NEBA MEETING & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS VIEWING – Our NEBA Meeting on December 6, 2019 occurred at MassArt’s Morton R. Godine Library.
We moved quickly through the agenda for the meeting so we could get to our private viewing of some of their Special Collections of Artists’ Books. Here are the details:
• Thanks to specific individuals for their contributions to the start-up of NEBA
• Benefits of forming a professional New England book group
• Creation of a solid mission statement
• Strategies for maintaining active participation
• Updates of NEBA logo and website designs
• Call to members to submit a logo design before January 10th
• Upcoming field trip to Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Visions exhibit at the MFA
• Upcoming February meeting at the Museum of Printing in Haverhill
Rachel Resnik, Librarian of MassArt’s Morton R. Godine Library gave a fascinating, hour-long presentation of a wide variety of artists’ books from the special collection. The Library’s online catalog is a wonderful resource that provides additional, in-depth information about the artists’ books that Rachel shared with our group. It’s connected through the Fenway Library Organization to other libraries with artist’s book collections. The direct links included below provide a gateway to browse the collections. Book descriptions and professional photographs are from these sources.
Julie Chen/Flying Fish Press
Full Circle
1 volume in case, illustrations, edition of 100, 2006
Library has copy no. 9, signed by the artist
40 x 40 x 7 cm
http://endeavor.flo.org/vwebv/fullHoldingsInfo?searchId=448&recPointer=0&recCount=10&bibId=1340155
“Full circle was written, designed, and produced by Julie Chen. It was letterpress printed on various papers using photopolymer plates. Special thanks to Macy Chadwick for her expert assistance with the intricate construction.”–Colophon.
Consists of a large box-mounted wheel which rotates continuously beneath a series of windows to reveal the many stages of the faith and belief cycles with concurrent letterpress images of the human body. One window in the wheel also reveals a tray with compartments containing simple every-day objects. Three drawers open from a slot in the outer tray, cradling pop-up diagrams which act as three checkpoints along the cycle. Operating instruction printed on the inside of the box cover.
Lisa Davidson
No. 500
Unique artist’s book, 2018
Die-cut letter (6 layers of plywood), transparent acrylic (boxes inside spaces), illustrations
MassArt alumnae, Lisa Davidson created this work for her Communication Design BFA.
26 x 15 cm
http://endeavor.flo.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=2413576
“The 19th c. was a prolific time for posters, signs, & ads, resulting in unusual, noteworthy typeface style. As costs and competition grew, cheaper methods were in high demand. In 1887 wood type design co., Page, released a series of fonts known as die-cut. This art piece is based on No.500 (1/17 from the Page & Setchell die-cut series). The original can be seen at MassArt Lyons Collection. For more info, refer to the Rob Roy Kelly book, American Wood Type 1828-1900 (specimen p.329).” taken from removable piece of wood at top of die-cut letter.
Why does this puzzle matter? Through typography we learn about proportion, positive space, negative space, and systematic thinking. We even learn some math. However, the methods most often use today are centered around clicking, scrolling, and reading from a screen. We’re not engaging multiple senses or kinesthetic movement like our letterpress predecessors would have been doing. What if we took a different approach? What if design basics were taught with toys inspired by letterpress? Would this change the way our brains perceive and absorb info? These interactive letter forms were created to examine this question.
A.C.W. (Anonymous Colombian Whoman)
Herbario de Solitarios: Dechado de Tiempos Olvidados
Title translates roughly to: Solitary plants: the linen, on which young girls perform needlework , of forgotten times.
A.C.W. is a pen name for Patrica Torres.
Plastic cover, linen, plastic and card stock pages illustrated with crocheted thread flowers, edition of 3
This artist’s book uses static electricity to make the embroidered flowers move.
Michelle Ray
God Created the Sea and Painted It Blue So We’d Feel Good on It
20 x 14 x 11 cm
Basswood box, inside box has 2 compartments. One contains a tunnel of cut-out illustrations and the other holds a smaller box with 11 booklets and 1 folded leaf. Images and text created with photopolymer.
“While residing in the Deep South, I undertook a most wondrous adventure wherein I built a boat made entirely of cardboard and set about on an imaginary journey in the linoleum headwaters of my apartment. It started as cathartic play, it became this edition. — I first learned to use a map while sailing. Finding myself in a space with no landmarks, I had to trust my life to those unwieldy sheets of paper with their complex representations of the ever-changing seascape.
In reference to the sea, this edition’s text states, “There are no markers in this monochromatic parking lot.” In the absence of these markers, we become painfully aware of their significance. — This work is about experience, perception, memory and the space in between composed of symbol, sound and object. This is the space of mediation, the space where significant things happen; it is the ocean on which my imaginary crew and I sailed, the place for which there are no maps. — Written, designed and printed by Michelle Ray at The Small Craft Advisory Press, Florida State University as an MFA creative project for The University of Alabama’s Book Arts Department.” — [Artist’s website]
“This object’s title is derived from a Bernard Moitessier quote.”–[Below imprint, inside cardboard box enclosure].
Susan E. King
Women and Cars
Sheet folded accordian-style between boards
Great example of a flag book. Very well preserved– it’s from the Women’s Studio Worship 1983.
https://blogs.massart.edu/artistsbooks/2011/09/13/women-and-cars-by-susan-e-king/
Annie Silverman
Associative Miscellany
“Associative Miscellany is a compilation of woodcut and pronto plate prints on Japanese paper of bees from The Honey Bee: a Manual of Instruction in Apiculture by Frank Benton, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1896, and the 1920 Journal of Bee Keeping. The prints were waxed with bee’s wax from Farmer Al’s bees, and sewn with waxed linen thread. I have been working with Bee imagery for a year in print installations. As an artist and urban gardener, I am concerned about the plight of bees, and have researched bee symbolism in various cultural arenas.”–Colophon.
https://blogs.massart.edu/artistsbooks/2013/01/18/associative-miscellany-by-annie-silverman/
Books for Book Lovers – NEBA Holiday Book Swap
Per Ania Gilmore’s lovely suggestion, we began a new tradition to celebrate the holiday season. Members were encouraged to bring a gift-wrapped book (preferably used) to exchange.
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
621 Huntington Ave., Boston
