"The Embodied Press" exhibit, curated by Anthea Black

It is wonderful to see a local exhibit featuring book artists. The book arts are not often represented in local galleries, in my experience. Occasionally I'll see an exhibit that has a smattering of book art objects mixed in with other work, but as a general rule, the book art component is not central to the work or the exhibit.

However, the Mary E. Black Gallery in Halifax is currently exhibiting a collection of artists' books, curated by Anthea Black, who is a Canadian artist, writer, and curator. The exhibit features queer and transgender book artists and as stated on the gallery's website, "each work poses questions about difference, intersectionality and power to show that sexual, gender and racial difference cannot be easily understood or legitimized through public visibility alone." The individual works each convey important and striking messages about the issues in LGBTQ+ social history, juxtaposed with conventional and unconventional book forms.

The collection is wide-ranging in its use of binding structures, printing techniques, and its use of scale and content. There is a lot to see in this exhibit and it takes time to view because, as is often the case with books, book content can not be absorbed at a glance. The books themselves are very well executed. Using book structures in art sometimes appears to be an afterthought for conveying an artistic idea, but I thought many of the works in this exbibit were beautiful examples of structure and content working together effectively. There's a more in-depth look at the show posted on the NSBAG blog. Definitely check out the exhibit if you're in the area. The exhibit continues until May 7, 2023.

Book Review: The Book Art of Richard Minsky

The Book Art of Richard Minsky
Richard Minsky
George Braziller, Inc
2011

The Book Art of Richard Minsky, is an autobiographical overview of his life through a book-arts lens. He says that he decided to do this book following his exhibit at Yale in 2010 where they have a large collection of his work in the library's special collections department. Seeing a lifetime of his own work prompted him to put this book together. He explores his creative projects starting in 1957. He writes of his younger self, receiving a rotary printing press as a gift that year when he was only ten years old. That gift, and the legacy of his father's news service and his mother's activism, started him on a path of printing, activism, business savvy, and ultimately book art. He goes on to explore his responses to the major events of the times through his art, initially in the post-war era of the 1950s, then through the protests and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s, then the politics of the 1980s and 1990s, until the 9-11 attacks in 2001.

Minsky was hired to rebind an edition of "A History of Egyptian Mummies" in 1973 (the year I was born). Without any consultation with the book's owner, he used strips of muslin to wrap the book, rather than doing a traditional rebinding. His client loved it and it seems that interpretive bookbinding was born in his studio, that day. The following year, he established the Center for Book Arts in New York, the first center of its kind in the USA.

In this book, Minsky shows how his interests and passions expanded over the decades to include astrophysics, art, music, economics, technology, in addition to painting and bookbinding - studying all these subjects in various capacities - excelling as he went, and using all of it in his books at one time or another. His approach to art included techniques and materials not easily associated with books: rocks and sand, barbed wire, computer monitors, explosives, chains, fire, cars, and whatever else that he felt was demanded by the subject matter.

Clearly Richard Minsky has been paving a road for us. He continues to work as a bookbinder and book artist today, pushing the envelope whenever he can. There is no question that Minsky is a master and a pioneer in the world of bookarts. That he has taken the time to show us his work, compiled in this format with his background stories to expand the plot for us, is generous and rewarding for those of us working in book arts today.

Reviewed by Rhonda Miller, Sept 2014.

Millenium in a Box

Last week I finally did something that I've been planning to do for nine years! I went to see the Millenium in a Box collection which was put together in 2000, at the turn of the millenium (obviously) by the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artist's Guild (www.cbbag.ca). This is a collection of work by 35 Canadian book artists. "Each artist produced a conceptual interpretation of where the new millennium may lead, whether technically, societally, in terms of personal development, where the book arts may go, or in any other way that challenges them."

There are 50 of these boxes; they are held in various locations across Canada, and there are a few outside Canada, and some that are available to be borrowed. Each participating artist created their work in an edition of 50, so there is one of each in each box. One of the boxes is permanently housed in the Special Collections library at Dalhousie University here in Halifax, which is where I did my MLIS degree and where I first started bookbinding and I even worked in this library for a while... but somehow I never managed to find time to check out the Millenium in a Box collection until last week.

The catalyst for this event is a separate story, but here's the quick version. I made some new friends recently, a couple who were traveling to Nova Scotia from their home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They are both artists, one of them doing book arts (among other things) and the other a painter and retired art professor. So I asked if they would like to come with me to see this collection as it would be much more fun to view it in the company of others with similar interests. It was a lovely way to spend our time and I'm so glad we were able to get together (thank you G & B!).

Here we are with a few of the items laid out on the table:

Since the Millenium in a Box collection was not on display last week, they pulled it out of the closed stacks and we were able to sit down with the box and all its contents and look at each piece very closely, read the descriptions, etc at our leisure. There is a full range of book and paper arts included in the box: artist's book, paper making, calligrapy, printmaking, etc. If you are interested in seeing it, check the CBBAG website where it lists all the public locations of the box.

As I mentioned above, each piece was made to show the artist's ideas about the upcoming millennium. Looking at this collection nine years after its creation means that there was an additional element of commentary as we worked our way through the objects. It is a fascinating comment on society of the year 2000; seeing the issues, ideas, and common themes that recur among the various objects and how a mere nine years can affect their meaning. I must remember to go back and look at it again...after another decade or two passes.

More Halloween Book Stuff

Happy Halloween everyone! Firstly, congratulations to Re:Paper, and the Sugar Skull book who won the BEST Zombie Award! The voting was a real nail biter. The Sugar Skull and my coffin book were neck in neck, always at each others heels, breathing down each others necks! Phew! During the last few days, I've come upon some other books and book-related items that seem appropriate for Halloween. One of my favorite books, read and re-read, love it completely is Shelley's Frankenstein. Etsy seller, Lightreading, made this Mary Shelley art paper doll. Stained and shredded pages from Frankenstein are used to make the skirt, and lots of other materials and textures and images are used to complete her. Also by Lightreading, this is a Halloween room decoration. Described in her Flickr photostream as "paper shreds strung with wire & black feathers and charms." The text is from three books, all in my list of favorites: Dracula, Sleepy Hollow and again Frankenstein. This one seems to be the opposite of my own halloween book, which was the coffin with a book inside. This is a book with a skeleton inside. By Etsy seller,SauvageRavenCreation. This is "Tina, the twisted" - a small wooden book box transformed into Tina's final resting place. I thought this was a terrific Halloween image, very goulish and spooky and such. And also great that it has a spooky book in it. I found this photo on Flickr - the description made me laugh, as it says the old book was "borrowed" (with the quotation marks) from a rare book library for the photo shoot. Hmmm...! This photographer also has a nice photo of Bram Stoker's gravestone and the absolute best Alien costume ever. More room decorations for Halloween - book pumpkins! Looks like the books have been trimmed and opened 360 degrees, then little jack-o-lantern faces attached. I found this image on Flickr and also in context on the same person's blog, RoseyLittleThings, who has done a lot of Halloween decorating if you're looking for ideas.

Mirror Words

The third item that I currently have at Abecedarian Gallery is called "Mirror Words". This is a small box with a stack of cards inside. The green cards are stamped with palindromic words and phrases. The peach cards are blank. The pencil is included so more palindromes can be added to the blank cards. Small mirrors are embedded in the cover, and also used on the inside of the box. The green and peach paper is some of the paper that I made and the text is rubber stamped.

To Pack a Bag

"To Pack a Bag" is another one of my items in the Modest in Scale exhibit. This is a hardcover case bound book covered with brown suede leather and embellished with stitching and raised areas to resemble pockets, and decorated with bits of ephemera to suggest a well-traveled bag. I had made a suitcase book for the BEST book swap and it was basically the prototype. It was a blank book with a few pages cut from maps - designed specifically for the swap since we were doing a "travel" theme. The book shown above was made afterwards with some improvements to the construction, and contains a poem that I wrote, called "To pack a bag," laser printed onto parchment paper.

Time for China

There is a new exhibit opening today at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado. The exhibit is entitled "Modest in Scale" and features bookworks five inches or less and modestly scaled prints, drawings and paintings. I have three works in this exhibit, including this little book. "Time for China" is a very small book that is shaped like a teabag and also the same size. It is a limited edition booklet that I printed using a set of rubber stamps that I carved depicting all the elements of a perfect little tea party. Abecedarian Gallery is operated by Alicia Baily, an artist whom I met at PBI a few months ago. Besides creating rather fabulous artists books herself, Alicia also spearheads some other very interesting projects through a group called Spondere.

Books on display

Two of my books have been accepted into an exhbition at the Cuesta College Art Gallery! I am a bit late posting about this, the exhibit has been ongoing for a couple weeks already; however, better late than never, no time like the present, etc. My books are part of the exhibit, "Artists' Books 2008" which runs until July 10th.



One of the books they have, is my book called "Tying Knots" which I've shown here before. It is a Coptic stitched board book with instructions for making several different knots. There are ropes attached to the front cover that can be used for practicing the various knots.

Also in the exhibit, is one of these little Nova Scotia books, which I made as a small edition. It has the official Nova Scotia tartan fabric on the covers, a bit of text on the first page just stating the provincial name in Latin, English, Gaelic, French, and Mi'kmaw. The remaining pages are a collection of my photographs of wonderful Nova Scotia scenery.

Tying Knots, limited edition

My first limited edition artist's book: Tying Knots. I created the illustrations and wrote the instructions for eight different knots, and used them to make this book. Actually I made two of these books, a very limited edition of two. The pages are eska board covered with laser printed parchment paper. The covers have woodgrain printed fabric backed with mulberry paper. Brass findings on the front cover are used to attach two ropes. The ropes can be removed and used to practice the knots, of course. The binding is a Coptic-type chain stitch. One of these books spent some time at Another Room in Alameda, California.




So there, I finally did it. An artist's book. (Well, at least it is the closest I've come to something that might be considered an artist's book.) This might mean I'll have to reconsider my reluctance to call myself an artist... I've got some plans and ideas for other artist's book that i want to develop - but they are very slow to come together compared to the basic journals that I normally make! The biggest factor being the content, of course. Off I go, down a new road looking for content...

L'Anse Amour

I recently came across this collaborative book arts project. Robin Smith Peck, Kevin Major, and Tara Bryan have created this work based on their visit to the inlet of L’Anse Amour, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. L'Anse Amour, Labrador is the site of a 7500-year-old burial site of a 12-year-old boy surrounded by evidence of intriguing ritual. This book is their interpretation of the site and its stories. You can check out the book in significant detail by visiting Tara Bryan's website: www.tarabryan.com.

I spent quite a while browsing Tara Bryan's site. She also has several of her other artist's books displayed there. Some wonderful accordion structures and fabulous linocuts and letterpress work. Bryan was one of the contributor's to the CBBAG Millenium in a Box project, with her World Without End tunnel book.

Online Galleries

Sometimes I find myself just clicking around the Internet looking at pictures of handmade books...for hours. That's what I was doing this evening, and here are some of the websites that I was visiting...looking at pictures, gazing in wonderment, and browsing for ideas and inspiration.

• Ball Peen Bindery Photo Gallery
• Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artist's Guild Online Gallery
• Designer Bookbinders FLOW 2006 Exhibit
• Cai Lun Photo Gallery
• Volcano Arts - The Muse
• Society of Bookbinders Gallery
• Mel Jefferson Bookbinding
• Old English Bindery Gallery
• Guild of Book Workers Online Catalog for the 2002 Members Exhibit
• Guild of Book Workers 100th Anniversary Exhibition 2007
• Guild of Book Workers 1998 ABCDarium Exhibition

Recipes for Motherhood by Stephanie Dean-Moore
CBBAG

Crossed Structure Binding by Mel Jefferson

Bookbinding as a Trade

I don't think this happens very much anymore - where somebody learns bookbinding as an apprentice to a bookbinder, learns everything there is to know about the trade, then eventually takes over the business and continues working as a master bookbinder for the rest of his life... The New York Times just published this article about Mr. Schnerb, a real old fashion tradesman making a living as a bookbinder. This has to be rare. It seems to me that for most bookbinders today who are trying to make a living, that a career as a bookbinder is more like a career as an "artist" rather than a tradesperson. Mr. Schnerb is not being presented as a book artist or as anything else with a similarly vague title - and there are no artistic pretensions to bother about...he is a bookbinder! Plain an simple. Which, in my opinion, is absolutely fabulous! A real, honest-to-goodness bookbinder. Ah, nostalgia. Why don't we still do this apprentice and master process for the trade of bookbinding anymore? Maybe it happens somewhere...but certainly not anywhere that is accessible to me. Too bad.

Art vs. Craft

Bookbinding used to be a trade. I convinced myself at one time, that if it used to be a trade, then it is a craft. If it has always been art, then it is art. Thus the distinction might also be made that a craft results in an object that has some functional purpose (a journal to write in, a rug to wipe your feet on, etc.) whereas art is art is art is art…to behold rather than use.

So bookbinding, weaving, woodworking, ceramics, etc would be craft. Whereas fine arts such as painting, drawing, sculpture, etc are art. But of course, you can paint on your ceramics, and use bookbinding techniques to creature sculpture…so the distinction becomes all blurry again.

Red Stripes Leather Journal by
Rhonda Miller, bookbinder
So now I have been thinking that maybe it depends on the creator of the piece. If the creator calls himself an artist, then his work is art. Obviously, someone who considers himself to be an artist is intentionally creating stuff that should be called artwork; however, if the creator does not call himself an artist, then he probably doesn’t think of his work as artwork. I, for example, call myself a bookbinder and consider my creations to be “books…” not artwork. So I suppose, for me, bookbinding is a craft. Melissa Jay Craig, on the other hand, calls herself a book artist and her books are certainly not just books, they are definitely works of art.

(S)edition Prototypes by
Melissa Jay Craig, book artist
Whenever I think that I'm getting a little closer to an understanding, something else always comes along to change my mind. But I'll go with this for now.

This post was submitted to Blog Carnival over at the Trans Canada Etsy Team blog.