping Pages Review

The Book Arts Guild of Vermont‘s spring exhibit, Shaping Pages opened on April 6th and is on display now through April 28th at the S.P.A.C.E Gallery in Burlington, VT.

My book Little Known Facts About Crap is in the exhibit, one of the books I created during the 2012 Book Arts Improv.

I was surprised to see that Seven Days, one of Vermont’s independent newspapers, reviewed our exhibit.

Overall, it was a favorable review. For that reason, it’s hard for me to express my concern that the writer doesn’t seem to know much about the book arts. The following comments worried me:

None of the works is an actual book, of course. Among the techniques in evidence here are repurposing book pages in sculptural constructions; making “pages” out of something else, such as cloth; referencing the concept of books in a mixed-media facsimile; and using printed text within a wholly un-book-like artwork. Some pieces in the exhibit seem to qualify as “book” art only because they are constructed from paper. But then, who said there were rules?

Huh?

Our exhibit included flag books, accordion books, and coptic bindings, among others. Those seems like “actual books” to me. And to imply that a book can only be “real” if it’s made of paper?

Wuh?

Check out the exhibit for yourself.

Even though I’m not happy with how the book arts were portrayed in the review, I’m excited that my book was singled out:

If there were a Funny Award in this exhibit, it would have to go to “Little Known Facts About Crap,” by Elissa Campbell. Inside the covers of this small book are tiny paper “pages” the shape and color of turds. On these Campbell has written nonsensical “facts,” such as “Holy crap can be repaired with duct tape.” With an apt self-deprecation that many legitimate authors ought to display, she concludes, “The contents of this book: total crap.”

I now have a virtual Funny Award in my studio. Whee!

And I’d like to point out that she did state that my piece was a book, didn’t she?

Inside the covers of this small book are tiny paper “pages” the shape and color of turds.

Just sayin’…

Book Arts Guild of Vermont exhibit: Shaping Pages

The Book Arts Guild of Vermont‘s spring exhibit, Shaping Pages opened on April 6th and is on display now through April 28th at the S.P.A.C.E Gallery in Burlington, VT.

Not only does the gallery host exhibits, but it also manages a number of artist studios. Overall, it’s a breathtaking creative environment.

The show at the S.P.A.C.E Gallery was one of the stops on the First Friday Art Walk, a Burlington event held from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. on the first Friday of every month. It was mobbed!

I was thrilled to have my book Little Known Facts About Crap in the exhibit…

…and even more thrilled to see folks checking it out…

…and even more thrilled to learn that it sold at the opening!

This is the first time that I’ve seen a red dot next to my name. It’s weird and I like it!

I wonder if they’ll give the red dot to me when the show ends. Should I ask?

Yes, I’m a dork.

Guild members submitted some seriously fabulous work for the show. One of my favorite pieces is Marcia Vogler’s Dream Burger:

Everything Marcia makes is super-awesome. That’s right Marcia – if you’re reading this, you now know that I think you have mad skills.

If you’d like to check out the show, here’s the scoop:

S.P.A.C.E. Gallery
266 Pine Street Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 578-2512

Dates: April 6, 2012 – April 28, 2012
Gallery Hours: Thursday – Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Worktable Wednesday

Tonight I’m doing a workshop for the Book Arts Guild of Vermont – folded books. The structures I’m teaching were either invented by Hedi Kyle or were inspired by her work.

I wanted to make sure that I had the structures nailed down, so today I worked on making models. I had hoped to get the models done before today, but I’m in week three of the never-ending cough. I am sick of being sick!

I am loving Alisa Golden‘s book Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms. It has directions for a number of folded structures, including Hedi’s Crown Binding – I’ll be teaching this binding tonight.

Worktable Wednesday

Today was all about accordion books.

I love making accordion books because they give me the opportunity to use whatever fun papers catch my fancy.

This week has been crazy.

I’m trying to make as many books as possible so I can bring them to my first show of the holiday season – the Art and Artisans Holiday Market. This is my first year attending the show as a visiting artist – I’m so excited!

My studio looks like a bomb went off in it. Seriously.

There are piles of everything everywhere. At least the piles of accordion books are pretty.

This evening I’m off to the monthly meeting of the Book Arts Guild of Vermont. I’m looking forward to a gilding demonstration with Maryanne Grebenstein!

Worktable Wednesday

Today’s worktable was off-site as I attended the monthly meeting of the Book Arts Guild of Vermont (B.A.G.). On the menu – making my first piano hinge book.

I know what you’re thinking – you never made a piano hinge book before? At least 5 people at the meeting asked me that.

Nope, never made one before. I can’t do everything, try as I may.

I was loving the fluorescent colored paper – it reminded me of the 80′s. The little triangles we cut from the pages looked like teeny paper birds. Brightly colored birds on a Fiskar sky.

 Here’s the spine of my completed book:

And here’s the obligatory wingspan shot:

 Many thanks to B.A.G. member Jill Abilock for teaching such a fun workshop!

Book Arts Guild of Vermont visit to UVM Special Collections

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a meeting of the Book Arts Guild of Vermont. This month’s meeting was our annual trip to UVM Special Collections at the Bailey/Howe Library. As I’ve mentioned before, Special Collections at UVM has a spectacular artist book collection and is well-regarded by the College Art Association.

I always get a lot out of our visits – Prudence Doherty does a wonderful job of selecting books for us to view. If I remember correctly, the book themes chosen for us included home, food, and animals.

I loved the letterpressed Meatball Math, by Alice Austin. The structure was cool – kind of like a caterpillar. I’m also big fan of math and orange things.

 

I loved this colophon for Out West by Carol Blinn of Warwick Press. It included swatches of two materials used in both the book and its accompanying box – Japanese Sugi Veneer and De Wint handmade paper. I’d love to include swatches in my colophons going forward.

I adored Common Threads by Candace Hicks. This book is one of a series of hand-embroidered canvas books created in the style of a composition notebook. Everything is hand-stitched – every single word.

The book is insane. In a good way.

The precision of Laura Davidson‘s Mapping My World was really impressive:

I liked the cover technique on The Mexican Dog-Tosser by Lois Morrison. She cut out the letters from a light piece of paper and then layered it over a darker material to make the letters appear.

I usually leave Special Collections feeling both inspired and overwhelmed – I get such a flood of ideas. Thankfully, I take detailed notes and can refer to them in the future when I’m ready.

The Awesomeness of Peter and Donna Thomas

Peter and Donna Thomas are awesome.

There, I said it.

I first met them when I attended the Focus on Book Arts conference in 2009. I was fortunate enough to attend one of their miniature book workshops.

Loved it.

Then they came to Vermont to lecture at UVM Special Collections and to teach a workshop for the Book Arts Guild of Vermont. It was then that I fell in love with one of their editioned books, but stupidly didn’t buy it.

I thought about that book for a year. It conveyed a message that was so perfect for the time in my life when I saw it. I missed it.

So I did something about it. Now mine.

The book measures 1 5/16″ x 1″ x 1/4″. It’s bound in leather and all of the pages are letterpressed. The copyright date makes me laugh – the book’s sentiment was probably appropriate back then too.

I love it.

There was a post on the Book Arts listserv today that mentioned that Peter and Donna had taped an interview with Park City Television. You can watch it below.

Did I mention how awesome they are?

Big Ideas, Small Books exhibit at Emile Gruppe Gallery

Last week I attended the opening reception for Big Ideas, Small Books, the spring member exhibition of the Book Arts Guild of Vermont.

The exhibit was so precious – it features artist books smaller than five inches in any dimension.

I wanted take some of the books and pop them in my mouth.

Don’t worry – I didn’t do it.

For the exhibit, I submitted all four books that I created during the Book Arts Improv in January. I was delighted to find that my books had been given their own wall! It was a small wall, in between a bathroom and a thermostat, but still awesome.

As I mentioned earlier, the exhibit was really fabulous. Here are some of my favorite pieces:

A tunnel book by Marcia Vogler – Sneek:

A super-teeny book by Monica Feeney – Button Book:

A tunnel-ish book by Jill Abilock – Love Illuminated Series – Eye of the Beholder:

 

Every time the Book Arts Guild of Vermont has an exhibit, I am always impressed with the variety of work – it is such delight! I am so honored to be part of an organization that has such talented members.

If find yourself near Jericho, Vermont, you have to see the show. Here are the details:

Big Ideas, Small Books
April 17, 2011 – May 22, 2011

Emile A. Gruppe Gallery
22 Barber Farm Road
Jericho, VT 05465
(802) 899-3211
Gallery Hours: Thursday – Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. or by appointment

If you can’t make it in person, you can have a virtual visit by watching a slideshow of the exhibit on the Guild’s blog.

Worktable Wednesday whoops!

It seems that I completely spaced on my Worktable Wednesday post last week. Ugh.

It turned out that I wasn’t in the studio at all that day as I had a number of appointments to contend with. Ugh.

The best part of that day was attending the monthly meeting of the Book Arts Guild of Vermont. Members were treated to a visit with Ken Leslie and his son, Woody Leslie.

Woody is the mastermind behind One Page Productions, an artist’s book press specializing in books created from only one 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. He believes strongly in the dissemination of ideas and does so using cheap mass production.

He talked about his work and showed us his collection of miniature books, warning us that some of them were for “mature audiences”. I’m not sure if I fall into that category, but I was immediately drawn to his book entitled Banana Porn. It’s not what it sounds like, so get your mind out of the gutter.

If you come by my studio during Open Studio Weekend, ask me to show the book to you. Or, if you can’t wait and are interested in acquiring one of his books for yourself, you can contact Woody at [email protected].

Ken started out his artistic career as a painter. He earned his MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania, which is where I went as an undergraduate student (hurrah for the red and the blue!).

Ken entered the realm of artist’s books as he explored non-rectangular painting shapes. He was drawn to the circular form because he enjoys thinking about how we experience time.

He’s created a number of books that focus on a particular time cycle – a 24-hour day, the same time of day over the course of a year, the ritual of painting first thing every morning.

He primarily works in watercolors. Many of the circular books he shared with us were big enough for him to sit inside – and they were only made of one piece of paper.

It didn’t take long for someone to ask him what paper was large enough to meet his needs – 50″ rolls of Arches watercolor paper.

Something Ken said really struck a nerve:

When you do a project, do it so you can be a real human.

I think that’s the problem I’ve run into lately – I commit to things without leaving myself any breathing room. I do not respond well to speed bumps – when something goes wrong, my whole system goes kablooey.

I need to do a better job about allowing myself breathing room – be a real human.

I hope it’s okay for real humans to like banana porn.