Tim Ely Workshop

THE SKETCHBOOK: PLAN AND ACTION

with Timothy C. Ely

SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2012

GORGAS LIBRARY - TUSCALOOSA, AL

9AM - 6PM

Investigate the uses and utility of the artist’s sketchbook. A conceptual tool with a long and venerable history, it was recently celebrated at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum. The sketchbook can serve as a planner, recording device, carrier of scrap, journal, and muse.

THIS ONE DAY WORKSHOP is designed to acquaint the participant with some often overlooked, first principals of the craft of bookbinding as well as provide a platform from which the participant can merge the generation of IDEA and OBSERVATION with the creation of a hand made book. Technique and concept are fused, and so for some, this will become a welcome revelation.

We will fabricate a ‘formal’ codex book with rigid covers. Knowledge of this conceptually flexible book form will ul- timately allow for a great deal of future spontaneous play. These structures are fascinating hybrids, combining a sewn text block with Ely’s development of the drum leaf binding covering techniques.There are many varieties and actions and time is provided to discuss numerous facets of the book building and thinking operations.We will discuss some surface design on covering materials, possible variants on format and engage in the mark making materials that form a foundation for exciting and durable archiving. Some of this material is being revealed here for the first time.

This workshop will crack the code for you. On completion, you will have an expanded working vocabulary and will be able to explore with familiarity the manuals and literature that surrounds this subject.The world of bookbinding becomes your oyster.

BIO Timothy Ely has been a student and scholar of the sketchbook form since the late 1960’s. He received an MFA in Design from the University of Washington in 1975 and since that time has been making unique manu- script books, sketchbooks & archives and has been active in teaching the art of the book. He is represented by Granary Books in New York City. His books are in public, private, and secret collections planet wide. He lives in Colfax,Washington.

Sponsored by Painted Bunting Books, Curly Head Press,

and The University of Alabama’s MFA in the Book Arts Program

TO REGISTER

Email Amy LeePard at Amy.LeePard |at| gmail.com with your name, address and telephone number. Then, mail a check for the full tuition of $70 made out to Amy LeePard. Send to 2315 7th Street, Northport, Alabama 35476. Your space in the class is only guaranteed upon receipt of full payment, and is on a first come, first serve basis. Materials kit available for an additional fee. A materials and supplies list will be sent upon registration.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE : FEBRUARY 24th

Bookbinding Tool making workshop with Randy J. Arnold

A few spaces still remaining - sign up today!

Randy J. Arnold will be teaching a tool making workshop October 20 – 21st

during the Friends of Dard Hunter conference.

The workshop will be located on the campus of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Participants should leave with three simple but essential tools crafted during the workshop.

Registration is now open.

For more information, please visit the Friends of Dard Hunter.

Tool Making

Using simple tools such as a bone folder or a nipping press is essential for bookbinding. Learning to design and build these tools can have a great impact on the ease and quality of the work produced. The class will include an introduction to hand tools: saws, rasps, hand drills, chisels, and sandpaper; how to build a simple jig that will help us create the book binding tools; making a wooden “bone” folder custom shaped to your hand; building a simple nipping press; and building a punching cradle that will be functional and beautiful. I will bring my personal tools to share with the class. For those interested in purchasing hand tools for the class, or bringing their own tools, we will be using a crosscut carcass saw, a hand drill, various rasps, and assorted chisels (or carving knives). This workshop is intended as a connection between the worlds of bookbinding and woodworking, and to take some of the mystery out of woodworking, ultimately empowering the bookbinder with the necessary skills to create any tool they might need. The building process will focus primarily on hand tool use, and no experience with woodworking is required.

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Randy J. Arnold is a luthier living in Northport, Alabama, and the third generation in his family to work with wood. In addition to musical instruments, Randy also creates handcrafted bookbinders’ tools. Randy works in the wood shop that his grandfather built in the early 1940’s, using many of his grandfather’s tools.

The Photographic Image Narrative Workshop by Amy C. LeePard

Friends of Dard Hunter Annual Meeting
October 18 - 24
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
Gatlinburg, Tennessee


In this two-day workshop, on October 20th & 21st, we will consider the use of photographic images as a storytelling device in the artist book. Through quick writing and visual exercises, we will unravel the stories that images tell. Participants will learn three book structures: the sixteen-page book from a single sheet, the hardcover pamphlet, and the double-leaved accordion. These formats easily accommodate photographic imagery either through direct printing onto folios or incorporating individually printed photographs.

Using our surroundings, participants will create their own image narrative artist book. The image narrative has the potential to tell an abstract or explicit story or it can simply imply relationships. These themes will be explored throughout the workshop.

We will also discuss digital print technology such as choosing printers, inks, and papers for archival print quality, as well as how to incorporate analog photography. In addition to your regular binding tools (folder, ruler, craft knife etc.), participants should also bring a digital or instant camera (Polaroid-style instant film is now available from Harman Technologies. There is limited film processing in the Gatlinburg area but participants may choose to use 35mm and have it one-hour-processed at the local drug store.) Though not mandatory, a laptop with photo-editing software will be helpful.



















Two days, Wednesday and Thursday, Members of the Friends of Dard Hunter $200, (Non-Members $240) plus $40 materials fee

All classes run from 9 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Studios are open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

All workshops are limited to 10 participants. Enroll early to guarantee your place in the workshop of your choice.

To register, visit The Friends of Dard Hunter online

October 14-16, 2010
Radisson Suites Tucson
Tucson, Arizona



Online Registration is now open!



The Seminar on Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding is the annual Guild of Book Workers conference. Held annually at a different location in the country, participants attend presentations by leading experts in the fields related to the book and paper arts. Tours of binderies, conservation facilities, rare book libraries and papermaking establishments are regularly arranged in conjunction with the event. Seminar presentations are videotaped and made available to members. The Guilds Annual Meeting is held in conjunction with the seminar.



Registration is limited to 140 people. Deadline to register is September 14, 2010.


For information on this year's events including presentations, tours, vendor room and banquet, visit the Standards of Excellence Seminar page of the Guild's website.

Handmade Book Binding Tools Exhibition

Randy Arnold is a woodworker in Northport, Alabama who produces finely crafted handmade book binding tools out of hard woods, using traditional joinery techniques. Arnold's book binding tools are currently on display at the Kentuck Museum in historic downtown Northport. To see these tools in person and speak to the artist, check out July Art Night at the Kentuck annex on Thursday, July 1st. To purchase tools online, visit Arnold's online shop.

A view of Arnold's shop and his other woodworking venture as a luthier -



Read more about woodworker Randy Arnold in this recent article from The Tuscaloosa News.

Abecedary - PBI ABC

The contortions that comprise PBI ABC were conceived and practiced in a public park on the banks of the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck, MI by four artists fortuitously brought together by the Paper and Book Intensive. We hope that this abecedary conveys whimsy and the uncanny – bodies balanced on the edge of language.

PBI ABC was originally created for an auction supporting the Nell Meldahl Scholarship Fund, of which its creators were recipients. Fully collaborative image-making and binding design were executed over a week at the OxBow School of Art in May 2009, and since then, numerous cross-country emails and packages have continued the collaboration between us:

Arini Esarey is a book artist and student in the bookbinding program at North Bennet Street School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Amy LeePard is a book artist and letterpress printer in Northport, Alabama whose work focuses on the stories and experiences of everyday people.

Benjamin Reynaert is an artist in Ann Arbor, Michigan whose work creates places that are built from commonly found paper products and transformed into sculptural book objects.

Kalmia Strong is an artist who is studying to be a librarian/book historian/ conservator.

PBI ABC will be on display at The Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado during the exhibition ABECEDARIES.

Me Me's Pecan Pie Letterpress Printed Broadside

Letterpress printed broadside. Printed on a Vandercook-4 from wood and metal type with a 4-color reduction linoleum cut. Irene Waldrop Maxwell's Pecan Pie recipe - printed in memory of Irene and in celebration of her grandchildren's birthdays.

Printed by Amy C. LeePard during a letterpress printing residency at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina during the winter of 2010.

Limited Edition of 25 printed on Mohawk Superfine. (shown above)

Special Edition of 5 printed on Strathmore Pastelle with deckle edge.

Printing wood blocks for new book project

Using a press made by Randy J. Arnold, I have been experimenting with printing wood blocks today for an upcoming book project. I will be spending two weeks at The Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina as an artist in residence. During that time, I will be working in their letterpress studio with master printer Amy Pirkle of Perkolator Press. Look for photos of the finished book project in February.

I have recently filled the position of interim Secretary / Membership Officer for the southeastern chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. I have also been asked to contribute to the chapter's newsletter which takes the form of a blog. For information about book arts related events and opportunities in the southeastern U.S., check out the SEGBW's newsletter.

For information on how to join the Guild of Book Workers and membership privileges, visit the National Guild of Book Worker's website. www.guildofbookworkers.org

A Calming Grey Quiet

As a participant in the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory’s Snail Mail Paper Trail exhibit, I received two sheets of handmade paper in the mail. I carried these pieces of paper around with me for weeks. I took them with me to work, they rode around in my car, sat on my living room couch, my bedside table and even spent some time in the dining room before they made their way into the studio where they were to be transformed in some way. I thought about how these pieces of paper had become a part of my daily life as I carried them around, waiting to discover what they could become.

As I spent time each day thinking about these pieces of paper and imagining what they could become, they became a calming grey quiet for me. They gave me the space to think and imagine. By the time they were taking book form, they were full of moments of quiet. I figured the only suitable marking would be a reminder to myself of what the paper brought to my day, a moment of calming grey quiet.

Common Box

The Common Box Project was a collaborative project initiated by Denver musician and recording artist John Common and Abecedarian Gallery owner and book artist Alicia Bailey. Each invited artist was provided with a wooden box and access to demos and lyrics from John Common and the Blinding Flashes of Light's upcoming album "Beautiful Empty" (September 2009).

While reading John Common’s lyrics and listening to his music, I found myself wanting to know more about the people in his neighborhood. Where did they come from? Where were they going? With those questions in mind, I selected excerpts from his lyrics that made me want to know more, lyrics that made me want to find out whose experience was intertwined in his melody.

The excerpts were then imbedded in images. Each image is one quadrant of a larger photograph, creating a slide of text and image that doubles as a puzzle piece. Each of the photographs that I chose were images that I had taken of locations that roused a strong sense of place.

After creating the lyric slides, I decided that I wanted to answer some of these questions for the viewer of the collaborative box project. I thought about the relationships formed by this project - there is John Common, the musician, Alicia Bailey, the curator-gallerist, me, the creator of the box and you, the viewer of the box. I thought about how this project connected us and how we each have a story to tell. I asked John and Alicia to share four specific thoughts, facts or memories from different points in their lives while I also came up with four from my life. These story pieces were imbedded in one quadrant of a map. When put together, these slides reveal the home state of each contributor.

If you decide to enter into this collaborative project, then you also become part of this puzzle. Buying this box completes the cycle, connects the pieces and entitles you to four slides that represent your story. You become the final piece of the puzzle that connects us. As the owner of the box, send me four details of your life, history or memories. Include where you grew up and I will send your remaining slides. The final slide is a colophon slide which details the purpose and processes of the project. The colophon slide will reveal how we are all connected.

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For more images visit http://www.paintedbuntingbooks.com/

Marking Time Exhibition

Handmade in Alabama was chosen to be included in the National Guild of Bookworkers traveling juried exhibition Marking Time.

The book set was also featured in a gallery talk by the Guild of Bookworkers exhibitions chair and internationally known book artist Karen Hanmer.



Marking Time opened at The Minnesota Center for Book Arts on May 15, 2009. The exhibition will travel to nine venues across the US from May 2009 until March 2011.

The exhibit was recently reviewed by Mary Abbe in the Minneapolis Star Tribune : Fifty handmade books explore the theme of time with verve and cunning.

View the exhibition schedule or order the full color catalog at

Marking Time Exhibition.

Handmade in Alabama

Handmade in Alabama explores the way our crafts change over time. Through interviews with three generational artisans, the book set proposes that over time, our crafts have moved from the primarily utilitarian to the primarily aesthetic. What was once work to meet a need is now leisure to meet a desire.

Letterpress and archival ink jet printed on the artist’s handmade 100% cotton paper. Divided into four sections, the book consists of three hardcover pamphlets each highlighting one of the generational artisans and one soft cover pamphlet serving as the introduction, artist’s commentary and extended colophon. Housed in a handmade clamshell box.

Book One: Miller Pottery Since 1865

Book Two: Estella Jackson, Split Oak Basketmaker

Book Three: Maxwell Banjo Company

Besides honoring the tradition of craft in Alabama, one of the intentions of this book project was to offer a glimpse of this culture to a wider audience, in the hope that someone unfamiliar with Alabama could have a real experience with the words of these traditional crafts people and see their process and environment...

I wanted the books to be a portal for these generational crafts people to speak directly to the reader. I chose excerpts from the interviews that I felt illustrated a change in craft over time through the generations of these three families.

In many cases, the decision to stay and carry on a family tradition is a decision made because of an awareness of the importance of doing so and not just a passive set of circumstances.

Front Covers of Handmade in Alabama setBack Covers of Handmade in Alabama set

In my eyes, these three people are beacons of the need to preserve culture and familial identity in an increasingly homogenized manufactured world.

Inside detail of books

letterpress and archival ink jet printing

*Handmade in Alabama was made possible by the goodwill and generosity of family and friends, especially Randy Arnold of Maxwell Banjo Company, Jude of Art By JulesMarie and Geoffrey, Amy Pirkle of Perkolator Press, Jessica Peterson of Paper Souvenir, Glenn House & Kathy Fetters, Eric Miller, Estella Jackson, Rick Olson of Coosa Creek Cinema, Word Way Press, The Alabama Folklife Association and New College.

New Website

Howdy from Painted Bunting Books!

Just wanted to let you all know that we have been coding for the last couple of months and are launching our new website this week.

It is being updated daily as we finish the design so be sure to check back for more content & images.

You can also continue to find us here on blogger.

Check us out at www.paintedbuntingbooks.com

We would love to hear constructive feedback as we finalize the design.

In fact, we'll send a custom handbound blank journal to whoever gives us the most constructive feedback! We've been looking at it way too long and need an outsiders point of view!

Thanks for your interest in Painted Bunting Books!

Linsey-Woolsey

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Linsey-Woolsey was created in the summer of 2008. Printed on my handmade linen/wool blend paper, the text was set in Adobe Garamond and Bickley Script. All of the images are my original intaglio prints and were printed on an etching press in Daniel Smith sepia etching ink. The binding is a modified link stitch sewn with linen thread. The closing tie is my handcarded and handspun linsey-woolsey yarn. Edition of 2.

Linsey-Woolsey was on display at The Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado for the juried shows Forces Unseen and Interweavings and was purchased by the Special Collections of Topeka County Public Library in Topeka, Kansas.

Paper Marbling in Santa Fe

Tom Leech - Palace Jewels - Acrylic on Handmade Paper (detail image of marbled paper)

While in New Mexico this summer, I had the opportunity to attend a paper marbling demonstration by Tom Leech at The Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.

Tom is a papermaker, paper marbler and letterpress printer (among many other talents). He is the director of Palace Press located in the courtyard of the New Mexico History Museum. He recently curated the marbled paper exhibit Album Amicorum which is on display in the governor's office at The Round House in downtown Santa Fe.

We had a beautiful afternoon for paper marbling in the courtyard. Many thanks to Tom Leech for answering all my enthusiastic questions!

Linsey-Woolsey

Linsey-Woolsey, a book of intaglio prints on handmade Linen/Wool paper will be on display at The Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado from June 20 - September 13.

Linsey-Woolsey was chosen to be included in the juried show Forces Unseen as well as the upcoming show Interweavings at The Abecedarian Gallery

For the past eleven months, I have been experimenting with the blending of linen and wool fibers. As a yarn spinner, I began working with linen and wool by mixing the two raw fibers with wool hand cards and then spinning the blended fiber on my spinning wheel, producing Linsey-Woolsey yarn. I was fascinated with the idea of using one fiber from a plant and one from an animal. It produced such a strong and beautiful yarn, the fibers really seemed to compliment each other. I wondered why animal fibers were not more commonly used in papermaking. After questioning every papermaker I knew, I finally found someone who was also interested in this question. This paper is the product of a collaborative (Heidi Atwood - Might Could Press) experiment with linen rag and wool roving.

Intaglio Print on Linen/Wool Handmade Paper

Linum usitatissimum

After taking the fibers through several different mediums - spinning, papermaking, weaving - and representations - drawings, photographs, intaglio prints - and speaking to people as a living history demonstrator of spinning & weaving, I became very interested in the history and social use/interaction/reaction to these fibers. I was puzzled by the ideas that have been attached to the blending of these two fibers. Inspired by the varied facts and feelings associated with the blending of Linen and Wool, I set out to learn more about the social history of Linsey-Woolsey and to then blend these two disctinctly different stories together into book form.

Some of the elements of interest:

Linsey-Woolsey is a strong durable fabric made of two distinctly different fibers, one from a plant cellulose fiber and one from an animal protein fiber.

As a living history demonstrator, I found that children shared my fascination with spinning the plant and animal fibers together. The children loved touching the two raw fibers and feeling the differences in texture. They thought that the linen looked like human hair or horse hair and had a hard time believing that it came from the inside of a plant.

Twice, the Bible specifically prohibits fabric blended of linen and wool - Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:11.

Colonial American quilts were typically backed with linsey-woolsey fabric. Many textile historians believe that "the linen and woolen quilts which we see today survived because the cloth was stronger than other weaves in use at the same time. " Dian Crayne Patches from the Past: Scraps of Fabric, Sewing & Quilting History

"The colonists were manufacturing serge, worsted, kersey, and linsey-woolsey fabrics and later woolen stockings. English industries suffering from the East India Company's import of cheap fabrics were not prepared to brook further competition from America. A flourishing ship building industry would enable the colonists to export manufactured woolen goods to Europe and other foreign markets to the detriment of English producers." Taxation in Colonial America: 1607-1775 by Alvin Rabushka

In Norman Yetman's Voices from Slavery: 100 Authentic Slave Narratives, James Lucas, age 104, describes the "clean rough clothes" that he wore "around at de Big House and to town". "I wore rough clothes. De pants was white Linsey-Woolsey... De womens wore linsey-woolsey dresses and long leggin's like de soldiers wear."

"I have a vivid recollection of the linsey-woolsey dress given to me every winter by Mrs. Flint. How I hated it! It was one of the badges of slavery." Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Autobiography by Harriet Jacobs

Linsey-Woolsey blends not only linen and wool fibers but also the social fabric of history and memory, fact and feelings.

Beyond Reading: Books As Art

Two of my books were included in the Beyond Reading: Books As Art Exhibit at the Suffolk Museum in Suffolk, Virginia. Unknown Ancestry and Miller Pottery Since 1865 were among 70 books from book artists in the U.S. and Canada. The exhibit runs from April 25 - June 7.

For more info, check out http://www.suffolkartleague.org/

Press for Beyond Reading: Books As Art:

"At a Glance" - By: Mark St. John Erickson - May 11 2008

A book is just a book is just a book; if you think about it like most people. Read a little more into these contemporary sculptures.

http://www.dailypress.com/features/dp-gl_mark_0511may11,0,5742998.column

"Suffolk flips for books" - By: Tracy Agnew - April 19, 2008

Some have words, and some don't. Some resemble conventional books, but most don't. The common thread is that all the books in the "Beyond Reading: Books as Art" exhibit at the Suffolk Museum are handmade.

Forty artists from all over the country submitted works for the exhibit. The Suffolk Museum exhibit runs in conjunction with "The Art of Printmaking" at the Red Thread Studio and "Letter Carriers: The Written Word in Art" at Shooting Star Gallery.

For more of this story:

http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/articles/2008/04/20/news/local/news4.txt

Handmade in Alabama - Book One - Miller Pottery Since 1865

Handmade in Alabama is a box set of image books that feature

Alabamians who spend their lives producing handmade treasures.

Miller Pottery Since 1865, Book One of the set, is a hardcover pamphlet binding printed on my handmade bleached abaca paper. The cover images are printed on faux vellum. All of the photographs are my original photography and were taken with a Pentax K1000 (35mm).

In December of 2004, Randy Arnold and I traveled to Brent, Alabama to interview and photograph Eric Miller of Miller Pottery. Eric, a fifth generation Alabama potter, welcomed us into his studio, an old brick structure with few interior walls. At one end of the building, there is a walk-in sunken kiln that is big enough to fire over a ton of clay. During the first afternoon that we spent with Eric, he shared many stories about what it was like growing up in the oldest pottery family in Alabama. Eric’s distinctive raspy laugh peppered his stories of traveling around the southeast in the 1960s with his father, selling stoneware pottery to Mom and Pop shops. Although the family owned and operated shops that once sold Miller pottery have been boarded up in favor of big box stores, the Millers still dig their own Alabama clay. Their craft is one of Alabama’s treasures. The Artist's Handmade Bleached Abaca was crafted in the Lost Arch Papermill in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in December 2007. Binding for Miller Pottery Since 1865 was completed in April 2008. Other materials include faux vellum, linen thread and binder's board.

The complete box set Handmade in Alabama is currently under construction.