PSBA October Updates

Greetings and Happy Fall, PSBA Members!

October Events:

PSBA 4th Annual Book Exchange: Sunday, October 9, 2-4pm. University of Puget Sound, Collins Library, Room 053.

Registration for non-participants is required and is limited to 18 participants.

Join us for the 4th Annual PSBA Book Exchange at Collins Library. For those who did not participate in this year's creation of books for this year’s exchange but would like to attend the event, registration is required. For those who registered previously to participate, you do not need to do anything, you are already registered. 

Questions? Contact Belinda Hill at benjisnewadventure@gmail.com.

Masks are not required but recommended.

Changing the Conversation, Malini Gupta: Friday ,October 21 from 1:00- 2:30. University of Puget Sound, Collins Memorial Library, Archives Seminar Room. Registration is required and limited to 15 participants.

Meet artist Malini Gupta whose book, The Fortune Teller, is included in the exhibit Changing the Conversation. As the artist states, “through this work I seek to investigate the deeply entrenched gender biases that plague the Indian society. It is comprised of two parts: part one is the game of Fortune Teller; part two is my personal childhood story. The Fortune Teller - an unassuming childhood game that predicts your future based on choices you make. As the viewer interacts with this seemingly benign and innocuous game they are confronted by the cold, hard statistics of gender inequality in India. For the second part of the piece, I narrate my first hand experiences of growing up in India. “ Malini will discuss this work and others as well as her work as the Creative Director of OCHRE Art and Design in Portland.

Masks are not required but recommended.

Changing the Conversation, Open Cases Event: Wednesday, October 26, 12:00-1:30. Collins Memorial Library, Room 118.

Registration is limited to 15 participants and required.

Join exhibit curators Jane Carlin, MalPina Chan, and Carletta Carrington Wilson, along with many of the local artists (Bonnie Thompson Norman, Amy Ryken, Paige Pettibon, Deborah Greenwood, and Lucia Harrison) featured in the exhibit, to have an up close and personal look at individual books and learn about the creative process.  Books will be removed from the exhibit space and available for closer viewing in library room 118.

Masks are not required but recommended.

Mini-Workshop, Jacob’s Ladder Construction: Saturday, October 29, 1:00 – 4:00. Pt. Defiance-Ruston Senior Center, 4617 N. Baltimore. Tacoma. Instructor: Jan Dove

Please Note: Covid protocols apply to this workshop! The instructor and all participants must be vaccinated for Covid19 and wear a mask during the workshop. Be prepared to show your up-to-date vaccination card.

Registration is required and limited to 12 participants.

Member Fee: $35.00 that includes a $15 materials fee.

Skill Level: All levels are welcome.

Workshop Description: A Jacob’s Ladder is a folk toy consisting of blocks of wood woven together by ribbons. When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the ribbons. This effect is a visual illusion which is the result of one block after another flipping over. Our Jacob’s Ladder is built of mat board blocks and has the added effect of appearing to magically switch between two different images.

Participants will investigate the mechanics and construction of the Jacob’s Ladder. Participants will leave with at least one functioning Jacob’s Ladder that displays two contrasting images in correct sequence.

Questions? Contact: Jan Dove, jan@jandove.com

Administrative type questions? Contact Dorothy McCuistion at dorothykmc@gmail.com.

Save the Date, Workshop, Rainbow Box with Pyramid Lid and Feet: Friday, December 2, 9:30 AM-4:30 PM. Location: Becky Frehse’ Studio in Tacoma. Instructor: Randi Parkhurst. Skill Level: All levels are welcome.

Registration is required and limited to 12 participants.

PSBA Member Fee: $85.00 (includes a $20 materials fee)

PSBA Non-Member Fee: $120.00

Registration opens in early October. Watch the PSBA website calendar for details.  

Book Arts Guild event, The Wild Garden of Childhood: A Look at Children’s Books Through the Ages: Tuesday, October 18, 7pm, Zoom. Presenter: Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator, University of Washington Libraries. This presentation will look at the history of the book through the lens of childhood, from early forms of the book up to the work of modern book artists, with texts originally written for children.

Register here to receive the Zoom link and for event information.

Report from the Program Committee:

Many PSBA members—52% of you—filled out the program survey last spring. We thank you again! You provided such an abundance of ideas and direction. Over the summer the program committee took a deep dive into the results, which we are using to plan programs into 2023. Here are a few highlights of what’s ahead:

• Jane Carlin and Amanda Clark are jointly planning quarterly virtual presentations from book arts artists and book arts experts. Amanda is Director of the Library at Whitworth University, Spokane, and is part of a new book arts group in Eastern Washington. These presentations will include audience members from both groups and we look forward to cross-pollination in the coming year.
• A new group of book artists who want to learn how to teach various aspects of book arts is forming under the guidance of Ann Storey and Fran McReynolds. They will be contacting those who identified themselves in the survey.
• Another group interested is reaching out to the community to engage more diverse audiences in book arts. Lucia Harrison, Becky Frehse and Sally Alger are leading this effort. They have contacted those in the survey who indicated they were interested in outreach.

If you are interested in joining either the teaching to teach group or the outreach group and did not state your interest on the survey, please contact Dorothy McCuistion dorothykmc@gmail.com .

There were lots of ideas about what workshops to offer: over 30 structure types and over 15 book arts techniques were suggested. While we can’t do it all, we did find some common threads and we hope one or more workshop is of interest to you in the coming months. While complete registration details will eventually be up on the website, here’s a sneak preview:

• How Do We Talk and Write About Artists Books More Effectively?, Ann Storey, November 13 & 12, two afternoons in-person in Tacoma.
• Rainbow Box with Pyramid Lid, taught by Randi Parkhurst, December 2, 2022, full day workshop in-person in Tacoma.
• Wild Windows Slinky Book, taught by Randi Parkhurst, January 7, 2023, full day workshop in-person in Tacoma.
• Montage Sur-Onglets or Hinge Binding, taught by Gabby Cooksey for intermediate/advanced book artists, February 11 and 19, 2023, in-person in Tacoma.
• Word as Image with Suzanne Moore, a virtual workshop series, March 4, 11, 18 and April 1, plus four virtual discussion sessions.

One last programming news item—we have an additional location at the Pt. Defiance-Ruston Senior Center in Tacoma, for some of our workshops and activities. Look for workshops and sharing events at this location in 2023.

Thank you again for your great ideas and support. We need all of you to keep things going.

Sincerely,

Your PSBA Board