The Monumental Idea in Miniature Books (MIMB) show, now on exhibit at Columbia College Chicago for the Southern Graphics Council Conference 2009, now has their website up here. The gallery space is small, but is in a great location on Michigan Ave. 5 blocks from Chicago Art Institute, next to the Hilton Hotel(the conference site for SGC). This international show of miniature books by 125 artists was curated by Hui-Chu Ying at University of Akron, with the help of her students. There are more photos at the MIMB flickr site.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
MIMB
The Monumental Idea in Miniature Books (MIMB) show, now on exhibit at Columbia College Chicago for the Southern Graphics Council Conference 2009, now has their website up here. The gallery space is small, but is in a great location on Michigan Ave. 5 blocks from Chicago Art Institute, next to the Hilton Hotel(the conference site for SGC). This international show of miniature books by 125 artists was curated by Hui-Chu Ying at University of Akron, with the help of her students. There are more photos at the MIMB flickr site.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Slay a bookbinder
I recently found this on another bookbinder's website:
Writing in 1898 Kenneth Grahame noted that:
“As a general rule, the man in the habit of murdering bookbinders, though he performs a distinct service to society, only wastes his own time and takes no personal advantage”
In 1904 he expanded on that thought, perhaps because some book had still not been completed/delivered:
“Not in that he bindeth books - for the fair binding is the final crown and flower of painful achievement - but because he bindeth not: because the weary weeks lapse by and turn to months, and the months to years, and still the binder bindeth not: and the heart grows sick with hope deferred.
Each morn the maiden binds her hair, each spring the honeysuckle binds the cottage porch, each autumn the harvester binds his sheaves, each winter the iron frost binds lake and stream, and still the binder bindeth not.
Then a secret voice whispereth: ‘Arise, be a man, and slay him! Take him grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broadblown as flush as May; at gaming, swearing, or about some act that hath no resish of salvation in it!’
But when the deed is done, and the floor strewn with fragments of binder - still the books remain unbound…”
Hah! It really cracks me up. On that note, I just finished binding a book. It's a sampler of 4 different link stitches and 2 different kettle stitches, bound on wooden boards. I used instructions from J.A. Szirmai's The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding.
Writing in 1898 Kenneth Grahame noted that:
“As a general rule, the man in the habit of murdering bookbinders, though he performs a distinct service to society, only wastes his own time and takes no personal advantage”
In 1904 he expanded on that thought, perhaps because some book had still not been completed/delivered:
“Not in that he bindeth books - for the fair binding is the final crown and flower of painful achievement - but because he bindeth not: because the weary weeks lapse by and turn to months, and the months to years, and still the binder bindeth not: and the heart grows sick with hope deferred.
Each morn the maiden binds her hair, each spring the honeysuckle binds the cottage porch, each autumn the harvester binds his sheaves, each winter the iron frost binds lake and stream, and still the binder bindeth not.
Then a secret voice whispereth: ‘Arise, be a man, and slay him! Take him grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broadblown as flush as May; at gaming, swearing, or about some act that hath no resish of salvation in it!’
But when the deed is done, and the floor strewn with fragments of binder - still the books remain unbound…”
Hah! It really cracks me up. On that note, I just finished binding a book. It's a sampler of 4 different link stitches and 2 different kettle stitches, bound on wooden boards. I used instructions from J.A. Szirmai's The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
International Edible Books Festival 2009
I'm helping out this year to create an exhibit of edible books for the International Edible Books Festival 2009! Sponsored by the University of Iowa Center for the Book, it will be held at the UI Main Library on Wednesday, April 1, in the North Lobby. Here are the details:When was the last time you really devoured a good book? This year, the University of Iowa’s Center for the Book invites faculty, staff, and students to join us in celebrating the annual International Edible Books Festival by creating a delicious book to share with your fellow literary and food enthusiasts.
To celebrate this international event, the Book Arts Club is organizing an exhibition of edible books to be on display on April 1st (no joke!) in the North Lobby of the University of Iowa Main Library. There are only two rules; entries must be edible and they must have something to do with books as shapes and/or content. An entry fee of $5 goes to support the Book Arts Club.
To participate, drop off edible books at the UI Main Library North Lobby on Wednesday, April 1st, between 9-10am. They will be on display from 10am – 12 noon, followed by a reception and book tasting from 12 – 2pm. The awards ceremony starts at 12:30 pm, with prizes awarded based on Best Book Structure, Most Creative Literary Reference, and Best In Show. Also, all entries are automatically entered into a raffle for free sketchbooks from Blick Art Materials.
* The International Edible Book Festival is a yearly event held on April 1st throughout the world. This event unites bibliophiles, book artists, and food lovers to celebrate the ingestion of culture and its fulfilling nourishment. Participants create edible books that are exhibited, documented, and then consumed. Information and inspiration can be found on the Festival's home page at Books2Eat.com.
Edible Books Submission Form (bottom right)
(the photo above is by Heather Hunter and friends, England: Thames, 2002)
Thursday, March 05, 2009
RSVP and SGC
Some upcoming shows I'll be in:
RSVP has again invited the Center for the Book to have their annual student
works show for the March Iowa City Gallery Walk in their store. The Gallery Walk is tomorrow night (March 6th), 5-8pm, downtown Iowa City. Participating locations, including RSVP, will have walking maps showing where all the openings are being held. RSVP is a lovely little stationary store located at 140 N. Linn St., next to the Motley Cow. I'll have on display a copy of The Bad Sparrow codex, "The Search" letterpress print, and some historical proto-book models (a papyrus scroll with hand-cut reed and a model of a Singhalese Palm-leaf book).
I also have a small scroll in the Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books show, on display now at Columbia College Chicago for the Southern Graphics Council Conference 2009, Global Implications. The gallery space is small, but is in a great location on Michigan Ave. 5 blocks from Chicago Art Institute, next to the Hilton Hotel(the conference site for SGC). This international show of miniature books by 125 artists was curated by Hui-Chu Ying at University of Akron, with the help of her students. You can see lots of great photos of them, the show, and individual books at MIMB flickr site.
RSVP has again invited the Center for the Book to have their annual student
works show for the March Iowa City Gallery Walk in their store. The Gallery Walk is tomorrow night (March 6th), 5-8pm, downtown Iowa City. Participating locations, including RSVP, will have walking maps showing where all the openings are being held. RSVP is a lovely little stationary store located at 140 N. Linn St., next to the Motley Cow. I'll have on display a copy of The Bad Sparrow codex, "The Search" letterpress print, and some historical proto-book models (a papyrus scroll with hand-cut reed and a model of a Singhalese Palm-leaf book).
I also have a small scroll in the Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books show, on display now at Columbia College Chicago for the Southern Graphics Council Conference 2009, Global Implications. The gallery space is small, but is in a great location on Michigan Ave. 5 blocks from Chicago Art Institute, next to the Hilton Hotel(the conference site for SGC). This international show of miniature books by 125 artists was curated by Hui-Chu Ying at University of Akron, with the help of her students. You can see lots of great photos of them, the show, and individual books at MIMB flickr site.
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