VT Book Arts Guild “MailB.A.G.” October 2017
Next Meeting: Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
The October meeting will be held at UVM’s Special Collections in the basement of Bailey Howe Library. Click here to download a pdf of the directions to Special Collections.
Please note that in October we will not be meeting as usual at the Unitarian Church in Burlington. In addition, the meeting will start 1/2 hour earlier than our normal meeting time, at 6:00 p.m.
Program: Field Trip to UVM Special Collections
At this month’s meeting, University of Vermont Librarian Prudence Doherty will guide us through some of the amazing artists’ books held in the Special Collections department.
Not everyone knows that we have one of the finest collections of artists’ books in the nation, right here in Burlington. Join us in a hands-on exploration that will stimulate your imagination and spark your creativity!
* Please bring a pencil, not a pen, if you plan to take notes.
September Meeting Reflections
Our very special guest, Carolyn Shattuck, presented us with a fascinating evening full of insight and inspiration. She spoke clearly about her need to express her life and experiences through the making of artist books. Why I Make Books gave us a glimpse into not only her process, but her motivation and ability to express deep emotions.
Thank you, Carolyn, for sharing all of it with us. Also, thanks to all who attended.
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
Book Arts Guild of Vermont 2018 Show news!
We will have 2 shows in 2018! The first will be at Studio Place Arts in Barre from May 22 – June 30, where we will be exhibiting in the second floor gallery. The exhibit will be in conjunction with the exhibit in the main gallery, Talk to Me / Tell Me / Word.
Spoken, written, and signed language is distinctively human. There are currently 6909 living languages, though half are in danger of extinction and are expected to disappear in this century.
What do the connected sounds and symbols of words suggest for the visual arts? We’re thinking of diverse languages and letterforms (real or invented), new communication technologies, censorship, graffiti, collage, and urgent written/spoken messages. We will be creating a Tower of Babel in the center of the gallery, and welcome proposals for this structure in whole or part.
The second show will take place in June at Frog Hollow Vermont Craft Gallery on Church Street. This will be a great opportunity to get exposure for our group in the heart of Burlington.
*** B.A.G. member Elissa Campbell is teaching the Peek-a-Boo Journal at Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT on October 28th from 12:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
In this workshop, participants will create a journal with a double-needle coptic binding, an intricate stitch that will be visible on the spine of the book. Not only is the coptic binding beautiful, but it also allows books to remain flat when opened. The book covers will include a cut-out window, which offers many opportunities for personalization – photos, pressed flowers, theater tickets – if it’s flat, you can use it.
To register, contact SPA via phone at (802) 479-7069 or email.
*** If you missed the visit to the Book Arts Workshop at Dartmouth College a few months ago, here’s your second chance. Debra Kraemer has kindly set up another visit for the BAG members for November 18, 2017. More details to come, so save the date!
We will be visiting Rauner Special Collections Library to see a selection of handmade books from their and the Sherman Art Library collections.
Book Arts News
*** On Tuesday, October 10th, Peter and Donna Thomas (a.k.a. the Wandering Book Artists) will stop by the North Bennet Street School to share their one-of-a-kind artist books.
In honor of the 40th anniversary of making their first book, Peter and Donna are traveling across the country visiting exhibits that commemorate their work.
You can read more about their adventures on their blog.
*** Clemente Orozco, director of Impronta Casa Editora, an independent book publisher and cultural venue in Guadalajara, Mexico, specializing in hand-printed books, will be giving a public lecture at Dartmouth College called Arts of the Book and Book Artists in Mexico: A Panoramic View.
Orozco, a Dartmouth graduate of the class of 1985, has had a long career as an artist. In addition to overseeing design and production at Impronta, Clemente illustrates many of the books and has many years of experience as a printer, book designer, and artist in both the United States and Mexico.
The lecture will take place in the Current Periodicals Room at Baker Library on Wednesday, October 18th from 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. with a reception to follow.
On October 20th, from 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., Clemente will be printing at the Book Arts Workshop (in Baker Library, right around the corner from the Orozco murals).
Dartmouth College is located in Hanover, NH.
*** 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.
*** From November 3 – December 22, the North Bennet Street School will host Heroic Works, the third International Bookbinding Exhibition from Designer Bookbinders in the United Kingdom. The exhibit includes 28 prizewinning bindings and 9 works by binders from the United States.
184 binders from 31 countries participated in the competition by binding a book of their own choosing on the theme of myths, heroes, and legends. These works reflect a remarkable range of styles, materials, and approaches to great classics of world literature, as well as modern texts.
The exhibit is free and open to the public on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The North Bennet Street School is located in Boston, MA.
Book Arts Classes
*** 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.
*** The Eliot School is offering Bookbinding Sketchbooks with Johanna Finnegan-Topitzer on Sunday, October 29th from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Make a custom blank book for sketching, writing or collecting images or photographs. Cut, fold and bind pages using the “sewn on tape” binding method. This yields a board-bound book in which the spine is uncovered, revealing the folded edge of the folios connected by decorative stitching over French tape.
For more information about the class, please visit the Eliot School’s website or click here to download the complete catalog.
*** On November 18 & 19, the North Bennet Street School is offering Italian Tacketed Stationery Bindings with Katherine Beaty.
During this workshop, you will explore the structure of early Italian tacketed stationery bindings based on the Medici family account book collection at Harvard Business School’s Baker Library. From the 14th through the 19th centuries, tacketed stationery books were used for day, letter, and account books. These books were designed for daily use and had to live up to the task.
In this 2-day workshop, you will construct the most common style of tacketed stationery binding: a limp vellum binding with laced overbands and a fore-edge flap. The textblock will be sewn over split thongs, which will lace through the front cover and be secured under the overbands. The cover will be reinforced with stiff leather overbands, secured to the cover with decorative alum tawed lacings. During this workshop, you will discuss terminology, binding variations, and examine images from the Medici collection.
Participants should have previous bookbinding experience, and be comfortable using paper, parchment, and leather.
For more information or to register, please visit the NBSS website.
Our third annual Card Tricks and Book Blitz meeting drew a large audience, and delivered on the promise of learning new tricks and simple (or maybe a little complex) structures.
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