Taking a Little Winter Break...See You in 2015

PSBA 4th Annual Members Exhibition

Opening this week at the Collins Memorial Library at University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, is the annual exhibition of artist's books and book arts created by the members of Puget Sound Book Artists.  The exhibit runs from June 5 - July 31, 2014, and there are some wonderful pieces on view, well worth a visit.  Here are the two books I have on display:

“Early Lessons” is a re-imagined child’s early reader which tells the story of Tom, Sally, their pets and family on a strange trip through Europe.  The pictures and story were created using images and text cut from several early readers, and collaged onto reproductions of photochrom travel postcards from the late 1900’s. The text uses only words and phrases from the early readers, so that a first grader could (but probably shouldn’t!) read the dubious adventures.

“Bright Threads” is a book rescue project -- the original 1897 book of essays for women, had loose, torn covers and disintegrating pages.  Part of the original cover has been inset into the cover of a repurposed dictionary; title pages and several text pages have been preserved as an accordion-style, collaged booklet; passages from pages too fragile to handle have been copied onto fabric and sewn into “text-ribbons” decorated with lace, beading and charms, nestled into a hand-carved niche, ready to be handled and read.  

They Did Not Stop.

This Is a Funny Duck.

It Is Cold, Tom.

We Like Turkey and Apple Pie.

I'm posting a few collages from a book-in-progress (working title:  "Early Lessons"). Backgrounds are enlargements of old photochrom postcards made in the late 1800's.  The photochroms are beautifully colored and detailed, made from a process involving the transfer of black and white photographic negatives to lithographic printing plates.  Hundreds of thousands of these lovely postcards were sold and collected after Congress passed the 1898 Private Mailing Act allowing cards to be sent for 1 cent, half of the going rate for a letter at that time. The collaged elements are cuttings of pictures and text from a tattered old beginning reader published in 1948, adding a delightfully demented dimension to the beautiful old photochroms.

Go Home!

This Is My Home.

You Can Not Get Out of the Box.

I Want My House Shoes.

Away Went Mr. Green.

Good-by Pony

No! No! No!