Book Arts Exhibition - Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

The ASU group known as A-Buncha-Book-Artists is comprised of undergraduate, graduate, faculty, alumni and guest artists. Their work is on exhibition at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport in Terminal 3 Level 2 cases. I almost fainted when I saw my book Metamorphose, on the postcard! Actually, I was really confused since I thought I was opening the water bill. The airport and the water department have the same city emblem on the envelope. Nice surprise--way better than the water bill!

I highly recommend you go and see the exhibition. We know a lot of the artists in the show and their work is amazing! This is exhibition especially near and dear to my heart because it was maybe 13-14 years ago I had just finished my first bookbinding class when I was flying out of Sky Harbor Airport and saw an ASU bookarts exhibition while I was waiting for my plane. I was totally fascinated with the work. I called ASU when I got back because I knew after seeing the work that I wanted to make artist books. Gary Martelli, the museum person who curated the show just sent over photos of the installation. Now I've gotta get over there to see the show!

Rennovation photos

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have been renovating since May. We turned our former retail space into a gigantic classroom which we love! No worries, we still have our fabulous papers available for sale online. We moved a lot of product off site and boxed and organized everything else by number. It's not as visually interesting as when we had the paper racks but makes our lives 1000 times easier for pulling orders. We'll include more renovation shots in the next few posts.
We can easily seat 30-36 people for classes in our main classroom.
Note on the tables and chairs. Loading this amount of very heavy tables and 40 chairs during July and 110 degree weather was no picnic. I was absolutely drenched on both ends the loading at the pick up and unloading at the studio. I had to rent a humongous truck from Home Depot just to haul everything. One thing about papermaking and letterpress--you build up muscles because everything is heavy!! Next time we renovate, it will be in the WINTER!

Star De Luna Paper Artist

I just loaded our fall classes online. Yippee! Take a peek!

We are excited that Star DeLuna will be teaching pendant and cardmaking classes with us this fall. Star has been creating art locally for many years. She dabbles in many different art mediums from photography to handmade paper art. Star hand makes delicate and ornate paper art pendants that are absolutely amazing!! She creates highly detailed miniature scenes with owls, flowers and cupcakes, among other whimsical designs. Making greeting cards for all occasions is also one of her passions. Each creation has hand drawn and cut designs. An array of different textured papers and punches are used.

You can find her original HoshiPaperArt pendants for purchase at Conspire and at hoshipaperart.etsy.com.

We're Back!

Well hello there!



We didn't really go anywhere but as lots of you know, we've been renovating and reorganizing our space. It always takes way longer than you think it will. We are starting to put down the paint brushes and pick up the the type and pulp!



Mike and I thought it would be fun to do a poster and sent it out to the local folks. Whenever Mike and I work together, there is LOTS of negotiating and compromising!! :) Gary usually tries to steer clear of our collaborations but he helped print the last layer. We think it turned out fun. (we found that it is actually hard to print backwards on purpose!)

Next on my to do list is getting the fall classes online. Coming soon!!

Here's some photos!

Here's Mike in our newly painted and renovated type space. This area was previously used for storage with ginormous racking where the type cabinets are now.


I love this new-to-us, old wood type. So fun!
I love this old cut of this gal singer. I'm sure she's singing with joy that we are back!

1000 Journals Movie

We went to see the 1000 Journals movie at the Phoenix Art Museum today. While I was familiar with the project and we even carried the book at the shop, I wasn't sure how it would come across in a film. Some info for those who may not know the background on this project.

• In the year 2000, Brian (aka. Someguy) inspired by bathroom graffiti, created a project to get 1000 journals out in the world by placing them in cafes, restaurants, parks, bookstores, on streets, and in many other places where random people would be likely to find them. The covers were decorated and he invited people to contribute some content, then pass them on, and asked that the filled journals be returned. His message to those who found the journals said: "This is an experiment and you are part of it." It took him a couple of years to finance 1000 journals. Can you imagine going to the bookstore--"I'll take 1000 of those blank journals"...
  

The film shows how Brian conceived and orchestrated the project and then it looks at how many, after the full 1,000 journals went out into the world, came back? How long did it take before he began receiving any completed journals at all? This film documents a few of the journals and the people who received them. Some people kept them for a year. Some kept them longer. The majority of journals have not returned at all.

The film is well done--it's interesting & entertaining, populated with memorable characters, fascinating scenes and fabulous music. But is not all happy and upbeat (I had to dig in my purse for Kleenex). It shows a microcosm of society's personalities from normal, funny, bizarre to heartwrenching & poignant while weaving in the events happening in the world from 911 to hurricanes in Florida.

At the end of the showing, the filmmaker, Andrea Krueghage answered audience questions as well as spoke about her experience with the project. She was so committed to making the film, she sold her house to finance it. Wow.

Currently, an exhibit of the journals that have been returned are at MOMA in San Francisco until April 2009.

If this film is showing in your area, do NOT miss this extraordinary work! Or, go out get the DVD--it has lots more interesting footage and info that are in addition to the film.

Book Arts Portfolio in Demo Magazine

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

You can read the DEMO article online: http://cms.colum.edu/demo/2008/09/portfolio_book_paper_arts.php

Fran Rees in Nov/Dec Somerset Studios Magazine

The Paper Studio congratulates Fran Rees for publication of her artwork and article in the current copy of Somerset Studio Magazine! Bravo!! Not only is Fran an extremely talented artist, she is a terrific person as well. It is wonderful to her work in print.
We were lucky and got to see the original work--the colors are sumptuous!

Wonderful images to inspire your holiday creativity!

Odd Journaling Class with Teesha & Tracy

Teesha and Tracy Moore were recently at The Paper Studio teaching their Odd Journaler's Class. We had people everywhere--from the classroom to the papermaking studio to the gallery and letterpress! 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/

Yay...the exhibition is up!

The Power of the Press is an exhibit on of prints and collaborative media at the Chandler Center for the Arts. The artist reception is Friday 9/26 at 7:00 pm so if you are in the area, stop by and say hello. 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 Paper Studio in the September Issue of The Artist's Magazine

Okay, now back to art making!

We were thrilled to learn from one of our fellow artists - Danelle, that The Paper Studio is in the September 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine. The Paper Studio was one of four artists/art spaces interviewed several months ago by Betsey Dillard Stroud about printmaking without a press. We are the "stomp" part of the article where you step on the inked up plate to make the print. When Danelle gave us her copy of the issue, we were tickled pink that several images of our samples were featured in the article!

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-printsWhile 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!

Along came a spider or a solifugea

20 years in AZ, I have never seen anything like this so I just had to show you the latest creature we found...
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.

This creature has the same coloring as a scorpion so I looked it up online. Per wikipedia, this is a camel spider or wind scorpion. Solifugae is an order of Arachnida, containing more than 1,000 described species in about 140 genera. The name derives from Latin, and means those that flee from the sun. The order is also known by the names Solpugida, Solpugides, Solpugae, Galeodea and Mycetophorae. Solifugae are not true spiders, which are from a different order, Araneae. Like scorpions and harvestmen, they belong to a distinct arachnid order.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.