To Build a World…Inspired by Louise Nevelson

To Build a World…Inspired by Louise Nevelson

What a wonderful experience to introduce young artists to the wondrous wood work of the artist Louise Nevelson…and what better way than for them to create their own (mini) wood sculptures!

Working on simple cardboard bases, students worked with an assortment of new and repurposed wood objects, in a variety of shapes, thicknesses and sizes.

Playing with shape, space, form, pattern, dimension and design, they arranged their chosen pieces into sculptures (“built environments”), and secured them  using “tacky glue“.

Some used aspects of symmetry to create harmony and balance.

Some built their pieces up,

into elegant and contained structures,

some out, into strong, repeating patterns,

and some built up and out producing a magical sense of movement that is a joy to behold.

They used the color, texture and utility of the materials to establish strong compositions, sustain visual interest

and just plain have fun!

It was beautiful to see them build….their worlds.

Gratis Louise Nevelson.

MemoryMaking Books

MemoryMaking Books

In celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the Santa Monica Public Library, I had the opportunity to lead a bookmaking program at the  Montana Avenue Library, my home branch of the SMPL

“Making Memory Books” was requested… a single signature style book, embellished with fabric.

Leather, denim, beads, as well as decorative papers and fabric scrap were some of the goodies laid out for participants to use.

The signatures were already prepared, with holes punched. Once bound with the three-hole pamphlet stitch, the first and last pages were glued to the inside of the front and back covers, and the book was formed.

Then, the fun could really begin!  let the embellishment commence!

Paper, “eco-fi” felt, cloth, lace and leather transformed the book structures into unique works of art.

Upon request, a square shape was used, instead of the more common vertical  rectangle.

A mother daughter duo enjoyed adorning their book covers with butterflies.

Is this a pink planet, surrounded by butteries?

The inspiration for the project was a series of fabric covered sewn book models,

with cloth pieces applied patchwork style.

The colors, patterns, shapes and tactile quality of cloth and textiles can evoke powerful memories.

The effect can be pleasing visually, as well as tracing remnants of life stories barely remembered but held in the body, memory and emotions through the sense of touch.

These books, that may hold memories barely discernible to the maker, can now become the repository of new memories, as scrapbooks, photo albums, journals, or sketchbooks.

What a beautiful gift.

Happy Holidays, and peace and blessings for the New Year.

Artist Books and Old Lace

Artist Books and Old Lace

There is a genre of artist books/bookmaking/handmade books that employs a sort of “shabby chic” look through the use of repurposed lace, ribbon and other fabrics…which emanate the feeling of rediscovered French textiles of a certain age, family heirlooms, and possibly, family secrets.

 

 

 

“The word lace is from Middle English, from Old French las, noose, string, from Vulgar Latin *laceum, from Latin laqueus, noose; probably akin to lacere, to entice or ensnare.”

 

 

 

I felt a longing to create something like this, inspired by what I’d seen, but with my own twist on it. I knew the feeling I was after, but not exactly how to create it.  So, I did what you have to do under such circumstances, I dove in. Having procured all manner of lace for a “Bookmaking with lace” program I was leading at a local library, I felt that I had the appropriate arsenal and old lace, and was ready to begin.

Inspired by the book-like form of a cardboard cheesecake box, I covered it with humble newsprint papers, from a little pad found at an incredible place in LA appropriately called Trash for Teaching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then used scraps of muslin, also found at T4T to further cover the surface, piecing some together, and overlapping others, using the frayed edge as part of the design and feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added and embellished with strips and fragments of lace, and a zipper of similar hue, to  engage the handler and add a kinetic quality. I sewed four signatures, each composed solely of a single folded sheet of old paper passed to me by a fellow artist, directly into the spine with white linen thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I created a flap next to the zipper on the front cover,

and a pocket on the back cover…for secret notes, talismans, messages and dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

Drawn by tactility, I contemplate my next textured textile plunge into this genre…there is a lot of room to feel one’s way around. I, like many others, an touched by the totality of the tactile experience.

Tactile: From French tactile, from Latin tactilis (“that may be touched, tangible”), from tangere (“to touch”). — http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tactile#Etymology