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ARTIST'S BOOKS
FORMATION
I am beyond honored to be a part of Formation, the Guild of Book Workers triennial members’ exhibition, which has begun a two year national tour.
The GBW says it best:
Simply defined by Merriam Webster as “an act of giving form or shape to something,” formation can insinuate process, history, creation, change, beginnings, an arrangement, botany and landscape, personal narratives and impersonal storytelling. What makes us into the artists we are? How does our creative process influence the final product? What pushes us to continue to create? People, events, memories all combine to influence the art we make about the world around us, even if our work isn’t explicitly autobiographical. The Guild of Book Workers’ 2018-2019 exhibition encouraged members to consider how the act of formation spoke to their artistic process.
An accompanying printed exhibition catalog, published this year as a special edition of the Guild of Book Workers’ Journal, will be available for sale at the venues and online at guildofbookworkers.org. The catalog features full color photographs and complete descriptions of each work; biographies of the artists; remarks from jurors Coleen Curry, Graham Patten, and Sarah Smith; and essays by Formation curator Jackie Scott and Guild of Book Workers President Bexx Caswell.
The Formation Exhibition honors the legacy of the book workers’ craft and celebrates some of the finest examples of book arts today. Founded in 1906, the Guild of Book Workers has over 900 members today and is the only national organization dedicated to all of the book arts, including bookbinding, conservation, printing, papermaking, calligraphy, marbling, and artists’ books. At a time when the masses are considering the materiality of the book and its presence or absence as a physical object, it is exciting to showcase the many hand crafts of the book form. The work presented in the Formation Exhibition is a vibrant and dynamic collection of Artists’ Books, Fine Bindings, Fine Press Printing, Calligraphy, and Sculptural Book Works that showcase both the history of the Book Worker’s craft, as well as contemporary interpretations of the book form. The Guild of Book Workers promotes interest in and awareness of the tradition of the book and paper arts by maintaining high standards of workmanship, hosting educational opportunities, and sponsoring exhibits.
Exhibition Schedule:
Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Minneapolis, MN
June 15–October 21, 2018
Robert C. Williams Papermaking Museum
Atlanta, GA
November 1, 2018–March 7, 2019
University of California, Los Angeles
Charles E. Young Research Library Lobby Gallery
Los Angeles, CA
March 15–May 25, 2019
North Bennet Street School
Boston, MA
June 5–July 27, 2019
University of the Arts
Philadelphia, PA
August 1–October 30, 2019
The Formation Exhibition features 51 works from 46 members that will travel across the U.S. from June 2018 through October 2019. The show opens at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It will be held at MCBA until the Guild of Book Workers’ annual Standards of Excellence Seminar in October 2018. Formation will tour the country, stopping at the Robert C. Williams Papermaking Museum in Atlanta, GA, UCLA’s Charles E. Young Research Library, the North Bennet Street School in Boston, MA, and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. A complete tour schedule is online at guildofbookworkers.org.
It was thrilling to see FORMATION featured in The COLOR Issue of American Craft magazine.
I am looking forward to seeing FORMATION in LA:
University of California, Los Angeles
Charles E. Young Research Library Lobby Gallery
Los Angeles, CA
March 15–May 25, 2019
Please join us, in FORMATION!
Let’s Make Books at the Bell Library!
Learn to create the fun and fabulous “folded fan” book in community at the Library with artist Debra Disman.
Create a book that can open, read and displayed in different ways!
This program is designed for children aged 5 – 12.
All materials included!
LACMA LOVE: The Art of the Book 3: The Flag Book
We started off our Family Bookmaking Workshop series at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art with the Accordion Fold Book, then moved onto “The Folded Fan” book (my own nomenclature) which also employed the accordion/concertina fold to great effect.
We completed our series with The Flag Book, a fun, versatile and quite kinetic structure “invented” by German-born and noted book artist Hedi Kyle.
We visited the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (“BCAM“), and looked at artist Barbara Kruger‘s monumental elevator piece, “Shafted“.
Students chose what view they wished to draw (or, sketch). then returned to the Park View Studio to look at our drawings, learn the Flag Book structure, create our books, then develop and embellish them! (This last the reward, some might say, of the effort that went before).
Participants were encouraged to use text to develop their books, and see how this “found writing” technique could be read in different ways up and down and across their books. They had been able to observe the power of graphical text first hand viewing the Kruger piece.
Mother and daughter working together.
She came to our workshop with her grandmother…not pictured!
Summer teacher (all the way from Chicago!) and student, taking advantage of LACMA‘s educational offerings!
This wonderful duo attended all three workshops!
The grown-ups need an art-making break too!
Such a lovely group to work with.
We love you, LACMA!
Teen Flag Bookmaking at the Artesia Library!
Join with other teens and learn to create the fun and versatile FLAG BOOK, which moves and grooves when you do! Add your own “found writing” (learn how) and have your say!
Led by artist Debra Disman.
All materials included.
Drop-ins welcome!
Papel Picado Bookmaking Workshop
Part of my Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Artist Residency at the Granada Hills Branch – Los Angeles Public Library.
Thanks to Children’s Librarian Alice Schock, Senior Librarian Pamela Rhodes, and the LA DCA
To celebrate Latino Heritage Month, join us for a Papel Picado Bookmaking Workshop, led by artist Debra Disman. This program is open to all ages. All materials included.
Please see flier!