Invitation to World Literature

Thanks to Susan Stephenson of Australia who has a great blog about children's learning, literacy, and literature called The Book Chook for this link. Invitation to World Literature is a production of WGBH Educational Foundation with Seftel Productions for Annenberg Media, sharing not just information, but wisdom and knowledge—stories from ancient times to today.

The thirteen books include The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Popol Vuh, The Bhagavad Gita, The Odyssey, The Thousand and One Nights, and the more contemporary Things Fall Apart and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

For each book, there are three categories:

WATCH (a video introducing each book with historical context and thoughts from scholars, writers, artists, and teachers)

READ (Getting Started, Read the Text, Expert's Views, Translations and Editions, and a Glossary with pronunciations to listen to)

EXPLORE (Timeline & Map, Slideshow, Connections, Key Points)

There are hours and hours of learning and adventure to be found at the Invitation to World Literature.

Are Libraries Necessary?

Jule Siegel posted a link on the Book Arts List to this article on the Fox Chicago website:

I thought I'd share some of my comments:

I think all of us lovers of books and libraries need to speak up. Libraries, to me, are the most democratic institutions we have in this country and their existence is essential. In contrast to the Fox news article, a recent story in our local paper was about how community support stopped the Mayor from making major cuts to the library budget.

I am very interested in the digital/book debate and hope that the future holds the coexistence of books and digital media. I think the western mind has a hard time accepting duality and both instead of either/or. Our idea of progress seems to be ditch the old and embrace the new. I am hoping that maybe this time we can do keep both. There is information that is perfect to get in digital form. There is nothing like curling up with a book that you hold in your hand.

Maryanne Wolf on Digital Media and Kids

Today's Boston Globe has an interview with Maryanne Wolf, director of Tufts University Center for Reading and Language Research about kids' overexposure to digital media.

She says
One of the biggest antidotes is going back ourselves with our children and having fun—no electricity allowed.

I say
Make books together!

Jung's Red Book

I went to see The Red Book of Carl Jung at the Rubin Museum in New York. You can read my impressions at in good spirit.

Guild of Bookworkers Website

The Guild of Bookworkers has a fabulous new website that will provide hours of exploration, including galleries from six exhibitions (Marking Time, 100th Anniversary Exhibition, In Flight, Best of the Best, Abecedarium, and PaperBound), past journals and newsletters in pdf form, a searchable directory of supplies and services, and more.

Here is a message from GBW President James Reid-Cunningham:
Founded in 1906, the Guild of Book Workers is the only national organization for all of the arts of the book, including bookbinding, conservation, printing, papermaking, calligraphy, marbling and artist's books. The Guild currently has 850 members, both professional and amateur, from all over the country. Our ten regional chapters organize lectures, workshops and exhibitions for our members.

The Guild publishes an annual Journal and a bi-monthly newsletter for members, and we host an annual four-day conference called the Seminar in Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding. Our library has hundreds of monographs and periodicals in the book arts, and these materials are available for loan to our members. We hold triennal juried exhibitions that showcase the artwork of our members, and these exhibitions travel to venues nationwide.

This webpage is the creation of our communications chair, Eric Alstrom, and designer Rich Price. They have done a splendid job of presenting the myriad activities of our 103-year old organization.


Consider joining the organization for access to upcoming members only web features, subscriptions to their newsletters and journals, exhibition opportunities, participation in the annual Seminar on Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding, as well as regional chapter activities.

I received a very kind email from Meliors Simms telling me of her mention of my blog and website on her blog, Bibliophilia. She wrote about doing bookmaking with migrant children.


Everyone over about 4 years old enjoyed making their own books, either or both of the examples I prepared. I showed them what Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord calls a Hotdog Book, which is universally popular simple structure, and a basic accordion with a folded card cover. Anyone lucky enough to be spending time with children should check out Susan's Making Books With Children blog and website. Its a brilliant example of the how-to-craft genre on the internet, full of inspiring ideas, excellent advice and clear instructions.

Visit her blog to learn about her creative work that spans genres from artists books to a film presentation of a book, chalk poetry, and her Coral Threnody project which uses crochet and embroidery.

The Elephant Rag

I was recently commissioned to create a logo for Terry Farish's wonderful blog/magazine about children's books with voices from around the world called The Elephant Rag. There you'll find links to book lists, interviews, talk about race, and stories about amazing people.

The logo was created in several stages. The background was built from images layered in photoshop: a photographed page from a book from Bhutan, plus scanned pages from a Mexican curandero book in Spanish from San Pablito and a book from Japan with the words to a Noh drama. All are muted so they blend together.


The elephant was drawn and the text lettered with my favorite pentel brush fountain pen. My first one was purchased from John Neal Bookseller but after a plane trip to Oregon this fall, I found that the ink flow was less controlled. I then began to use the pen I purchased while visiting Korea.

A light opacity of a scan of amate or amatyl bark paper from Mexico is laid over the entire image and an outer outline is from a scan of mashamba paper from Africa.

Inauaguration Pop-up from Carol Barton

Make an inauguration pop-up created by book artist Carol Barton.

Hear Carol with Scott Simon on Weekend Edition on NPR.

Roberta Lavadour on Artists Books

There is an excellent introduction to what an artists book is in an interview with Roberta Lavadour on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Her work and her studio are great to see and she speaks eloquently about artists books and the creative process.

Video

Roberta's website

500 Handmade Books Podcast

Lark Books has just published 500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations of a Timeless Form (500 Series). Part of their 500 series, it is a visual exploration of the form. After a brief introduction by juror Steve Miller, page after page of photographs follow. As with any book exhibition (except ones where you are allowed to handle the work), there is a certain frustration in not being able to see more pages and examine the books more closely, but that does not take away from the stunning and inspiring presentation. I am honored to have three of the Spirit Books included.

500 Handmade Books will stretch your vision of what a book can be. You can hear Steve Miller in a podcast at the Lark books website.

Pop-Up Books

Carol Barton has published her second volume of The Pocket Engineer. These ingenious books provide both clear directions and do-it-yourself models that can be detached from the book, made, and then stored in pockets in the book. Additional sets of the models may also be purchased.

Carol publishes these wonderful books through her own Popular Kinetics Press. If you purchase a copy, give her your full support by purchasing directly from her website.

Carol also has a great blog, The Popular Edge, Pop-Up and Book Arts News.




I had my first exposure to pop-ups with Joan Irvine's How to Make Pop-ups. My kids and I spent many enjoyable hours with the books and they both have made pop-up cards the mainstay of their correspondence. Out of print for a while, it is again in print with the title, Easy-to-Make Pop-Ups.

You can find an excerpt from the book at Joan Irvine's website.

Living Library/Human Books

"What is a book?" is a question often debated by book artists. The Living Library in east London adds a whole new dimension. The project, created by Ronni Abergel to break down prejudice and foster dialog, allows people to borrowed.

"A new kind of Library has opened, where instead of books you can borrow a Muslim - or a single father, or a transvestite, for a chat. Alex Forsyth volunteers to be lent as a 'book', and asks whether this concept can really help break down stereotypes.

A Muslim, a Catholic and a transsexual are sitting in a library. An opener to a joke this is not: It is the Living Library - where, instead of books, you borrow people. You pick a person for a 30-minute dialogue in which you can ask questions, engage in meaningful discourse or simply bounce ideas. I wait with the other 'books' to be borrowed."

The complete article about the Living Library by Alex Forsyth may be found here.

Here's one from the Christian Science Monitor.

Art, Books, And Creativity

"Art, Books, and Creativity is a yearlong arts curriculum developed by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. ABC provides meaningful arts learning experiences while highlighting the natural connections between visual arts and language arts. ABC is a model for integrating the visual arts into the core curriculum while maintaining a specific focus on the contributions of women artists to our shared cultural history.

The ABC curriculum promotes visual literacy by developing students' skills in observation, reflection, and arts creation. The curriculum unites visual art and writing through the creation of artists' books, an art form especially suited to linking imagery and language."

There are directions for several book forms and creating a pop-up as well as lots of information and inspiration about integrating bookmaking into the curriculum.