Mixed media tutorials

This tutorial on wax rubbing is a mixed media technique for anyone who is interested in art journals or if you want to create an interesting textured page background for studio journal.

Each step of the process is clearly described and photographed. It is and easy and technique, not expensive on the pocket and produces quick results.

The tutorial comes from GPP Street Team a blog by Michele Ward who publishes “Crusades” as a series of creative challenges. Take a browse through the past “Crusades” as they are in effect small tutorials on various mixed media techniques

 

Musing over Bonefolder

I know I am little slow but over the weekend I had the chance to browse the latest issue of Bonefolder. It is excellent by the way and well worth popping over to the site and downloading a copy. Muriel Prince’s article Women and Books: Contemporary book artists share their thoughts was of particular interest as recently I have become more interested in book binding and artist books. I have always had an interest in this area and have started to bind my own visual journals. Murial Prince asks why so many women are attracted to artists books as a format and suggests that possibly “it’s the freedom of the multi-disciplinary approach that appeals to women, the not being pigeon-holed and restrained by tradition or convention, the idea that anything goes - the concept can be realised using any and every means at the individual’s disposal.”

It had me thinking half the day because my mind wondered if it was an area of artistic practice where women felt they could carve out a place without having to contend with a huge and historically long pile of baggage like the tradition of painting or sculpture has.

The “no rules” aspect of a particular practice is often highlighted when women talk about a creative practice they love. For instance both crazy quilters and art journallers constantly say that anything goes there are no rules. It is as if throwing away the rules is necessary in reaction to some areas of textile practice. It is as if many women feel that the generations of strict rules about for instance what is and is not done when embroidering a cloth has to be responded to. The thing is there is actually no rules left in many of these traditional areas too. However there are lots of people who still believe there are and are fearful of breaking some unspoken rule they do not know about.

Back to artists books as format you can still explore a concept. The physical size is also small and often intimate which may also be a factor.

Anyway this one article gave me food for thought but I really wanted to simply point to the whole issue as it is well worth reading if you are at all interested in the paper arts or even if you simply keep a visual journal

If you feel like leaving a response here or musing on your own blog about the importance of rules please do and leave a comment to let me and everyone else know. I know I will read it … now must be off I have a living to earn

 

Collage Mania is about to start!

Virginia Spiegel dropped me a line to remind me that Collage Mania is Monday and Tuesday, in other words May 5 and 6.

I think it is going to be 2 days of total crazyness for Virginia as all you have to do is choose an artwork, e-mail Virginia and make a donation and that is that. So over the weekend I took time out and toddled off to check out the site. It was fatal as I spent hours browsing the gallery. Literally half a day was spent looking at one piece or the other so for eye candy don’t miss this site! The images here are just a bit of a taster. (Please see the image credits at the bottom of the post)

There are hundreds of collaged pieces to browse and delight the eye. So if you enjoy collage of either paper or fabric you will have hours of satisfaction browsing these images.

Do pop over and take a look and remember that all proceeds are donated to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause.

While I was on Virginia’s site I checked out her blog. Apart from details about Collage Mania a few posts back I stumbled upon a very thoughtful post on “What Makes A Series Work” which is worth thinking about. The other project I delighted in is Virginia Spiegel’s personal challenge the Garbage Day Project. Do check it out as it had me wanting to reach for a camera and join in

Image Credits

Image 1 Collage by Karen Bettencourt
Title: e onziéme étourneau (the eleventh starling)
10″h x 8″w Old papers, acrylic paint, image transfer on canvas.

Image 2 Collage by Jennifer Black
Many Gatherings
7.25″h x 5″w Vintage sheet music, photo, envelope, and other papers; tissue papers; spine of an old book; paint, thread and old buttons.

Image 3 Collage by Susan Lenz
Remains of a Quilt
10″h x 8″w Leftover snippets from a silk painted quilt, paper, thread, acrylic gel.

 

Artists books at the Victorian and Albert

For those lucky enough to get there in person I bet Blood on Paper will be a great exhibit. Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book is an exhibition hosted by the Victorian and Albert Museum which celebrates artists books. The work of 38 artists is on display. Key artists include Picasso, Matisse, Miró, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Anthony Caro.

Since the Blood on Paper exhibition page is thin on visual material (to be fair it is just an announcement page) I went exploring the Victorian and Albert Museum Prints and Books collection online as my interest in artists books was once again tweaked. Artists books are defined as “books, unique or multiple, that have been made or conceived by artists. There are fine artists who make books and book artists who produce work exclusively in that medium, as well as illustrators, typographers, writers, poets, book binders, printers and many others who work collaboratively or alone to produce artists’ books.”

You can search the V&A Artist’s book collection and discover not only artists books but altered books and an old favourite pop up books! Use the drop down menu found under the object type tab on the right hand side of the screen .

So what did I find? I thought I would share three objects from the collection that caught my eye.

I really liked the concept behind Karen Chance’s ‘Parallax’ as the book folds out like an accordion to literally present ‘two sides to a story’. I also liked how Sarah Jackson’s use of a Canon copier machine to produce ‘Votes for women ; Exercises for the growing girl’ echoed the concept driving this piece ie democracy. Mapa ed Veneiis’ Geneviève Seillé is a book object made from an old wooden school desk.

As you can tell I am still obsessed with artists books.

 

Artists books in Australian Collections

I have spent a good part of the weekend poking about the Artist’s books sites. If you are not sure of what an artist book is check out how wikipedia defines an artist’s book. Reading it you might think that this type of work is an American genre but it is not. They are made world wide and Aussies make them too.

State Library of Queensland defines and artist book as “an artwork in a book format, or an artwork which has its origin in the form or concept of the book. The term was originally coined to describe books which had their origin in the conceptual art movement of the 1970s.”

The State Library of Queensland publishes a selection of images of artists’ books from the collection which you can browse by theme or type. An artist statement describing the key concept that drove making the book is accompanied by extensive photographs of each book. It is an online exhibit that is worth making a cuppa and settling down to browse each section.

Also online is another exhibition Bookscapes: exploring contemporary Australian artists’ books. There are a small selection of artists books from the National Library’s Collection in the exhibit Beyond the Picket Fence which features Australian Women’s Art

Robin Wallace-Crabbe discusses the pleasure of making books in A Shy Genre: the Artist’s book. This brief article teases out a few ideas and touches on the history of book studio at the Canberra School of Art (the school is where I work). On that note readers may enjoy the blog that is written by those at the studio under the title of the same name. Also Sasha Grishin has written an article on Collecting Australian Artists’ books for the Australian Art Review.

The Calligraphy and Artist books Galleries is a site run by Australian Cecilla which features a numner of Australian book artist.

Make a cuppa and enjoy!

 

Paper crafts on Flickr

Sorry to be slow today but I have been exploring some of the paper crafting and paper arts groups on flickr. I have had much enjoyment exploring the paper craft pool

Toddle over there … as there is much more to see there than here …

 

A creative weekend

Sometimes it is best to leave the weeding, the grocery shopping, and the housework and simply have a self indulgent weekend. That is what I did and I was doubly spoiled as it was a long weekend here in Canberra. So what did I do?

This 8 inch block is now done. (Click on the image for a larger view)

The other thing I did was to sort out my large sheets of paper and clear out my old drawings and folios.

The folios are made of heavy card and they date back to my art school days when I was a student and they are a little worse for wear after 25 years. Since when I purchased them I was a broke art student they looked particularly tatty but I have never replaced them as they still protect the drawings/ paper inside them.  So I decided that I would tear up old drawings, sheet music, photocopies and papers and collage a cover all over them. I had a ball ripping into some of the very old drawings.

I have three of these folios all still in use more or less and I plan to ‘cover’ all of them this way. This first folio is in black and white (more or less) the others will each have a different dominant colour because then I can colour code what is inside. I use one for paper, the second for drawings I am working on and a third for finished pieces. I actually have a fourth but that one might just beyond it.

It is quite large as it will take a sheet of A2 paper quite happily. In other words it measures 66 cm (26 inches) by 46 cm (18 inches) Here is the front of the folio standing upright on the table

Here is the back of the folio standing upright on the table (Click on the images for a larger view) The sheen is PVA glue still drying!

I really enjoyed doing these and am looking forward to covering the others.

 

A call to collage and mixed media artists

I am not sure about you I know in between the bustle of Christmas and holiday season planning I am thinking about next year.
Virginia Spiegel is too as she has announced her latest fundraiser for the American Cancer Society on her blog.

Collage Mania II will be held in 2008 in early May. Scroll down this page for details.

As you can see this is a collage challenge as all materials are acceptable, but collages should contain some fiber (paper, fabric, or other fibrous material). This opens the doors to paper artists who may want to participate in Fiberart For A Cause. If you want to see some more eye candy from last year have look here

Image details:
Artist: Virginia Spiegel
Title: July 14
Size:8 in. h x 5.5 in. w
Materials: Tissue paper, rice paper, acrylic paint, ink.
Mounted on 8 in. w x 10 in. h Bristol board, signed, and dated
Copyright Virginia Spiegel

 

Papiroflexia

Papiroflexia means “Origami” in Spanish. This is the story of Fred, an Origami artist who as skillful paper folder changes the world.The fairy tale like quality of this small video totally charmed me.

The video would not embed here but do follow the link it is really worth it.
Created by Joaquin Baldwin at the UCLA Animation Workshop, 2007. Original Score written by Nick Fevola.

 

Graceful Envelopes

I think many readers will enjoy browsing the 2007 Graceful Envelope Contest site. The contest is an annual event hosted by the National Association of Letter Carriers and administered by the Washington Calligraphers Guild. This year artists were asked to design an envelope with a culinary theme. You will find a Gallery of winners, a gallery of envelopes that were awarded an Honorable mention, another gallery of Junior contestants and a galery of Child contestants (Kindergarten through Grade 5).

The main page of the 2007 Graceful Envelope Contest site also has link to competitons held in the past. Since it has been running since 2001 ther is a lot of eye candy on this site.

Anyone who is interested in paper arts, book arts, fabric postcards, journal quilts, scrap booking, and visual journals will find these envelopes inspirational as many of the design challenges are the same.