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AUGUST 2020 
NEWSLETTER
 
 
Dear NBG Community,
 
It was so wonderful to "see" some of you last month in the NBG Zoom Program Meeting. The fact that the day we met was my birthday made it especially poignant for me. In these liminal times, I think we are all paying attention to the gifts that grace our days. Spending time with the eighteen members who were able to attend, making a simple foldable book together, was a gift. Thank you!
 
It feels like we are living in a collective liminal space, a time between what we knew as "normal life" and what our world and lives will be in a future without Covid-19. A time between what is "no longer" and what is "not yet". As we continue to navigate this space, your NBG Board is trying to provide opportunities for you to engage in the creative world of bookmaking. Bruce Campbell is carefully stepping forward to help the Chapbook Project folks meet in the studio with Covid Protocols. Mary Maisch will teach Art Journal Adventures on Zoom later this month (see below). Mary has also offered to meet individuals who want to purchase supplies from Paper Birches. (Contact her here to make an appointment.) Our September Program Meeting will be held via Zoom and other classes are in the works.
 
I recently read the following poem by Danusha Laméris. It came to mind again during last month's program meeting as I looked at the smiling faces on my Zoom screen. It reminded me that even though we are physically distant we are searching for ways to connect.
 
Small Kindnesses
I've been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say "bless you"
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. "Don't die," we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don't want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, "Here,
have my seat," "Go ahead-you first," "I like your hat."
 
Thank you for supporting NBG.              
Warmest regards,
Susan Campbell
NBG President

 


ZOOM STUDIO SESSION
Art Journal Adventures
with Mary Maisch

Sundays, August 9 & 16
12:00 - 1:00pm

Recommended NBG Donation: $40 members, $50 guests

Register here
 
Create colorful pamphlet stitched art journals to hold and develop your ideas and inspirations for future projects. In our first Zoom session, we will cover both sides of a large sheet of watercolor paper with acrylic paints using big brushes and wild strokes, and talk about options for assembling and sewing the book. In the following Zoom session, we will explore ways to make pockets, collage, embellish, and write in the journal.
 
PARTICIPANTS SUPPLY ALL MATERIALS:
18" x 24" sheet of watercolor paper (or larger)             
Favorite acrylic paint colors, plus black and white 
Brushes in a variety of sizes, including extra large 
Apron or paintable clothing 
Waxed linen thread, needle, awl
Knife, bone folder, plastic and metal rulers

Materials to fill your journal:
Quotes, poems, cards, calendar bits, magazine cutouts, old sketches,class notes, stamps and inks, washi tape, Gelli prints, photos, colored pencils, Sharpie markers, glue stick, MacTac

 
#Are You Book Enough
Book Challenge
Theme for July: SEA

  

Ashley Thayer's  July Challenge Book: Beware The Sea

About this book Ashley writes: 
Sailors beware!! Monsters lurk beneath the dark seas, waiting to pull your ships to the deepest depths of the unknown. Or that's what the cartographers hundreds of years ago seemed to suggest with their fantastical beasts depicted on their maps. Could you imagine setting sail thinking these sorts of monsters were out there, swimming beneath you?? I made this month's challenge book with salmon parchment from the fish my dear husband caught on our trip to Seward, handmade paste paper, and an image from a 1572 map in a Turkish map fold.

#Are You Book Enough
You're invited to participate in the next book challenge! August's theme is "Mountain" and September's theme is "Weathered." Make a book that responds to the theme and post your creation on Instagram: #areyoubookenough. Send photos of your challenge book to us here - we will share them in the next newsletter!

Questions about the challenge project answered here.
 
 
 
... AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

 
ITOC: Boreal Forest Stories
 Call for Proposals
In a Time of Change (ITOC) is seeking applicants from all disciplines within the arts and humanities for a series of collaborative workshops culminating in a group exhibit and book entitled In a Time of Change: Boreal Forest Stories. The transdisciplinary exhibit will be presented in the Bear Gallery in May, 2022 and will feature multiple competitively selected artists and humanists working in a variety of media, following regular interactions with scientists, to produce original works that communicate narratives rooted in the boreal forest, including its ecology, its inhabitants, and their interactions. 

Application details and other information here

Book Paper Thread
Book Paper Thread is a new book and paper arts website that presents on line learning. Three instructors have joined together from across the country to present workshops on book structures, paper decorating, printmaking and more.
Learn more here.



The Margin-Fold Structure by Alisa Golden
If you are interested in binding single sheets into sections, and/or for setting up those pages in a Word document for 8.5 x 11 paper, Alisa Golden has posted instructions on her blog for what she calls "Margin-fold Signatures" or "Margin-fold Book."
Learn more here


Book Arts Crossword Puzzle
Too hot for the studio? Feeling sluggish in these dog days of summer? If
so, grab a chilled beverage and check out these crossword
puzzles from the International Print Center New York (IPCNY).

Have fun here!


   

Fish Skin Binders
Bind-O-Rama 2020

Peter Verheyen, leader of the Book Arts List Serve, has had a long term interest in binding with fish skin. In his Pressbengel Project blogspot he explores the tradition of making fish skin parchment. The on-line exhibition of book artists who use fish skin in their work can be seen here.

 
NORTHWOODS BOOK ARTS GUILD
CALENDAR

Studio Session
on Zoom
Art Journal Adventures
Sundays, August 9 and 16   12-1pm
on Zoom

Letterpress Chapbook Project
ongoing

Set Book Project
ongoing

Next Program Meeting
on Zoom
Saturday, September 19   1-3pm
Book Challenge: Weathered

 

Learn about and support Northwoods Book Arts Guild!


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