VT Book Arts Guild “MailB.A.G.” March 2013
Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
DATE CHANGE: PLEASE NOTE THAT WE NOW MEET ON THE SECOND WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH.
There will be no change in location – 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: Mindfulness and Responsibility: Self-Ownership and Public Display of Poem Books with Donna Stepien
Join us in March when Donna Stepien shares the impact of incorporating a mindful presence in the classroom as a catalyst for the self-empowerment and creative ownership of students.
Donna will share poem books created by students in her junior- and senior- level college typography courses. Each book included a poem that had deep personal meaning for the student, on such topics as passion, war, reaction to an abortion, autobiographical description of miscarriage, and struggle with gender identity. As part of the assignment, students were required to read aloud the poem they chose and describe their response to it.
When Donna saw the content of the books included controversial and sensitive topics, she realized her role would be to facilitate self-awareness of students’ vulnerability, personal exposure, and accountability in their artwork, both to themselves and to the audience.
Students presented their – and responded to others’ – work with maturity, empathy, professionalism, respect and interest. Afterwards many expressed their thanks for the book project, saying that it helped them realize capabilities they didn’t know they had.
Reflections on February’s Meeting
At our February meeting, Dorsey Hogg shared a slice of her artistic life, and gave us a view of how moving to another country provided her with both inspiration and practical applications for her book projects.
As she discussed her work, she passed her pieces around, allowing members to handle and appreciate the pleasures of her multiple accordion, flag, and woven paper structures. Her use of recycled materials like movie posters and how she came across them gave us all new ideas on how to work with materials at hand.
At the end of the evening, we made our own multiple accordion structure under Dorsey’s tutelage, and took away both a model and inspiration.
Thank you, Dorsey, for providing us with an evening of insight and wonderment.
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
*** Our 2013 meeting dates are:
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*** B.A.G. is happy to announce that our 2013 spring exhibit, There’s No Place Like Home, will be hosted by Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT. The show will take place at the same time as an exhibit on children’s literature in the Main Floor Gallery.
The exhibit will be in SPA’s Third Floor Gallery from June 4 – July 6, 2013. The deadline for submissions is April 10, 2013. Registration forms will be available both at the meeting on 3/13/13 and on the website.
Members are encouraged to submit work for this exciting show. This is a great opportunity to get your work out there, whether you are a first time exhibitor or a seasoned artist. The theme is very accessible, and brings up many references that are unique to each person.
Beyond the reference to The Wizard of Oz, the idea of ‘home’ can suggest family, rooms, objects, memories, and dreams, just to mention a few. Start now with some brainstorming and word association techniques presented by Stephanie Wolff at the September meeting, and generate content for your book.
Book Arts News
*** On Saturday, March 16th, the New England Guild of Book Workers member Sam Ellenport will be hosting a viewing some of the most spectacular bindings ever created. Member and collector Philip Maddock has been intrigued by the creation and, ultimately, the destruction of the original Irish Parliamentary Bindings. He will speak about the replicas, which have been created with bookbinder Trevor Lloyd and toolmaker Stewart Field.
The Irish parliamentary records were bound in spectacular fashion in the 18th century, and have been viewed by many as one of the astounding achievements in the history of bookbinding. After they were destroyed when the Records Office was blown up in 1922, the only evidence of them was from rubbings and photographs. Philip has worked for years identifying the tools, having them cut, and working with Trevor Lloyd to create replicas. On display with these bindings are others from the 18th century, as well as many of the tools used for decoration.
Time: 10:00 am
Location: Club of Odd Volumes
Address: 77 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, MA 02108
The visit is free for members of the New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. To register for the visit please email bookandtile@att.net.
*** Aimee Lee, a Korean-American artist and Fulbright scholar, will be giving a free lecture at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, MA on April 4th from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Lee will share her search to learn more about traditional papermaking and its related crafts. Hanji, Korean handmade paper, although relatively unknown outside Korea, provides key links among other papermaking styles and traditions. Her recently published book, Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking is available through The Legacy Press.
Aimee Lee is an interdisciplinary artist who works in paper, book, performance and installation arts. She holds a BA in Visual Arts from Oberlin College, an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago and conducted post-graduate research on hanji in Korea on a Fulbright grant.
Registration to attend the lecture is available online.
*** Open now through May 28th is the exhibit A Place of Reading: Three Centuries of Reading in America in Neilson Library Level 3 at Smith College.
A Place of Reading illuminates the places in which early Americans read books, newspapers, and other publications. It features books, prints, broadsides, watercolors, lithographs, etc., from the collections of the American Antiquarian Society (AAS). The exhibition was curated by Cheryl Harned, a history graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
A supplementary exhibition, Cultivating the nobler part of her nature: Books for Women and Girls in Early America is also on view outside the Mortimer Rare Book Room, just down the hall from the Book Arts Gallery. The exhibition showcases the sorts of books read by the fairer sex: cookbooks, books on bicycling (proper for women? what to wear?), biographies of women, health and beauty tips, travel accounts, and more. This exhibition was curated by seniors in the Book Studies Concentration at Smith.
For more information about either exhibition, please contact Barbara Blumenthal via Email or phone: (413) 586-2906.
Book Arts Classes
*** The biennial Focus on Book Arts Conference (FOBA) has announced their 2013 workshop lineup. This year, the conference has expanded to include five days of workshops for both the beginning and the experienced bookbinder.
Workshops include:
- Traditional Gold Tooling on Leather-bound Books with Sam Ellenport
- Decorative Techniques for Leather Requiring Minimal Equipment with Karen Hanmer
- Making Pop-Ups: Understanding the Mechanics with Carol Barton
- A Drop Spine Box with an Integral Cradle with Jeff Peachey
In addition to the workshops, you can schedule a 20-minute one-on-one session with gallery owners and studio artists Alicia Bailey and Laura Russell. Alicia will offer one-on-one critique sessions of your work and Laura will separately offer consultations on the business and marketing side of being a book artist.
Another new offering this year is the opportunity for you have professional photographs taken of your work during the conference. Local professional photographer Stephen Funk will be on-site Wednesday and Sunday to photograph your work. He has offered to schedule 30-minute sessions, enough time for 2 to 6 shots, depending on your work.
Registration is now open. Elissa Campbell has attended FOBA three times and will be going this year – feel free to contact her with any questions. The conference is held in Forest Grove, OR.
*** Book Arts at the Stone House will be offering workshops from July 29 – August 4, 2012 in Freeport, Maine. Spend seven days beside the sea attending a series of book arts related workshops, filled with a wide range of topics including monotype prints, book binding, inventive fold books, book design, calligraphy, sewing, and narratives.
During this course, each participant will have the opportunity to work with 8 different instructors in half-day and full-day workshops. Every participant will be exposed to a variety of approaches and opinions from a stimulating group of professional artists.
Please visit the website for more details on the location and how to register.
*** The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain, MA is offering Leather-Bound Coptic Books on 2 Sundays, March 10th & 17th from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. This simple, elegant, exposed–spine, sewn book dates back to the 2nd century AD. Learn the basics of coptic binding to create a beautiful leather–covered blank book.
Registration is available online. For more information, please visit the Eliot School’s website or click here to download the complete catalog.
- Book Arts Guild of VT website: http://www.bookartsguildvt.com/
- Book Arts Guild of VT Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/bookartsguildvt
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