Call For Entry — Bookworks 14

Mark your calendars for Bookworks 14! If you haven't already started, it's time to be working on your 2013 Bookworks entry. The deadline for entries for this year's exhibit will be April 22. The entry form is here. If you click on the form (2nd image below) and save it as a jpeg, you can print it out full size.

Bookworks, our annual exhibit at the Main Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, is one of the most important activities of CBAS and always one of the Library's most popular exhibits. This will be our 14th year, and we encourage all book artists to contribute work. Bookworks is a non-juried show, open to members and non-members alike, with a limit of two entries per person.

If you have any questions or cannot print out the entry form, please contact cbasinformation@gmail.com. CBAS looks forward to your participation!

CBAS Members in Exhibition

Entry to Exhibition

This afternoon your blogger headed out to Studio San Giuseppe at the College of Mount St. Joseph to view the current exhibition CONFLUENCE: Partnership and Creativity that opened on February 24. What a treat! Pam Korte, guest curator and faculty member at the Mount, has brought together the work of nine creative couples (spouses, significant others and working partners). She encouraged the artists to think about how creativity has been affected over time by their close relationships. Consequently, the artists' statements make for very interesting reading.

David's Letterpress & Terri's Ceramics

 

Two artists have strong CBAS ties. David Umbenhour, a graphic designer and print maker who also teaches letterpress at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, serves on the CBAS Board of Trustees. You can admire David's broadsides nearby his wife Terri Kern's sculptural ceramics. Be sure to look inside of one of Terri's nests that is full of her tiny ceramic books.

Peg's Miss Moosaic & Stuart's Enamels

All CBAS members know Margaret (Peg) Rhein because she is our email communicator, sending us links to wonderful sites of interest as well as notifying us of all important CBAS events and local happenings. Peg's large paper collages are complemented with two other mosaic pieces. Her work is shown with that of her husband, goldsmith Stuart Golder. Stuart is showing his new plique-à-jour work—jewelry and cups. This intricate and difficult enameling technique is yielding gorgeous results.

If you go to see the show (and I recommend you do), you will also find two other artists who have books for you to enjoy. Cynthia Gregory's Untitled (Book Stack) and Christian Schmit's miniature bookshelf, part of his Puzzle Suite, will attract your attention. The work of other couples includes ceramics, metal, photography, painting and mixed media pieces. The exhibition runs through March 26; gallery hours are 10-5, Monday-Friday and 1-5, Saturday and Sunday.

Detail from a Collage by Peg

Studio San Giuseppe
College of Mount St. Joseph
5701 Delhi Road
Cincinnati, OH 45233
513-244-4314
http://www.msj.edu

                                                 photos & post/csc

A Seven-hour Lesson Learned in Three

For the March Study Group session, Veronica Sorcher did a fabulous job teaching Secret Belgian Binding, a complex structure she learned in a seven-hour workshop. Thanks to a huge amount of preparation and very clear instructions, she somehow condensed an entire day's work into a three-hour afternoon. The kits each student received contained two sets of boards, text pages, sewing template, thread, cover paper and very comprehensive instructions.

Choosing cover paper was part of the fun

 

 

 

To insure that everyone learned the sewing pattern, we first did a sample binding using plain boards with no inserted text block. The real secret of Secret Belgian Binding is the pattern of weaving in and out around a separate spine strip. With that knowledge behind us, the rest of the structure seemed almost straightforward.

Outside of the structure

Inside of the structure

The final step was making a finished book using boards covered and a text block sewn at the beginning of the class. This proved to be the trickiest part of the procedure, but the experience of sewing the mock-up flattened the learning curve considerably, and eighteen eager students left with beautifully finished little books.

Happy campers showing off their completed books

Study Group members had asked for several years to learn Secret Belgian Binding, so this was an especially welcome session. Many, many thanks to Veronica, a great teacher who made a perplexing book structure understandable and a lot of fun.
                                                                                                             Thanks to Janice K. for the report and photos.

Study Group Members Make Long-awaited Paper Sample Book

A record crowd of 22 CBAS Study Group members met in the Community Education Room of the Art Academy on February 9 to complete a project we've discussed for years: making a paper sample book.

At our previous meeting, attendees had adopted a paper from the seventeen samples our project coordinator Cecie Chewning had purchased. Then during the month, we spent time researching our paper and cutting squares to distribute. At the meeting, everyone made a brief report about how and where their paper was made, outstanding features and how it could best be used in bookmaking and other art work.

The result is a handy, expandable book with seventeen samples of paper, three samples of different bookmaking boards, and divider sheets for notes. The samples include everything from English and French printmaking papers to thin but strong Japanese papers to beautifully colored decorative paper handmade by the indigenous people of Nepal, with a wide variety of uses in between. The sample books are going to be an invaluable tool for everyone in the group when that next bookmaking project is being planned.

Many thanks to Cecie for a huge amount of preparation and some great background information. And thanks to all who participated and shared what they had learned.

***We are also most grateful to Sharon and Ros for giving us a tour of the wonderful papers and supplies available at Suder's Art Store, 1309 Vine Street, following our Study Group meeting.***