Blogging with TH&SG Book Arts Study Group

Change Location

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:35:54 -0700

Some of you have noticed and wondered why I have two blogs on this site, and I’ve begun to wonder myself. Therefore, with this entry and from now on, I direct readers to look for the latest entry in Curt’s Blog. Just scroll to the top of this page and click on Curt’s Blog to see what is there. I hope you’ll comment.

An Urge Unchecked; Or, The Book Arts Defined

Wed, 8 Sep 2010 17:53:42 -0700

It’s difficult for an English teacher without portfolio (i.e. a classroom of students) to go for long unable to pontificate on whatever it is that is dear to his/her heart, so who am I to rise above such difficulty and remain silent? Describing the Book Arts is made for such as I. I can’t resist. Shall we begin?

The book, traditionally, is a collection of one or more leaves or pages bound together, usually in a protective enclosure such as covers, box or portfolio. The pages contain visual and/or written content from an author/artist to be perused sequentially.

The contemporary “book” may offer itself as sculpture, the surfaces of which may be perused or manipulated in no particular order.

The craftsmen associated with the traditional book included the papermaker/finisher, printer, bookbinder, and wood, leather or cloth worker.

These craftsmen worked/work

on wood, animal skins, paper and cloth;

with dyes, paints, inks and films;

writing, drawing/painting, photographing, and designing with computer assisted programs. They

printed/print their pages in a variety of ways, both with and without presses, cameras, or computers;

binding their texts together with thread, thong, cord and/or paste; and

encasing and/or boxing them in boards covered with paper, cloth, and/or leather.

The art of the book today brings together the talents of author, artist/designer, printer, and binder. The contemporary artists’ book requires all these talents of one person—the creator of the artist’s book.

Today’s book artist will employ a majority of the following practices:

Composition: written and visual
Papermaking
Printing, including letterpress and digital typography
Designing/decorating/ornamenting surfaces: paper marbling, paste paper, collage; leather tooling, inlay and onlay; page layout/graphic design
Binding and Casing using traditional structures and/or invented variations.

The art of today’s artist’s book consists in making each practice an integral contribution to the whole experience of reading.

I don’t know about you, but I feel much better already.

Promises, Promises

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:30:55 -0700

Why does one make promises? Immediately, the promise turns upon its maker who is left to wipe the proverbial pie from his face. So it is, having rashly promised to put up an entry a week in this space. It hasn’t happened, has it! My only defense: it was not for trying. Were I a believer in conspiracy theories, I believe one or two would coalesce around the dearth, enabling me to point to someone/something else as the culprit. Unfortunately, I don’t put much faith in conspiracies, so that’s out.
We did have a difficult summer, marred by a death in our family.
Let me, however, talk about what I did at Convergence. I hadn’t been to Convergence since teaching there in 2004, so I was primed to get back into the fun. Our first day was free of workshops, so we made every vendor in the room (and there were lots of them). Among my less defensible purchases was a Kumihimo Disk, cords, and a book (in Japanese!) of directions. Luckily, Shirley got a head start with a mini-workshop using the disk, so between the pictures in my Japanese book of directions and Shirley’s guiding hand, I may soon initiate myself into kumohimo.
The highlight of my workshops was Jennifer Moore on designing with the golden mean, the Fibonacchi series, and sacred geometry. I have never attended a workshop organized with such precision. All of us in the room came home with what amounted to a book of design principles. If Jennifer Moore has my vote for the best workshop at Convergence, my second workshop didn’t make even a list of the top ten, so enough about that.
The photo for today is of what I did at Convergence on my own, or, more accurately, what I did with the helpful direction of Shereen LaPlantz in Twill Basketry and a few nights alone in the Doubletree after Shirley was called back home to be with family.

Something to Show for It

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:13:03 -0700

I’ve long held that, indeed, one should have something to show upon returning from summer vacation. Mostly, though, this requires some planning ahead, so our plan for 2010 was to spend a week at Anderson Ranch at Snowmass, making books with the noted printmaker, Karen Kunc. We had met Karen at Santa Reparata Art School in Firenze and had a hunch she would provide us with a stimulating week in Snowmass.
Colorado in July couldn’t be more inviting for an old Northern gardener. Perennial borders everywhere with peonies, columbines, lupines—the list goes on and on. Anderson Ranch this time of year is one giant landscape garden within a cluster of art studios. Ours was the printmaking studio, so from Monday through Friday our attention was focused on books, their structures and their visual content: Monday, “tacket binding with couching; Tuesday, concertina incorporating monoprints; Wednesday, drum-leaf binding with watercolors; Thursday, codex with collage; Friday, boxing day. For most of us, Friday was catch-up day and the making of boxes, whether slipcase, drop spine-case, and/or clamshell had to be deferred until we were back home.

So we were right: Karen did provide us with a stimulating time. The picture above underscores my point. If you’d like to see more, click here

A Sight to Behold

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:28:56 -0700

Congratulations to Margo, star of the show at Details Art and Design. If I weren’t at Anderson Ranch at the time, I’d be at the party there.
As is, I’m making books with Karen Kunc. These wonderful places are so stimulating—studios open twenty-four hours of the day and night—that time for anything “on the outside” is just not there, but when I wanted information on a tacket binding, my laptop brought the world instantly to the Ranch.
It was on that search for the tacket that I came upon the website of TJBookarts: http://www.tjbookarts.com/otherlinks.htm containing links to a host of videos showing how to construct a great number of book structures. If your summer time is not as intense as that provided by Anderson Ranch, check out TJBookarts, see where your surf takes you, and share your discoveries with a comment right here.
Thanks, Lynn, for the link to Bookshelf Porn, where today’s photo was located.