by Elissa | Apr 7, 2016 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, Lecture, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 13, 2016, 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: Studio Support and Workshop Time
Studio Support and Workshop Time is two hours that you give yourself, in the company of fellow book- and paper-arts lovers, to learn, share and create in a supportive and encouraging environment.
The meeting will begin with some group time, both for sharing – something you’ve made, a great resource or tool you’ve found, a source of inspiration – and for asking questions or puzzling out challenges you may be having with a project or particular technique.
The remainder of the time will be devoted to creative work. Bring along a project or model from a previous meeting that you’d like to continue working on or develop further, or bring a piece of your own to simply continue working on in the company of others.
Not sure of what to bring? No worries! Every Studio Support and Workshop Time session will have suggestions, resources or materials for a project. This session will offer the opportunity to continue exploring (or discover the pleasure of making) the small lidded boxes presented by Elizabeth Rideout in March. There will be bookboard and templates available for crafting the boxes.
If you’d like to try your hand at one (or make a companion to the one you made in March), you’ll need to bring:
- A tool such as an X-Acto or scalpel capable of cutting bookboard
- Cutting mat
- Metal ruler
- Small, sharp scissors
- Glue
- Pencil and eraser
- Bone folder
- Decorative paper or book cloth for covering the box (one sheet approximately 12 x 24-inches, or two sheets of 12 x 12-inch scrap book paper)
You can also continue exploring the fun and fascinating possibilities of: Folded Page Book Sculptures (as presented by Marilyn Gillis in January), of Exquisite Corpse Books (as presented by Rebecca Boardman in May), Miniature Books (as presented by Jill Abilock in July) or rev up your creative juices and delight your friends by making collaged postcards (presented by Marcia Vogler in March).
Suggested tools and materials for these projects include:
- Drawing paper
- Pens
- Pencils
- Colored pencils
- Markers, Sharpies, Gel pens, etc.
- Glue sticks
- X-Acto knife
- Scissors
- Cutting mat
- Bone folder
- Ruler
- Magazine, calendar, catalog and other collage materials you like to work with
- Paints, inks, and rubber stamps and anything else you enjoy using for decoration or embellishment
March Meeting Reflections
The Box Making program with Elizabeth Rideout brought out a crowd eager to learn some tips from a professional. Elizabeth gave us an overview of the many sides of boxes (oh really I just couldn’t resist), their construction, uses, and opportunities for interpretation. Along with all that information, she provided us with materials and instructions to make our own mini box with lid.
We left with a sweet little reminder of the program, ready to be filled with a small treat. Thanks to all who attended, and special thanks to Elizabeth for visiting and sharing.
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
*** The GENESIS TREE NY16 installation opened at the Nohra Haime Gallery in New York City on March 22nd. The 10′ x 14′ tree is made up of 4,000 hand-folded origami cranes, cubes and boxes.
The project, organized by Valerie Hird, was a crowd-sourced international outreach project representing diverse age groups and individuals from middle school students to retired seniors (and B.A.G. members!).
The exhibit is open now through May 9th. You can watch a video of the installation assembly on YouTube.
*** Lyna Lou Nordstrom is having a solo show at Brickworks Art Studios entitled Transitions and Variations. Pieces in the show include recent work in monotype, solarplate etching, and Jell-O print. An artist reception will be held on April 8th from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Several demonstrations will be held in conjunction with the exhibit:
- April 9: Jell-O Printing
- April 16: Monotype on the Etching Press
- April 23: Solarplate Printing on the Press
The show is open throughout the month of April. Brickworks Art Studios is located at 266 South Champlain Street in Burlington, VT (enter from the parking lot behind New England Floor Coverings/Vermont Art Supply at 277 Pine Street).
Book Arts News
*** The annual Book Arts Bazaar will be held on Sunday, April 10th from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the Wishcamper Center on the University of Southern Maine‘s Portland Campus. This festival with book artists, papermakers, bookbinders, printmakers, educators, and writers is dedicated to all things related to the book.
The free event is sponsored by USM’s Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts.
*** The Portland Public Library is hosting the exhibit Bound Together III: USM Book Arts from April 7 – 30, 2016. The show features the work of students from the University of Southern Maine‘s course, The Visual Book 2: Historical Influences in Contemporary Artist’s Books and members of the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts Critique Group.
The pieces in the exhibit emphasize the relationship between content and form. Book formats and binding techniques include accordions, flag books, fans, pop-ups, altered books, tunnel books, and scrolls. Works include linoleum and gelatin prints, monotypes, digital prints, watercolor and acrylic painting, collage, and calligraphy.
For more information, please visit the Portland Public Library’s website.
*** The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA is hosting the exhibit Paper and Blade: Modern Paper Cutting, now through July 31, 2016. The exhibit celebrates the pioneering spirit of artists working in cut paper.
Exhibiting artists were selected for their passion for this humble material, their masterful techniques, and their innovative approaches to working in this media, and together they will present a collective vision of the future of paper craft. Participants includes Beatrice Coron, Maude White, Randal Thurston, Nikki McClure, Elizabeth Alexander, Bovey Lee, and Charles Clary.
For more information, please visit the Fuller Craft Museum’s website.
*** Dartmouth College‘s Third Annual Edible Book Festival will take place on Monday, April 11, 2016 at Berry Library in Hanover, NH. The event was inspired by the International Edible Book Festival, which is held annually around April 1st, throughout the world.
Display and judging/voting starts at 2:00 p.m. and the winners will be announced at 5:00 p.m., followed by the eating of the entries. A panel of judges will determine the winning entries in each of three categories:
- Most Likely to Be Eaten
- Funniest/Punniest
- Most Creative
Visitors will vote for the winner in the People’s Choice category. For more information, please visit Dartmouth’s website.
*** Now through April 17th, Lesley University is presenting Reading with the Senses, an exhibition of 54 international contemporary artists’ books. The show is guest-curated by Ruth R. Rogers, Curator of Special Collections at Wellesley College.
In this exhibition, Rogers interrogates the books shown, to understand their effect upon the reader. Themes of time, space, movement, material presence, memory, language, and music are explored, and their persistence long after the viewing is over. Whether consciously or not, we are asked to read and comprehend not by text alone, but with our senses.
In conjunction with the exhibit, there will be a panel discussion on April 14th entitled What Do Books Awaken In Us? Participants in the panel include guest curator Ruth Rogers, book artist Robin Price, and SMFA librarian and artist book curator Darin Murphy. The focus will be inspired by the exhibit’s focus on how artists evoke a sensory response in their books, and how that is communicated to the reader.
Both events are being held at Lesley University’s Lunder Arts Center at 1801 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA.
Book Arts Classes
*** On June 25- 26, 2016, the New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers is excited to present Making Simple Finishing Tools with Jeffrey Altepeter.
For traditional design nothing really beats a collection of decorative finishing tools. But making your own tools can offer more immediate control in the design process, the ability to modify as you work, and the ability to do more unique work. Making tools is also gratifying and fun.
This workshop will offer an introduction to the materials, tools and techniques of making your own brass finishing tools for bookbinding. A combination of demonstration, discussion and hands-on practice will prepare students for continued experimentation and more advanced future projects.
The workshop will be held at Third Year Studio in Boston, MA. For more information or to register, please visit the GBW website.
*** The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, MA is offering Pop-Up Travel Journal with Susan Porter on April 17 from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Incorporate photos, tickets, labels and other ephemera from your travels to create a pop-up book. The book begins as a simple square but opens into a dramatic, multifaceted container that includes pockets, windows, pop-outs and other paper forms. A variety of media and techniques will be used including printmaking, collage, painting and drawing.
For more information about the class, please visit the Eliot School’s website or click here to download the complete catalog.
by Elissa | Oct 3, 2014 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, Lecture, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, October 8, 2014, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 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 on the second Wednesday at the Unitarian Church in Burlington.
Program: Special Visit to UVM Special Collections
This year, our visit to Special Collections will provide the unique opportunity to view the spectacular work of the members of the New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, as their traveling exhibit – Geographies: New England Book Work – is currently on display at UVM’s Bailey/Howe Library.
Even more exciting, exhibitors Deborah Howe and Stephanie Wolff will be on hand to offer a guided tour of the exhibit! They will discuss the creation of their own books in the show, methods of construction used by other exhibitors, and contemporary bookbinding and book arts. The exhibition contains a variety of artist books, bindings, and manuscript books on the theme “New England.”
Deborah Howe is the Collections Conservator and a Book Arts Instructor at Dartmouth College Library, and board member of the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Stephanie Wolff is an artist, hand bookbinder, and book conservator. She teaches book arts to students of all ages, including at Dartmouth College Library’s Book Arts Workshop.
The Guild of Book Workers, a national organization founded in 1906, brings together people interested in all the book arts, including bookbinding, book conservation, calligraphy, decorative paper, papermaking, and printing. For more information visit negbw.wordpress.com and www.guildofbookworkers.org.
* Please bring a pencil, not a pen, if you plan to take notes.
September Meeting Reflections
Our September meeting was one of learning and giving. Judy Sgantas provided the group with first hand knowledge of the altruistic work provided by Team Heart. Our hearts opened as she described the culture and conditions in Rwanda. The medical team will return to Rwanda again in February to provide heart surgery for young patients. This year Judy will accompany them and work with the children in the orphanage. She will teach bookmaking and provide art supplies donated by our Book Arts Guild.
At our meeting Judy taught us the book structure of wallet books. We made several for Team Heart to give to patients and care givers in Rwanda. Jill Abilock provided beautiful paste papers for the books so each one is unique special.
Thank you Judy and Jill for providing us with a few hours away from our lives to learn about the needs of others and to have the opportunity to make a positive contribution through bookmaking.
Judy will accept more wallet books and donations through December for the work of Team Heart.
Book Arts News
*** The Champlain Mini Maker Faire will be held at Shelburne Farms Coach Barn on Saturday, October 4th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., and Sunday, October 5th from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The Faire is a family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology.
The Book Arts Guild of Vermont will have a booth at the Faire where we will demonstrate simple book structures, and allow participants to try their hand at book arts. Stop by if you are at the Faire!
*** 
On October 4 & 5, the statewide Open Studio Weekend is offering a wonderful selection of book artsy studios for you to visit.
If you’re up for a tour, you can find your comrades in the following locations:
Elissa created a Google Map with all of the locations to help you with your tour. You can find maps and directions to studios on the VT Crafts Council website. You can also download a pdf of the 2014 Fall Vermont Open Studio Tour Guide. Please note that this is a really big file.
*** Fiber artist Marion Seasholtz generates a lot of cotton batting and fabric scraps in her work and is offering them to anyone interested in using them for papermaking. If you’re interested, please contact Marion at marion@windsedgestudio.com.
*** Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here is on exhibit at the Eliot D. Pratt Library Art Gallery at Goddard College now through October 10, 2014. The exhibit commemorates the 2007 bombing that resulted in the loss of a vibrant cultural and literary community in Baghdad.
The exhibit has been traveling the world since 2012 and includes artists’ books and broadsides by artists from 26 countries. Goddard College is in Plainfield, VT.
*** The McGrath Lecture in Contemporary Book Arts presents Twenty Years of the Double Elephant Press: Harnessing Influence & Ignorance on October 8, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. in the Neilson Browsing Room at Smith College, in Northampton, MA. To accompany this lecture, there is an exhibition of selected works from the Double Elephant Press, on view through December 15 at the entrance to the Mortimer Rare Book Room (Neilson Library, level 3).
Michael Kuch of Double Elephant Press began drawing in pen and ink at the age of eleven at home in northern Vermont; one year later he had a one-man show at a local museum. For the past twenty years Kuch has worked with book artisans in the Northampton area, notably the letterpress printer Art Larson, as well as numerous bookbinders. Lately, Kuch has delved into printing his own etched text and made forays into bookbinding.
For more information, please visit the Smith College Libraries website.
Book Arts Classes
*** On October 25, 2014, the North Bennet Street School, in collaboration with the New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, is offering an Onion Skin Binding workshop with Benjamin Elbel.
Learn the complex sequence of scores, folds and gluings involved in the amazing Onion Skin binding, a structure that grows from the inside to the outside, gradually incorporating the single sheets into a continuous stub.
While you will learn in a traditional workshop setting, Benjamin’s instruction will be projected on a screen for students as he will be located at his studio in London.
For more information or to register, please visit the Guild of Book Workers website.
*** The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, MA is offering Fold & Stitch Books with Annie Silverman on Sunday, October 19 & 26, 2014 from 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Using simple techniques that build upon each other, learn a variety of essential book forms: sewn pamphlets, multiple-signature books, accordion and flag books, along with simple wrappers and envelopes.
For more information about the class, please visit the Eliot School’s website or click here to download the complete catalog.
by Elissa | Sep 4, 2014 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, MailB.A.G., Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 10, 2014, 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: Art with a Heart: Creating Journals for Team Heart Patients in Africa with Judy Sgantas
Join us for a very special meeting in September when we come together as a group and make books to help Judy Sgantas support the efforts of Team Heart, a non-profit group of volunteer physicians, nurses, and technicians dedicated to providing life-saving cardiac surgeries in Rwanda, primarily to children suffering from rheumatic heart disease, a preventable condition.
Judy’s husband Mark is a cardio-thoracic nurse at Fletcher Allen Health Care. Last year, he and six other volunteers from Fletcher Allen became part of the 40 members of Team Heart in Rwanda, performing valve surgeries on 16 patients over a two week period. He will be participating again this year and Judy will be joining him, working to support Team Heart’s efforts at an orphanage near the hospital.
Last year, Judy made “wallet books” (pamphlet-stitched journals with pockets folded into the covers) for all of Team Heart’s patients and a few of the Rwandan nurses, so they would each have a book that would hold their stories, pictures and even medical instructions. The books were such a huge success that this year Judy has invited the Book Arts Guild to help create the books that she will bring with her to Rwanda this fall.
So come to the September meeting prepared to learn an easy but interesting and useful new book structure as Judy leads us in creating wallet books for the Rwandan care givers and patients served by Team Heart!
Please bring the following:
- Bone folder
- Awl
- Scissors
- X-Acto knife/cutting blade
- Cutting mat
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Bookbinding or tapestry needle
- Waxed linen thread
Optional:
- Judy puts index cards for medical instructions in one of the book pockets, along with a postcard of one of her illustrations. If you would like to bring a personal card to place in the book that you make, that would be lovely!
August Meeting Reflections
Our August meeting was full of fun and hands-on experimenting. Jen Alderman and Gwen Morey came well prepared with demonstrations, written suggestion and loads of materials for us to explore. They believe in recycling trash and found objects into exciting stamping possibilities and they made believers out of us.
Some highlights included bubble wrap, ramen noodles and marbles. Their expertise and experience was appreciated as we got tips on the different types of inks, refill systems, punches and sponges to improve our techniques.
Thanks Jen and Gwen, what a wonderful way to learn and play on a summer’s evening.
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
Book Arts News
*** On October 4 & 5, the statewide Open Studio Weekend is offering a wonderful selection of book artsy studios for you to visit.
If you’re up for a tour, you can find your comrades in the following locations:
Elissa created a Google Map with all of the locations to help you with your tour. You can find maps and directions to studios on the VT Crafts Council website. You can also download a pdf of the 2014 Fall Vermont Open Studio Tour Guide. Please note that this is a really big file.
*** Fiber artist Sandy Jefferis is selling her stash of handmade papers. Here’s what’s for sale:
- 83 sheets of Thai Lama Li Lokta, assorted colors, 20″ x 30″
- 29 sheets of Thai Unryu Marbled Momi, 24″ x 36″
- 21+ sheets of assorted bark and other handmade papers
The retail price for the batch is about $636.00. She is asking for $350.00 for all of it. If you are interested, please contact Sandy at sandyjefferis@gmail.com
*** Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here is on exhibit at the Eliot D. Pratt Library Art Gallery at Goddard College now through October 10, 2014. The exhibit commemorates the 2007 bombing that resulted in the loss of a vibrant cultural and literary community in Baghdad.
The exhibit has been traveling the world since 2012 and includes artists’ books and broadsides by artists from 26 countries. Goddard College is in Plainfield, VT.
*** The New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers has organized a mini-conference in northern Maine during September 12 – 14, 2014. Spend a weekend in Northern Maine with a community of local artists working in the field of bookbinding, paper making and calligraphy.
The conference will be held at the Cobscook Community Learning Center near Whiting, ME. Programming includes a visit to the Book Arts Studio at UMaine Machias Friday afternoon, evening lectures by Alan Furth, Walter Tisdale and Gray Parrot Friday night, half-day workshops by Katie MacGregor and Nancy Leavitt on Saturday followed by a special presentation by David Yarborough.
For more information or to register, please visit the Guild of Book Workers website.
*** The exhibit UNBOUND VOL. IV: Art Using books as a material/format will be open from July 25 – August 23, 2014 at the Artistree Gallery in Woodstock, VT. 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.
Book Arts Classes
*** On September 22-26, 2014, the North Bennet Street School is offering Fundamentals of Bookbinding I with Erin Fletcher in Boston.The course covers non-adhesive structures and case bindings, students learn about structural elements, sewing variations, covering and cutting techniques using various materials, and tools and equipment. The focus is on non-adhesive structures such as coptic, historical long stitch and case bindings such as flat back, rounded back.
For more information or to register, please visit the NBSS website.
*** The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, MA is offering Fold & Stitch Books with Annie Silverman on Sunday, October 19 & 26, 2014 from 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Using simple techniques that build upon each other, learn a variety of essential book forms: sewn pamphlets, multiple-signature books, accordion and flag books, along with simple wrappers and envelopes.
For more information about the class, please visit the Eliot School’s website or click here to download the complete catalog.
by Elissa | Nov 6, 2013 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 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: Card Tricks and Book Blitz: Mini Workshops in Cool Techniques
Join us for a card or mini-book exchange B.A.G.-style called Book Blitz and Card Tricks. Get prepared now and join in the fun!
Design a card or small/simple book structure that has a trick or two; maybe a pop-up, French doors or a window. Bring your completed card or mini-book, along with six undecorated cards or mini-book structures to share. We will have an exchange and then engage in some decorating fun.
Please feel free to join in the fun even if you don’t have time to prepare cards or mini-books to bring. We did a similar program last November and there was more than enough to go around. Like last year, expect to go home with some great new ideas, several new tricks up your sleeve, and a few new cards for the season.
Things to bring:
- A decorated card/mini-book with a “trick” (optional)
- 6 card structures of your card/mini-book “trick” to exchange (optional)
- Glue
- Scissors
- X-Acto knife
- Cutting mat
- Ruler
- Decorative punches
- Stamps and ink
- Pens, pencils, markers
- Decorative papers
- Fun stuff!
October Meeting Reflections
We are lucky to have such an expressive, talented, and kind artist as our friend and B.A.G. founder, Nancy Stone. Nancy delivered an inspiring program on journals, giving us a glimpse into her travels in the real world, her artistic world and her personal journeys. As she pulled out the journals she had made, she shared the history, the techniques, and the value of each in her life. Amazingly, each one was more beautiful than the last. Camping/canoe trips, her beloved dog, and her personal exploration of self worth have all been documented by Nancy in her painterly way.
After inviting us to view her journals, Nancy kindly set up a demo area where she offered up pieces of Yupo paper to play with using walnut ink, watercolor, and crayon. She demonstrated briefly with these favorite materials, and then let us try them out.
The audience generated a lively discussion about journaling and in particular, about personal journals that need to be kept from others’ hands and eyes. Purging by fire at midnight on New Year’s Eve was the consensus, although donating to a repository for women’s journals was offered as an option.
Thanks to all who attended and participated in this important program, and special thanks to Nancy for everything she is and does.
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
*** Thanks to all the members who contributed their vote for the Spring exhibit! The winning theme is Botanical Gardens. We are also happy to announce that the B.A.G. Spring exhibit will be hosted by the Rae Harrell Gallery in Hinesburg, in May.
The show will be in conjunction with another artist’s animal portraits, so we would like to promote a dual theme, Nature: Beasts and Botanicals. This broad theme can inspire fantastical, outlandish ideas as well as environmental, natural concepts.
Start planning now, as we would like to exhibit work from every member. More details will go out soon, including a deadline for submissions.
*** Book Arts Guild member Marilyn Gillis has kindly convinced Vermont artist Jane Davies to come north for a one day workshop in February so we can all beat the winter blahs. The workshop, Text and Image Collage, will allow us to explore the power of image/ word relationships as well as learn basic techniques and principles of collage.
We will create expressive pages that can be used for books with found and created text, personal photos, and found/altered imagery. This will be a great way to jump start your ideas for the Spring exhibit.
Date: Saturday, February 15, 2014 (snow date: February 22, 2014)
Location: Six Loons Studio at Shelburne Pond Studios
Cost: $40.00 each (if 10 people sign up)
An application/sign up sheet will be available at the November meeting, along with more details.
*** Shelburne Pond Studios is pleased to announce that our annual Holiday Show will be held on Saturday, November 9, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. B.A.G. members Jill Abilock and Lyna Lou Nordstrom will be among those participating.
You are cordially invited to come meet the artists, explore their studios, and discuss their processes. Join us at the big red barn for an exciting opportunity to see the artists in their element.
Shelburne Pond Studios is located at 1260 Pond Road in Shelburne, VT. For more information, contact Jill Abilock at SixLoonsStudio@gmail.com or call (802) 999-4394.
Book Arts News
*** In The Past as Present: Making Art from Ephemera, book artist Maureen Cummins will talk about her career and how it evolved from digging in dumpsters and searching flea markets to being a visiting artist in research archives.
She will show slides from book projects based on historical subject matter such as slave narratives, turn-of-the-century homosexual love letters, the Salem witch trials, and the Triangle Factory Fire. Using found printed matter and historical research, her works look at the past in new, and sometimes challenging, ways.
Maureen Cummins is a New York-based artist who has produced over thirty limited edition artist’s books during the last two decades. Her work is represented in over 100 public collections. UVM Special Collections has an especially extensive collection, with 28 of her books.
The presentation will take place on November 8, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. at the Special Collections Reading Room, Bailey/Howe Library at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, Email uvmsc@uvm.edu or call 656-2138.
*** The Paper Room (formerly known as Langdell Paper) at AVA Art Center is holding its annual open studio on Saturday November 16th, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Not only are there going to be 1,000’s of sheets of handmade paper available for purchase, but there will also be refreshments and fun paper-related conversation.
Bring a friend and get 1 FREE large sheet. Buy 10 sheets & get 10 more sheets FREE! Richard is also open to bartering!
The AVA Art Center is located at 11 Bank Street in Lebanon, NH. The Paper Room is on the second floor in studio #209. For more information, please call (802) 222-0503 or Email rlangdell@gmail.com.
*** November 15-17, 2013 offers the Boston Book Collectors’ Weekend, an event including both the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair and the Boston Book, Print, and Ephemera Show. The 36th annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair will be held at the Hynes Convention Center during all three days.
At the Back Bay Events Center (a.k.a. the Dorothy Quincy Suite at John Hancock Hall), the Boston Book, Print, and Ephemera Show will take place on November 16th. New England Guild of Book Workers member Thomas Twetten of Craftsbury Books will have a booth at the show and will have some design bindings for sale.
For more information, please visit the event websites.
Book Arts Classes
*** The Folded Book is being offered at the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science on Saturday, November 16, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. During a day of intensive folding, students will explore the intersection of origami and bookbinding.
The techniques of traditional paper-folding will be put to work creating structures that draw inspiration from many corners of bookbinding. The accordion fold, the codex, albums, maps, and even boxes and envelopes will all make appearances. Your hands, supplemented by only the simplest set of tools, will transform flat sheets of paper through folding (and the occasional cut), resulting in a variety of elegantly simple and dynamic structures. Each offer many possibilities for experimentation with media and exploration of the reading experience.
For more information or to register, please visit the Simmons GSLIS website.
*** The North Bennet Street School is offering Fundamentals of Bookbinding II with Amy Lapidow on a series of Saturdays, November 16 – December 21, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
This course focuses on hardcover structures. Students begin with rounded back case bindings and end with on-set board binding. Throughout the course students, students fine-tune their skills through practice and learn to focus to details such as, endpapers structures and headband variations. Discussion topics include an overview of bindery equipment such as stamping on the Kwikprint and trimming with the plough.
For more information or to register, please visit the NBBS’s website.
by Elissa | Oct 4, 2013 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, October 9, 2013, 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: Artist Book Journals with Nancy Stone
Nancy Stone will share her Artist Book Journals, inspiring us to think in terms of documenting a day, a trip, or a greater passage of time. She’ll demonstrate materials and her travel-lightly, -then-build-a-book-back-home technique. Although there won’t be time to do book binding, she will hand out illustrated directions for the Coptic Stitch and teach us her famous Coptic Macarena dance steps to better grasp this versatile book binding stitch. Nancy will also bring watercolor and walnut ink on YUPO paper – some of the novel materials she uses to make her wonderful journals – for us to try out at the end of the presentation.
*** If you have created hand-made journals, please bring your one favorite book to share with the group. ***
Nancy Stone is a Vermont painter, book artist and art teacher. She is a member of the Bryan Memorial Gallery, Northern Vermont Artists Association, the VT Crafts Council and a Signature member of the Vermont Watercolor Society. Her acrylic and watercolor paintings have received numerous best-in-show awards, and her hand-made artist’s books have been in juried shows throughout the state. Nancy has also mentored and inspired countless artists in pursuit of their own muse, both in her 24-year career teaching art in public schools and as the Co-Founder of the Book Arts Guild of VT.
September Meeting Reflections
At the September meeting our very own Amy Burns shared her finely crafted skills at packaging her book art wares. She has created a unified rich look with tags and clear envelopes that enhance her beautiful books. Amy also shared her experience in selling at craft events and over the web.
After answering our many question Amy went on to teach us how to make a sewn signature book from recycled food boxes. Fun! Thanks Amy.
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
*** On October 5 & 6, the statewide Open Studio Weekend is offering a wonderful selection of book artsy studios for you to visit (and great foliage!).
If you’re up for a tour, you can find your comrades in the following locations:
Elissa created a Google Map with all of the locations to help you with your tour. You can find maps and directions to studios on the VT Crafts Council website. You can also download a pdf of the 2013 Fall Vermont Open Studio Tour Guide. Please note that this is a really big file.
*** Help Choose the Theme of Our 2014 Book Arts Guild Show!
In September, we invited everyone to submit ideas for the theme of our 2014 Book Arts Guild Show. We now invite you to vote on the ideas we received. Choose the theme that gets your creative juices flowing, and simply Email your choice to Jill at sixloonsstudio@gmail.com. Please put “2014 Show” in the subject line, and put your choice in the body of the email message.
Please choose one of the following themes:
- The Sound of Music
- Ego Trip
- Through the Looking Glass
- Along the Road
- Botanical Gardens
- Bound by Tradition
- Lost and Found
The deadline for voting is October 31, and the winning theme will be announced in our November newsletter. Thanks for participating!
*** Judy Sgantas‘ husband Mark is a cardio/thoracic nurse at Fletcher Allen and he and a team of six are going to Rwanda in February to do heart surgery on 16 young people. They have had rhuematic fever and as a result they have valve damage. The group they travel with is Team Heart. Judy would love to send with him with journals for all 16 patients and if they end up with more, they would go to an orphanage.
The journals need to be hardcover because they walk everywhere – so sturdy and mobile are key. Use your imagination – attach one to a belt or over the shoulder. Donations are needed by February 1st so that they can be packed up in Boston and shipped along with all of the medical supplies.
If you are interested in participating, please contact Judy for more information.
Book Arts News
*** The Paper and Book Intensive has announced its lineup of instructors for 2014 (including Ken Leslie!):
The full course catalog, including course descriptions and other pertinent information, will be post on the PBI website in the first week of November.
Book Arts Classes
*** On October 5th, the New England Guild of Book Workers is co-sponsoring a Coptic and Bookworm Binding workshop with the Kate Cheney Chappell Center for Book Arts at the University of Southern Maine. The workshop will be held at the Wishcamper Center Multi-Purpose Room at the USM Portland Campus.
In this workshop, participants will work with Bexx Caswell, bookbinder and book conservator from Iowa City. Caswell will lead participants to create three hardcover, non-adhesive bindings in miniature.
For more information and to register, please visit the USM website.
*** Bill Hanscom is teaching Enclosures for Preservation and Beyond on October 13, 2013 at the Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Boston. Boxes, wrappers and slipcases are widely used to house and protect library and archival collections, but they also offer terrific opportunities for artistic exploration.
Beyond the protective housing of original artistic works such as books or print portfolios, enclosures can be altered and embellished to complement, enhance, and conspire with their contents. Over the course of this workshop students will work to create a reference set of enclosures which neatly nest together.
For more information or to register, please send an Email to gslisce@simmons.edu or call (617) 521-2803. The workshop will be held at 300 The Fenway.
*** The North Bennet Street School is offering Paper Marbling with Chena River Marblers on October 26 – 27 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
The first day of this two-day workshop gives students a basic introduction to paper marbling. Learn many traditional combed marbled patterns as well as the basic stone pattern. Prepare your own marbling size and papers for marbling and learn how to make simple combs for independent future use.
On the second day, learn additional combed patterns, the beautiful Spanish Moire style of marbling and the Turkish Ebru (Flower Style) marbling.
For more information or to register, please visit the NBSS website.
