ath'wart press at Codex 2019

A rhythm of weather effects—light blinding rays offset by gray belting hail and rain. A spectacular and felt side show as my table was located on the aisle closest to the industrial sized windows of the Craneway Center in Richmond at the Codex International Book Fair.

I enjoyed every minute of this event. Where else can one experience a gathering of book artists from all over the world? Over 200 exhibitors from more than twenty-five countries shared their quality books along with engaging conversations on their creative processes.

The international focus this year was Codex Nordica and artists from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland were represented. Special to me as I have been traveling to Iceland for artist residencies since 2012. Last summer I taught Book Iceland at the Gullkistan Center for Creativity and met two of the artists as they presented the work of Airkir (www.aikir.wordpress.com), to the class. Eight from the group came to Codex. I invited them up to the NBLA shop in Sebastopol after Codex. They accepted. So, two days after the closing, we hosted what mushroomed into a delegation of ten artists: six from Iceland, three from Norway and one from Sweden. The whole afternoon was charmed. There was a lunch next door, then a showing of each other’s books, and finally sitting down with coffee and cake to talk about how we might collaborate or at least stay in touch. It was a wonderful ending to a week of non-stop conversation and contemplation on the medium of artist books.

The San Francisco Center for the Book is currently hosting the Nordic letterpress collaboration exhibition, Posted/Unposted. The exhibition opened before Codex and will run to April 29th.

I have been invited to present a talk during this exhibition on Book Iceland, a class I taught last summer at Gullkistan Center For Creativity in Laugarvatn to artists from the United States, England, Germany and Iceland. I will report back on my experiences there in the talk I have titled, Land & Texture: Exploring Iceland For Content in Artist Books. Inspired by the natural energies which shape Iceland’s landscape, the participating artists explored materials, tools, and processes, forming the content for their artist book projects.

The talk is scheduled for Tuesday, April 2, 6–8 pm at the San Francisco Center For The Book on 375 Rhode Island Street in
San Francisco, CA sfcb.org

Mark your calendars.

post:unposted002.jpg

BACK TO ICELAND 2018

Ready to leave, now that I know that my boxes of supplies have arrived safely.  I am returning to Iceland this week to teach the workshop, BOOK ICELAND at Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Laugarvatn.  This will be my fourth trip to Iceland and my third visit to Gullkistan. I am excited to put my ideas in this form for others.

IMG_3833.jpg
BOOK ICELAND  workshop materials have arrived.

BOOK ICELAND  workshop materials have arrived.

More about BOOK ICELAND:

It's a rare visitor who is not touched by Iceland's natural energies and diverse landscape. A wild island of the north with massive glaciers exposed to wind and ocean currents, is located on two tectonic plates with a fault line running at an oblique angle from its north to southwest.  Energies of wind, fire and water below and above its surface shape the landscape, leaving unique textures and colors not seen elsewhere on this earth: glacier ice fields and lagoons, rumbling volcanoes, waterfalls, vast lava fields--moss covered and raw, contorted basalt walls, geysers, thermal pools, deep gorges and fjords.

This land of extremes has also shaped its people and language. Steeped in a history of isolation and hardship, the Vikings who first settled this island in the late ninth century, recounted their stories in folktales, poems, oral histories and song.  Two centuries later, those stories were captured in writing--leaving handwritten manuscripts that are treasured and valued today.

The Icelanders' love for both their land and the book has inspired this workshop. We'll explore Iceland's varied landscape; we will look at how the natural processes have shaped it and explore ways to express those energies through artistic experimentation.  We will develop content for two books (from our field studies) and learn two book structures (drum leaf & coptic binding) to contain it.

Source: https://brookeholve/blog/2018/6/3/book-ice...

BIBLIOPHORIA V →

OUTWITH

will be part of Sebastopol Center for the Arts exhibition

BIBLIOPHORIA V

June 22 through July 29, 2018

Opening Reception:  June 22, 6 - 7:30pm

 Sebastopol Center for the Arts
282 S. High Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Gallery Open Hours:  Tuesday to Friday 10 - 4 pm Saturday & Sunday 1 - 4 pm

Outwith, 2016.  Four mixed-media constructions: book covers, board & cloth, birch panel.           24 x 24 x 3.25 inches

Outwith, 2016.  Four mixed-media constructions: book covers, board & cloth, birch panel.           24 x 24 x 3.25 inches

Exploding the Book

I will be teaching this class in March at North Bay Letterpress Arts.  It is an abridged version of a three-day workshop that I will be teaching in Iceland this summer.  To register:  contact:  www.northbayletterpressarts.org

Saturday,  March 17,  10am - 4pm
North Bay Letterpress Arts   925 Gravenstein Hwy South  Sebastopol, CA 95472     
$150.00

To Register:  contact www.northbayletterpressarts.org

An exploratory class in which participants will excavate an exploded book*, looking for material, content and form.  With their finds and discoveries, participants will make a coptic-bound cover book.

*exploded book: a book taken apart with its parts categorized and on display


Participant Material list:
a worn cloth-covered book, willing to take apart and destroy
two irwin clamps
heavy duty thread
exacto knife
metal ruler
cutting board
bone folder
3 curved sewing needles
notebook
camera or iPhone
pva
scissors
pens, pencil & eraser

 

BOOK ICELAND 2018

BOOK ICELAND _ JUNE 18 – 29,  2018
Application Deadline: February 1, 2018
www.gullkistan.is/book-iceland

IMG_7340.jpg

BOOK ICELAND; TEXTURES OF LAND

& textures of BOOK

At Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Laugarvatn, iceland

Still 2 spaces available.  Apply Now for Feb 1st deadline:

www.gullkistan.is/book-iceland

Gullkistan Center for Creativity and I invite you to take part in this Book Arts seminar in Iceland during the summer of 2018. Participants will explore Iceland's varied landscape; look at how the natural processes have shaped the landscape and explore ways to express those energies through artistic experimentation.  Those experiments will be content for two book structures taught during the workshop - the drumleaf binding and coptic-bound cover book.

The workshop is for artists of all levels interested in exploring the book form and learning about Iceland, its book culture & history, weather, and diverse landscapes.

For specifics, check out:  www.gullkistan.is/book-iceland

 

 

 

 

 

Book Iceland 2018

BOOK ICELAND _ JUNE 18 – 29,  2018
Application Deadline: February 1, 2018
www.gullkistan.is/book-iceland

IMG_6573.JPG

It’s a rare visitor who is not touched by Iceland’s natural energies and diverse landscape. It’s this land of extremes that has shaped its people & language, and has inspired this workshop.

Now more than half-filled, but space available for those interested in exploring Iceland’s
landscape for content— for two book structures that you will learn in the class: the drum-leaf binding and a coptic-bound cover book (examples below).

Drumleaf binding book structure

Drumleaf binding book structure

Coptic-bound cover book

Coptic-bound cover book

The workshop is for artists of all levels interested in exploring the book form and learning
about Iceland, its book culture & history, weather, and diverse landscapes.

For specifics, check out:  gullkistan.is/book-iceland

*This will be my fourth trip to Iceland.  I recently reviewed some old blog entries with early impressions.  Thought you might be interested in what I wrote:

“What a deceptively still place with its vast expansive open spaces—panoramic views of horizontal blue ribbons of sky and sea. I sometimes found it difficult to discern the horizon between the two. And I was struck by how much of the land is barren with minimal traces of human habitation.

Iceland is a small country but full of geological wonders that gave me a glimpse of what the earth might have been like when it was newly formed. Everywhere I looked I saw evidence of the new with it lava beds, glaciers, ice, geysers, craggy scree slopes, natural waterfalls, basaltic columns, black sand beaches and glacial carved rocks jetting out from green grass covered mountains. Surreal. I have experienced few places in the world, like Iceland that offer this unique kind of space. Surprisingly serene on the surface, especially when one realizes that it is a land of the verb with underground rumblings of the wild that can spew out at any time as steam, lava or rock through pockets of the earth.

I met a few Icelanders and if they are representative of the whole, then I am impressed. So much open space, yet their connection to their land is intimate. I saw this in the way that they name their places; names with endings like vatn, foss, vik, and jokull that offer clues about the landscape. Their connection went beyond words, however. I witnessed many who embraced the land with vigor and pride, some easily scrambling up a hillside of scree, hiking on the vast lava fields or up a mountain between 1am and 5 am, or swimming in the ice cold waters of lakes and sea. And I identified most with those who relaxed and socialized in the geothermal heated pools, found throughout the country.”