Button Book, by Stephanie Davidson (RISD). Only one inch in diameter. Adorable.

Visit Stephanie Davidson
Via Art Room Plant

“I Know Where I’m Going” is a new piece from book artist Sarah Morpeth. I’ve featured Sarah’s work before. This new piece is at the edge of still being book art, the form is no longer a book, yet it’s bookishness remains.

This large piece was installed in the Chapel Gallery as part of an exhibition of artists who work in paper. It contained all the words spoken in the film ‘I Know Where I’m Going’, strung on threads which dropped about three metres from the ceiling. I was thinking about meaning and randomness - how the words could reassemble to tell a completely different story…how much meaning depends on structure.

See more at Sarah’s website

I worked on book and paper projects this weekend. I made these with Faye inbetween play dates, the park and working in the garden. The frame on the wall is made from pages I took from “The Art Box”, rolled into tubes using a paint brush handle and sewn onto a metal wreath frame. It helped to have a guillotine paper cutter in the studio! The first one which I made using plain book pages didn’t come out so great, this project needed color and more paper rolls so I started over. I like the results of the second one, it’s also bigger. The last images are from a folded book project for my desk.

I like the wall frame, it looks good hung up in the studio. Tell me what you think! Please leave a comment - which is your fave? Should I paint or stain the book tray?

paper rolls {would make a nice frame}

paper rolls detail

first attempt - too symmetrical

I used embroidery hoops for this first attempt

book art for my desk

the base is a box lid, turned upside down

PS: Thanks for all the comments on the last two posts. I appreciate the feedback and don’t feel so bad now that many of you have mentioned that you also have blogs and rarely comment on other bloggers posts. Sometimes I feel like the outsider when visiting well known blogs and I guess I assume other readers will post comments. Your words are inspiring, thank you. I promise to be a better commenter and poster!

Etsy find: Erin Zamrzl has some wonderful journals in her etsy shop! Check it out and tell her the Rag & Bone blog sent ya’.

Erinzam is the easier to pronounce name representing the work of Erin Zamrzla. A designer, bookbinder and artist, she loves Adobe software, paper, glue, acrylic paint and thrift store finds.

Erin on Etsy
Erin on Blog

In the movie “A Cracked Actor” David Bowie talks about a writing exercise he sometimes uses to help construct lyrics: take a book, magazine, or your own writing, cut up sentences, words or phrases, put them into a metaphorical hat and pull the strips out at random. Place them into the order in which they came out of the hat and what do you have? A new story? Bits of a story? Something to spark your creativity? I would think that since we tend to see-what-we-want-to-see, this exercise might be a great way to grease the wheels for creative types.

I recently learned that the artist Dolph Smith introduced this to Bowie and here’s a cool video of a book-art-object to facilitate this process.

More here

I recently discovered the bookish artworks of Susan Porteous and spoke with her about the inspiration and techniques behind her work:

Susan, thanks for taking time to answer a few questions about your artwork, which is stunning. How did you come to use books in your art? I originally came to use books in my artwork as a way to sequence images. I liked the fact that you could only view a small part of the whole at any one time. It also added an intimacy, the books could usually be held in the palm of the hand, and in fact, often required the viewer to do so. Later, as I became more interested in words than images the book became a great way to present texts while adding an extra layer of meaning through the shape, size, and use of materials. There was also the opportunity to create rhythm through the turning of the page and the breaking up and reordering of the original text.

What is the inspiration behind some of your exhibition pieces, specifically Thirtytwo Paperbacks, Encyclopedic, Extrovert and Introvert and Derivations? My explorations into the sculptural book form came during a time when I was reading a lot of art theory and, being frustrated by such, decided to take a book of abstracts for artists’ lectures cut it up and bind the small pieces together into a long, totally unreadable book form, [Caterpillar, 2007]. After this I was curious as to what other forms I could create and began experimenting with by manipulating bindings and pushing the form to where it no longer followed the traditional book structure.

Derivations started as an attempt to see if I could manipulate the traditional technique of binding over cords to make something less rigid and more flowing and expressive in its nature. I began binding without pre-punching holes in the signatures and allowed the sewing to meander up and down the spine as I went along. The cords were simply several strands of the binding thread bundled together, which allowed me to switch between colors and to add or subtract from these bundles to effect a change in thickness. The paper I used was salvaged from an old thesaurus and during the process of folding the signatures I noticed the word derivations and this seemed fitting to become my first page and title for the piece.

Extrovert and Introvert are two books that are opposite in nature; Extrovert is always open and Introvert is always closed. Both are bound in a continuous circular form using Coptic stitch, but the difference of whether the binding is on the inside or the outside changes the nature of the book. I also made the pages circular, which resulted in the books being a toroid shape, and influenced my decision to use geometry textbooks as the page material.

What is your technique used for manipulating the books into fluid shapes, circles and waves? After finding a complete set of The World Book Encyclopedia, I began by cutting the pages of the first book, A, into strips, and preparing signatures. Not being sure how long this book would end up I started with cords about 40ft long, which I strung up to the ceiling to create a mock sewing frame and to prevent tangling, and began binding. Of course, I made things a little more complicated for myself by deciding to vary the height of the strips so that the book would gradually get thicker and thinner as you traveled along its length. This created a lot of extra work in cutting down the original books and in preparing the signatures but gives the book an organic feel that would not have been present without the extra work. Anyway, a few months and 25 feet later, after I no longer had any space to work on my desk, I finished binding the last of the Z’s and breathed a huge sigh of relieve before deciding that I should also bind the reference book, because how else were people going to know where to find certain information? I should probably add that trying to move and position this book is somewhat akin to trying to manipulate a giant cobra that just wants to go slivering across the floor in search of food.

Where can we see more of your work? My website www.susanporteous.net is probably the best place for people to see my work if you can’t get to see it in an exhibition. Information about any upcoming exhibitions is always posted in the news section of my website. A couple of my pieces are included in a recent publication by Lark Books, 500 Handmade Books, along a lot of wonderful books by other artists. I also have pieces in a few public collections, namely the Library Collection at the Tate Britain, the Mandeville Special Collections Library at University of California, San Diego, and Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection in John M Flaxman Library at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Thank you Susan!

PS: If you like this interview, please leave a comment and let me know. Do you like the shorter blog posts? Did you like this long one? Thanks!

Visit Susan Porteous online

The “23 Sandy Gallery”, located in Portland, Oregon, will exhibit artist books in their gallery show “Material Maternal Legends” opening December 5th. These images are from the show, the full gallery is online at www.23sandy.com

Maternal Legends
A National Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Artist Books
December 5, 2008 - January 3, 2009

Visit www.23sandy.com

The latest issue of Bonefolder is now available for download [pdf]:

The Bonefolder
Vol. 4, No. 2, Spring 2008

The Bonefolder, an outgrowth of the Book Arts Web, is a peer-reviewed “open-access” e-journal for bookbinding and the book arts. Since fall of 2004, the Bonefolder has reached a global audience and contributed to the body of knowledge in the book arts both theoretically and practically.

Download theThe Bonefolder

Scottish Bookbinder Hilary Leckridge, from the “A Yen For Paper” blog created this handbound concertina book titled “Livre Mysterieux” { Mysterious Book }. I love the yellowed paper and the way the covers and pages look like found ephemera. Hilary has an etsy shop where she sells her handbound books and creative cards.

Concertina books are a great first book if you’re interested in bookbinding. They’re similar to Accordion books and can be made without too much bookbinding experience under your belt, or glue or many tools for that matter.

“Le livre mysterieux” - A little book of ochre painted pages, collaged with illustrations and “mots” from very old French books, purchased in the book village of Montolieu. Loosely speaking it is about life’s meaning for me - about searching, finding, becoming, changing perspective etc etc. I really like the way this little book evolved, I don’t usually have a fixed idea of where my projects will lead - this time I was happy with the result - it is visually pleasing to me.

Read more about “Livre Mysterieux” at Hilary’s blog.

Hilary Leckridge at Flickr
Hilary Leckridge at Etsy
Hilary Leckridge at Typepad

Green Chair Press, located in Burlingame California, creates & sells an eclectic mix of collectable paper goods from wood-type collage prints to letterpress printed coasters to flip-books to miniature books to a bookmaking kit and more. I especially like the “Good Read” flip book - we all do that!

Green Chair excels at Letterpress, Type and Bookbinding - three arts we love here at Rag & Bone!

Visit the Green Chair Press shop at Etsy, and read about how the name came about over at www.greenchairpress.com

It’s not too late to register to exhibit at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair, there are still a few tables still remaining.

In partnership with the Visual Arts Program of Montgomery College [Silver Spring, Maryland], Pyramid Atlantic is pleased to present the 10th Biennial Book Arts Fair & Conference. The event connects international artists and booksellers with collectors and scholars of the book arts through a dynamic book fair, stimulating conference lectures, exhibitions, panel discussions and events. Pyramid Atlantic, in its 27th year, serves as a contemporary visual arts center and gallery dedicated to the creation and appreciation of paper, prints, book arts and digital media.

Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair and Conference
November 8-9, 2008
Cafritz Foundation Art Center
Montgomery College
930 King St.
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Visit bookartsfair.org for registration information and conference and events details

Australian artist, and Filipino expat, Natalie Quintos Uhing is a bookbinder and book artist with a colorful style. Take a look through her Flickr photos, I love the hand embroidered book covers. I’d love to try this sometime. Natalie calls this journal “Twist & Shout”. Enjoy!

View more of Natalie’s journals at Flickr

The books exhibited at Bristol, Englands School of Art, Media and Design event Black / White [& Read] were each designed with this limitation: use only monochromatic blacks, whites and grays in the design. By removing all aspects of color - like a black & white photo - the minimal ornamentation of the books allow viewers to focus on form and design.

Black/White [and Read] seeks to advance an artistic challenge – to deliver a powerful graphic statement, eschewing colour, and utilising only black and white imagery. Through these book objects, the public reads works of art without being seduced by colour or even text. The theme pervading this exhibition is that the black and white book becomes a symbolic form of censorship by the limitation forced upon the work. It blurs out information by the economy of its means and, with its dichotomous forces, it can shed light on universal themes with individual interpretation and emotional response to its symbolism, such as life/death, good /evil, night/day. Black/White [and Read] thus manifests the strength of image and structure.

Black/White [and Read]
Exhibition in the Artists’ Books Study Area at the Library
School of Art, Media and Design, UWE Bristol
Curated by Gloria Helfgott
28th January - 16th March 2008

More information online

This is new work by Joanne Kaar. Can you see the books in this photo? She calls them “peat paper books”.

She made the pages herself using “peat”. I don’t think we have Peat here in New England. It’s an English thing, decayed vegetable matter, sort of like leafy soil. Peat is used for fuel and peat fires are also used to dry malted barley for use in Scotch whisky distillation. This gives Scotch whisky its distinctive smoky flavour, often called “peatiness”. Mmmm… Peatiness…

Joanne is a book artist and paper maker living in Scotland.

UPDATE: Joanne just sent in pictures of her digging for the peat in Scotland. Looks like fun!

Visit www.joannebkaar.com
Joan at Flickr

Jennifer Khoshbin is a mother of two who still finds time to create wonderful book art. Her paper cut books, reminiscent of Jen Stark’s work, are sometimes for sale in her etsy shop along with handmade deer heads wrapped in interesting papers.

I am continually trying to figure out how to be satisfied each day with whatever happens and remembering to be grateful.

Visit www.jenkhoshbin.com
Visit Ruby’s Lounge { etsy }

Here are a few images from the How To Make Books show we attended at the Rhode Island School of Design Library last week. We met a fellow blog reader at the event. She introduced herself and I promptly asked her so many questions, “How did you hear about our blog?, Are you a book artist?…” that the tour took off without us. We found them waiting at the elevator. Whew!

Esther K. Smith walked our group through the collection of books, letterpress examples and book art from her book “How To Make Books” and Purgatory Pie Press. We learned quite a bit, even though we had to leave early. Note to self: Don’t bring an 18 month old to a lecture that close to bedtime.

Esther’s book is available now through Amazon. Here’s a description from the Purgatory Pie Press pages:

Make Books for Fun, Fame & Profit
Fold a one-minute zine. Stitch a luscious leather journal. Choose luxurious papers for a sumptuous sketchbook. Or make a book with recycled envelopes and brown paper bags. Are you a writer? A scrapbook maker? A political activist? A postcard collector? Esther K Smith helps you find your inner bookbinder. Try time-tested techniques with quirky, artful illustrations and personable instructions

More at Purgatory Pie Press
RISD library video

The latest Journal of Artists’ Books is available now. By subscription only, but worth the price. Each issue is a work of book art in itself:

The Journal of Artists’ Books provides a platform for both theoretical and creative expression. As a forum for the study of artists’ books, JAB publishes critical and theoretical articles, reviews of artists’ books and exhibitions, and commentary on conferences and and other book art-related activities. JAB also regularly showcases creative work in the form of artists’ statements and artist-designed pages and covers.

Visit Jab online

Check out the cool Bingo Books for sale by Etsy seller Kelly McMahon, AKA: Maydaystudio.

May Day Studio is a bookbinding and letterpress printing studio in Montpelier, Vermont. I envision the day when all correspondence will be letterpressed, and all journals will be one-of-a-kind. May Day Studio’s letterpress visions are achieved with handset type, funky paper, and a C&P Pilot called Minnie. Journals are likely crafted from found objects and bits of beautiful paper. We like to think that it’s the unique intersection of new and old, skill and craft that makes May Day Studio unique.

Kelly McMahon is a “one-time poet and type junkie who learned the tools of the trade and never looked back.” She makes her home in sunny & snowy Montpelier, Vermont. Sounds charming! Check out her blog for more bookish and letterpress posts.

Shop at Etsy
Read the Blog
Visit the Site

Randi Feuerhelm-Watts is the author of the inspiring Wide Open: Inspiration & Techniques for Art Journaling on the Edge book and card kit. If you can’t take one of Randi’s classes in person, you can follow along with lessons and encouragement covering topics like writing, photography, collage and other visual journaling elements and techniques. If anyone has this book or has taken her classes, please comment. The book looks great, it’s filled with collage and her own journal pages. Amazon doesn’t have the “Look Inside This Book” feature for this one unfortunately. Check out her website too - lots of journal images.

Visit Randi’s Website
Buy at Amazon

Artist book from Janelle Pietrzak. Titled “From Ship To Shore”, The book design is inspired by a Philadelphia Navy Yard ships log. Handbound with original watercolors, photocopy art, and collage. Lovely!

More at Flickr