The Art Of the Book

Recently, actually this past month, the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts (FCCA) had a Regional Exhibit called the Art of Books and Word.  If you click here you can see a slideshow of all of the pieces that were in the show!  I submitted two pieces and both were in the show!  I was pleased!

This is my Sun Print Journal that I created using all of my own fabrics.  All of these pieces were sun printed using Setacolor Transparent paints, purchased from Dharma Trading Co.

Back

 

Inside cover with pocket. 

One of the signature covers.

Interior pocket on signature cover!!

Back inside cover.

Below is my second entry titled Manual of Gardening.  I always have a hard time naming pieces but this time I looked carefully at the pages and papers that I used and found the title of one of the deconstructed books in the top left hand corner.  

This collage is made completely from book bits.  All of the books that I use have been purchased at library book sales, so I am rescuing them from the dump.  I am honoring them by creating art with their contents.  Several years ago I took a fabulous class with the wonderful Cathy Taylor of Ashville North Carolina.  She led us through the deconstruction of books and all of the available bits and then on to using the parts as design elements  We had such fun in that class and I took a shine to looking for the crustiest mustiest books out there- that is where many treasures lie!   The focal image of this piece is one of my own photographs that I printed on muslin and then collaged to the embossed vintage book cover.

This piece grew very organically and I used many things that I have been collecting and holding on to for a very long time!  I will be making more pieces like this!!

This exhibit ran concurrently with an invitational exhibit at the University of Mary Washington here in Fredericksburg.  Having these exhibits running at the same time was terrific for raising the awareness about hand crafted books as art and art crafted using book bits!!  I will be keeping my eyes open for future opportunities to exhibit my book work!

Lots to Share

What has happened to February??????  Granted it is the shortest month in the year but I feel like it has past in a mere blink, a mili-second, a puff of air!!!  I have been very busy working on art and chores and family stuff.  I also took a very quick trip to the west coast, Seattle actually, for a Memorial Service for a wonderful Aunt.              

My wonderful Aunt Barbara.  This picture was taken at Christmas in 2012.  She was an incredible mother, dear friend and a terrific Aunt.  You will be missed Barb, we love you.

The trip was very important as it forced me to get back in touch with my wonderful west coast family, on my father's side.  It is very hard to live so very far away from wonderful family but that is the way it is. My Uncle and I grabbed the opportunity to go down to the shore at Edmonds when the sun made a long overdue appearance.  We had a glorious afternoon watching dogs frolic at the waterside dog park and kids build forts with all of the fabulous driftwood on the beach.  There is something  so pure and delightful about watching dogs romp in the waves after sticks thrown for them to fetch and kids using their imaginations to build wonderful structures that can put so very much in perspective and , if just for a moment, right the terrible tilt to the world brought on by the loss of a loved one.

Apparently the sun had not made an appearance for close to 2 months and as soon as it broke through the clouds everyone's first thought was to get outside!!

For me and my Uncle there is something very restorative and calming about the water.  The smell of the tangy salt air and the cry of the gulls really helped to get us both out of ourselves.  It was a lovely afternoon to be able to share with a wonderful man.

That evening's sunset was a wonderful gift as well.  As viewed from my Uncles kitchen!!  I am so very grateful that i was able to pick up and go out to be with family and to have this time together, perspective and the knowledge of what is most important in life is such a treasure!

 Getting together with this wonderful bunch of cousins is something that has occurred far too infrequently.  My cousins are int he back row and their boys make up the front row.  What a wonderful group!! My fabulous Uncle Mark is the leader of the bunch in the back center.  

So now for some art!!!

The next three pieces are wet felted collage works that are very much still in the works!! I have lots of plans for these pieces, but as I have been in the mood for wet felting lately, I have been churning out the starting collage felted pieces and have quite a few projects to complete.  These will have machine stitching, hand stitching and OF COURSE ,BEADS, added to them before they will be done!

merino wool, silk fabrics, hand spun yarn, silk fibers

needle felted and wet felted with cotton scrim, wool tops, silk throwsters waste, wool yarns and lace fabric

wool tops, wool yarn and silk roving

  Here are some of the collage necklaces also in progress.  I am using my hand made beads, some of my resin pieces, freshwater pears and vintage mop buttons, ss chain and copper chain and wire.  I have kept track of the time involved in creating just one of these pieces, once all of the components are ready and i was surprised to find how long a process it is.  The time to design and then implement that design is not a matter of moments, but hours.

I have also been replenishing my stocks of painted papers and painted tissue paper as you see here.  I have several book and journal making classes scheduled and I have to keep my paper stocks full of enticing materials.  Besides when nothing else feels right, throwing some paint onto paper can help settle the muse!!

And lastly for today, I will share some hints at several art quilts, a tryptic , if all goes well, that I am stitching away on.  Most of the fabric in these pieces I have designed myself using sun printing , gelatin mono printing and  hand dyeing techniques.  You will see more of these pieces later.

As you can see, I have lots to keep me busy and you will see pictures of all of these projects and more as I stitch and bead and felt away on each!!


Now onward into March and hopefully SPRING here in Virginia!!!