April 17th CBAC Meeting

The April meeting of the Chattanooga Book Arts Collaborative will be held on Sunday, April 17th, from 2-5 pm at Create Here, 55 East Main Street.

At our April 17 meeting, Ellen Simak will lead our demonstration and teach us how to make a Jacob's ladder book.  Based on a classic toy, this hinged book enables you to tell a story by having separate cards filled with images or words that travel from side to side within the book.  We will create a two panel "magic wallet" book.  As always, our group is open to all levels, from novice to experienced book artists.

Bring the following supplies to the meeting:

•  Four 4-1/2 x 6 inch pieces of book board.  We will have some already cut for you available for a minimal fee ($1), or you can bring your own.

•  Glue, bone folder, scissors, ruler, cutting mat

•  Decorative paper to cover the panels

•  36 inches of ribbon about 1/4 inch wide (the ribbon needs to be about six times the width of one board)

•  Six pieces of card stock or heavy paper cut to about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch smaller than the panels, so about 4  x 5-1/2 inches

•  Materials to decorate and collage the cards.  Bring along images or books or magazines you can cut up and apply to the cards in order to create your story

Also, be sure to bring any books you've made recently, so we can share our accomplishments together!

Book Arts Opportunity on April 13!

On Wednesday, April 13, we will have a very special opportunity.  Nationally-recognized book artists Peter and Donna Thomas will be in Chattanooga with their traveling Gypsy Wagon Bookmobile.  They will have just made a stop in Knoxville TN, and are now doing workshops at the John Campbell Folk School in Brasstown NC and then at BookWorks in Asheville NC.  We are very fortunate to have them make a stop in Chattanooga!

Please plan to come for a book making workshop on Wednesday afternoon, April 13 (2:00-5:00 pm) and/or an artists' talk from 6:30 - 8:00pm.  

Book Making Workshop

Making Miniature Books with Peter and Donna Thomas

The nested accordion pop up book

2:00-5:00pm

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

at Create Here

55 E. Main Street

Chattanooga TN

Cost: $30 per person all materials included

Class limit: 15 people

Reserve your space by emailing Nora at nsbernhardt@gmail.com.

This workshop will explore the exciting world of the artists' books. Participants will be given instruction in basic book arts techniques while making a “miniature” book (3 by 2 inches.) The "nested pop up accordion fold" book is a binding that was developed by Peter and Donna Thomas, a panel-covered accordion with a second accordion weaving in and out of the first. All materials will be provided, but students may want to bring their own papers to substitute for those provided. Advanced students may have time to put text or image in their books and will want to come prepared with a short 4-10 word quote. This will be fun and informative workshop and even complete beginners will go home with a completed book.

Recommended Tools:  a stiff 1/2 inch wide acrylic paint brush or alternate for spreading glue, bone folder, scissors, 12 inch metal ruler, awl or needle, pencil, medium size cutting mat, break off blade mat knife, small bottle of pva (Elmers Glue All is a satisfactory product). If you don’t have these items and don’t want to buy them, don’t worry you can probably borrow them. Bring decorative paper, paints, watercolors, pens, rubberstamps, etc. to illustrate and add text to your books. You might also want to bring images and small objects to collage.

The Artists' Book: Four Dimensional Art

Peter and Donna Thomas

Artists' talk

6:30-8:00 pm, April 13, 2011

at Create Here

55 East Main Street, Chattanooga

Free

Peter and Donna use their Wandering Book Artists trip as a way to expose different audiences to the concept of the artists’ book. In the talk they address such questions as:  What is a book? What is an artists' book? What are the aesthetic attributes of an artists' book? What is the history of the artists' book? Where does one find one? How does one look at a book as a work of art? What is the difference between making a book to publish information or text and making a book as a work of art.  They will talk from the context of their own work, using books they have made as examples. Each talk includes the performance of a song or two on Peter's truly unique ukulele book. An example can be seen on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygN-VMCSr0A

Peter and Donna are traveling in their gypsy wagon, which they view as a metaphor for an artists’ book: “When you look inside a regular RV what do you think? Usually nothing, or, ‘How practical.’ But when people see the gypsy wagon they get excited, curious, and something magical always happens. Commercially produced books are like regular RVs, practical and full of information. Artists’ books are like the gypsy wagon: they inspire imagination and wonder, and share something of the artist who created them.”

Peter and Donna will also have some of their books that will be available for purchase. 

Biography

Peter and Donna Thomas, authors and illustrators of More Making Books by Hand, are self employed book artists, papermakers and letterpress printers who write, illustrate, and bind their own book. In 2010 and 2011, as the wandering book artists, they traveled around the USA in their homebuit Gypsy Wagon Bookmobile.  http://wanderingbookartists.blogspot.com/

Since 1977 they have produced over 125 limited edition books and over 300 one-of-a-kind artists' books, which can be found in collections around the globe. They have been self-employed in the book arts since 1977, making books, teaching workshops and giving lectures. They are active in the leadership of the Miniature Books Society and the Friends of Dard Hunter. They reside in Santa Cruz, California.