Jewish Cultural Center Showcases Handmade Books and Book Arts

From now through October 6, 2011, the Jewish Cultural Center will be presenting "In Other Words,"an exhibition of the work of 10 contemporary book artists.  The JCC is located at 5461 North Terrace, and is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday .

For more information about the exhibition and the artists, see http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/aug/21/in-other-words-jewish-cultural-center-handmade/

Coptic Binding Demo - August 21

The Chattanooga Book Arts Collaborative will meet:
Sunday, August 21, 2011
2:00-5:00 p.m.
Create Here
55 East Main Street
Chattanooga TN

All levels, from beginners to advanced, are welcome to attend.

At the August meeting, we will learn how to do 2-needle coptic binding.  Coptic binding was originally developed in Egypt and was used from as early as the 2nd century to the 11th century.  In addition to its lovely appearance, the main advantage of this style of binding is that the book will open and lie flat.

Please bring the following supplies with you:

• 2 pieces of book board- 5-1/2" h x 4-1/2"w each
• Paper for the cover of your book - 2 sheets, 7"h x 5-1/4"w
• Paper to line the cover - 2 sheets 5-1/4"h x 4-1/4"w
• Text weight paper for the pages - 40-50 sheets, cut to 5-1/2"h x 8-1/2"
• 2 binders needles (binders' needles have a slightly duller point than regular needles)
• PVA glue
• Glue brush
• Bone folder
• Awl
• Cutting Mat
• Scissors
• Waxed linen thread 

If you don't have waxed linen thread, there will be plenty to share at the meeting.

If you have any questions, please email Nora at nsbernhardt@gmail.com.

Share and Learn About Image Transfers

Sunday, July 17, 2011

2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Create Here

55 East Main Street

Chattanooga TN

There are many techniques that can be used to transfer images and text to the pages and covers of your books.  Images can be transferred from printed or copied pages, and even from magazines using various methods (gel medium, tape, solvents, blender pens, etc.).

If you have ever tried image transfers, please plan to share your them with the group at the July meeting.  Even if a technique has not worked perfectly for you, share that too.  

Links for several different image transfer techniques are found on the right side of this page.  Give one of them a try in advance of the meeting, and bring your materials and your results (good and bad!) to the July meeting.  

We will all learn from each other!

Learn About Book Sculpture!

Be sure to mark your calendars for a fun Chattanooga Book Arts Collaborative meeting in June.

Learn how to create a sculpture out of a hard cover book.  Fold, cut and tear your way to creating a completely new sculptural form.  

Sunday, June 19, 2011

2:00 - 5:00 pm

Create Here

55 East Main Street 

Hassan Najjar, Manager of School and Family Programs at the Hunter Museum of American Art, will lead the workshop. 

 

You will need to bring a hard cover book that is several inches thick (you can pick some up in the "free bin" at McKays Bookstore).  Make sure you don’t mind if it is cut up and folded.

Also bring a glue stick, straight edge scissors and/or xacto knife or rotary cutter and a cutting board.

Also bring anything you like that will manipulate paper:  a corrugator, scissor/paper edgers, or punches, for example.  Hassan will also bring some of these with him.

 

There is a $10 fee per person for this workshop.

Filling the Pages

Sunday, May 15

2:00 - 5:00 pm

Create Here

55 East Main Street

Chattanooga TN

Join us!  Everyone is welcome -- from beginner to experienced artists.

Mandy Wilson will be leading a demonstration that will focus on creating content for the books you make. We will be doing collage and also an altered book page exercise based on Tom Phillips' "Humument."  Mandy will also have a handout with prompts, ideas and email resources.

Mandy will show examples of finished books that will inspire everyone to go home and fill one of the books that have been made in a previous class!  Be sure to bring some of your own books for "show and tell."  

Most supplies will be provided, but please bring the following with you:

• Rubber cement (available at Art Creations or WalMart)
• A good black pen
• Scissors or an X-acto knife
• An old magazine to use as a glue scrap
• Rubber stamps (optional)

Please note that we will NOT be meeting in the large room at Create Here where we normally meet (another event is scheduled in that space).  Instead, we will meet in the conference room at the back of the Create Here space.  Please come through the BACK DOOR, easily accessible from the parking lot BEHIND Create Here.  You can access that parking lot by turning north from East Market Street onto Rossville Ave; the parking lot will be on the left.  Enter through the doors with the CoLab logo on the door.  

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.