Sustainability Through Craft

I'm happy to be part of the annual member exhibit at the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia. This year's exhibit is called Sustainability Through Craft. The exhibit runs from September 22 to November 5, 2023 at the Mary E. Black Gallery in Halifax.

Sustainability Through Craft is a thought-provoking, participatory exhibition. Through various craft practices and mediums, 21 members of Craft Nova Scotia explore four pillars of sustainability: social, cultural, economic, and environmental. Participating artists include: Melanie Barnett, Kate Brown Salt Sky Studio, Wilma Butts, Elise Campbell, Hannah W Craig, Kristi Farrier, Jessie Fraser, I-Chun Jenkins, Bee van Kats, Steph Kincade, Karen LeBlanc, Mary Jane Lundy, Rhonda Miller, Nancy E. Oakley, Dorothée Rosen, Ralph Simpson, Jessie Tesolin, Jackie Toner, Tyshan Wright, Andrea Puzskar, & Josephine Clarke.

This exhibition is comprised of works of fine craft on display at the Mary E. Black Gallery and two community engagement projects, taking place at different locations during the 6-week exhibition. This combination will be a radical stimulus for the interconnectivity of community, craft, and sustainability.

Winter workshop results

Just a quick update with some photos taken during recent workshops. These classes were all in-person sessions at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft.

Most recently I taught a workshop about making albums, for photos or other things. The students made books that used standard post or ribbon bindings and then we added some pizzazz with windows, fore-edge ties, and even some corner embellishments here and there.
Not long ago, I also taught another workshop where the students made bookcloth and then made a blank journal using the buttonhole binding technique. Everyone did a small practice journal with a paper cover, then used one of their prepared fabrics to make a hardcover journal. There was also a chain stitch workshop where everyone learned to make books with exposed chain stitch binding techniques. Different types of covers and cover attachments were explored.

Impressive work by everyone. I always seem to have the best students!
The spring session is coming soon now. Workshop links are in the right sidebar.

Last Year

Every year I start by apologizing that I have not been updating my blog. There were a few things last year that I had intended to share here on my blog, though.

Hedi Kyle Workshop
I had the pleasure of attending this workshop last June. Hedi Kyle was in the neighborhood and conducted a workshop at NSCAD. She introduced several techniques and structures and folds that she has come up with over the years. Some of the things we did are included in her book, Art of the Fold, but she also had us doing some newer things too that aren't in that book. So that was a good time. Here's a sample of some of the things I made in that workshop.

Centre for Craft Nova Scotia
As usual, I taught a number of workshops at the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia over the course of the year. This included bookbinding, box making, and marbling. So, here are a few pictures taken during those workshops, showing what the students accomplished.

'Know How' Instructor Exhibit, Morgan Conservatory
Last year, the various instructors teaching at the Morgan Conservatory were invited to submit work for a small exhibit called "Know How," which was on display there last summer. I made these two books for that exhibit. They are both full leather, split-board library bindings. The larger book is a classic 1980s detective novel by Teri White, called "Bleeding Hearts." The smaller book is a blank companion journal, made to match.

Cleveland Museum of Art
When I was in Cleveland to teach at the Morgan Conservatory, I had a chance to visit a Medieval Monsters display at the Museum of Art. Much of the exhibit consisted of illuminated manuscripts like these.

Every day projects
In between the workshops and such, I spent most of my time just doing the work, day to day. This included making journals to sell in a couple of shops, hand binding lots of theses for local university students, plenty of book repair (mostly cookbooks and bibles), a few small editions, custom boxes, etc., etc.

I've probably forgotten something interesting, but that's a little taste of 2019 and a few examples of stuff that I could have posted about here on my blog, if I had been more organized. Onward into 2020!

Happy New Year

To kick off the new year, I have two weekend workshops coming soon at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft.

First is Feb 9-10, when you can learn about the Early Coptic books, also known as the Nag Hammadi books. Second, is March 9-10, where you can spend the weekend immersed in the intricacies and elegance of Japanese bookbinding.

Visit the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft website for registration and for more information about these workshops and all the other workshops they are offering this winter.

Recent Activities

It surprises me today, the last day of March, to see that this is my first blog post of the year! A bit embarrassing. Obviously I need to find some new interesting things to write about. At the moment, though, I came here to update the sidebar with a new list of upcoming workshops.

I taught several classes this winter which kept me busy; let's say that is the reason I have been neglecting my blog. So, I will show you some photos of the work my students have been doing.

The season began with a Turkish marbling workshop weekend. These are always fun and very satisfying because in a short time students can achieve some really wonderful results.

I did another weekend workshop on book repair. Each student started with an old book that needed a new cover so the old covers were removed, individual problems were addressed for each book, then a little rebacking, new case construction, new endsheets, etc. A few minor book repair issues were also addressed for other books brought in by the students. Turned out to be a really fun workshop.

I also taught two longer courses: Bookbinding 1 and Bookbinding 2. The first one was four weeks and aimed at people with no previous bookbinding experience. A lot can be learned in four weeks, though, and each student made six different books. Here is some of their work:

The Bookbinding 2 class was five weeks long and it was for students who had already done some binding and wanted to learn some more advanced techniques. Each student made three books: a single-section 3-piece binding with beveled boards and an inset label, an exposed binding sewn on raised cords using a sewing frame, and then we spent most of our time doing a quarter leather, split-board binding with sewn headbands.

Spring Workshops

It seems that I really took a leave of absence since my last post. After so much blogging during the previous year, it was easy to take a break! I have not been taking any breaks from working, though. I conducted several workshops at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design during the past couple months, actually. It was lots of fun and the students did some lovely work. Some of the students were returning with varying levels of experience, and some were entirely new to bookbinding and/or marbling.

I conducted five sessions for one group, so it was a very good introduction to bookbinding for the newbies but also included new things for some returning students as well. I believe everyone completed seven or eight books over the five classes.

We made a couple different pamphlet stitches with paper covers (B-L) and a hardcover pamphlet (T-L); multi-needle chain stitch binding (T-R); and a hardcover album (B-R).

We also made hardcover concertinas (T-L) and chopstick notebooks (T-R). In another session, some students made the Japanese account book (B-L), and during a 2-day weekend workshop, I had a different group making books with the Criss Cross Binding, aka the Secret Belgian Binding (B-R).

There was also a weekend spent teaching the wonderful art of Ebru paper marbling.

Workshop season seems to be over now. I have no more workshops planned until August when I will be at the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland teaching a workshop on the Chinese Thread Book. In addition to making a thread book, we will also be learning a bit about its history and its variations. Check back for information on Fall workshops at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design.

Japanese Bookbinding Course

I have just finished up some samples of the books we're planning to make in my upcoming Japanese Bookbinding course. I'm teaching this through the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, starting Feb 17th (every Monday night 6-9, for five weeks). We'll be making as many of these structures as we can, maybe more, depending on the group's working pace. We will be doing everything as authentically as possible, using the formal binding techniques for each style and using lots of authentic materials, beautiful Japanese papers, etc.

Course description and registration info here:
http://www.craft-design.ns.ca/course/32-japanese-bookbinding

Book structures that we'll be covering, shown in the photo, starting top left:
A Japanese multi-section binding called retchōsō;
A handscroll (kansubon);
And, shown below the scroll, Yamato style notebooks;
In the top corner, a traditional ledger binidng, daifuku chō,
And along the bottom, the four variations of the traditional Japanese stab bindings.