VT Book Arts Guild “MailB.A.G.” August 2017
Next Meeting: Wednesday, August 9, 2017, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
We meet at the Unitarian Universalist Society Church located at 152 Pearl Street in Burlington, VT. We will be in the Sophia Fahs Community Room, a large room located in the basement. Click here for more information on directions/parking.
Program: Coptic Books Galore!
Although originally booked as Studio Support and Workshop Time, our August meeting has morphed into a Coptic book extravaganza!
Amy Burns will kick off the meeting by guiding us through the steps needed to finish the mini Coptic books we started during the June meeting.
Once complete, we will go over the process again and make another Coptic book. Jill Abilock will demonstrate an alternative method of attaching the covers and sewing the pages; you are welcome to try out the alternative or get more practice using the method Amy demonstrated in June. Either way, you will leave with sharpened skills and a mini-Coptic book or two!
Materials for Amy’s mini-Coptics will be available for people who were unable to attend the June meeting. In addition, Jill will bring book covers and pages from hard-cover books discarded by libraries that she has cut into the perfect size for making portable, collaged Coptic-bound art journals. Jill will also provide punching templates and thread for sewing the art journals.
Our Coptic extravaganza will conclude with a show and tell, so please bring in any Coptic books you’ve made that you’d like to share!
Please bring the following tools:
- Scissors (to trim your thread)
- Awl
- Old phone book, cutting mat or punching pad
- Bone folder
- Curved bookbinders or upholstery needles (two or four) (if you have them – if not, there will be needles available to borrow)
Request to more experienced members: Not everyone has specialized tools, like an awl, curved needles, or a bone folder. If you happen to have extra, it would be wonderful if you could bring them in to share with a neighbor who doesn’t. Thanks!
July Meeting Reflections
The opening reception of the B.A.G. exhibit, Correspondence: Bookworks at SEABA on Pine Street, was well attended by members, friends, and family. Hearing the artists talk about their work was fascinating, and gave the audience a chance to hear about the inspiration and challenges behind the works.
The exhibit came together so beautifully, with intriguing and lovely work that represents what a talented and faithful group of artists we belong to. Thank you all for participating, and thanks to SEABA for hosting.
You can view images from the opening and the exhibit on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
*** We were saddened to hear that the B.A.G. exhibit, Correspondence: Book Works, will have to close earlier than planned on August 7th due to conflicting show dates. If you have not yet seen the show at SEABA on Pine Street, please try to arrange to see it before then.
Gallery Hours:
- Monday – Friday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Saturday – Sunday: Closed
*** In April, a group of B.A.G. members traveled to Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH for a fun-filled day of book arts. We began with a tour of the letterpress studio with Sarah Smith, Book Arts Workshop Program Manager where we were shown some of their vast collection of type, presses and work by both Sarah and her students.
We then headed over to Rauner Special Collections Library where we met with Morgan Swan, Special Collections Education and Outreach Librarian who spoke with us about Dartmouth’s unique collection of handmade artists’ books including unique book structures, letterpress editions and sculptural gems.
We had time to peruse 30 artist books, ask questions about how Dartmouth chooses what to purchase, look up specific artists whose work we were interested in and enjoy handling & exploring all the books at our leisure.
Sarah Smith & Morgan Swan would be happy to have BAG members come again another time, perhaps this fall. We should set a date!
You can view images from the visit on the B.A.G. blog.
Book Arts News
*** ArtisTree Gallery‘s 7th annual juried exhibit, UNBOUND: VOL VII, is open now through August 26, 2017.
The broad theme of UNBOUND VOL. VII encompasses all of the possibilities of what we may think or may not think a “book” is. Is it story? An entry to another world? An exploration? What does it indicate? This juried show looks to explore this idea of “the book” and all the ways artists use that format as a stepping-off point or as material to explore new ideas.
For more information, please send an email to gallery@artistreevt.org or visit the ArtisTree Gallery’s website.
*** On October 20, 2017, the Kate Cheney Chappell 83 Center for Book Arts will host Fresh Cuttings, a lecture with Béatrice Coron. The artist will discuss her exploration of storytelling in artist books, installations, and public art.
Coron’s cut designs are made of paper, glass or metal and range in size from small to monumental. Her work is held in collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Library of Congress.
The Kate Cheney Chappell 83 Center for Book Arts is located in Portland, Maine. The lecture will be held from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. in the University Events Room on the 7th floor of the Glickman Family Library.
For more information, please contact Rebecca Goodale at (207) 228-8014 or goodale@maine.edu.
Book Arts Classes
*** The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, MA is offering Japanese Screen & Chinese Atlas Books with Annie Silverman on August 19 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Make a Japanese screen book by hinging rigid elements together into a beautiful concertina form. Fill your screens with collage and painting projects. Next, fold paper pages into small packets with multiple surfaces to create your own Chinese atlas book. Work into small surfaces and packets with collage, paint and text manipulation, then open up your atlas to reveal a larger page.
For more information about the class, please visit the Eliot School’s website or click here to download the complete catalog.
*** On September 16 & 17, the North Bennet Street School is offering Italian Paper Bindings with Bill Hanscom.
Explore the history and use of inexpensive paper-covered book structures beginning at the advent of the printed book in Europe and continuing through the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century. Participants will create four models of bindings commonly used in the Italian region including a plain wrapper, laminated case wrapper, basic long-stitch, and paper case.
Models will incorporate decorated and handmade papers, as well as historically-employed sewing techniques and end-sheet constructions. Structural variations and decoration will be examined through images and historical examples from the instructor’s collection.
For more information or to register, please visit the NBSS website.
*** From October 1 -7, 2017, Snow Farm in Williamsburg, MA is offering Fiber Techniques for Book Artists with Natalie Stopka.
Add fiber arts techniques to bookmaking and bring a world of color, pattern, and texture to your work! Learn to prepare and fix natural dyes to fabric and paper for accessible, sustainable color. Use these fibers to create a bound book exploring the synergy of fiber arts, book arts, embroidery, and needle weaving. Bring materials to test in the dye pot or incorporate into your binding. All levels welcome.
For more information or to register, please visit Snow Farm’s website.
*** On Saturday, October 21st, the Kate Cheney Chappell 83 Center for Book Arts is hosting a workshop with Béatrice Coron, Cutting Edges. The workshop will be held in the Multi-Purpose Room in the Wishcamper Center at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.
During this intensive class of serious fun, participants will discover the incredible variety of applications of this art form from fine arts to public art commissions. Through different exercises students will learn how to adapt reference images into papercuts and produce works as different as black and white scenes, color collage, pop-ups, wearables, and stencils.
Cutting different papers and experimenting with scale, we will keep an open mind to adapt them to other materials and explore new territories. Tips, tricks and resources will be provided. No experience necessary.
For more information, please contact Rebecca Goodale at (207) 228-8014 or goodale@maine.edu.
Join us for our always-popular annual November tradition: Member-led mini hands-on workshops in the form of a card or mini-book exchange that we call Book Blitz and Card Tricks. Get prepared now and join the fun!
Elissa Campbell
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