Greetings PSBA members! Wishing you a happy Fourth of July!
Image courtesy of Abbie Birmingham, The Scablands - Stories
From the High Desert.
Upcoming Events
13th Annual PSBA Members’ Exhibition June 4, 2024–August 1, 2024:
The annual PSBA Members' Exhibit continues at the Collins Library at the University of Puget Sound. We had a well-attended reception, with the announcement of award winners, as well as an interesting open-case event.
Still to come are the following free events:
- Time Travel Art Workshop: Saturday, July 13, 10-11:30 am, on Zoom. This workshop will be co-taught by Ann Storey and Belinda Hill. You will learn how to do a Turkish map fold and use that structure to create a three-page illustrated artist's book. The content of your book will be a story map about your travel to an imaginary time and place. We will draw simple contour lines of our hands and eyes with colored pencils to create a topographical 'body' map. Then we will include some inspirational writing within and around our maps to express our time travel experience relating to this fictional place. Register here.
- Second open case event: Tuesday, July 16, 1-3 pm, Collins Library. This is the second of two free open-case events to accompany the 2024 PSBA Members' Exhibit. This is a great opportunity to share your work in the exhibit and to see and hear about some of the other artist books on display. Register here.
- Panel discussion, Fresh Perspectives in Book Arts, Wednesday, July 24, 12-1 pm with Catherine Alice Michaels, Alicia Bailey and Mari Eckstein Gower; moderated by Jane Carlin, on Zoom. Additional information and registration is here.
PSBA 6th Annual Book Exchange: October 6, 2-4pm, University of Puget Sound, Collins Library.
We hope you will join us for the annual book exchange! This year’s theme is “Threads”. There are many possibilities with the theme-- “thread the needle”, “threads of a river”, “threads of a life”, “threading your way through the maze”. And, of course, there are endless ways to incorporate actual thread in your book!
The rules are simple. Create a book using the theme and join the exchange at the in-person event. Your name/book will be randomly paired with another participating artist and in exchange you receive a book from a randomly selected participating artist. Books from the past years exchanges have been amazing! For inspiration, visit the PSBA website to view images of the books from the past few years. We hope you’ll feel inspired to join in. It is an inspirational to see the books created with the theme and you will get to add a fabulous new book to your collection!
Complete the online registration formby September 30. You do not need to attend the in-person exchange to participate. Registration form LINK.
Questions? Contact Abbie Birmingham, abbiemi5274@gmail.com.
The July 6 and 7 marbling workshops are FULL! Look for pictures from the events in the August PSBA newsletter.
From the Outreach Committee: Upcoming PSBA Meet-ups
Regional Meet-ups: Did you know that PSBA has 214 members geographically distributed around Puget Sound? Clusters are in Olympia, Tacoma, King County, Port Angeles/Sequim/Port Townsend, Bainbridge Island/Bremerton, and Whatcom County. The PSBA Outreach Committee is encouraging members to start monthly meet-ups in their locations. These meet-ups are a chance to informally share your work. A group in Olympia has been meeting for 2 years (Contact: Belinda Hill or Ann Storey), in Port Angeles/Sequim for 2 years (Contact: Jan Dove), in Whatcom County for several months (Contact: Fran McReynolds), and Bainbridge Island, Bremerton and Kitsap County (Contact Jane Carlin).
NEW! Monthly Pierce County PSBA Meet-ups, Second Tuesday of the Month, 5-7 pm.
Please join us at the first Pierce County PSBA Meet-up on Tuesday, July 9, 5-7 pm, University Place Public Library Meeting Room. Address: 3609 Market Place W., Suite 100, University Place, WA 98466. Our second meeting will be on August 13, same time, same place.
What is a Meet-up? A chance to get to know PSBA members who live near YOU! And share your work. Bring something to share:
- a project you are working on
- a problem you need help with
- your favorite new tool or technique
- something you made at a workshop
- a new artist book you have added to your collection.
- an idea for a workshop
This is very informal, you don’t need to register, you can bring an interested friend, and you don’t have to live in Pierce County!
The meet-ups will be facilitated (alternately) by Lucia Harrison and Becky Frehse from the PSBA Member Development and Outreach Committee.
Sharing about Recent PSBA Events
Images courtesy of Jessie Wing form the May workshop “Fun and Fanciful Paper Pop-ups.”
Member News
"Downpour" courtesy of Becky Frehse.
Becky Frehse
Becky’s "Spacious Rambles" exhibit of mixed media paintings is still on exhibit through July 14 at Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood, Washington. www.lakewoldgardens.org. Becky's work (www.beckyfrehse.com) is inspired by nature, gardens, and the ephemeral presence of water.
Elizabeth Walsh
The latest issue of Bound and Lettered, a quarterly journal that features articles on artist's books, bookbinding, papercrafts and calligraphy, Elizabeth’s artist book "Egyptian Hieroglyphics Revisited" is featured in the article, "Book Sisters 2023." The book is also part of this year’s PSBA Annual Members’ Exhibition.
"Book Sisters" is a group of nine calligraphy artists from across the United States who have exchanged their editions of artists books with each other for several years. Each member creates an edition of nine books each year, then have an exchange in the fall. When the postman starts delivering these books, each with unusual bindings and handcrafted with beautiful calligraphic words, it's the best gift and makes each artist's hard work worth the effort.
Jan Dove
Jan is a recipient of this year’s Artist Trust SOLA awards! Learn more about the awards here. Congregations Jan!
Other Book Arts Upcoming Events
Movable Mayhem: Pop-Up Books through the Ages: July 7, 2:00 PM, Online.
From the event website: “Renaissance pop-up book expert Suzanne Karr Schmidt will walk us through her most recent Newberry Library exhibition and related recent acquisitions, in a look at the long history of the movable book from the twelfth century to the present.”
For additional information and to register, click here.
Guild of Book Workers Scholarships: This group offers scholarships to attend the Standards of Excellence in Hand Bookbinding seminar. Scholarships are available for both students and regular members. Non-members may apply, but are required to become a member prior to attending the Seminar. The scholarship consists of a waiver of registration fees, lodging costs for four nights at the conference hotel, and the cost of the Saturday evening banquet dinner. The lodging costs covered do not include hotel parking, phone calls, movie rentals, or any other room services. Tour costs are not covered by the scholarship. The GBW Treasurer will reserve a room for each recipient at the conference hotel. Recipients are responsible for making their own travel plans. Scholarship recipients will be asked to volunteer a small amount of their time during the seminar to assist the event organizers, presenters, or other GBW volunteers.
Please direct questions to Todd Pattison, at vicepresident@guildofbookworkers.org. To apply please visit: https://guildofbookworkers.org/standards-excellence-2024.
Applications are due by July 15.
Summer Printmaking and Book Arts Classes at Community Print
Community Print released their schedule of summer classes, and there's a lot to look forward to! Visit our website to register at https://www.community-print.org/classes.
Upcoming classes include:
July 20: Drypoint on Plastic with Diana Fairbanks
July 26: Gelli Roll Fridays
July 27 or July 28: Introduction to Risograph
August 10: Introduction to Letterpress
August 17: Whole Cloth Patterning and Printing with Faith Hagenhofer
September 15: Keepsake Journals with René Westbrook
Call for Member News
Are you planning a special event or workshop? Have you recently presented your work at a Conference or event? Is your work included in an exhibition?
If you would like to share information, please send your submission to Julia.stringfellow@cwu.edu by Friday, July 26. Subject line should read: PSBA Member News. The August newsletter will be sent out to the membership early that month.
Call to Share Upcoming Events
Do you have an upcoming event that you are holding or participating in? Let us know! Email psba.public.relations@pugetsoundbookartists.org to add it to the calendar.
Sincerely,
Your PSBA Board