Artist
A group of makers from Tierra Del Sol visited the Sunland-Tujunga Library, and participated in a flag bookmaking workshop as part of my artist residency there, supported by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
It was an honor to work with these participants!
Continuing my 2019-20 Artist Residency at the Sunland-Tujunga Library, supported by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, I led a Bookmaking program, for teens, the winning, fun, wild and versatile Flag Book!
In addition to teens, families attended as well, and learned to fold an accordion spine, attach covers to it, and add the flag pages to create a pattern that created all kinds of options for text and visuals.
Color choices are one of the first ways the young makers express themselves.
Students from the nearby Verdugo Hills High School shared that the artmaking was a welcome break from academic pressures.
Great use of magazine text and letters.
Celebrating “STEAM VHHS” (STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking, VHHS is Verdugo Hills High School).
So glad the Arts are in there! All of these disciplines must work together if we are to move ahead in this World!
A workshop designed for teens turned into a family and community affair, at the Granada Hills Branch Library.
As part of my Artist Residency at the Library, supported by the wonderful Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, we held a Flag Bookmaking program with a Manga comics theme. In addition to teens, families and makers of all ages attended, creating wild and wonderful “Manga” Flag Books!
Father and son work closely together, collaborating on a radiant red book.
This brilliant young maker was amused to realize that he was using the same colors in his very cool book as he was wearing!
Sister and brother work side by side. Getting along…in the moment of making.
This wonderful woman has a attended numerous workshops, and is becoming quite the bookmaker!
Three unrelated generations of makers, working together in an atmosphere of collective creativity.
A mother with her two daughters takes advantage of Library offerings.
Makers’ hands.
A measured smile from a teen assistant and maker…using color to tell as story in her book.
Using the popularity of Manga and the arresting structure of the flag book as a means of engagement, participants worked together as a community on their individual projects, learning, enjoying and sharing all at the same time.
Does it get any better than that?
To kick off my 2019-20 Artist Residency at the Granada Hills Public Library, supported by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, I led a bookmaking program in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, where participants learned to make their own photo album.
Participants bound together a single signature (gathering of folded pages) into a binding composed of a tag board sheet folded both horizontally (to create a pocket on either side) and vertically (to create the body of the cover structure and hold the signature), then added stiffer more durable boards on either side to strengthen the covers. They sewed the components together using the pamphlet stitch and ribbon, using enough ribbon so that the ends would be long enough to tie the book closed if they wished.
Mothers and daughter created side by side and shared their work.
As did Mothers and sons,
and the whole family!
Our teen helpers got into the act too…..
and had a blast…
Pride of Book!
To kick off my 2019-20 Artist Residency at the Sunland-Tujunga Library, supported by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, I led a Children’s Bookmaking program, where participants and their families learned the art of “Folded Fan Books”.
The folded fan book is comprised of an accordion spine, two covers and pages glued onto one side of each fold of the spine, to create a fanning out effect when the book is opened.
Over twenty participants joined us: children with parents, siblings and friends, supported by a library volunteer and the stupendous Sunland Tujunga Children’s Librarian, Kirsten, or “Ms. K”, as she is affectionately called.
Children enjoyed writing in and illustrating their books, whether in known or created language.
We were thrilled to see that hardworking parents got into into the act too, and enjoyed some creative time. It is common for makers to use the same or similar colors to what they are wearing.
Mothers and daughters worked side by side.
Creativity is a dish beautifully served up in community…
I am honored to show my work, “The Fall” in the upcoming exhibition:
The Book as Art v. 7.0: Wonders
Presented by the Decatur Arts Alliance
Decatur, Georgia
August 9–September 27, 2019
The Decatur Arts Alliance (DAA) presents the seventh edition of the juried exhibition of artists’ books, The Book as Art, August 9–September 27, 2019. This edition will be installed once again at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library. The show’s dates encompass the AJC-Decatur Book Festival, which takes place each Labor Day weekend throughout the City of Decatur. The DAA will sponsor a festive opening on Friday, August 23, 2019.
“A book begins as a small mass of material, formed and pressed into life by ideas, words, and machines. A concept becomes thought, becomes word, becomes book, becomes sculpture. From the tactile complexity of handmade paper, to the alteration of existing volumes, to a variety of other materials and concepts, these objects, in an increasingly digital world, stubbornly survive. The objects in this exhibition will interpret the concept of the book and invite the viewer to look beyond the printed page to where word has become form.”
The Book as Art v. 7.0: Wonders’ location at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library is just off the Decatur Square, ideally accessible to the more than 85,000 attendees at the Festival as well as to visitors throughout the run of the show.
View the catalog!
The Jurors:
Denise Bookwalter works in a range of print media including traditional and digital processes, artist’s books, installations and dimensional prints. Her artist’s books utilize old and new print technologies to create collaborative works. Her work has been exhibited and collected in a variety of venues across the country and abroad. She received her BA from Northwestern University and her MFA from Indiana University in Printmaking. Bookwalter currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida with her husband and twin girls. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Florida State University where she teaches printmaking and is Area Head of the Printmaking Department. She is the director and founder of Florida State University’s artists’ book press, Small Craft Advisory Press.
Mari Eckstein Gower is an artist and writer with a studio practice in Redmond, Washington, where she currently focuses on creating one of a kind and editioned artist books. She grew up in Southern California and studied art and humanities at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University. Later she continued her studies of printmaking techniques at ateliers in Montreal and then writing with Al Young, Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, and Ursula K. Leguin. Gower’s artist books are included in collections across the United States and Canada. Her work has been exhibited in gallery and museum shows in the United States and Europe.
Andrew Huot is a book artist and bookbinder in Atlanta, Georgia. He operates Big River Bindery, a studio for bookmaking and letterpress printing, book repair, and design. He has a Masters in Book Arts from the University of the Arts, teaches bookbinding and preservation for the University of Illinois, and workshops in his bindery and across the country. He exhibits his work widely and it is held in more than 50 university library collections. His artwork takes his everyday life and uses the patterns, lines, and shapes to create work that is playful and strikes a familiar cord with viewers.
The Book as Art v. 7.0: Wonders’ location at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library is just off the Decatur Square, ideally accessible to the more than 85,000 attendees at the Festival as well as to visitors throughout the run of the show.
“The Fall“, 2019
(Book board, hemp cord, mulberry paper, paperboard, canvas)
Exterior/Side
Interior/Open
Exterior/Open