artist book

I just had a wonderful weekend at Maine Media Workshops in Rockport Maine.

I took a 2 day class with Todd Pattison on drum leaf binding.

The beauty of the drum leaf binding is that:

• quick and easy {relatively so :)}
• no sewing needed
• opens flat
• shows off a full page print

I was able to use gelatin prints that I had made on different paper weights.

The two prints on the top were made with a thicker paper and Akua inks, the one on the right edge was 90 lb. sulphite drawing paper and the one in the foreground was a mat photo paper.

I am off to the studio to make a few more books to really cement my learning into my muscles.

Using books as ART materials is a circular process for me.

First I am inspired by something about the book.

It could be inspired by the:

• cover design
• yellowed pages
• old notes or scribbles
• color, drawings or illustrations
• title or story
• kind of paper
• spine letters
• old pockets or labels

Then the next step is experimentation. How can I take what I love and use it in a new piece of art work? This can be the scary part, if I am really attached to the book part and afraid to wreck it or lose it. So I start with books and parts that I am not so attached to.

The experimentation can be:

• Cutting the book apart to use the covers
• Making a black out poem on a page
• Cutting and collaging pages
• painting pages
• folding pages into origami
• replicating pockets and labels
• Shredding pages into bits
• Photocopy and enlarge drawings
• Cutting words and making new meaning
• Anything that you could do with paper is possible

Then the final step is following my intuition. This would be different for every artist.

The things that inform my gut feelings and intuition are:

• the texture and feel of the paper
• the color and age of the page
• the strength of the material
• the intended purpose/viewer
• design elements/principles like texture, value and focus

It is a back and forth of building and covering, uncovering and revealing. I often don’t know where the process is going to take me.

I hope for a pleasing expression of materials that make the viewer want to get closer and interact with the piece.

I think layers of information can pull the viewer in. They want to know and understand. I think that will be different for everyone.

Join me – in the online class – Book as ART Materials – class starts soon. READ the details on the workshop pages and register today.

The Mixed Media Printmakers Retreat is designed to meet you where you are in your mixed printmaking process.

Then add a few new skills to reform and shape some of your prints and papers into books and mixed media prints.

In preparation for the course, I did a little sample book that included several of the processes that we will be using,

• Rusting paper or prints
• pamphlet stitch book form
• Wax rubbings
• Tissue paper collage
• Gesso transfers
• Stitching without thread
• Smoking, burning
• Text as texture
• Trace monoprint
• accordion fold

You still have time to join this online class.

Read the details on the workshop page.

Class is 2 weeks long and is designed to help you dedicate a concentrated effort to your art practice.
And you have access to the classroom for at least a year.

Get inspired! Give your pile of prints new life!

When working with old books it is exciting to find notes and scribbles and old library check out slips.

I like to call this patina or history. It is not something that you can make up, it’s real and can transport you back 100 years. I like to take these treasures and re-work them into a new book that can be handled and interacted with.

The books cannot be precious in either state. I love to make artist books that seem so precious and fragile and still invite the viewer to open them and experience the combination of old and new. This process can give old found marks new meaning.

Are you interested in re-working some old books into new treasures?

Click here and read the details of the Book as ART materials workshop. Registration is open and class starts soon.