A compendium of news, knowhow and whatnot. All members of the Guild of Book Workers are welcome and encouraged to post comments.
Exciting chapter news--The Marking Time exhibition is soon to be in Seattle! We're going to hold a chapter meeting in January!--leads off the newsletter. Info on The Assignment show at 23 Sandy Gallery, an article from Sophia Bogle on her experiences at the American Academy of Bookbinding, and more tidbits of member news follow.
A mighty thank you to everyone who has contributed to the articles and events in this newsletter.
November 24, 2009
Northwest Chapter Meeting January 10
The GBW Northwest Chapter is going to hold a meeting on Sunday Jan. 10, 2010, 1:00pm at 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland. We earnestly invite all of you to come! This is a chance for members of this newish and far-flung chapter to share ideas, do some planning, and get to know each other a little better.
Since some members will be in town for the College Book Art Association conference, we've set up the meeting for the day after that wraps up. Hopefully it will also be convenient for others who can make it to Portland just for the day or weekend.
Some topics our chapter chair, Paula Jull, has placed on the agenda: An exchange exhibit, possibly with the Northeast Chapter. A possible workshop in the spring with Don Etherington. The chance to elect, reelect, or expand our roster of officers. Anything else could be on the table, so please let Paula know if there's a topic you want to make sure gets covered.
23 Sandy Gallery is located on Portland's east side and is owned by GBW member Laura Russell. On display between Dec. 4 and Jan. 10 will be the juried book arts show, The Assignment. We'd also like to encourage members to bring books or other work to the meeting, so we all have a chance to see what others are up to. The chapter will arrange and pay for food and refreshments. We'll send out an e-mail as we get closer to the event to provide further information.
Hope to see you there!
Since some members will be in town for the College Book Art Association conference, we've set up the meeting for the day after that wraps up. Hopefully it will also be convenient for others who can make it to Portland just for the day or weekend.
Some topics our chapter chair, Paula Jull, has placed on the agenda: An exchange exhibit, possibly with the Northeast Chapter. A possible workshop in the spring with Don Etherington. The chance to elect, reelect, or expand our roster of officers. Anything else could be on the table, so please let Paula know if there's a topic you want to make sure gets covered.
23 Sandy Gallery is located on Portland's east side and is owned by GBW member Laura Russell. On display between Dec. 4 and Jan. 10 will be the juried book arts show, The Assignment. We'd also like to encourage members to bring books or other work to the meeting, so we all have a chance to see what others are up to. The chapter will arrange and pay for food and refreshments. We'll send out an e-mail as we get closer to the event to provide further information.
Hope to see you there!
Marking Time Exhibition in Seattle
The current GBW national exhibit Marking Time opened in Minneapolis this May, and will be touring the country for nearly two years. For those of us who have been impatiently waiting for it to arrive at our doorstep, good news: it has just finished its stay at the San Francisco Public Library, and will open at the Suzzallo/Allen Library of the University of Washington on December 7. This wide-ranging trove of talent and inspiration will be in Seattle through February 19—thence to Salt Lake City and parts beyond.
The Book Arts Guild has provided essential support in bringing the exhibition to Seattle, including co-sponsoring special events on January 21 and February 11. Many thanks to the guild and their members in their 30th anniversary year. The University of Washington and its curator of book arts and rare books, Sandra Kroupa, have also earned our gratitude for their roles in bringing Marking Time to this venue. The exhibit itself, of course, is the product of long hours and dedication by Exhibitions Chair Karen Hanmer, jurors Jeffrey Altepeter, Melissa Jay Craig and Peter Verheyen, as well as the generous support of many other members of the Guild of Book Workers.
Sandra has provided detailed information on the special events, as well as visiting hours and locations of the exhibit, which I’ve printed in the following post. If you’re not familiar with the University of Washington campus, the library website provides a map and other information. The books will be displayed in three separate locations within the Suzzallo/Allen Library. Between December 7 and Jan. 6, only two parts of the exhibition will be open. Between Jan. 6 and Feb. 19, all three parts of the exhibition will be on display. Please note that the Special Collections Lobby exhibition space has shorter hours than the Suzzallo/Allen Library as a whole, and is not open on Saturdays. You’ll therefore want to pay close attention to the hours Sandra has listed for the first part of the exhibition.
The Book Arts Guild has provided essential support in bringing the exhibition to Seattle, including co-sponsoring special events on January 21 and February 11. Many thanks to the guild and their members in their 30th anniversary year. The University of Washington and its curator of book arts and rare books, Sandra Kroupa, have also earned our gratitude for their roles in bringing Marking Time to this venue. The exhibit itself, of course, is the product of long hours and dedication by Exhibitions Chair Karen Hanmer, jurors Jeffrey Altepeter, Melissa Jay Craig and Peter Verheyen, as well as the generous support of many other members of the Guild of Book Workers.
Sandra has provided detailed information on the special events, as well as visiting hours and locations of the exhibit, which I’ve printed in the following post. If you’re not familiar with the University of Washington campus, the library website provides a map and other information. The books will be displayed in three separate locations within the Suzzallo/Allen Library. Between December 7 and Jan. 6, only two parts of the exhibition will be open. Between Jan. 6 and Feb. 19, all three parts of the exhibition will be on display. Please note that the Special Collections Lobby exhibition space has shorter hours than the Suzzallo/Allen Library as a whole, and is not open on Saturdays. You’ll therefore want to pay close attention to the hours Sandra has listed for the first part of the exhibition.
Visiting the Marking Time Exhibition
Sandra Kroupa
Book Arts and Rare Books Curator
Special Collections, University of Washington
Marking Time, an exhibit from the Guild of Book Workers, will be on display in Suzzallo/Allen Library December 2009 through February 2010. The exhibition is being co-sponsored by The Special Collections Division of the University Libraries and The Book Arts Guild. The exhibit will be shown in three venues and only two venues will be on display in December. Having the exhibit spread throughout the main Library means that many more visitors will “discover” the exhibit in their regular use of the Libraries.
Book Arts and Rare Books Curator
Special Collections, University of Washington
Marking Time, an exhibit from the Guild of Book Workers, will be on display in Suzzallo/Allen Library December 2009 through February 2010. The exhibition is being co-sponsored by The Special Collections Division of the University Libraries and The Book Arts Guild. The exhibit will be shown in three venues and only two venues will be on display in December. Having the exhibit spread throughout the main Library means that many more visitors will “discover” the exhibit in their regular use of the Libraries.
Special Events
There will be several events for the exhibition co-sponsored by the Special Collections Division and The Book Arts Guild:
On January 21, Thursday, 2010 the Book Arts Guild will hold its 31st annual meeting in the Maps/Special Collections classroom in the basement of the Suzzallo/Allen Library. The brief business meeting will be followed by a gallery talk by the BAG members whose work is represented in the GBW's Marking Time exhibition: Don Glaister, Bonnie Thompson Norman and Jessica Spring. The annual meeting will begin at 7:00. The gallery talks will take place both in the Special Collections Lobby and in Suzzallo Room 102. The gallery talks will begin with a discussion about the Guild of Book Workers by these artists in the classroom and then the audience will walk to the different exhibit sites throughout the building.
On February 11, Thursday 2010 Karen Hanmer will talk to the Book Arts Guild in their regular meeting place in the Maps/Special Collections classroom in the basement of the Suzzallo/Allen Library. A brief business meeting will be followed by a talk by Hanmer who is the curator of the Marking Time exhibition. Her talk will cover elements of the exhibition as well as information about the GBW.
On February 13-14, Saturday & Sunday, 2010 Karen Hanmer will give a workshop in flag books for the Book Arts Guild. Details will be available on each of these events at the Book Arts Guild website http://bookartsguild.org
Exhibit Hours
Starting December 7, 2009, the first part of the exhibition will be shown in the Special Collections Lobby Exhibition space in the basement of the South Wing of the Allen Library. This part of the exhibition will be on view at that site until the end of the exhibition on February 19, 2010.
The hours for this first part of the exhibit are as follows:
December 7-18, 2009
7:30 am – 6 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 5 pm Friday; CLOSED Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm.
December 19, 2009 – January 3, 2010
9 am – 5 pm Monday – Friday; CLOSED Saturday & Sunday, December 25, 2009, January 1, 2010; December 24 9am -3 pm.
January 4, 2010 – February 19, 2010
7:30 am – 6 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 5 pm Friday; CLOSED Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm.
[NOTE: These are NOT the hours of Special Collections. These are the hours when the LOBBY EXHIBIT AREA is open.] See http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/
The second part of the exhibition can be seen on the First Floor Balcony of the Allen Library, North Wing. To reach this location, proceed on the same floor as Suzzallo 102, walk straight ahead. When you reach the transition area between the Suzzallo and Allen Library you will come to the large, open Allen Main Lobby and to your left will be the second part of the exhibit. The Lobby also has the spectacular installation of Raven Brings Light to This House of Stories, a collaborative artwork by Carl T. Chew, Mare Blocker, J.T. Stewart, and Ron Hilbert. The artwork, installed in 1994, features 40 ravens and crows suspended from the ceiling, and the title, displayed in large letters on the wall, in both the Lushootseed language and English. In Pacific Northwest Native American lore, Raven is the being who went east to bring the light to the west. In this work, the light is the knowledge housed within the Libraries collections. Each bird carries a sample type style or other symbol from cultures around the world.
For more information see: http://www.lib.washington.edu/suzzallo/ This second part of the exhibition is available all the hours the Suzzallo/Allen Library is open:
December 7 – December 18, 2009
7:30 am – 10 pm Monday – Thursday, 7:30 am – 6 pm Friday, 12 pm – 5 pm Saturday, 1 pm – 10 pm Sunday
December 19, 2009 – January 3, 2010
9 am – 5 pm Monday – Thursday, Thursday December 24 9 am – 3 pm, Friday December 25 and January 1 CLOSED, Saturday and Sunday CLOSED
January 6, 2010 – February 19, 2010
7:30 am – 10 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 6 pm Friday; 12 pm – 5 pm Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 10 pm.
The third part of the exhibition will go on display beginning January 6, 2010. This part can be seen in the Suzzallo Library, Room 102 that is at the West Front of the historic Suzzallo Library, on the left as you enter the building. This part of the exhibition is available all the hours the Suzzallo/Allen Library is open:
January 6, 2010 – February 19, 2010
7:30 am – 10 pm Monday-Thursday; 7:30 am – 6 pm Friday; 12 pm – 5 pm Saturday; Sunday 1 pm – 10 pm.
Marking Time is the work of curator Karen Hanmer, the GBW exhibitions chair, who, along with jurors Jeffrey Altepeter, Melissa Jay Craig, and Peter Verheyen, created this exhibition and its attendant catalog. The installation of the exhibition at the University of Washington Libraries is the work of Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator and Kathryn Leonard, the Head of the Libraries’ Conservation Unit and her staff Judith Johnson and Moriah Neils.
Work of the Northwest Chapter in Marking Time
Susan Collard
Portland, Oregon
One of the challenges in putting together a themed show is choosing a theme which invites a wide variety of work and responses, but also encourages the viewer to discover common threads within the group selected. The Marking Time exhibition succeeds admirably on this score. Looking at the eight works in the show made by Northwest Chapter members, one sees both the variety and connections that make this kind of exhibition so inspiring. (Each description is followed by a photo of the work.)
Donald Glaister’s book A Few Questions uses transparency and the archival materials of “encapsulation” to create a multilayered experience for the reader. Painting, drawing and text are integrated into a dance of approaching and receding words and images. His original text tackles big questions, exploring “the nature of matter, existence, and time,” taking us on a journey that promises to be at once introspective and playful.
Karen Hanmer’s Celestial Navigation is another personal exploration of a vast subject, in this case astronomy and the night sky. This book, along with its companion piece Star Poems, emerged from a long process of reading, gathering quotes and illustrations, writing and reflecting, and making numerous models. (Karen has shared some photos to give a glimpse into her process.) The mesmerizing shapes and folds created by the book’s triangular pages seem especially apt for astronomy, a science in which space and time are inextricably tangled.
Space and time are both carefully mapped in Andrew Huot’s Walks with Rosie, with its succinctly analytical diagrams of two weeks of daily dog walks. Like Donald, Andrew uses transparency to great effect. The superimposed maps reveal both the repetition and variety of daily experience, allowing the viewer to glimpse “the echoes of yesterday and an allusion to tomorrow.”
Cathy Adelman’s French-style binding of the poet Wendell Berry’s Sabbaths 2002 also suggests a sort of tally or record of repeated rituals in our lives. One of the most abstract works in the show, it is to my mind also one of the most elegant, with subtle differences in the onlays breathing life into the design.
My own entry, A Short Course in Recollection, was an attempt to interpret the theme of Marking Time in the most blockheadly literal manner. In devising a book that could function as a machine, with stainless steel balls that roll down ramps and trip toggle switches, I was aiming at something like a child’s toy or crude mechanical clock. I added illustrations, text and objects that evoke a nostalgic view of childhood, tempered with a little antiquated heavy industry. (Since I always like process shots, I’ll share some of mine also.)
Jessica Spring’s Parts Unknown takes us back as far as the 1890’s, and invites us to participate in a history inherited from strangers. Its images are printed from glass negatives which Jessica found in the attic of her Victorian-era house in Tacoma. The radial accordion format creates an intimate and expansive display space for the photographs, so the book is like an entire museum gallery unto itself.
Shu-Ju Wang’s work also delves into the lives, memories and artifacts of others, though with a radically different process informing the book. Shu-Ju received a 2008 Regional Arts and Culture Council grant to work with four seniors suffering from memory loss. She met with each one over a period of months, working together on a series of paintings or Gocco prints, from which Shu-Ju then created an editioned book. Esther is her collaboration with Esther Cohen. Inspired by Esther’s love of mah jongg, the palm leaf bound book ties Gocco prints of family photos and documents into a bright, poignant chain of mementos.
Portland, Oregon
One of the challenges in putting together a themed show is choosing a theme which invites a wide variety of work and responses, but also encourages the viewer to discover common threads within the group selected. The Marking Time exhibition succeeds admirably on this score. Looking at the eight works in the show made by Northwest Chapter members, one sees both the variety and connections that make this kind of exhibition so inspiring. (Each description is followed by a photo of the work.)
Donald Glaister’s book A Few Questions uses transparency and the archival materials of “encapsulation” to create a multilayered experience for the reader. Painting, drawing and text are integrated into a dance of approaching and receding words and images. His original text tackles big questions, exploring “the nature of matter, existence, and time,” taking us on a journey that promises to be at once introspective and playful.
Karen Hanmer’s Celestial Navigation is another personal exploration of a vast subject, in this case astronomy and the night sky. This book, along with its companion piece Star Poems, emerged from a long process of reading, gathering quotes and illustrations, writing and reflecting, and making numerous models. (Karen has shared some photos to give a glimpse into her process.) The mesmerizing shapes and folds created by the book’s triangular pages seem especially apt for astronomy, a science in which space and time are inextricably tangled.
Space and time are both carefully mapped in Andrew Huot’s Walks with Rosie, with its succinctly analytical diagrams of two weeks of daily dog walks. Like Donald, Andrew uses transparency to great effect. The superimposed maps reveal both the repetition and variety of daily experience, allowing the viewer to glimpse “the echoes of yesterday and an allusion to tomorrow.”
Cathy Adelman’s French-style binding of the poet Wendell Berry’s Sabbaths 2002 also suggests a sort of tally or record of repeated rituals in our lives. One of the most abstract works in the show, it is to my mind also one of the most elegant, with subtle differences in the onlays breathing life into the design.
My own entry, A Short Course in Recollection, was an attempt to interpret the theme of Marking Time in the most blockheadly literal manner. In devising a book that could function as a machine, with stainless steel balls that roll down ramps and trip toggle switches, I was aiming at something like a child’s toy or crude mechanical clock. I added illustrations, text and objects that evoke a nostalgic view of childhood, tempered with a little antiquated heavy industry. (Since I always like process shots, I’ll share some of mine also.)
Jessica Spring’s Parts Unknown takes us back as far as the 1890’s, and invites us to participate in a history inherited from strangers. Its images are printed from glass negatives which Jessica found in the attic of her Victorian-era house in Tacoma. The radial accordion format creates an intimate and expansive display space for the photographs, so the book is like an entire museum gallery unto itself.
Shu-Ju Wang’s work also delves into the lives, memories and artifacts of others, though with a radically different process informing the book. Shu-Ju received a 2008 Regional Arts and Culture Council grant to work with four seniors suffering from memory loss. She met with each one over a period of months, working together on a series of paintings or Gocco prints, from which Shu-Ju then created an editioned book. Esther is her collaboration with Esther Cohen. Inspired by Esther’s love of mah jongg, the palm leaf bound book ties Gocco prints of family photos and documents into a bright, poignant chain of mementos.
Loss is the heart and soul of Bonnie Thompson Norman’s broadside I Was in a Hurry. Combining a poem by Iraqi poet Dunya Mikhail with a drawing by Jill Alden Littlewood, the broadside was printed for a series called Mutanabbi Street Starts Here. The poem begins, “Yesterday I lost a country,” and everything on the page is drawn and composed to give stark expression to its flat, understated expression of grief. The poem is printed with a ragged left margin—in part a vestige of the right-justified Arabic original, but here given such dynamic, meandering shape that the text itself seems to be left behind.
The Assignment
Laura Russell
Portland, Oregon
23 Sandy Gallery and the College Book Art Association (CBAA) are pleased to present The Assignment, a national, juried book arts exhibition being held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the CBAA in Portland, Oregon. To illuminate the meeting’s focus on book arts teaching practice and pedagogy, this exhibition features artist book works that were generated directly from course assignments or from self-assignments generated by the artist.
The roster of artists includes: Anna Bunting, Julie Chen, Kerri Cushman, John DeVylder, Poppy Dully, Margot Ecke, Angela Earley, Bridget Elmer, Casey Gardner, Donna Globus, Leilei Guo, Fred Hagstrom, Mary Hark, Katie Harper, Charles Hobson, Paola Horevicz, Margarita Kloss and Sarah Plotkin, Karen Kunc, Roberta Lavadour, Elisabeth Long, Kent Manske, Kitty Maryatt, Madeleine Miller, Jessica Peterson, Lisa Beth Robinson, Jamie Runnells, Jana Sim, Sarah Smith, Tricia Treacy, Elsi Vassdal Ellis, Julie VanDerVellen, and Janine Wong.
The Assignment was juried by Macy Chadwick and Clifton Meador. The College Book Art Association (http://www.collegebookart.org/) is a non-profit organization fundamentally committed to the teaching of book arts at the college and university level.
A full online catalog of this exhibition will be posted at: http://www.23sandy.com/assignment/catalog.html
Exhibition dates: December 3, 2009 – January 9, 2110
Location: 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97232
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday, Noon-6:00 p.m. and by appointment
Portland, Oregon
23 Sandy Gallery and the College Book Art Association (CBAA) are pleased to present The Assignment, a national, juried book arts exhibition being held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the CBAA in Portland, Oregon. To illuminate the meeting’s focus on book arts teaching practice and pedagogy, this exhibition features artist book works that were generated directly from course assignments or from self-assignments generated by the artist.
The roster of artists includes: Anna Bunting, Julie Chen, Kerri Cushman, John DeVylder, Poppy Dully, Margot Ecke, Angela Earley, Bridget Elmer, Casey Gardner, Donna Globus, Leilei Guo, Fred Hagstrom, Mary Hark, Katie Harper, Charles Hobson, Paola Horevicz, Margarita Kloss and Sarah Plotkin, Karen Kunc, Roberta Lavadour, Elisabeth Long, Kent Manske, Kitty Maryatt, Madeleine Miller, Jessica Peterson, Lisa Beth Robinson, Jamie Runnells, Jana Sim, Sarah Smith, Tricia Treacy, Elsi Vassdal Ellis, Julie VanDerVellen, and Janine Wong.
The Assignment was juried by Macy Chadwick and Clifton Meador. The College Book Art Association (http://www.collegebookart.org/) is a non-profit organization fundamentally committed to the teaching of book arts at the college and university level.
A full online catalog of this exhibition will be posted at: http://www.23sandy.com/assignment/catalog.html
Exhibition dates: December 3, 2009 – January 9, 2110
Location: 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97232
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday, Noon-6:00 p.m. and by appointment
My Experience at the American Academy of Bookbinding
Sophia Siobhan Wolohan Bogle
Ashland, Oregon
~A Diploma in Book Conservation~
(The lesson on clamshell boxes will resume in the next newsletter.)
I just returned from San Francisco where I attended the Guild of Book Workers’ Standards conference. While I was there I presented the work required of me for the Diploma in Book Conservation from the American Academy of Bookbinding (AAB). The work was presented to a jury of three of the top conservators in the field: Betsy Palmer-Eldridge (She just received the lifetime achievement award from the GBW), Frank Mowry, from the Folger Shakespeare Library and Bill Minter, from Johns Hopkins University. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to have my work looked at by such a prestigious panel and to get feedback from them. The experience was worth every penny I spent on the classes at the AAB and more.
I started at the AAB in 2007 when I spent one month in Telluride taking two classes, Treatment of Text-blocks and Sewing then a Forwarding class. Both of these were taught by Don Etherington. Don is an absolute treasure trove of tips and tricks and no one should miss an opportunity to gather as many of them as possible.
I have to say though that a whole month away from home was a bit much. The classes were fabulous and I learned a lot but I think two weeks at once works out much better. For one thing you would have time to process the class, practice the techniques and get feedback with your homework before taking on the next thing. I was given the homework assignment to complete a new binding done on double raised cords in goatskin. The pages were washed and re-sewn as well. Here is a photo of before and then after.
My second year, 2008, I took Gold Finishing, again with Don. Unfortunately, Don had a bad reaction to the altitude and this would prove to be the last time he would teach in Telluride. Thank goodness this was a two week class. Everyone got to work on what they wanted to practice and I got what I needed which was lots of practice with gold leaf.
My third year, 2009, I took the Book Restoration class in Telluride with Brenda Parsons. She had worked with Don for 20 years and was the first graduate from the Book Conservation Program. I have to admit that I thought that with about 20 years of previous bookbinding and restoration experience that I could test out of this class. I am very glad that I did not test out. I learned a lot of techniques to compliment my previous studies and am now a much better Book Conservator for it. Brenda is an excellent teacher and is especially good at looking over what you have done and pointing out where it could be better (in a nice way). This was only a one week class and it seemed we barely got started before it was time to leave. I really liked having the weekend in between classes to catch up, explore Telluride and do more work for class.
The only class I did not take was the Box Making class since you are allowed to test out of it. I had learned how to make boxes a long time ago from David Weinstein. He taught me how to measure properly and what to look for and if you have that, you can make any box! (Hopefully I am passing some of that along in my clamshell lesson.)
The AAB has also added a new class to the program that is on basic binding structures and I didn’t take that class either although I am pretty sure I could have tested out of that one as well.
After finishing all my classes and my homework I started the work that would be presented to the jury for graduation. The list of requirements can seem a bit daunting at first and one would be wise to start working on it well before the graduation date. I told Judy from AAB that I wanted to graduate while I was at class this last spring and she said I would have to get everything done before September 1st so that Don could look over all my work before the Jury. He had to make sure that I was ready so that I wouldn’t show up to the jury and not graduate. Then I had one month to fix any mistakes before Standards in San Francisco. Really I should have had the work in earlier because one month isn’t a long enough time to send it back to Don for final inspection.
Here is the list of required projects for the jury.
One research Paper with an appropriate subject, 10 pages or so double spaced
One Page repaired with Japanese tissue
One Page repaired with Heat Set tissue
One Leather Re-back, One Book Cloth Restoration
One Japanese Tissue Hinge Repair on a leather book
One Book in Boards that has been re-sewn and the sewing and end-bands are left exposed
The Set Book: The Set Book is one volume from a set of books that they have purchased at the school. You must create a new full leather binding for the book and then make a half leather clamshell box for it.
(Photos below show leather re-back, before and after; the set book, its clamshell box and interior.)
Well, I passed and the jury said many wonderful things about my work and it is sad to think that I don’t have to go to Telluride anymore. Of course I could always try for that Fine Binding Diploma…
If anyone would like more information about the AAB I am happy to communicate through e-mail. Just write me at sophia@bookrestoration.org.
Ashland, Oregon
~A Diploma in Book Conservation~
(The lesson on clamshell boxes will resume in the next newsletter.)
I just returned from San Francisco where I attended the Guild of Book Workers’ Standards conference. While I was there I presented the work required of me for the Diploma in Book Conservation from the American Academy of Bookbinding (AAB). The work was presented to a jury of three of the top conservators in the field: Betsy Palmer-Eldridge (She just received the lifetime achievement award from the GBW), Frank Mowry, from the Folger Shakespeare Library and Bill Minter, from Johns Hopkins University. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to have my work looked at by such a prestigious panel and to get feedback from them. The experience was worth every penny I spent on the classes at the AAB and more.
I started at the AAB in 2007 when I spent one month in Telluride taking two classes, Treatment of Text-blocks and Sewing then a Forwarding class. Both of these were taught by Don Etherington. Don is an absolute treasure trove of tips and tricks and no one should miss an opportunity to gather as many of them as possible.
I have to say though that a whole month away from home was a bit much. The classes were fabulous and I learned a lot but I think two weeks at once works out much better. For one thing you would have time to process the class, practice the techniques and get feedback with your homework before taking on the next thing. I was given the homework assignment to complete a new binding done on double raised cords in goatskin. The pages were washed and re-sewn as well. Here is a photo of before and then after.
My second year, 2008, I took Gold Finishing, again with Don. Unfortunately, Don had a bad reaction to the altitude and this would prove to be the last time he would teach in Telluride. Thank goodness this was a two week class. Everyone got to work on what they wanted to practice and I got what I needed which was lots of practice with gold leaf.
My third year, 2009, I took the Book Restoration class in Telluride with Brenda Parsons. She had worked with Don for 20 years and was the first graduate from the Book Conservation Program. I have to admit that I thought that with about 20 years of previous bookbinding and restoration experience that I could test out of this class. I am very glad that I did not test out. I learned a lot of techniques to compliment my previous studies and am now a much better Book Conservator for it. Brenda is an excellent teacher and is especially good at looking over what you have done and pointing out where it could be better (in a nice way). This was only a one week class and it seemed we barely got started before it was time to leave. I really liked having the weekend in between classes to catch up, explore Telluride and do more work for class.
The only class I did not take was the Box Making class since you are allowed to test out of it. I had learned how to make boxes a long time ago from David Weinstein. He taught me how to measure properly and what to look for and if you have that, you can make any box! (Hopefully I am passing some of that along in my clamshell lesson.)
The AAB has also added a new class to the program that is on basic binding structures and I didn’t take that class either although I am pretty sure I could have tested out of that one as well.
After finishing all my classes and my homework I started the work that would be presented to the jury for graduation. The list of requirements can seem a bit daunting at first and one would be wise to start working on it well before the graduation date. I told Judy from AAB that I wanted to graduate while I was at class this last spring and she said I would have to get everything done before September 1st so that Don could look over all my work before the Jury. He had to make sure that I was ready so that I wouldn’t show up to the jury and not graduate. Then I had one month to fix any mistakes before Standards in San Francisco. Really I should have had the work in earlier because one month isn’t a long enough time to send it back to Don for final inspection.
Here is the list of required projects for the jury.
One research Paper with an appropriate subject, 10 pages or so double spaced
One Page repaired with Japanese tissue
One Page repaired with Heat Set tissue
One Leather Re-back, One Book Cloth Restoration
One Japanese Tissue Hinge Repair on a leather book
One Book in Boards that has been re-sewn and the sewing and end-bands are left exposed
The Set Book: The Set Book is one volume from a set of books that they have purchased at the school. You must create a new full leather binding for the book and then make a half leather clamshell box for it.
(Photos below show leather re-back, before and after; the set book, its clamshell box and interior.)
Well, I passed and the jury said many wonderful things about my work and it is sad to think that I don’t have to go to Telluride anymore. Of course I could always try for that Fine Binding Diploma…
If anyone would like more information about the AAB I am happy to communicate through e-mail. Just write me at sophia@bookrestoration.org.
Member News
Other upcoming book arts shows at 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland, owned by GBW Northwest Chapter Laura Russell:
March 4-27, 2010
Virginia Flynn presents a new show of her very popular paper cuts and Karen Hanmer of Chicago will be showing artist books. Preview Virginia's work here. Preview Karen's work here.
April 1 - May 1, 2010
Painter and book artist Linda Welch returns to 23 Sandy with more handmade books, paintings and sculptural collages. See her work here.
Karen Hanmer's book The Model Architect: The Panic of '09 (pictured below) was one of six winners of the Building by the Book competition sponsored by Philadelphia Athenaeum and Philadelphia Center for the Book. For more about the book, see Karen's website.
March 4-27, 2010
Virginia Flynn presents a new show of her very popular paper cuts and Karen Hanmer of Chicago will be showing artist books. Preview Virginia's work here. Preview Karen's work here.
April 1 - May 1, 2010
Painter and book artist Linda Welch returns to 23 Sandy with more handmade books, paintings and sculptural collages. See her work here.
Karen Hanmer's book The Model Architect: The Panic of '09 (pictured below) was one of six winners of the Building by the Book competition sponsored by Philadelphia Athenaeum and Philadelphia Center for the Book. For more about the book, see Karen's website.
Close of November 2009 Newsletter
I thought I'd close with part of a long, remarkable quote I ran across recently in the book Vitebsk: The Life of Art by Aleksandra Shatskikh. The writer is the Russian suprematist El Lissitzky, and the year is 1920:
"the signs in books produce in us movement of a new order different from the voice and this movement must be strengthened and put in the foreground. the contrast of air pressure in different locations produces wind storms thus the contrast of turning pages should move us. construct the book like the body moving through space and time like a moving relief in which each page is a form-bearing surface and with each turn a new intersection and a new phase of a single structure."
Ah, that imperative "construct the book like the body moving through space and time," it's the stuff of revolution.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
"the signs in books produce in us movement of a new order different from the voice and this movement must be strengthened and put in the foreground. the contrast of air pressure in different locations produces wind storms thus the contrast of turning pages should move us. construct the book like the body moving through space and time like a moving relief in which each page is a form-bearing surface and with each turn a new intersection and a new phase of a single structure."
Ah, that imperative "construct the book like the body moving through space and time," it's the stuff of revolution.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
January 30, 2009
Welcome to the January 2009 Newsletter!
A compendium of news, knowhow and whatnot. All members of the Guild of Book Workers are welcome and encouraged to post comments.
This edition of GBW Northwest is chockablock with events, in time-honored newsletter tradition. Sophia Bogle continues to represent the promised "knowhow" with great care and patience, bringing us the third installment of her continuing instructions for making clamshell boxes. Warm thanks to everyone who contributed to this newsletter, and to those of you who participate by reading as well.
Susan Collard
PS My apologies for the bloggety-blog line spacing as this appears on-line, and my lack of knowledge or patience to correct it. Please consider it a chance to meditate on the joys of imperfection in our daily lives.
Focus on Book Arts Conference
The ninth biennial Focus on Book Arts Conference will take place June 24 through June 28, 2009, on the lovely Pacific University campus in Forest Grove, Oregon.
Patty Grass writes to tell us, "The course catalog is ready! It’s filled with class descriptions, financial information and a registration form. All this information can be found on our web page along with an on-line registration form, a downloadable registration form, and a PDF version of the printed catalog. http://www.focusonbookarts.org/ If you would like a printed version of the catalog contact us at:FOBA • 1928 21st Avenue • Forest Grove, OR 97116 503-357-7263"
The organizers have done a wonderful job of putting together classes and events to appeal to advanced book artists as well as beginning and intermediate practitioners. There are a variety of one- and two-day classes, and even a four-day workshop in hidden for-edge painting taught by Jeanne Bennett. Check it out!
Beginning Leather Bookbinding
BEGINNING LEATHER BOOKBINDING: Chasing Away the Demons
An eight-Saturday intensive workshop with Don Glaister
For centuries leather bookbindings have represented high craft and elegance - a sense of the ultimate. To the bookbinder, leather bindings have been regarded similarly, with the added awareness that the making of these bindings requires special skills and techniques. This awareness has turned some to anxiety, fear and thoughts of doom.
This class will demystify the process of making leather bindings.
Participants in this class will learn to sew and construct a laced-in board structure, prepare and apply leather, and all the steps in between. They will also learn techniques that are readily applied to forms of binding other than leather, and will help to chase away those thoughts of doom.
The class will take place at The Windowpane Press, studio of BonnieThompson Norman in Seattle, on Saturdays (10-5) from May 30 to July 25,with breaks for holiday weekends, and will be limited to seven students. Tuition for the eight- Saturday class is $675 until April 1, and $725 thereafter.The cost of materials will be added.
While binding experience will prove helpful, it is not mandatory.
To enroll, or for more information contact Don Glaister: don@foolsgoldstudio.com, or call 206.567.5480.
Visiting Artist Lecture--Tobias Lange
Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. 23 Sandy Gallery is very pleased to welcome Tobias Lange to the gallery for a presentation of his work and a discussion of his collaborations as a letterpress book artist. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Tobias will be at Portland State University as a visiting artist the week of February 16-21. We are thrilled that PSU is hosting this public event here in the gallery. Tobias comes to us from Hamburg, Germany following his lecture at the CODEX Conference in San Francisco. You can preview Tobias' work at his web site: http://www.ctl-presse.de/.
Location: 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Ave., Portland, OR 97232, 503-927-4409. http://www.23sandy.com/.
Two books by Tobias Lange. Pictured at top: Yoko Tawada and Stephan Kohler, Ein Gedicht fur ein Buch (A Poem in a Book). Below: Onnisanti (All Saints).
Exhibitions Committee Report
Karen Hanmer
GBW Exhibitions Chair
The online submission form for the Marking Time exhibition is now available until March 1, only to those who filed an Intent to Enter form.
Jurors will be North Bennet Street School bookbinding instructor Jeff Altepeter; paper sculptor, book and installation artist, and teacher Melissa Jay Craig; and past Guild of Book Workers exhibitions chair, binder, and Bonefolder publisher Peter Verheyen.
Marking Time opens in May 2009 at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis, and will be on exhibit concurrent with two special events there, the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies Bibliophilic Tour and Symposium in May, and the MCBA Book Art Biennial in July. The show then travels to the San Francisco Public Library, where it will be on view during the 2009 Guild of Book Workers Standards of Excellence Seminar.
Detailed information on submitting work for jury, making a donation to support the Marking Time exhibition catalog, and a complete tour schedule are posted on the Guild’s website.
Centennial Celebration DVD Set Now Available
Karen Hanmer
GBW Exhibitions Chair
The Guild of Book Workers is pleased to announce the availability of the complete proceedings of the Centennial Celebration held in New York City in October, 2006. This is an eight DVD set which includes all the presentations made over the two day seminar.
There was no Standards Seminar held in 2006. Rather, the Guild held a celebration honoring our organization's 100th birthday. The focus was "The Art of the Book in America" and included a two day conference on the history of the Guild and bookbinding in the United States and numerous special events including the opening of the Guild's 100th Anniversary Members Exhibition and Retrospective Exhibition, and a dinner cruise around Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.
The set is available for $100 plus $5 shipping and handling. An order form is available from the Publications page of the Guild of Book Workers website. Pictures and reviews of the Centennial Celebration are available in the December 2006 and February 2007 GBW Newsletter, also online at the Newsletter section of the Guild website.
Table of Contents:
Disc 1:
Betsy Palmer Eldridge, Opening remarks.
Sue Allen, 19th Century American Book Covers
Dr. Cathleeen Baker, 20th Century Hand Paper Making
Disc 2:
Barbara Kretzmann, First 50 Years of the Guild.
Don Etherington, 20th Century Book Conservation.
Sidney Berger, Decorated Papers.
Nancy Leavitt, Calligraphy in America.
Disc 3:
Martin Antonetti, 20th Century American Printing.
Richard Minsky, Development of the Book Arts.
Hedi Kyle, Modern Book Arts Program.
Disc 4:
Deborah Evetts, Modern American fine Binding.
Monique Lallier, Quebec Presentation.
Barbara Blumenthal, New England Presentation.
Disc 5:
Mindell Dubansky, New York Presentation
Don Rash, Pennsylvania Presentation
Jana Dambrogio, Washington Presentation
Disc 6:
Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, Midwest Presentation
Priscilla Spitler, Texas Presentation
Karen Jones, Rocky Mountain Presentation
Disc 7:
Margaret Johnson & Signa Houghteling, West Coast Presentation
Priscilla Juvelis, Collecting American Book Art.
Disc 8:
Event Montage
The Grolier Club Montage
Spirit of NYC Montage
Assembling and Covering the Two Trays for a Clamshell Box
Sophia Siobhan Wolohan Bogle
Ashland, Oregon
Red Branch Book Restoration
http://www.bookrestoration.org/
Gather your Materials and Tools:
• Buy a small bottle of Elmer’s Glue. Dump out that glue and replace it with Jade 403.
• Low-tack blue painter’s tape is easiest to work with. But masking tape etc. work fine.
• Fabric tape measure
• Scissors
• A Four inch piece of Binder’s Board that is cut slightly off square by about 1/16th of an inch.
Ashland, Oregon
Red Branch Book Restoration
http://www.bookrestoration.org/
Gather your Materials and Tools:
• Buy a small bottle of Elmer’s Glue. Dump out that glue and replace it with Jade 403.
• Low-tack blue painter’s tape is easiest to work with. But masking tape etc. work fine.
• Fabric tape measure
• Scissors
• A Four inch piece of Binder’s Board that is cut slightly off square by about 1/16th of an inch.
• Pencil
• Glue in a small cup-like container with a Flat Glue brush, maybe ½ inch
• Glue in a tray-like Tupperware container with a skewer poked through one end on which you will scrape the paint pad.
• Paint pad. The ones I use are white Styrofoam with green/white brushy pad from paint stores. I cut them in half and try not to breathe in the Styrofoam off-gassing that occurs when Styrofoam is cut. You could also use a roller or just a bigger glue brush. If you use these optional things you will not need the tray-like container necessarily.
• A board or flat something to put on the trays when they are assembled and something heavy to put on top of that. I had some fantastic powder-coated steel plates made for me in various sizes.
• A bone or Teflon folder.
• Damp rag in a bowl nearby for gluey fingers
• Waste sheets of paper like from magazines or anything really.
• 3M Stikit Sanding block and 150 grit paper or other sanding method
• Book-Cloth
• Misting bottle of water
Get Oriented:
The small tray consists of the base with three sides standing on top of it. The back side piece goes edge to edge along one edge of the base. It does not matter which one as long as it matches up exactly with the size. Then the two smaller sides go up against this back piece and do not extend any further than the edge of the base piece. You can set them up with stuff supporting them all to make sure it looks about right.
Glue the Small Tray Together:
1. You will assemble the tray in this order: back side piece, one smaller side piece and then the other smaller side piece.
2. First take the small bottle of glue and run a line of glue along the back edge of the base that the back side piece will be on. Use one finger to keep the line steady by running it along the edge of the base while you are gluing. Eventually you will be really fast at this. You only want a line of glue not a flood. Use a finger to rub the line in a bit. Remember the purpose of it is to help the side piece adhere better. Eventually you can glue all three sides of the base at once because you will be so fast at assembling.
3. Now put pieces of tape along the bottom edge of the base piece so that when the back side piece is set onto the base piece that you can pull the pieces of tape up to help hold the piece in place. Work on this so that the back is near the edge of a table. You don’t need to tape every inch of it. Usually three or four pieces is sufficient.
4. Now run glue along one long edge of the back side piece. Keep in mind how it goes together with the base. It will not be glued on the same edge as the base. Instead it is glued on sort of the “bottom” of the back side piece.
5. Put the two pieces together paying close attention that it doesn’t stick out over either end and also keep an eye on the middle. An especially long piece can start to bow out. Hold it in place for ten seconds or so and then pull the tape up firmly to the back side piece.
6. Now run a line of glue along one of the short sides of the base and up onto the back side piece too where the next side piece will be attaching.
7. Add the tape to the bottom of the base and also the back of the back side piece where it will be attached.
8. Run a line of glue along one long edge and one short edge of a side piece. Orient this piece so the glued edges are aligned with the base and hold in place for about ten seconds. Attach the tape firmly.
9. Now take a second and set the tray on the table in front of you with the back side piece flat on the table so that you can run a bone folder on the bottom of the tray pushing the base against the back side piece. Do the same for the side piece you just attached and be sure to rub the corners too. If there is a lot of glue squeeze out remove it with your bone folder or whatever. It is actually a good thing to have a bit of extra glue along that connecting line so don’t scrape excessively. It will all be covered up in the end anyway.
10. Repeat steps 6 through 9.
11. Now place the board or flat thing on top of the tray with a bit of weight and look to make sure you are not bending the sides in or out. Let this sit until thoroughly dry. Hours perhaps.
12. While that is drying repeat all these steps for the Large Tray.
Remove Tape and Sand:
When the trays are dry remove the tape. Be sure you do not pull up part of the board with the tape. Sand the following edges using the Stikit sanding block: Outside edges of the sides, the corners and the fore-edge of the base. Do not over-sand! Just knock down the sharpness.
Measure for the Book-cloth and Cut:
This is where you use the cloth tape measure. The cloth will need to extend from ½ inch on the bottom of the base up and over the sides and down back onto the base for another ½ inch. The ½ inch is not crucial and could be larger or even a bit smaller. The other measurement is taken around the sides with an extra ½ inch at least on either end. It is much better to cut too much so be generous. The cloth should have the same grain direction as the sides of the tray. I prefer the book-cloth called Canapetta which is an Italian cotton cloth with a paper lining. It is somewhat stretchable and somewhat cleanable if you get gluey fingerprints on it, more so than silk anyway.
Apply Book-cloth to Trays:
In order to adhere the book-cloth to the tray you will be gluing all three tray sides just on the outside part and setting one of the short sides of the tray onto the cloth you just cut out and sort of roll the tray to get the cloth onto the other two sides. The tray is oriented on the cloth so that there will be a ½ inch turn-in for the bottom of the base and at least a ½ inch turn-in for the fore-edge of the short side. Be patient with the first side attachment and keep an eye on the base turn-in line as you turn the tray to the next side. Use the mister a bit to relax the book-cloth. Pay close attention to the corners and watch for air bubbles. Use a piece of clean paper and rub through that with a bone folder or with a piece of wax paper or just your hand to really flatten the book-cloth to the tray. Let this all be dry before you make your cuts. The first one should be dry enough to cut by the time you finish the second tray.• Do not make the book-cloth wet. A light humidification is all that is necessary. If the Canapetta becomes wet it will release the paper lining and then you will have to re-do it or inject pva into the gap and rub it down. It is a real problem either way. • Do not rub Canapetta with wax paper as it will become shiny. 
Make cuts:
The order is not really important so long as they all get done eventually.
1. Cut the two corners off the bottom of the base by pinching them and then cutting as flat as you can. Then cut as necessary so that there is no overlapping. This side will not show so you don’t have to be super neat. I like to glue these bottom turn-ins now to get them out of the way. Avoid squeeze out by being moderate in your glue application.
2. Cut the fore-edge “tab” lines next. On the fore-edge you will cut two straight-in lines that make a tab for each side (head and tail). Cut just shy of the edges.
3. Now make an angle cut for the flap just below the tabs you just created. The angle is cut so that when you fold that cloth over the cloth disappears into the crevice where the boards meet. You cut the angle so it ends just at a board’s width from the board itself.
4. Now take your off-square board and use it to draw lines with a pencil in 6 places on the book-cloth along the "top" of the tray. You are marking both back corner tabs and the fore-edge corners. Place the off-square just up to these areas and draw the lines to make it easier to cut a straight line with scissors. It is off square to help avoid cutting it too close to the edge. The tabs for the corners should wind up about ¼ inch wide.
5. Now cut the fore-edge corner flap into a triangle shape.
6. Go back to the corner tabs and with a bone folder poke them into place (no glue) and mark where it meets the base board. Trim the tabs so that they just come onto the base board by about 1/16th inch.
Final Assembly:
Now glue everything into place in this order.
1. Corner Tabs
2. Corner Triangles
3. Turn-in flap from the bottom (pull it into the crevice hard and flatten it well).
4. Fore-edge Tabs
5. Sides
6. Back
• Use the mister to help the book-cloth relax.
• Be sure to pull the book-cloth over tightly. No bags or bubbles!!
• Rub down thoroughly with a folder.
Maternal Legends
Laura Russell of 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland didn't send in a news item about the Maternal Legends exhibition which wrapped up January 3rd--presumably because she's too busily tending the future--so I'll have to take care of that for her. It was another well-received juried show of artist books, and the first time the gallery navigated an on-line submission process. Many GBW members participated, and happily someone talked her into producing a print catalog (available through the website). Another gallery first for the book arts! Although the delicious cookies put out by Laura to lure my husband to First Friday events precluded the chance to handle the books on opening night, as a rule they are always wonderfully accessible to gallery visitors. Juror Cara List chose Karen Hanmer's book, Reunion, for the Purchase Prize, and so a copy of that superb and moving work will now be part of the artist book collection at the University of Oregon. Congratulations, Karen!
Calls for Entries
INTERACTIVE
Entry Deadline: March 18, 2009
Exhibition dates: June 19 – July 23, 2009
Woman Made Gallery, Chicago
Long before “interactive” meant sitting in front of a computer, artists were making books, toys, games, installations and other work that invited participation from the viewer. For this exhibition Woman Made Gallery is seeking work that the viewer will handle, play with, modify, or physically interact with in some way.
Open to artwork in all media, except electronics, by women artists from the international community. (Computers may only be used as a tool in producing the physical work.)
Juror: Karen Hanmer
Online and downloadable entry forms available here:
http://womanmade.org/entryform.html#callforart
For additional information contact exhibits@womanmade.org
Society of Bookbinders International Competition 2009
(unabashedly cribbed--though not verbatim--from the GBW California Chapter newsletter:)
Following the success of the 2007 Society of Bookbinders International Competition, entries are invited for the next competition, which will coincide with the Society's Conference at Warwick University during August 2009.
We have made some changes to the competition this year. There is no longer a registration fee, which we know caused many people without sterling bank accounts a problem.
Anyone can enter--members or non-members, whether in the UK or overseas. Categories include fine binding, restored/conserved/period binding, complete book, and cased binding.
Registration deadline: May 15, 2009
Entries must be received by June 1, 2009.
Competition Organizer: Stuart Brockman
Please feel free to attach your registration form to an email and send it to StuBrockman@aol.com
Information and registration form available at http://www.societyofbookbinders.com/events/events_frames.html
Entry Deadline: March 18, 2009
Exhibition dates: June 19 – July 23, 2009
Woman Made Gallery, Chicago
Long before “interactive” meant sitting in front of a computer, artists were making books, toys, games, installations and other work that invited participation from the viewer. For this exhibition Woman Made Gallery is seeking work that the viewer will handle, play with, modify, or physically interact with in some way.
Open to artwork in all media, except electronics, by women artists from the international community. (Computers may only be used as a tool in producing the physical work.)
Juror: Karen Hanmer
Online and downloadable entry forms available here:
http://womanmade.org/entryform.html#callforart
For additional information contact exhibits@womanmade.org
Society of Bookbinders International Competition 2009
(unabashedly cribbed--though not verbatim--from the GBW California Chapter newsletter:)
Following the success of the 2007 Society of Bookbinders International Competition, entries are invited for the next competition, which will coincide with the Society's Conference at Warwick University during August 2009.
We have made some changes to the competition this year. There is no longer a registration fee, which we know caused many people without sterling bank accounts a problem.
Anyone can enter--members or non-members, whether in the UK or overseas. Categories include fine binding, restored/conserved/period binding, complete book, and cased binding.
Registration deadline: May 15, 2009
Entries must be received by June 1, 2009.
Competition Organizer: Stuart Brockman
Please feel free to attach your registration form to an email and send it to StuBrockman@aol.com
Information and registration form available at http://www.societyofbookbinders.com/events/events_frames.html
More Events! And a Beloved Institution!
This newsletter, Jessica Spring of Tacoma runs away with the prize for bookish event-gathering. Several of these will be around for a few months, so those of us who don't live in the Seattle-Tacoma still have a little time to plan our getaways. . .
Exhibit #1 is at the Experience Music Project in Seattle through July 16, 2009.
From the EMP Website:
American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print illustrates the fascinating fusion of art with popular culture and music history. Featuring the work of one of the nation’s oldest operating printing shops—Nashville, Tennessee’s Hatch Show Print—the exhibition highlights the uniquely American posters produced to advertise everything from vaudeville shows, state fairs and stock car races to the Grand Ole Opry, Elvis Presley and Herbie Hancock. Founded in 1879 in Nashville, Tenn., Hatch Show Print is still a working letterpress and design shop, creating posters today using the same letterpress methods as yesterday. American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print features historical and contemporary posters and original wooden print blocks—some never before seen by the public.
Exhibit #1 is at the Experience Music Project in Seattle through July 16, 2009.
From the EMP Website:American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print illustrates the fascinating fusion of art with popular culture and music history. Featuring the work of one of the nation’s oldest operating printing shops—Nashville, Tennessee’s Hatch Show Print—the exhibition highlights the uniquely American posters produced to advertise everything from vaudeville shows, state fairs and stock car races to the Grand Ole Opry, Elvis Presley and Herbie Hancock. Founded in 1879 in Nashville, Tenn., Hatch Show Print is still a working letterpress and design shop, creating posters today using the same letterpress methods as yesterday. American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print features historical and contemporary posters and original wooden print blocks—some never before seen by the public.
There's also an exhibition of the illustrator-author David Macaulay entitled David Macaulay: The Way He Works at the Tacoma Art Museum through June 14, 2009. Looks highly intriguing. Lots of special events and direct involvement from the artist in putting together the show.
And let's not forget the fifth annual Small Press Month Wayzgoose at King’s Books, Tacoma, March 1, 12–4pm. Jessica shared some great photos of this event with us last year (steamroller printing! how could we forget?) and it just looks like way too much fun.
If you can get to Berkeley February 8-11, you can do your best to take in the second biennial Codex International Book Fair. The Codex Foundation website boasts:The fair is rapidly becoming the “world’s fair” of the book as art and artifact. Over 110 artists from around the globe will be exhibiting what amounts to “a staggering panopoly of riches.” The accompanying symposium is sold out, but maybe you can pencil it in for 2011.
Or, if you're a PBI junkie, or have ever longed to become one, I bring the following tidings: The PBI Schedule is now on-line. In its 26th year, Paper Bjook Intensive (PBI) announces its return to Ox-Bow in Saugatuck, Michigan May 17-28, 2009. The schedule of the forthcoming event is now on the PBI website. Please check it out. (Thanks, California Chapter Newsletter).
Last but not least, Jessica Spring reminds us of the beloved institution promised in my headline: "Wessel & Lieberman is an amazing antiquarian bookstore in Seattle's historic pioneer square. They have ongoing exhibits on all things books, from photography to fine press plus a terrific blog of interest to bookish folks: http://www.wlbooks.com/cgi-bin/wlb455.cgi/index.html
If you're in Seattle, the store has a loft full of artist books and broadsides while the main floor has lots of Pacific Northwest history plus great books on typography, children's books, art and design and other ephemera. If you have to shop on line, the website is frequently updated and very navigable." (Ah, but even more enticing in person...)
Close
And that's it for the January newsletter. (Please don't bump into last July on your way out.) I will probably call for entries again in April, in my continuing adherence to the relaxed quarter system. In the meantime I wish you all peace, prosperity, and ongoing success in your bookish endeavors.
Susan
Susan
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