Monday, March 31, 2014

Hierloom Plaster Covered Journal

Drumroll......
Kim Beller and I will be teaching a GREAT 2 day class coming up at the Cameron Art Museum School! If you love texture, playing with paint and collage, and want to mix that with bookmaking... well then, your prayers are answered!




Heirloom Journal Making – with Textured Plaster Cover- All Levels
2 Day Workshop / Limited to 15


 Saturday May 3 10:00 am – 4:00 pm   Sunday May 4  12:00 – 4:00 pm

Tuition: $115  ($100 CAM member)
$50 Materials kit includes: 3 sheets of 300lb. watercolor paper,  2 pre-cut wood substrates for covers with canvas straps, plaster for cover, bookbinding needle and waxed linen thread, 1 Stabilo Marks All pencil

click here to register

In this collaborative workshop Kim and I will teach you how to achieve gorgeous texture on your books cover using plaster. Then you'll learn a simple method of binding pages of wonderful thick Italian watercolor paper to your cover. Then it's no holds barred art play! We'll transfer, so bring some copies of images you might want to use and your mixed bag of favorite journalling supplies such as, paints pens, pencils, a glue stick, maybe inks... If you have no clue then no worries, we'll bring lots of supplies of our own to share with you.

More pictures coming soon!

Monday, March 3, 2014

Japanese Boro

I have just today been plunged into another new love: Boro. Not glass.... but Japanese cloth.



"Boro was born of forgotten values of ‘mottainai’ or ‘too good to waste’. Boro is the clothing that was worn by peasants, merchants or artisans in Japan from Edo up to early Showa (17th – early 19th century). In feudal times, the majority were peasant farmers. Not everyone could afford the lavish silk kimono and vivid obi worn by the aristocracy. Clothes were crafted from cheaper materials, but were no less beautiful than those worn by the upper classes. Literally translated as rags or scraps of cloth, the term boro is also used to describe clothes and household items which have been patched-up and repaired many times."

Delicious.

Now I know what I will do with all the clothes I've saved that were either stained or torn, but I just couldn't bare to part with.  ...Well, when I find the time!





Sunday, March 2, 2014

Latest Obsessions

One of my best, life long friends and I are planing a collaborative show in July. My latest obsessions have been ancient cultures, mythology.... Norse mythology....  Skyrim... the History channel show Vikings.... Ancient British Isles history.... Tolkien....  My artist friend Danny Samppala is Finnish so I am exploring Finnish rune singers and the Kalevala. The Kalevala is the Finnish National epic poem that was largely handed down through centuries orally by rune singers who memorized the stories. It was finally published in 1835.  I'd love to incorporate some essence of this in our collaborations. In my searches I found these beauties and thought I'd share:

Akseli Gallen-Kallela  "Forging the Sampo" 1893
Smith Ilmarinen is forging the magical artifact called Sampo which would bring good fortune to its owner and is a centerpiece in many of Kalevala's stories.



Harald Oskar Sohlberg "Natt" 1904



Akseli Gallen-Kallela "Kullervo Departs for the War" 1901  

They story of Kullervo is a fascinating one and was studied by JRR Tolkien. We even see deliberate similarities with his stories of Túrin Turambar in his  "Turambar and the Foalókë" or in the posthumously published and edited by his son Christopher Tolkien, "Children of Hurin".
"The germ of my attempt to write legends of my own to fit my private languages was the tragic tale of the hapless Kullervo in the Finnish Kalevala. It remains a major matter in the legends of the First Age (which I hope to publish as The Silmarillion)"
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 257, 16th of July 1964 
 
Akseli Gallen-Kallela "The Defense of the Sampo" 1901

The scene depicted is taken from the 43rd song of the epic, where the hero Väinämöinen,
shown wielding a sword, has stolen the precious artifact the Sampo from the evil witch Louhi who is seen attempting to reclaim it. The battle for the Sampo is also given a deeper connotation as a battle for the soul of Finland.
 
Harald Oskar Sohlberg "Winter's Night in Rondane" 1914



 Akseli Gallen-Kallela  "Aino Myth, Triptych" 1891

Depicts a scene from the Kalevala where Aino Joukahainen's sister, is promised to the old and wise Väinämöinen in marriage after Joukahainen lost a magic singing match against Väinämöinen. Aino instead decides to drown herself.