Arowana and BIMA

 

Our November workshop was all about a fish named Arowana. Our instructor, Edge Gerring, was very familiar with Arowana and knew just how to cut Arowana apart and then bring Arowana back together into a very “fluttery” flag book. It was a fun workshop and maybe a little more complicated than other workshops so not everyone completed their structure during the allotted time. So, we only have one example to share and it comes from across the big pond. Many thanks to Edge and to Margaret for sharing.

Margaret Beech (England)

Shapes of Things to Come is the title of the current exhibit in the Sherry Grover Gallery at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) in Washington. This exhibit will continue until February 15, 2023. Here is the introduction to the exhibit:

"The future of the book is here. These works from the Cynthia Sears Artist's Books Collection bend convention, break tradition, and steer a bold course for the future of artist's books. This exhibition features more than forty local, national, and international artists working in diverse formats, materials, and themes."

Here is a sample of some of the wonderful books on display. 

Transpose, 2021
 Islam Aly (Egypt)

Inside Chance, 2000
 Linda Smith (Arizona)

Socrates, Know Thyself, 1999
Stephen Daiber (Massachusetts)

Old Growth: Beneath the Forest Floor, 2015
Lucia Harrison (Washington)

Slices, 2004
Emily Martin, (Iowa)

Take Me, I'm Yours, 2019
Laura Russell (Oregon)

50 Revolutions, 2015
Helen Hiebert (Colorado)

Living With Tassels and Trims, 2019
Robbin Ami Silverberg (New York)

This is the book that goes with the jacket pictured above and 
here is the artist's description of the two pieces:

"I stumbled upon plastic bags filled with samples of textiles, tassels & trim when we were cleaning out my mother’s closets after she died. The remnants found in those bags were pieces of her story: dreams of creating a space and place, a home that defined beauty, projected refinement, and what she would have clarified as happiness.

The result is a cloth book with richly embroidered text & patterns sewn onto a wooden clothing hanger. The text focuses on the idea of ritual as movement and movement as reading. Each copy has a unique case made from clothing, which becomes the protection of these words instead of the human body. The viewer must ‘undress’ the book in order to read it."