by Elissa | Oct 5, 2017 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, Lecture, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
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.
by Elissa | Sep 9, 2017 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, Lecture, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 13, 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: Why I Make Books – Artist Talk with Carolyn Shattuck
Resilience
Please join us for the opportunity to meet celebrated book artist Carolyn Shattuck, who will speak about how she has progressed over 20 years of bookmaking. Carolyn will share her process with us and show many of her amazing books, from origami books and flexagons to pop-ups and a Women’s Project.
Born in Montreal, Canada, Carolyn originally trained as a nurse and worked in psychiatry. She began her art career when she moved to the United States in 1971. After a short stay in the U.S., Carolyn’s husband was drafted into the Vietnam War, and she and her husband moved to Okinawa, Japan, where they lived for three years. During those years, Carolyn became influenced by the history and beauty of Japanese prints. After returning to the United States, Carolyn earned an M.F.A. in painting at Bard College.
In the late 1990s, Carolyn organized an exhibition with three artists called, A Country of Souls: Reflections on Early New England Gravesites. The purpose of the traveling show was to develop an awareness of the mystery of death and dying issues. The intriguing folk art of the Puritans that Carolyn discovered while visiting New England cemeteries has generated a lifelong vocabulary that is threaded throughout her work in book arts. Many University Collections, as well as The Smithsonian Museum, have collected her books.
Carolyn currently lives in Vermont, where she teaches and makes books that relate to social and environmental issues.
August Meeting Reflections
Our Coptic Book Extravaganza brought out a lot of friends and members to share in Amy Burns‘ riff on coptic sewing. Luckily there was no beer served with the beer coasters she provided as covers – it was hard enough keeping us under control without the addition of alcohol! Amy was patient with us all anyway, and calmly and cheerfully led us through the sewing procedure. Success was had by all!
As part of the Extravaganza, Jill Abilock gave us an overview of her work with coptic bindings, and showed us how versatile and creative they can be.
Thanks, Amy and Jill for your preparation and presentation, and thanks to all who participated in the evening.
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.
*** Congratulations to Nina Gaby, 1st prize winner, and Marcia Vogler, 2nd prize winner in this year’s juried exhibit UNBOUND: VOL VII at the ArtisTree Gallery in South Pomfret, VT. The winning entries were chosen from over 300 submissions.
You can read about the exhibit in this review in Seven Days.
*** 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, but put the date in your calendar.
We will be visiting the Book Arts Workshop, the Preservation Studio, and the Special Collections department in the library.
*** B.A.G. member Elissa Campbell has two classes coming up at Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT:
The Paste Paper Photo Album
Saturdays 9/23/17 & 9/30/17
12:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
In this workshop, you will learn how to create an elegant hard-cover photo album using bookcloth and paste paper that you’ll make yourself! This is a wonderful keepsake that can hold 4″ x 6″ photos from your recent vacation or family holiday gathering. Different methods will be demonstrated to guide you as you create your own paste papers with vibrant colors. We’ll use methyl cellulose in a paste recipe that’s easy to recreate on your own.
Peek-a-Boo Journal
Saturday 10/28/17
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.
Book Arts News
*** On Sunday, September 10th, the Shelburne Museum will be screening Pressing On: A Letterpress Film.
The modern world was born on a printing press. Once essential to communication, the 500-year-old process is now in danger of being lost as its caretakers age. From self-proclaimed basement hoarders to the famed Hatch Show Print, Pressing On: The Letterpress Film explores the question: why has letterpress survived in a digital age?
The screening will take place from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. in the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education Auditorium and will be followed by a printing demonstration.
The Shelburne Museum is located in Shelburne, VT.
*** Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord is holding an Open Studio event on September 16th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Susan is the author of Handmade Books For A Healthy Planet and Multicultural Books to Make and Share.
Featured work will include Susan’s Spirit Books and her series Words for Our Time. Her studio is located at 311 High Street in Newburyport, MA.
For more information, please visit Susan’s website.
*** 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.
Book Arts Classes
*** 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.
*** The North Bennet Street School is also offering Edge Decoration with Erin Fletcher from September 30 – October 1, 2017.
Explore a variety of ways to decorate the edges of a text block. Decorating an edge is more than just applying pigment, students learn how to properly trim and sand edges in addition to preparing pigments such as acrylic, gouache and powdered graphite. We will also explore striped edges, simple gilding and gauffering (tooled impressions).
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.
by Elissa | Aug 4, 2017 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, Lecture, MailB.A.G., Vermont, Workshops
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.
by Elissa | Jul 7, 2017 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, July 11, 2017, 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
The July meeting will be held at the SEABA Center Gallery at 404 Pine Street in Burlington, VT. Click here to get directions using Google Maps.
* Please note that this meeting is different than our usual meeting in three ways:
- Location: We are meeting at SEABA, not at the Unitarian Church in Burlington.
- Date: We are meeting on a Tuesday, and not on the second Wednesday of the month.
- Time: The meeting starts at 6:00 p.m., not at 6:30 p.m.
Program: Artists’s Talk and Reception
Correspondence: Bookworks from the Book Arts Guild of Vermont
Correspondence: Bookworks, our 2017 exhibit, will be held at SEABA on Pine Street in Burlington from July 11 to August 25, 2017.
The opening reception and artists’ talk will be on Tuesday, July 11 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. This will be in place of our usual July meeting at the Unitarian Church.
We encourage each artist to talk about his or her work, highlighting any special processes, challenges, or inspiration. Since there are a lot of entries in the show, please be prepared to make brief remarks so that everyone can get a chance to talk, socialize, and enjoy the mutual admiration club.
We hope to see you there!
June Meeting Reflections
Amy Burns delighted the group with her unique and handy packaging ideas and tips. Although not everyone sells their work in such a professional manner, there was a lot of interest in how Amy has developed her own identity and successfully markets her brand. The take-away is that details count! Thanks to Amy for sharing her process and tricks.
Amy also provided a fantastic comic illustration of the double needle coptic bindng process, and led the group through the step by step instructions. Her instructions helped to make clear the complicated binding technique.
Again, many thanks to Amy for preparing the materials and giving everyone a chance to bind their own beer coasters!
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
*** B.A.G. Co-Founder Nancy Stone has lots of news to share with our members. First off, one of Nancy’s paintings has been selected for inclusion in a juried show at the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington, open now through October 31st.
And now through July 22nd, yet another of her paintings can be seen in the Vermont Watercolor Society‘s annual juried members’ show AQUA at the Valley Arts Festival Gallery in the Village Square Shopping Center, Route 100 in Waitsfield.
Lastly, she’s got a solo show at Saint Michael’s College‘s McCarthy Art Gallery in Colchester from August 2 – 12, 2017. The exhibit coincides with the Playhouse‘s production of You Can’t Take it with You. Her Handmade-Books-on-the-Wall exhibit includes two large installations – her Vermont 251 Club postcards with original watercolors displayed as accordion books and her 13 books of Ecclesiastes III with white-on-white pop-ups.
Congratulations Nancy on all of your accomplishments!
*** Looking for college credit? Ann Joppe-Mercure will be teaching The Art of the Book (GED 673A) at Saint Michael’s College from July 10 – 28, 2017.
Educators and students are invited to explore and create in this studio course addressing the art of the book. Participants will experiment with forms, structures, materials, and concepts as we investigate the limitless possibilities of the book. By surveying the historical need to record and contain knowledge and by examining the work of contemporary book artist students will gain a foundation for their own creative expression of ideas and meaning. Students will make a working portfolio of paper treatments, book models and altered structures then create their own individual art books.
The class will be a working model of a 21st century collaborative community supporting the creative process through practice, constructive criticism, reflecting, and refining technique. The Common Core anchor standards of Craft and Structure and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas will be addressed.
No previous bookmaking or art experience required. Students who have previously taken The Art of Bookmaking (GED 671) and/or Science, Art and Bookmaking: Making Connections (GED 673), are welcome in this class. A $50.00 materials fee is required and due at registration.
For more information, please visit St. Mike’s website.
Book Arts News
*** Now through July 19, 2017, the North Bennet Street School is hosting Open • Set, a traveling, triennial bookbinding exhibition organized by the American Academy of Bookbinding. The exhibit showcases the art of fine design bookbinding and hopes to inspire both new binders and professionals.
The exhibition is intended to be a recognition of the beauty of the craft and a commitment to the public toward a better understanding of this art form. The international exhibition features fifty books and recognizes excellence in craftsmanship and design concept interpretation.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit the North Bennet Street School’s website.
*** ArtisTree Gallery‘s 7th annual juried exhibit, UNBOUND: VOL VII, will open on July 28th and run through August 26, 2017. This exhibit is opening in conjunction with the kick off of the 9th annual Bookstock Literary Festival in Woodstock, VT.
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.
An opening reception will be held on Friday July 28th, from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
For more information, please send an email to gallery@artistreevt.org or visit the ArtisTree Gallery’s website.
Book Arts Classes
*** In July, the Wells College Book Arts Center is offering its Summer Institute, two week-long intensive courses in letterpress printing, hand bookbinding, artist’s books, lettering arts and font design. Week 1 runs from July 9 – 15 and Week 2 runs from July 16 – 22.
This year’s instructors include Samuel Feinstein, Barb Tetenbaum, and April Sheridan. Wells College is located in Aurora, NY.
Please send inquiries to bookartscenter@wells.edu. You can also download the course catalog (pdf) from the Wells College website.
*** The Guild of Book Workers is offering Covered and Visible: Protected Multi-Section Pamphlet Stitch Structure with Gabrielle Fox from July 14 – 15, 2017. The workshop will be held at Dartmouth College Preservation Services in Hanover, NH.
In this two-day class, you will complete at least one full leather binding using the simplest version of this structure. This variation provides the strength and flexibility of a tight backed book with the action of a hollow tube. You may also have time to explore several onlay techniques using pre-thinned leather and decorative papers.
The delight of this structure is the ease with which it opens, closes and the possible variations that can be used for both design and conservation binding. The entire case or cover of the binding is completed before sewing in the text, which is the final procedure or step in the binding. This structure can be kept very simple or adapted to something as complex as a full leather traditional binding with a difference.
Questions regarding registration should be directed to Martha Kearsley at negbwprograms@gmail.com.
Please note that you will need to prepare some of the required materials in advance. For more information, visit the Guild of Book Workers website.
*** From July 16 – 22, 2017, Art New England is offering Artists Books: Structure and Story with Julie Leonard. ANE workshops take place in Vermont at Bennington College.
The hand-held, tactile, and serial qualities inherent to the book make it a compelling media for artistic expression. Artist books can be visual, textual, sculptural, traditional or experimental in form. A book’s structure in concert with text and/or image can serve as an essential contextual element.
This course will consider the connections between structure and other content with a goal of creating books in which the physical form plays an integral role in both function and meaning. Participants will learn several book structures for presenting material in alternative formats. Through exercises, ideas will be translated into ‘sketches’ made in book form. Contextual possibilities particular to book work will be examined, including visual and/or textual narrative, serialization, and unifying multiple pages into a cohesive whole.
The class will also address the importance of understanding book structure and basic binding skills in order to produce work with both depth and material integrity.
For more information or to register, please visit the Art New England website.
*** Art New England is also offering Pop-Up Books with Colette Fu from July 30 – August 5, 2017.
Pop-up books aren’t just for children! Pop-up structures can be used to make engaging works of art for any age, from greeting cards to animations to kinetic sculptures. Complex and engaging pop-up works are created from a combination of basic mechanisms enhanced by your art, playfulness and imagination.
In this workshop, participants learn the basic elements of pop-up paper engineering, including multi-level platforms and pulltabs, as well as how to combine them to create more complex structures. Participants learn how to incorporate their own art into their structures effectively to create unique pop-up books, cards, and works of art. All levels of experience are welcome.
For more information or to register, please visit the Art New England website.
*** Maine Media Workshops + College is offering Alternative Book Structures with Valerie Carrigan from July 23 – 29, 2017.
This workshop focuses on book structures that lend themselves to the presentation of two-dimensional imagery such as photographs, prints, and paintings. You will make a series of book models including the pivoting panel book and flag book, originated by Hedi Kyle, and variations on the accordion book. All book structures introduced may be opened in the traditional way – page-by-page, or extended for a more sculptural view.
After completing your models, you will spend the remainder of the week creating and sequencing imagery and/or text for the content of your books. Simple letterpress techniques will be discussed and utilized. Participants will be encouraged to pursue the medium of their choice in these book forms.
This workshop is ideal for photographers, painters, printmakers, collage artists – anyone who wants to present imagery in the form of an artist book. No experience is necessary and those with prior experience will have the chance to add to their repertoire of creative book forms.
For more information or to register, please visit the Maine Media Workshops + College website.
by Elissa | Jun 7, 2017 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Call to artists, Exhibitions, MailB.A.G., Member News, Vermont, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, June 14, 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: How to Package Your Work and Double Needle Coptic Binding with Amy Burns
Amy Burns, who has been creating and selling handmade books to people around the world for 10 years, will begin our June meeting with a presentation on how she packages and presents her work using simple materials and tools that create a professional yet handmade look.
If you’ve ever considered packaging your own work to sell, you will learn how to create a cohesive look and feel easily and economically.
In the second part of the meeting, Amy will lead a hands-on workshop, demystifying the double-needle Coptic binding. Book covers, page paper, binding thread, and instructions will be provided.
Please bring:
- Scissors (to trim your thread)
- Awl
- Old phone book, cutting mat or punching pad
- Bone folder
- 2 or 4 curved bookbinders or upholstery needles, 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!
Special Request to Print Challenge Participants: Please bring your Print Challenge Books!
Handmade book of printsLast month we had an inspiring Show and Tell of the wonderful books created for the two-part Printmaking/Bookmaking Challenge.
Unfortunately, several people who participated in the challenge were unable to make it to the meeting but would love to see everyone’s books. So, if possible, please bring your book to the June meeting to share with those who missed seeing it.
We have an exciting program planned for the meeting so we won’t be discussing the books, they will just be set up on the side of the room.
May Meeting Reflections
Our get together in May turned out to be a wonderful evening of sharing and mutual admiration. Members who had completed their book from the print challenge spoke about their work, the challenges of working with the varied prints, and their exploration of book forms. The results of the challenge are amazing!
I hope that everyone will exhibit their work in the upcoming show at SEABA, because, really, the world needs to know what a talented and exciting group of artists we are!
Several members also brought more ‘junk box books’ they had made based on our last awesome meeting with Meta Strick. Again, some incredible ideas and execution.
Thanks to all who made the meeting a special event.
You can view images from the meeting on the B.A.G. blog.
B.A.G. News
*** Show your work at the Book Arts Guild of Vermont’s Annual Exhibit!
Correspondence: Book Works, our show for this year, will be held at SEABA on Pine Street in Burlington, during the months of July and August.
This venue gives us a great exhibit space and a lot of exposure to the community. We encourage all members and friends to participate in this show, and to respond to the theme in any way. Work can include new or time honored techniques, book-related pieces and sculpture, and generally any work that can be ‘read’.
Important dates:
- Submission deadline: June 14, 2017. Please bring your work along with the entry form to the June meeting. Work can also be mailed to Marcia. For special arrangements, please contact Marcia. Address and contact info are on the entry form.
- Opening Reception/Artists’ Talk: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 (not on Wednesday, July 12, as previously announced). This will take the place of our regular July meeting, so there will be no meeting at the UU Church on Wednesday, July 12th.
- Show dates: July 6 – August 25, 2017
Submissions are limited to 3 pieces per artist. The exhibit entry form and additional information can be downloaded as a pdf or a fillable Word document.
*** Looking for college credit? Ann Joppe-Mercure will be teaching The Art of the Book (GED 673A) at Saint Michael’s College from July 10 – 28, 2017.
Educators and students are invited to explore and create in this studio course addressing the art of the book. Participants will experiment with forms, structures, materials, and concepts as we investigate the limitless possibilities of the book. By surveying the historical need to record and contain knowledge and by examining the work of contemporary book artist students will gain a foundation for their own creative expression of ideas and meaning. Students will make a working portfolio of paper treatments, book models and altered structures then create their own individual art books.
The class will be a working model of a 21st century collaborative community supporting the creative process through practice, constructive criticism, reflecting, and refining technique. The Common Core anchor standards of Craft and Structure and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas will be addressed.
No previous bookmaking or art experience required. Students who have previously taken The Art of Bookmaking (GED 671) and/or Science, Art and Bookmaking: Making Connections (GED 673), are welcome in this class. A $50.00 materials fee is required and due at registration.
For more information, please visit St. Mike’s website.
Book Arts News
*** ArtisTree Gallery is looking for submissions for their 7th annual juried exhibit, UNBOUND: VOL VII. The theme of the show is simple – an exploration of what a book can be…art using books as a material or a format.
Bill Hanscom is this year’s juror. The exhibit will be presented in conjunction with the Bookstock Literary Festival in Woodstock, VT.
This call for submissions is open to all New England and New York residents of the U.S. who are 18 years of age or older. All artwork must be original in concept, design and execution. Note: Reproductions, if used as mixed media, will be considered.
The deadline for submission is June 29, 2017. For more information, please visit the ArtisTree Gallery’s website. or contact Adrian Tans at gallery@artistreevt.org.
*** Now through July 19, 2017, the North Bennet Street School is hosting Open • Set, a traveling, triennial bookbinding exhibition organized by the American Academy of Bookbinding. The exhibit showcases the art of fine design bookbinding and hopes to inspire both new binders and professionals.
The exhibition is intended to be a recognition of the beauty of the craft and a commitment to the public toward a better understanding of this art form. The international exhibition features fifty books and recognizes excellence in craftsmanship and design concept interpretation.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit the North Bennet Street School’s website.
Book Arts Classes
*** In July, the Wells College Book Arts Center is offering its Summer Institute, two week-long intensive courses in letterpress printing, hand bookbinding, artist’s books, lettering arts and font design. Week 1 runs from July 9 – 15 and Week 2 runs from July 16 – 22.
This year’s instructors include Samuel Feinstein, Barb Tetenbaum, and April Sheridan. Wells College is located in Aurora, NY.
Please send inquiries to bookartscenter@wells.edu. You can also download the course catalog (pdf) from the Wells College website.
*** The Guild of Book Workers is offering Covered and Visible: Protected Multi-Section Pamphlet Stitch Structure with Gabrielle Fox from July 14 – 15, 2017. The workshop will be held at Dartmouth College Preservation Services in Hanover, NH.
In this two-day class, you will complete at least one full leather binding using the simplest version of this structure. This variation provides the strength and flexibility of a tight backed book with the action of a hollow tube. You may also have time to explore several onlay techniques using pre-thinned leather and decorative papers.
The delight of this structure is the ease with which it opens, closes and the possible variations that can be used for both design and conservation binding. The entire case or cover of the binding is completed before sewing in the text, which is the final procedure or step in the binding. This structure can be kept very simple or adapted to something as complex as a full leather traditional binding with a difference.
Questions regarding registration should be directed to Martha Kearsley at negbwprograms@gmail.com.
Please note that you will need to prepare some of the required materials in advance. For more information, visit the Guild of Book Workers website.
*** From July 16 – 22, 2017, Art New England is offering Artists Books: Structure and Story with Julie Leonard. ANE workshops take place in Vermont at Bennington College.
The hand-held, tactile, and serial qualities inherent to the book make it a compelling media for artistic expression. Artist books can be visual, textual, sculptural, traditional or experimental in form. A book’s structure in concert with text and/or image can serve as an essential contextual element.
This course will consider the connections between structure and other content with a goal of creating books in which the physical form plays an integral role in both function and meaning. Participants will learn several book structures for presenting material in alternative formats. Through exercises, ideas will be translated into ‘sketches’ made in book form. Contextual possibilities particular to book work will be examined, including visual and/or textual narrative, serialization, and unifying multiple pages into a cohesive whole.
The class will also address the importance of understanding book structure and basic binding skills in order to produce work with both depth and material integrity.
For more information or to register, please visit the Art New England website.
*** Maine Media Workshops + College is offering Alternative Book Structures with Valerie Carrigan from July 23 – 29, 2017.
This workshop focuses on book structures that lend themselves to the presentation of two-dimensional imagery such as photographs, prints, and paintings. You will make a series of book models including the pivoting panel book and flag book, originated by Hedi Kyle, and variations on the accordion book. All book structures introduced may be opened in the traditional way – page-by-page, or extended for a more sculptural view.
After completing your models, you will spend the remainder of the week creating and sequencing imagery and/or text for the content of your books. Simple letterpress techniques will be discussed and utilized. Participants will be encouraged to pursue the medium of their choice in these book forms.
This workshop is ideal for photographers, painters, printmakers, collage artists – anyone who wants to present imagery in the form of an artist book. No experience is necessary and those with prior experience will have the chance to add to their repertoire of creative book forms.
For more information or to register, please visit the Maine Media Workshops + College website.
