I'm way late but I just had to post the photos from Columbia College's Demo Magazine because they featured book arts! It's just such a visual treat!
Jessica Spring--http://www.springtidepress.com/
Ben Blount
Miriam Centeno
Aimee Lee--http://aimeelee.net/
Jen Thomas--http://artistbooknews.com/thomas.htm
Mardi Sears
Shawn Sheehy--http://shawnsheehy.com/Shawn_Sheehy/Shawn_Sheehy.html
Teesha and Tracy are such talented artists and so generous with their knowledge and materials. Folks were delirious with creative delight.
So many techniques, so little time!
So much fun, like being a kid in the candy store!
Airbrushing rocks!
Work in progress!
Everyone had a super time and we can't wait to see Teesha and Tracy again soon!
Learn more about Teesha and Tracy and their other fun going-ons at http://www.teeshamoore.com/
There will also be an artists' lecture on 9/30 at 7:00 pm.
A few months ago Lisa Takata and I set off on a creative adventure at The Paper Studio to use the Power of the Press in every imaginable dimension. We collected piles of colorful recyclable materials including bubble wrap, candy wrappers, mesh vegetable bags, plastic shopping bags, used sewing patterns, tissue paper and overhead transparencies. Using a heat press, we morphed the structure, texture and form of these materials by melting them together at high temperatures to create translucent, multi-layered surfaces for printmaking. We letterpress printed everything--from the tissue patterns to the melted plastic all of which were hand-cut or die-cut into a series of repeating forms. Each component piece was hand printed, varnished, pressed, melted, folded, ironed, and heat pressed numerous times. Although the resulting work incorporates familiar shapes, colors and text, the ingredients we started with are hardly recognizable. Here's some quick pics of the collaborative pieces--Swarm Pattern and Daily Candy. Also, Lisa and I each did two pieces in response to this work. I'll post them and more details later!
Swarm Pattern
(detail)
Daily Candy
(detail)
(detail)
The image on the front of the article are plates I made with lace and a dryer sheet--mostly for background texture.
The images featured below show a sampling of simple plates and prints.
They even posted an online article with one of samples of "hammer printing" where you can make simple nature prints with out using ink and just a few bangs with a hammer. You can see this online technique at: http://www.artistsnetwork.com/article/hammer-prints
While we wouldn't trade our letterpresses for the world, inking up everyday objects and stepping on them has lots of potential! You'll see more examples of printing without a press when I get a chance to post the work that Lisa T and I just finished for the Chandler Center for the Arts "Power of the Press" exhibition. We used every press we could think of from letterpress, to heat press to printing without a press!
We live next to desert wash which is a great place to find dead fibery plants papermaking. However, living in the desert can involve interesting creatures occasionally wandering into our house. Gary called me over and asked me what kind of bug I thought this was. I counted the legs (8) and decided it was a spider. It looked rather dead so I told him to put it in a jar so I could get better look at it. He slid a card under it and then I saw a leg move....EEK!
After it was in the jar it started moving around like crazy! (thus the blurry photo) But yikes, I thought...it could have jumped on Gary's hand.
Notice the suction cups under its body--helps him climb! It is a really interesting creature and it eats a lot of annoying things like termites and scorpions. 
I released it in the desert wash--back to the wild (albeit--much farther away from our house). I read that they actually avoid the sun and that seemed to be true because it traversed over lots of rocks and sticks for quite a ways before heading into a shady thicket of brush and disappearing.
The Power of the Press:Shared Visions
The duo presented cooking demonstrations featuring local ingredients from the farmer's market. We got to see our fave from last season--Richard. Cooking with liquid nitrogen and a blow torch--who could ask for more?
It was fun hearing the scoop about how the show runs. Plus, they made a delicious food for us!
I mentioned Kings Books store in Tacoma who had all the Beautiful Angle Letterpress posters but I also needed to mention that it is just a fabulous indie bookstore! It is huge and has a wonderful selection of books. I found some great books on printing, bookbinding and art.
Now, this is my kind of bookstore--one with cats in residence. Nikko, the really big kitty.
Harriet the little 12 year old kitty. So nice! Check out Kings Books online.
If you don't know Julie Chen's work, go to Flying Fish Press right now! Gary and I got a chance to get of out the AZ heat and take a 2-day workshop with Julie in Eugene OR. It was mostly on content generation which was nice break and a fun workshop.
Julie's work is quite amazing and is collected all over the world. (Julie with workshop participants)
My friend Jessica told me about this letterpress group Beautiful Angle that runs around the city and puts up posters in Tacoma every month. The posters have become so popular they get taken down almost as fast as they go up. While visiting her recently, I got to see lots of their work at Kings Books in Tacoma since they have most of the posters. I'm sure the residents anticipate the next sighting. What a cool deal.
This magazine totally caught my attention at the bookstore the other day. Something about handwritten notes...but then I went crazy looking at this fabulous publication! Esopus is a NON-PROFIT (no advertising), twice-yearly arts magazine featuring a fresh perspectives on contemporary culture from a wide range of creative professionals. It includes artists’ projects, critical writing, fiction, poetry, visual essays, interviews, and, in each issue, a themed CD of new music. The different types of paper in the magazine are amazing and so unusual these days. You can even apply to have your work in the magazine! 
The fun just never ends in this magazine! The front inside cover had a fold-y thing and the back inside cover has a thematic music CD--this month it's Good News. I got a kick out of hearing all the selections.
