The Paper Studio Featured in Wavelength Magazine!

We love NPR (national public radio) and we felt honored when our local station wanted to do a story on us based on recommendations from their listeners. We were really surprised when we saw we would be in their new magazine Wavelength. It is so wonderfully photographed and written. I guess we wouldn't expect less from the folks at NPR. But the really groovy thing about being in the magazine is all the new people who are finding out about us! And these folks are way cool! Lots of interesting people stopping by the Studio to see us and one woman called me to let me know she just removed a lot of bamboo from her yard and asked if we could use it. Boy o' boy that is like getting birthday presents! I cajoled Adam, who was working on the web in comfy cool air conditioning, into helping me during the hottest part of the day and off we went to retrieve a truck load of bamboo from the alley. I was so excited even though it was 108 degrees outside! Adam was not quite as thrilled...bamboo paper will be forthcoming!

The Complex Beauty of Japanese Papers

Japanese papers are so exquisite and we are adding new styles every week. You can check out our ever expanding Japanese paper section! I love the way Japanese papers look, feel and cooperate when making books, boxes and invites. But I find it totally mind boggling that it takes six silkscreen runs to print the designs on a sheet of paper. SIX--can you believe it??? SIX print runs and perfect registration to boot! (Now, we no longer have room to grouse when we have to do three colors in letterpress or silk screening!).

The red flowers are the first print run on a light off-white mulberry base.

The 2nd run is adding pink flowers and pink dots.

The third run is adding the grey branches and dots.

The 4th run is adding ochre colors dots.

The 5th print run is adding the beige background color. Now this surprised me. I thought that layer would have been an earlier color run. The sheet no longer feels like the raw mulberry on the top surface--it is fully filled in by the silkscreen inks.

The 6th and final layer is the delicate metallic gold accents that encircles the dots and flowers and runs along the grey branches. It really does give you a whole new appreciation of the beauty and complexity of these papers!

Going Round in Circles

Our lives at The Paper Studio really do go in warp speed and I usually forget to show you the outcomes of the projects we do. I'll grab my camera only when I think of it so you end up getting teeny bits and blabs of what we work on (the stuff besides running a physical store & web shop!)

I showed you the buckets upon buckets of the chocolate and oatmeal color pulp we beat for a recycled invite project. Once the paper was made, more work began! We cut about a bazillion circles--well it seemed like that--and printed and glued like maniacs. 10 printing plates later (only 9 survived--we had a "N" casualty on one plate) and probably 25oo print passes, the final project looked like this. We didn't even get to oooh and ahhh over them too long, they left the nest the day they got assembled.

Paper Studio Artists Work Featured on Tempe's 2008 Call For Entry

Tempe Cultural Services has their 2008 call for entry out and we were totally thrilled to see our exhibition work on their postcard! How fun is that? Yay! Those junkmail birds live on and on! We had such fun doing that show--it's at the post office right in the heart of downtown Tempe right by Arizona State University. Such a great & funky space and the arts staff are super great to work with.

Well, here's your chance to get your work seen by the thousands who traverse through Tempe Arizona.
Applications for the 2008 shows are due at 5:00 pm on October 12th so don't dilly dally around. See http://www.tempe.gov/arts/exhibitions/call.pdf

Wanna Go To Italy and Make Art?

Our very talented artist/professor friends, Carol Panaro Smith and Jim Hajicek along with 3 other artists are taking their 2nd trip to Italy in June 2008 for nine days of art making!

Art Intersection is series of workshops in northern Tuscany that will cover multi-disciplines of bookmaking, photography, writing, drawing, performance and even yoga.

2008 Workshop Dates are June 4 - 13. Each day will consist of an intersection of interdisciplinary arts: yoga, drawing, poetry, photography, bookmaking, performance, and writing.

Gary and I stopped over to their studio--Alchemy Studios on Sunday where they were showing slides of the trip, talking about the workshops and sampling bruschetta.

I was delirious just seeing the images of the region. So beautiful and no tourists! They stay in the most beautiful countryside towns--one area that has no commerce (although there are nearby towns).

What would that be like to have no cellphones, no interruptions, gorgeous surroundings, fabulous food and the luxury of time to contemplate and make art for 9 days?

I just want to go there and wander around for days and days inhaling and touching everything from the beautiful stone buildings, lush meadows and freshly picked cherries from the nearby orchard.

It really looks like an experience of a lifetime...hmmmm....9 months to figure out how to leave a very demanding paper studio for 9+ days...think, think, think...

Dard Hunter Papermaking Keepsakes

Life really is a series of deja vu's, you know? I'm always the last minute creative with my personal artwork around here. It's the way I always work and it's maddening not only for me but it usually impinges on everyone within a 5 mile radius. This type of last minute creative rush was a killer in grad school when you had to create on demand! So anyhow, the Dard Hunter Papermaking Conference is approaching and while I can't attend this year, I wanted to participate by sending in a keepsake which is 200 of something delicious with handmade paper. Our papermaker, Donna had her paper made--banana, banana and it was beautiful--printed and mailed off before I even got started with mine. She was great at gently reminding me to get busy!

So of course, there I was with the deadline so close I could feel it breathing down my neck when I finally got my idea. Then I had to cut a bazillion circles, letterpress print them, bag them and ship them under extreme pressure. So Gary and Anne got sucked into the whirlwind and we found ourselves stuffing packages and fighting the clock before either Fedex or the post office closed. The post office won since it is open 15 minutes later! Anne was a hoot, she said she felt energized when we just made it under the finish line and that it wouldn't have been the same if I had finished early. Oh yes Anne, that would have been LESS STRESSFUL, oh what a concept.

I had to take of photo of my red press with red ink. I love this little sigwalt press. It is such a happy and cooperative little press!

Seeing Double

This has nothing to do with Paper, Papermaking, Books or Book Art. But I thought I was seeing double the other night. Mattie Matterson our cat was laying at our front door which is totally glass. When I looked over my shoulder I thought to myself--"aw, look at his mirror image."
Then I realized that wasn't possible and saw that there was another cat laying on the other side of the door. Mattie is so funny. He actually likes this old cat who seems to be from somewhere in the neighborhood (he has a collar). I am not a fan of kitties who wander around outside--it's too dangerous for them!

The Gorey Details Exhibition in Somerset Magazine

Okay, if you are in our area, this is your last week to see our current exhibition at The Paper Studio entitled "The Gorey Details". This twisted yet humorous collage exhibit inspired by Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies™ features the clever wicked rhymes and artworks of 26 artists from the United States, Canada, France, and Germany. Gorey's illustrated and sometimes wordless books had a vaguely ominous air and ostensibly Victorian and Edwardian settings, have long had a huge following. Gorey's work is difficult to classify. He was typically described as an illustrator, but this isn't the full story. His combination of words and pictures has led some to classify him as having been a cartoonist, while others regard him primarily as a writer who drew, or an artist who wrote. Come and see the 26 letters of the alphabet in this Gorey inspired show!

If you don't get a chance to catch the show in person, you can see the 5-page spread about the exhibition in Somerset Studio Magazine's Sept/Oct 2007 edition. They did a nice interview with Sylvia Luna who came up with the idea to get 26 artists to do a Gorey inspired piece. The exhibition will continue to travel to different venues when it leaves The Paper Studio on Sept 15th.

Binge Blogging & The Paper Studio Gals

I always think of lots of things to blog about but I typically run out of hours in the day to get everything done--if I only have 4-6 more hours in the day! So I've decided I'm a binge blogger--ie., someone to blog heavily or excessively over certain periods of time (like when I have some time to actually sit down and write!)

I posted on The Paper Studio Guys that keep things humming at the studio, so now here's the post on the gals at the studio keeps things hopping!

Kesley's favorite work days is when the new products arrive! She is so funny--like a kid at Christmas! She is the one you'll see floating effortlessly around the shop--she gets all that grace from being a dancer. Aside from helping us out, Kelsey is the Assistant Director of Gravity Jazz Dance Theater--a professional AZ dance company, a dance instructor at a local studio, a college student and last but not least--she was the flower girl in our (Gary and my) wedding--but that was a loooooooong time ago!

Anne is probably one of the first person you will probably see or talk to when you contact The Paper Studio. Anne has a passion for paper, an eye for detail and has exquisite organizing talents. Anne and I have known each other for a bazillion years and most likely she rues the day when she told me to call if I needed any help on projects just as I finished grad school. I took her up on the offer and the next thing she knew, we were furiously creating 200 handmade paper pieces with a wax resist (which involved ironing the wax out of the 200 pieces!) and driving through Tempe like manics to make it to Fed Ex before the 6:00 pm closing to get the project in the mail. That was in 2004 and we haven't slowed down yet!

Donna is our amazing paper maker--a godsend really, Paper Thursday--Donna. Not only is Donna an accomplished papermaker and bookbinder, she is also a ceramic artist who helps coordinate the empty bowls project in Phoenix and for years has assisted in coordinating the VNSA booksale. You should see the ginormous 2-ton reader's digest chair she made--it had to be moved on a semi-truck! Donna never ceases to amaze us with her never-ending interest and enthusiasm for papermaking. You couldn't ask for a better papermaking partner!
EmmaMoo is MattiMatterson's sister even though they are completely different colors and sizes. She comes to work with me a couple times a week as well. She complains a lot during the drive over (backseat driver!) Some of you have seen her pop out in the shop but she always scurries to letterpress area if approached. She is a little more brave than her brother but they are both pretty shy. Mostly she sleeps in my desk chair at the studio so I get to sit in a spindly folding chair when she's there.

Here's me (making a book)--the binge blogger, traffic coordinator et al at The Paper Studio.

SHITDISCO -

This is a really fun use a pop-up book combined with a music video. A lot of work too! Maybe The Paper Studio should do a pop-up music video...hmmmm...

The The Fellowship of Pop-Up Books

The pop-up wall got me thinking about how much I love pop up books. They are like puppet books to me. I love this pop up book video by Juniper Albert Tangpuz--the black and white color, the movement of the book parts and hands plus the groovy music--it does remind me of a puppet show!

Juniper Albert Tangpuz (continued)

Juniper Albert Tangpuz also makes great paper sculptures as well as interesting videos. Visit his website and look at his gallery section. His stencil images in gallery one and his wild life images in gallery 2 are amazing!

Stencil No. 6 (Homage to the Tree of Knowledge) Juniper Albert Tangpuz

Slow Spiked Crawler Beast Juniper Albert Tangpuz

Pop up Zebra in the Wall Jungle

zebra, originally uploaded by papernoodle.

I had to show this zebra since it is so adorable!

Pop-up Jungle mural

Jungle mural, originally uploaded by papernoodle.

Now talk about interative book...er...wall. How amazing to step in to a life size pop up book! This kid will be the next Robert Sabuda from being around pop-up structures from birth!

Papernoodle

Anniversary, originally uploaded by papernoodle.

Now this guy has interesting paper sculptures!

CALL FOR ART: ALTERED BOOKS

I came across this call for book arts. Get your scissors out and sculpt those old books!

CALL FOR ART: ALTERED BOOKS AT MINNEAPOLIS CENTRAL LIBRARY
Minneapolis Public Library announces a national call for U.S. artists to submit digital images of altered books for a juried exhibition January-March 2008 at Minneapolis Central Library’s Cargill Hall exhibition gallery. The exhibition will be juried by Betty Bright, Ph.D., former curator at Minnesota Center for Book Arts and author of No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America, 1960 to 1980, (Granary Books, 2005). The exhibition will be part of a city-wide series of workshops, exhibitions and programs capped by the annual convention of the Public Library Association, in Minneapolis, March 25-29, 2008. According to the International Society of Book Artists, an altered book is any book, old or new, that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art.

Submission Fee: $20 (make checks payable to Minneapolis Public Library) for up to 5 images on CD. Images should be saved in JPG format, 72 dpi, no more than seven inches (or 504 pixels) along the image’s longest dimension.Works must be original in concept and execution and have been created since January 1, 2003. Note that this exhibition is open to working artists only.

Application deadline: October 15, 2007. Final selection is November 1.

Get application details

Please direct questions to: Melinda Ludwiczak at 612-630-6246.

One more Paper Studio BoyFriend

Alrighty, then...I'm almost done with posting about our boy friends.

Today was a papermaking pulping day--making chocolate pulp and cleaning up lots o' stuff from our marathon papermaking adventures of late.

I've needed to tidy up our papermaking courtyard for weeks but once it started being 110 degrees for days on end, I just didn't feel up to it and I swear piles of stuff breed and multiply in the night! However, with several more days of marathon papermaking looming large, I needed to get out there and rinse off about 100 pellons to get ready for our next round of papermaking.

While I was out there I decided to tackle moving the 150 lb bale of hesperaloe (for papermaking) that was plunked in the middle of the courtyard which ultimately became the bottom of the mountain of crap. I'm only 5'2" and the bale was about as tall as me when I turned it upright--I succeeded in dragging it over to the wall although from the looks of the bale compared to my scratched up arms, perhaps it won that round.

From this shot, you'd think I bagged a ton of garbage...wrong! This is not garbage but fabulous banana fiber that Larry from the arts and cultural center brought us for papermaking.

Banana tree leaf plant fiber makes the most lovely paper! Now at least is in one place and I believe this fiber IS multiplying in volume.

Once I got the courtyard relatively organized, I looked at my planting beds which have totally gone amok--come out, come out, come out where every you are!--my bird of paradise plants are buried under nut grass that completely taken over. I thought to myself, Vynnie the gardener, would be quite dismayed at the sad state of affairs of the whole situation. Especially since he and Robin added the great pots to one side of the courtyard. But after being outside for 2 hours in 109 degree temps cleaning pellons, wrestling with the hesper bale, moving tables and corralling all the banana fiber, I decided the weeding could wait till next week.

It was like the universe was eavesdropping. When I got home this evening, I got an email saying that our good friend, Vynnie the Gardner is in the latest issue of Popular Mechanics! I thought that magazine was about cars....they should have a subtitle that says "we are NOT just about cars". Anyway, Vynnie McDaniels is there on page 64--The Xeriscape Artist and he definitely is!We met Vynnie through art functions, not gardening (we just pester him with planting questions now). Robin and Vynnie will be in an upcoming Paper Studio video talking about visual journaling. They have coordinated our October Under the Covers journaling show for the past 3 years and are prolific visual journalers, drawers while being the most amazingly creative and fun people. The Under the Covers 3 show will be up from October 1 - 31, 2007 so stay tuned. Congrats Vynnie on the Pop Mech press!

More Paper Studio Guys

Okay, now here are they guys you'll see regularly at The Paper Studio. It really does take a village to run a studio. Now I'm actually the only one here "full time" which is apx 80-ish hours a week but these are key guys that are here throughout the week and help make the studio work. (I'll do a post on the key gals as well)


Gary is the co-founder and owner of the studio. The studio is really his 2nd full time job where gets to come after working all day to hang out with us in the evenings and weekends either teaching classes or running the shop. He is an accomplished bookbinder and photographer whose work has been exhibited throughout the state. Gary is a great collaborative partner in artwork whether as a subject or as an engineer. A huge 6' x 4' cyanotype image on silk organza, of Gary swimming in a full business suit was plastered all over Chicago during the Manifest Urban Artfest in 2004 and now swims in our classroom. (It took a lot of convincing to get him into that water the day before Christmas eve--what a good sport!) He gets to put his engineering skills to fine use with all the hairbrained installation schemes we seems to dream up at the studio or in our own artwork. Here's a pic of him printing--until recently he's only had time to move and fix the presses but I think he's got the printing bug now!


Mike is our letterpress guru. He teaches our letterpress classes and collaborates with us on our print jobs. He has been involved in letterpress printing since he was a teenager. He trained two years after high school to become a printer but a sudden career change found him as publisher of a community newspaper in Minnesota until he retired and moved to Arizona. He has a print shop at his home and has been active in letterpress printing, including publishing two books. He is a co-founder of a national letterpress group (founded in 1958), the Amalgamated Printers' Association…an organization composed of letterpress printing enthusiasts—hobby printers, typecasters and letterpress collectors. Mike has also started a way cool publication called Galley Gab. What every you do, don't promise this man cake unless you mean it...he still holds it against us that we invited him to a birthday party and we accidentally held the party earlier & ate all the cake before he got there...oops!

Adam is our photo and web guy who also is fine printer and bookbinder as well. Adam has a BFA in photography from Arizona State University is a fabulous fine art photographer. See more of his work on adamdraper.net. Besides helping us he also works with KAET Channel 8 at Arizona State University. He's getting married this fall so we keep reminding him to get busy printing this invitations!

Matti Matterson comes to work with me at least twice a week. You'll only see him on the web and never out in the shop because he is very, very shy. He sleeps on the shelf in the office or in the closet and chirps at birds out the window.

The Paper Studio BoyFriends

In working on the next few posts, I had to laugh when I thought back to a comment last year made by a mixed media instructor here from CA who said she was surprised at how many guys she saw in our shop during the weekend she was teaching. Of course, there are guys in our shop--they are artists, designers, printers, etc. So the next few posts have to do with some of the terrific guys we know.

First up is Kjellgren Alkire (pronounced shell grin). Kjel's show Pulpit is up at eye lounge gallery in Phoenix through September 1st. Kjel is pretty amazing because he is having his MFA show in printmaking at ASU later this year, he's a brand, brand new dad, it's his first year at eye lounge (a terrific gallery where I'm also a member but taking a year off) and his show has been quite the buzz! I'm not surprised at all the buzz because when his work has been in our gallery shows at The Paper Studio, his religious themed pieces from his bible paper airplanes that overflow wastebaskets to his bible pages rolled in gelatin capsules for ease of swallowing have evoked reactions from from laughter to confusion. Kjel is truly one of our favorite characters we have met through the studio and we can't wait to see one of his performances at the gallery tomorrow night. Also, a huge congrats to Kjel for being featured in the Phoenix New Times for the Arist Studio Visit for August. It's an pretty cool honor to be selected since they only feature 12 artists per year. Whoo Hoo!

Next, the very talented and amazingly nice guy Matt Connelly's group show opens at the Mesa Center for the Arts in the project room on September 14th - Jan 6th (Matt's the blue guy on the right :) Cel Mates features Arizona artists influenced by animation. Artists Matt Connelly, Mike Maas, Dave Quan and Roy Wasson Valle will transform a gallery into a humorous & animated world of 2-D and 3-D characters and landscaping. We can't wait to see this show getting a sneak peak at some of the material Matt is working with for his landscape part of the show.

Also at the MCA at the same time is Beyond the Cel--The Influence of Animation on Contemporary Art is in the South GallerySept. 15th - Feb 10th. Beyond the Cel brings together some of the most influential and significant graphic artists of our time, including Ron English, Gary Baseman, Sket-One, Anthony Ausgang, KRK Ryden, Andrew Brandou, The Brothers McLeod, Ryan Bubnis, Michelle Valigura and Amanda Visell. A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet of plastic (usually acetate) on which objects are drawn or painted for animation, allowing for several layers of composition. After the worldwide launch of RabbitHoles™ 3D Motion Art at Comic-Con in San Diego last month, MCA will be the first venue to showcase this new image technology as part of the Beyond the Cel exhibition featuring Ron English’s Cathy Cowgirl.

Ah...the smell of freshly dried paper...

...it is almost like the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies...NOT! But after you make the paper, you are always crazy antsy to open the dryer the next day because you can't wait to see the paper! This paper is going to look luscious letterpressed printed in a warm chocolate ink. (the color, not the flavor :) Donna and I continued on our papermaking marathon today. We left the studio with pulp-y arms & legs as well as completely exhausted. Only a few more papermaking marathons days and we should have the paper part of this project wrapped up...then on to letterpress.