Listening

So if we have good communication,

I tried and now I see it’s been many months since my last post. A challenging year filled with uncertainty, living through a pandemic, fire season & evacuees, racial injustices and an election many will not forget.

I found solace entering my studio each day. Slowing down with fewer distractions revealed unexpected silver linings such as unstructured time to listen beyond the projects in front of me. To echoes from previous experiences for example, remembering a residency six years ago at Haystack in Maine, where I discovered two useful tools, a scroll saw and a laser cutter, that would enable me to further develop cuttings. I purchased a scroll saw upon my return knowing how I wanted to use it. The laser cutter was a bigger investment and one I didn’t make since I wasn’t as sure about its usefulness. I did investigate places where I might rent one, if the need became apparent.

What I didn’t expect was one coming to me during this auspicious time, from my son whose employer had two sitting around not being used. And my need had become apparent as I was working with plexiglass on a collaborative project with Catherine Richardson, Materiality Re_Mined; The Cell Phone Looking at Itself, scheduled to be exhibited at the Seager Gray Gallery in July of 2021.

Look for more on this exhibition in posts to follow in 2021. And yes, the laser cutter was invaluable.

One of our collaborative pieces to be titled (by Brooke Holve & Catherine Richardson) using a laser cutter.

Sometimes Books

Exhibit opens March 14th and runs through May.

Opening Reception is on March 22, 2 - 4 pm

SOMETIMES BOOKS

Art Gallery for Artist Books & Book Objects

Open noon to 4 pm  Saturdays & Sundays & by appointment

Eubank Studio  11101 Highway One  #105, Point Reyes, CA 94956

415 . 669.1380   sometimesbooks@gmail.com

I am currently showing two books:

Red Read as a fold, a book, a cutting a way. 

DRAWN in the 1990s. TYPESET over 20 years later at Iota Press, Sebastopol, CA

Stonington Public Library. 2014

Haystack 'overlooked': Stonington Public Library.

Stonington Public Library.

As a way to process and document my experience at Haystack last summer, I made 3 artist books which I hoped might capture a bit of my time there, the surrounding place as well as experiences in the studio.  The books are a collection of 'sorts'.  They are made from materials that I gathered: book pages from the Deer Isle dump, others from my CA. studio; old Maine maps purchased from Karna's shop in Belfast, ME;  stone images, laser cut and printed onto wood veneer and book pages; milk paint, encaustic wax and coffee sticks from the Haystack dining hall.

Upon reviewing the colophon that I had written, I realized that I had repeated the word, "overlooking" several times.  The word suggested to me that I rethink what I was making.  My direction shifted and the word, "overlook" became a focus.

These books are a beginning of an exploration of form with the word, "overlook" as a focus.

New Tools from Haystack

 

More than a month ago, I returned from the open studio residency at Haystack in Maine; two weeks of uninterrupted time in three studios: graphics, wood and a digital fabrications facility.  I came home renewed and excited about  prospects for new work.   I went to continue further explorations with 'cutting' using new tools in the fab lab. Haystack established it in 2011 and was the result of a collaboration with MIT.  It includes a CNC router, laser cutter, 3D printer, milling machines, sign center and computer terminals,  and was staffed by two tech assistants from MIT.  I spent much time there experimenting primarily with the laser cutter.

There are two different cutting techniques one can employ with the laser cutter: vector and raster. Vector is more adept at cutting shapes out or into a material; raster tends to be used for engraving and making relief cuts.  I tried both and found that I preferred the raster images.  Some experimenting below:

My goal was to make work that looked like it was not done with a machine. Image selection and treatment of materials contributed to the look.  More examples below:

I also spent some time in the wood working studio. While there I observed one of the participants working with stacks of wood and realized that I could use a similar approach with book covers.  Her primary tool was a scroll saw.  I came home and purchased one!

Other highlights:

Open Studio Residency at Haystack

Recently I applied and was accepted to Haystack's Open Studio Residency. Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is an international craft school located on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine. The school offers intensive studio-based workshops in a variety of craft media. The Open Studio Residency, now in its second year,  provides two weeks of uninterrupted time to work in six studios (ceramics, fiber, graphics, iron, jewelry, and wood) to develop ideas and experiment in various media.  The program accommodates approximately fifty participants from a variety of creative disciplines. Participants can choose to work in one particular studio or move among studios depending on the nature of their work.  All of the studios will be staffed by technicians who can assist with projects. Haystack's fab lab will also be open, providing an opportunity for experimentation with digital fabrication as a way to augment and complement  creative practices. This new artist studio, established in 2011 in collaboration with MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, offers another way of looking at craft in a broader context. I will travel to Maine for the residency that runs from  May 25th through  June 6th.  While there I intend to continue my exploration of "cutting" as theme and process as it relates to material and form. I intend to rotate among studios, observing and collecting sensory data from each of the crafts.   My question is how I can translate this data into new ways of seeing, using the new media in the fab lab. I don't pretend to know the possibilities but am curious to  explore other ways of finding forms that are referential to its making.