book arts

Do you have something in your life that is easy for you to do? Something that is natural? Some activity where you are not afraid of failing because you know that you will come out the other side?

Learn from that! Transfer that confidence into a new activity. Be Brave.

I think we all have safe, creative, things that we do confidently. It could be any thing:

• an art making technique
• cooking skill
• athletic activity
• work based skill
• family responsibility

Think about it!

I know you have something in your life, where you are confident enough to “fail.”

For me it is gelatin printmaking. I am confident enough to play, fail and know that I will eventually succeed.

I teach with this type of philosophy. Failure and ugly art generally is necessary and leads to more beautiful creations. If you would like to embrace this style of learning then join me in the current workshop Book as ART Material.

• We will cut up old books and make new tools, books and collages.
• Embrace the page, spine, cover and text of the book.
• Move through the fear of the book being too precious
• Create new art that is meaningful to you

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Many old books end up in land fills or get recycled for paper pulp. This should ease your mind and give you the confidence to tear, cut, glue and reshape old books into new art making tools and art pieces.

Books are precious and powerful, but I think repurposing old unwanted books gives it new life and new power. I like to work with the parts of the book:

• Covers
• End pages
• Page blocks
• Spines

These parts can be cut apart and reassembled to make a new book with a rich patina and history. Sometimes you can find wonderful marks, notes, and history from prior readers.

If you have a pile of old books and you are brave enough to make something new with the old parts, then join us in the online workshop, Books as ART Materials. Click here to read the details on the workshop page.

In the class we will:

• Take books apart
• Use pages and parts to make stencils and stamping tools
• Build new book forms

 

I am gathering my:

• Artist’s books
• Hand printed book bags
• Leather bits
• Misc tools
• Printed papers
• Thermofax screens
• Book marks

for the Book Arts Bazaar at the University of Southern Maine this Sunday, April 9th, 10 to 3 @ the Wishcamper Center.

This will be my first time attending this book arts festival. There will be 50 vendors. It is FREE and open to the public. Come and be inspired to make some books.

There will be:

• Book artists
• Papermakers
• Bookbinders
• Printmakers
• Educators
• Writers and
• all things related to the BOOK.

I have many one of a kind artist books, tools, papers and supplies that I will be offering for sale. It will be exciting to have such a wealth of knowledge together this Sunday.

There is plenty of FREE parking in the Parking Garage, off Bedford St.

Hope to see you there. Be sure to stop by my table and say Hi!

 

I was pleased to learn about using calipers and dividers to make measurements for folding and cutting when making artists books.

Martha Kearsley, of the Strong Arm Bindery, showed us how to use these tools to measure book blocks and threads to calculate the width of the spine. The caliper is the tool on the bottom with the dial. The teeth on the left open like a mouth and measure a text block.

The pointy tool on the right is a spring loaded divider. Turn the screw on the right and the pointy legs open or close. This allows you to divide the paper into equal lengths with out doing the math or using a ruler. This is good for dividing up the sewing stations on a binding and figuring out the folds of an accordion book.

We had about 30 artists in the Summer Book Arts Program a USM and there will be an exhibit in September and October:

Book Arts Exhibition: September 6– October 15, 2016
Glickman Family Library, 6th floor USM, 314 Forest Avenue, Portland, ME 04104

Lecture and Reception: Monday, September 12th, 4:00 p.m.,
Lecture by Summer Book Arts Faculty Member: Abbie Read
University Events Room, 7th floor
Glickman Family Library, 314 Forest Avenue, Portland Campus

Following the lecture there will be an exhibition reception from 5:00-6:00 p.m.
6th floor near Special Collections
Refreshments will be served
Free and Open to the Public

Last week I had the opportunity to be a student for 7 days of printmaking and book arts at USM in portland, ME. I unpacked all my creations and experiments today and am pleasantly pleased.

We had 8 different instructors and covered things like intaglio, relief printing, coptic binding, long stitch, hand drawn fonts, paste papers, poetry writing, accordion folds and altered books. WOW! A lot to pack into 7 days.

Above it the the book that I made with the guidance of Anna Lowe of the Purple Bean Bindery She made learning fun and easy.

This long stitch bound book was made on the last day, under the skillful guidance of Martha Kearsley of the Strong Arm Bindery.

Walter Tisdale, book artist from Bangor, ME showed us how to learn, tweak and modify the Neuland type face. We practiced hand drawing, cut a set of letter stamps and cut a complete stencil of letters to build muscle memory.

I was pleased to learn another approach to the low tech form of relief printing, from Pilar Nadal of Pickwick Independent Press. I treated myself to  working big and embracing her ideas.

Three take aways as a book arts student:

1. Bring plenty of supplies but don’t limit yourself to using them
2. Embrace the approach that is being taught
3. To really remember the new technique, teach it to someone else right away.

I will be sharing more about my process and discoveries in the next few days.