Vessels of Possibility: Revelation and Interchange

Works by Pati Scobey and Julia Miller

            

Presented at
the University of the Arts Printmaking Gallery
6th floor of Anderson Hall
333 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Friday, November 6 to Friday, November 20, 2009.
Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Curated by Sally Faulkner and Donna Globus, graduate students in the MFA Book Arts/Printmaking Program. The show presents the broad approach to both the book and the print of these longtime friends. Through the investigation of historic binding structures and the influence of time and handling, Julia Miller’s work invites viewers to a wider understanding of the book. Her work reveals what can happen when an artist takes the material history of a form and uses it as a medium. Pati Scobey’s imagery of nature in her work is a response to her home territory in rural Michigan. She layers a distinctive vocabulary of marks in colorful patterns that reveals itself much like a well-loved landscape. Together, this pairing shows not only delight in the traditional form of the book but also the book’s resilience and adaptability to history.

(above, left: A is for Aurochs, an Alphabet of Old Words, 4” x 5” x 1.25”, Julia Miller. Right: Evening Sussurus, 6” x 24”, Pati Scobey)

Pati Scobey WorkshopThis Fall

                  
The Printed Page: Hand Printing Techniques
November 14 & 15
University of the Arts
333 S. Broad Street
Philadelphia

Investigate the interaction of image and sequence while experimenting with hand printing techniques. Students will learn a form of water- based printing that will allow them to develop a vocabulary of interchangeable printing components comprised of collagraphs and individual stencils. These components will be used as improvisational tools during the printing process. Printing instruction will emphasize the manipulation of inks and color to achieve desired results. The workshop will culminate in each participant’s creation of a print series or printed pages for a future book.

Workshop Fee: $200
Materials Fee: $35 (payable to the instructor)

To hold a spot, make a check out to:
The Guild of Book Workers
and mail it to:
Alice Austin
Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Please include your name, email address, and phone number.

A Reminder:

FFF workshop coming up!

Please sign up for our Fast, Friendly, Free Workshop.

Michelle Dauberman will teach:

Insect Pamphlet:
This insect inspired structure is a fun, simple and elegantly designed 2-hole pamphlet. Utilizing a creative approach to sustainability you can reuse found/scrap materials like wallpaper, Mohawk paper and wax thread to create this organic book/pamphlet structure. Pamphlet materials will be provided. You will need to bring the following tools to the workshop: Knife, sewing needle, scissors, Japanese hole punch and awl.

Cube and nested triangle structure:
Inspired by Platonic solids and the geometry of 3-D space, this form uses a clear medium (ink jet transparency) to expose the elegant simplicity and beautiful relationship of shape and structure as it relates to the cube and nested triangle. Pre-printed ink jet transparencies/templates will be provided. You will need to bring the following tools to the workshop: Knife, bone folder and metal ruler.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
9am – 12pm
Held at the Library Company
1314 Locust St.

RSVP by clicking HERE!

CALL FOR ENTRIES

BUILDING BY THE BOOK:
Book Artists Respond to Architecture and Design

As part of Philagrafika 2010: the Graphic Unconscious, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, in collaboration with the Philadelphia Center for the Book, is issuing a call for entries for book artists to respond to selected works from the Athenaeum’s legacy research collection of architecture and design.

Entry & Submission Summary:
Athenaeum curators have chosen ten books from their collections that are available to view both on site and online. Artists residing in the United States are invited to submit proposals for a book that they will create in response to one of the selected books. The proposed books may be editioned or one-of-a-kind, artist books, book objects, altered books or zines. The proposal must be for newly created work, directly responding to a specific book from the Athenaeum collection. Six of the proposals will be chosen, and these six artists will make their proposed books, which will be exhibited in the Athenaeum gallery in March and April during the Philagrafika 2010 festival. A generous grant from the Beneficia Foundation underwrites this competition and exhibition and will provide these six artists with a stipend of $500 to help offset the cost of the book production. The artists’ books will be exhibited along with their Athenaeum counterparts. The Athenaeum books are available to view by appointment during regular Athenaeum hours and online. Athenaeum staff are available in person and at 215-925-2688 to consult with artists about the books to which they are responding.

Visit the Athenaeum’s website for project details and to view books.
Deadline for proposals is September 25, 2009.

“Show and Bestow” – The Ruth Hughes Collection of Artists’ Books
A call to donate artists’ books to a new collection at Oberlin College
Preceded by an exhibition at the Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street
November 20 – December 30, 2009

Cancer affects everyone. Recently my friend Ruth found out that her life will be cut short by cancer. Help celebrate life! Please donate a book in her honor to a collection I am assembling that will become a part of the Special Collections at her alma mater, Oberlin College. Your art work will be exhibited first in Philadelphia and then at Oberlin College.

Books due by November 13th to:
Alice Austin
c/o The Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Please include name, email and mailing address for recognition.
Also, include a short description of your book.
Questions? Ask ALICE

 

Another Fast, Friendly, and FREE Workshop

Michelle Dauberman will teach:

Insect Pamphlet:
This insect inspired structure is a fun, simple and elegantly designed 2-hole pamphlet. Utilizing a creative approach to sustainability you can reuse found/scrap materials like wallpaper, Mohawk paper and wax thread to create this organic book/pamphlet structure. Pamphlet materials will be provided. You will need to bring the following tools to the workshop: Knife, sewing needle, scissors, Japanese hole punch and awl.

Cube and nested triangle structure:
Inspired by Platonic solids and the geometry of 3-D space, this form uses a clear medium (ink jet transparency) to expose the elegant simplicity and beautiful relationship of shape and structure as it relates to the cube and nested triangle. Pre-printed ink jet transparencies/templates will be provided. You will need to bring the following tools to the workshop: Knife, bone folder and metal ruler.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
9am – 12pm
Held at the Library Company
1314 Locust St.

RSVP by clicking HERE!

Workshop Coming up Next Month

Developing a Narrative in Visual Artists Books

This workshop will focus on the development and use of narrative as it is used in contemporary book form. Class discussion will include narrative expression from a variety of sources such as current and historical fiction and painting, folk art, and ancient mythologies. There will also be references to popular contemporary art and culture, with an emphasis on visual artist’s books. The course will include class participatory exercises hands on studio assignments and class reviews. Attendees should bring a sketchbook, glue sticks, scissors and drawing/sketching supplies

Taught by Claire Owen

The workshop will be held July 11th from 10 am – 4pm with lunch break

Held at Claire’s studio. (Germantown)

$80 members, $100 non-members

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

Make Sense! or how far a narrative thread can be pulled.

Discussion will include the importance of linear flow to a narrative. Examples of work in which this is done successfully and when it has failed will be discussed. There will be discussion of pacing of information from a beginning point through “time” to a conclusion.

Terms of Engagement:

By what means does an artist engage the viewer in their story using the primary elements of IMAGE and/or TEXT. Do they use a reference to a specific public or private event; (911, Kennedy assassination, graduation, wedding?) Or do they give you a character to care about (or not) Are you (the viewer) being asked to consider a new context and meaning for a commonly understood truth?

Details Matter

Here the workshop will examine how to consider the effectiveness of the physical elements of a work in “delivering” the narrative to the viewer. If text is important, how is readability enhanced or compromised? If a specific time or place is important to the narrative, are the artist references accurate? With specific consideration to the book form, the individual elements of paper, cloth, page size, text style, and image, will be considered as part of the whole “voice” of the story.

If you want to attend this workshop, please email Jennifer Rosner: bindery@librarycompany.org

Fun Workshop

We had a really fun workshop this past weekend taught by Andrew Huot. We learned to make the Sliding Card Folder and the Magic Window. This was one of our Fast, Friendly, FREE workshops. They are usually held on a Saturday morning for about three hours. We would like to do more of them and are looking for willing teachers. Do you have anything you would like to share?

Fast, Friendy, FREE Workshop coming up!

Andrew Huot will teach us two paper toy structures. The Sliding Card Folder and the Magic Window will give you creative options for announcements, games, or artist books. Based on sliding mechanisms, these reveal or change the image when the viewer activates the mechanism.

Saturday, June 13, 2009
9 am – noon
The Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Bring the usual set of tools: scissors, ruler, cutting mat & knife. Bring colored pencils, markers or rubber stamps to decorate your creations. All other materials will be provided.

This workshop is FREE! But I need for you to RSVP if you are coming. The building is not open to the public and I want to know how many people I will be letting in. Please email me if you are coming: bindery@librarycompany.org

Hedi Kyle is Honored

 

               

Our own Hedi Kyle (DVC Program Chair) was honored yesterday with the presentation of a Festschrift. The hefty book, which was sponsored by the Delaware Valley Chapter, The Philadelphia Center for the Book, and The University of the Arts Book Arts/Printmaking Program, is filled with contributions from 35 book artists and contains both scholarly articles and personal tributes. Hedi’s long career as an artist seems unabated and her new work is on display now at the UArts in the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery aspart of the Hybrid Book Conference.

Two examples of Hedi’s books in display at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery.