Instead of my usual snarky new year's poem, I'm starting this year with a gentle little book. This is "Narragansett," an accordion-style artist's book I created from cardboard drink coasters, some left-over scraps of nautical maps, and document repair tape in late 2025. (4x4," opens to 24"). This book is travelling to Kalamazoo, MI right now, to be part of the annual Illustrated Accordion exhibition at Kalamazoo Book Arts Center.
I was thinking about the sea.
Some of my books are appearing in far-flung places this fall:
In Rochester, NY, the 2025 showing of the Art of the Book is opening, and I am delighted to have two pieces on view there. "People I Know, People I Don't Know" is appearing in the Artist's Book section, and "Copper No. 2" is included in the Book Sculpture category.
PSBA is sponsoring their 6th Annual Book Exchange this month, with the theme "threads." The exchange rules are simple -- create a book using that theme, in whatever form and using whatever materials you like. The book you create is then delivered to a randomly selected participating book artist, and you similarly receive an artist book created by another participating artist. It's a lovely idea, the books are great and each participating artist gets to add a wonderful new book to their collection.
Continuing my trend of cleverly-titled books, my "entry" is called THREAD. I created it by altering a mailing advert from the Sundance Catalog (which used a single sheet of paper, folded into six nesting panels). With the addition of some spray paint, some collage, some thread and some hand-cut vinyl lettering, it emerged as this:
More collage images from my recent artist's book called "People I Know, People I Don't Know:"
I've been working on a new collaged artist's book to be called "People I Know, People I Don't Know." Collage on mostly "found" pages, such as old music scores, scrapbook pages, a page from a vintage knitting instructional booklet, miscellaneous decorative paper and whatever else I find down in my studio. I'll bind it with a soft cover, probably some variation of Japanese-style stab binding. Here are a couple completed pages:
Like everyone else, I have way too many projects in various stages of completion -- some in notes, some all mapped out and "merely" needing completion, most in between somewhere. So, of course, a day or two ago I got another bright idea, thought of a cool title, and I'm working on that, instead of EVERYTHING else. I don't feel bad. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
So, basically I am tearing pieces of pages out of newspapers and using acrylic paint to highlight one detail from an image. The pages are large, 11"x11", and they feel great. Words? Not sure, we'll see. I'm having fun with it and I'll be interested to see what it becomes. (Assuming I ever finish it, she said contritely...).
Here are the first 8 images:
The Book as Art V. Myth & Magic is the 11th edition of an art show celebrating artist's books, which is on view at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library in Decatur, GA. The organizers state:
Humans possess a fundamental attraction to stories and storytelling. Folktales, fairy tales, and myths are foundational narratives that bridge the secular and the spiritual and merge the factual with the fantastical. Art can challenge and disturb, restore peace and calm, uplift and inspire. Myths and magic transport us and bind us together in the world of imagination.
Fifty artist's books will be on display in the Fourth Floor Gallery of the Library from September 7 through October 30. I am very pleased to have one of my accordion-style books about Greek mythology (Eternally Damned, 2017) included in this exhibition, and you can find out more about this wonderful exhibit here.
It's summer and you can tell covid is over because there are lots of exhibitions in lots of places. Here's where some of my pieces are spending the summer:
The University of South Dakota is exhibiting Bound and Unbound VII, an exhibition of altered books juried by that wonderful book artist, Brian Dettmer. It runs from August 21, 2023 through January 3, 2004, and I am proud to have two books in this always fantastic exhibition.
I recently finished an altered book for the annual book exchange program sponsored by the Puget Sound Book Association. PSBA chose the theme “Pathways,” and this little book highlights some of the creative ways we go down our pathways. The original book was a soft-covered children’s book about the Spanish Conquistador Cabeza de Vaca, who was the leader of an ill-fated expedition into what is now Texas and the American Southwest in the early 1500’s (thereby selecting invading and conquering as his own personal method of going down the path). Here are a few page views:
