VT Book Arts Guild “MailB.A.G.” April 2016
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.
- Book Arts Guild of VT website: http://www.bookartsguildvt.com/
- Book Arts Guild of VT Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/bookartsguildvt
- Book Arts Guild of VT on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/bagvermont/
