Summing Up the Week

Well, I didn’t get into the Hedi Kyle workshop at Penland, but did get into Laura Wait’s workshop. I don’t know where I fell in the lottery, so I have no idea how far down on the waiting list I am for the former. I’m disappointed about not getting to study with “the book goddess (my term for her),” but looking forward to the class with Laura Wait. We’ll be doing at least one case-bound book, so I expect it will be very different from what I might have done in Kyle’s class. I am hopeful — and the workshop description seems to indicate — that we’ll spend a fair amount of time on content as well. I’d be more disappointed if I weren’t scheduled to take a class at Arrowmont in August with Carol Barton, who is known for her pop-up and tunnel book structures. That will balance out my summer’s work nicely.

I started my classes at UNCA: ‘Women in the Short Story’ class and ‘The Art of Watching Film.’ They’re both very good (the teacher for the film class is particularly dynamic), and I’m only sorry that I’ll be missing of one each of them, as I have a HandMade in America Board retreat that I’m scheduled to attend (and looking forward to) in a few weeks. We read Irwin Shaw’s ‘The Girls in Their Summer Dresses’ for the first short story class, a little gem of a piece. Luckily, there are no wallflowers in the class, so we had a voluble, spirited discussion. Our film session focused on using literary analysis tools to analyze film, and we watched clips from Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, and City Lights, and Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. in its entirety. Almost every class will include one entire movie, to illustrate a theme. To start the class, each student was asked to introduce himself/herself and mention a favorite film. An impossible task. It was a great ice breaker and a good way to get a sense of people through their choices (or at least to delude myself that I was). I simply mentioned two films that I love: Days of Heaven and Bringing up Baby. According to my film-choice disclosure theory, I wonder what that said about me?

Friday, which was to be my Studio Day, turned out to be a play date in Asheville with my friend Carol. We cruised a couple of galleries (including Ariel, where we saw some of Dan Essig’s latest work), stopped in at Early Girl for lunch, Malaprop’s for coffee, and True Blue for art supplies. I haven’t done that in quite a while, and it felt great. The splendid spring day felt as lighthearted as we. Oh, and we located Eaties, the cereal bar, for future reference.

Joan Lyons

A few days ago I read an interview with Joan Lyons from 2005. She was the founding coordinator of the seminal Visual Arts Workshop (VSA), an influential publisher of books by artists and photographers, which she founded in the early 70s. Through VSA, she collaborated in the design and production of over 400 artists’ books. Reading this was another learning experience for me, since all I knew of Lyons was what I’d gathered from seeing her work in the recent artists’ books exhibition at the National Women of Women in the Arts. She’s now pursuing her own new work in digital media through photographic works that examine “the evolution of archetypes and myth in contemporary culture.” This sounds fascinating — an example of how the field of book arts (and, in her case, photography too) — continually expands through technology. I’ll keep Googling to see where she’s going with it. Here are some of her books.

She’s teaching at Penland this summer. Ah, so many classes, so little time (and so few funds with which to pay for them).

Book Geeks

The worktable is ready; Bill asked if I wanted to visit it at his workshop, since it won’t arrive before Monday. Steven and I have a busy weekend, including a visit to Penland (School of Crafs) tomorrow, and we couldn’t find a delivery time that worked all around. It’s difficult to take classes without wanting to start immediately on a new book afer getting home.

Yesterday I learned two different forms of long-stitch. One, a criss-cross, or “x” form, is quite pretty, and I expect I’ll be using it often, perhaps for a series of small leather books. Besides the opportunity to learn new things, I enjoy going to Annie Fain Liden’s sewing circles, which is how I’ve come to think of her classes. The group that attends varies a bit from session to session, but it’s always compatible and supportive. Annie Fain creates a lively, warm environment, and she’s a patient and encouraging teacher. She’s off to Penland for two months as an assistant to one of the weaving instructors for the Spring program, so we’ve assembled the ad hoc Book Geeks, and we’ll meet at one another’s houses to practice our stitches and egg each other on.