This Week

I took a little break from the studio last week and went to Venice with John. We stayed at a convent guest house on a quiet part of the island, spent a lovely day on a little boat visiting islands in the lagoon, found Italy’s oldest paper shop, had a picnic and nap in a winery garden, picked up my magic red shoes from the shoemaker, and ate prosciutto & melon every single night. Best of all, I am feeling rested and not so stressed-out, and my schedule has shifted because of the time change: I get up at dawn and I go to bed earlier and my insomnia seems to have gone away. I also read two books in the week I was in Venice and realize how little time I take to just sit down and read when I am home. I wind up feeling guilty for not doing something “productive” and that’s just ridiculous. Here’s to more books!

At the end of this week I deliver my exhibition to the museum, so I am now back to work. I will post more soon. Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday!

The Book as Art

While changing planes in Atlanta last month, I passed a display of artist books in the E Terminal and knew that I wanted to go back and look at the rest of the exhibit when I had more time—which I finally did. It was incredible! Seven wall cases held works by over 70 artists from all over the world. Books were made from all kinds of materials and in every imaginable—and unimaginable—format. I’ve included a few in this post, taken with my iPhone, but you can view the exhibition catalog HERE if you’d like to see more books and read about the show. It’s on display through October, so if you’ve got a layover in ATL make sure to have a look!

© Robin Price

© Lynn Skordal

© Saaraliisa Ylitalo

© Joseph Lappie

© Shireen Modak Holman

© Ann Kresge

Kudos to the Airport Art Program for putting on such a beautiful exhibition!
And thank you to the book artists who turned my layover into an art museum visit.

The Morgan Conservatory

Last week I was in Cleveland for a meeting and thought I’d pop into the Morgan Conservatory to take a look around. Wow. Papermaking, letterpress, AND book arts under one roof? … I’m all in! The Morgan is the largest art center of its kind in the nation, with 15,000 square feet of industrial space that combines “a working studio, gallery, gathering place for the community, educational hub and purveyor of some of the finest handmade papers in the world.” It sponsors artists in residence, offers workshops, and even has its own garden out back that’s home to trees and plants used for papermaking and dyeing. There’s even a kozo harvest in November!

The first thing you notice when you walk in is all the paper sculptures and mobiles hanging from the ceiling. So festive! It makes me want to make some for my own house (like I don’t have enough projects already). Allie was kind enough to give me a little tour.

The Morgan has a separate room for bookbinding and a huge dedicated space for letterpress. I drooled over all the rows of type in drawers.

I know nothing about papermaking, but I love all the supplies.

Curiosities were everywhere. I loved this sculpture—I don’t know if it was still being worked on or not—of what looked like a kinder, gentler version of a Little Shop of Horrors pod housing dried hydrangeas and twigs.

I mentioned this briefly in the previous post, but there’s a wall display of different papers artists have made, each with a description of its origins and process.

I think my favorite might have been this set of two:

Helmut Becker, Ontario, Canada
1. Natasja fibre flax, blue flowers 2. Belinka fibre flax, white flowers
Line fibre flax, beaten ultra fine in a stainless steel Hallander paper beater and laminated between extremely thin translucent sheets of fibre flax handmade paper.

I also got to see a sneak peek of the Morgan’s 2019 National Juried Exhbition—amazing works both on and made with paper— before it was even up on display. It opens March 29 and runs through April 27.

Finding the Morgan was such a treat. I look forward to returning!