Book Arts News

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How are you all doing, after such a scorching summer (especially here in Arizona)? I’m looking forward to Fall with its cooler weather. I have been busy nesting more than producing artists’ books. My mind is cogitating on new ideas while my body is recovering from heat intolerance!

2021 © Louise Levergneux. Fishhook Barrel Cactus photographed in the resort where I live in Apache Junction, Arizona. It is a very prevalent in Arizona. Barrel Cactus (different types) are round, squat cacti that can live as long as 130 years. The most interesting fact about this cactus is that is often leans towards the southwest, so it can be used as a compass of sorts if you’re stranded in the middle of the desert.

The last few weeks I re-evaluated internet services, softwares, hours spent preparing posts, writing... This administrivia will make work flow better and less time consumed on managing different accounts and passwords. Those little tasks take so much time, but need to be done.

So, with all the nesting in our tiny home/studio, painting walls, cabinets, doors... I was able to achieve a home like feel to our small abode. This type of work which I have not done in long time triggered many memories. I enjoyed it, and I’m sure it will bring a fresh point of view and creativity for my next book with the working title “Secrets,” after the frenzy settles down.

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Receiving news (links below) from galleries and museums through the month is uplifting. Many thanks, great work!

How can you not be excited by shows at 23 Sandy Gallery. The last exhibition through November 20, 2021, had many fantastic works. The International Juried Exhibition of Book Arts is entitled UNSEEN and is on view at the gallery form & concept. When imperceptible phenomena burst into view, revolutionary changes may follow. We learned this in 2020, as an invisible but deadly virus spread across the world, an urgent racial justice movement illuminated dark societal realities, and humanity’s long-simmering crimes against the environment unleashed fires and floods. Unseen forces can shape our lives and surface in unexpected ways, often altering our behaviors and worldviews if and when we are made aware of them. This exhibition explores the idea of the “unseen”—physically, psychologically, and philosophically.

Artist's Books Unshelved is an ongoing video series exploring selected pieces from the Cynthia Sears Artist’s Books Collection at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

I love seeing emails from Robert Bolick in my inbox — it typically means goodies for the eyes and mind. Robert Bolick curates Books On Books Collection.

John Cutrone, Director of the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University Libraries, is curator of the Jaffe Collection, and host for Book Arts 101 : Home Edition. John unpacks new items for the JCBA's permanent collection on each episode. These episodes can also be viewed at JCBA's Vimeo Channel.

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I love reading blog posts written by artists. I equally enjoy receiving news on newly produced works.

If you are looking for a bit of humour, Big Jump Press blog written by Sarah Bryant is always encouraging.

I enjoy receiving news from Magog, Québec, through the blog of Guylaine Couture. You can also view her most recent book “Interest & exchange in the dirt,“ part of the exhibition UNSEEN.

Check out Cathryn Miller’s blog to follow what Byopia Press is teaching us these days.

2021 © Amandine Nabarra. The last Breath

Amandine Nabarra’s blog presents us with her sensitive, well designed artists’ books.

2021 © Thomas Parker Williams. Two Moons, published by Thomas; text and poetry selection by Mary Agnes Williams.

If conceptual sources from the theme of mathematics, music, literature, theology, philosophy, astronomy, history, natural sciences, architecture, and Eastern thought are of interest, view Thomas Parker Williams artists’ books.

Read more on Philip Zimmermann’s recent artists’ book Delirium and watch this short video.

Let's not forget Helen Hiebert and her superbly, well-informed posts on papermaking. Helen Hiebert video — All About Helen Hiebert Studio.

And last but no least, reading information coming from the BOOK_ARTS-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU can be eye opening. Sara Halpert, Museum Manager at The Printing Museum in Carson, California, compiled THE ULTIMATE PRINTING MAP where you can examine local places of interest in your corner of the world.

Videos that are part of this post are viewable only on my website!

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Need to get back to work and read more news coming via email. Thanks for keeping me informed. Oh! By the way, Let me say that working with Squarespace’s Email Campaign feature is so much easier than Mailchimp. What has been your experience?

Forgotten, Lost and Found

This month I present the creative work of artist Amandine Nabarra who produces unfolding spaces and shares visual stories while living in Southern California.

As artists we frequently exercise our sense of touch to achieve a deeper understanding of an art piece. This is impossible in a gallery environment. After trying to search for more intimacy in her own work, Amandine found her calling — artists’ books — vessels or spaces that reveal a tactile story.

© 2013 Amandine Nabarra. Forgotten, Lost And Found by Amandine Nabarra; edition of 20 numbered and signed

“Each artist’s book needs to be discovered, opened, felt and/or heard. It’s an intimate experience where the reader uncovers his or her own unique relationship with the subject matter”. — Amandine Nabarra

© 2013 Amandine Nabarra. Forgotten, Lost And Found by Amandine Nabarra; pigmented digital prints on Japanese mulberry paper. Housed in a black fabric box with a digital image tipped onto black paper.

We all have a different way to form our book concepts. Amandine starts each book with questions; in her book Tempus Fugit, she asked “Are we resilient as the clouds changing forms and adapting to the weather?”

“Can water be an object and still flow like water?” was answered in the publication, The Bernoulli Equation.

In Forgotten, Lost And Found: “How does it feel to collect our memories or to forget them altogether?” came to mind.

© 2013 Amandine Nabarra. Forgotten, Lost And Found by Amandine Nabarra; a tunnel book in the form of two parallel accordions supported by 6 frame-like panels.

© 1996 Louise Levergneux. My Memories of My Memories (miniature version), chapter 4.

Following Amandine’s information on her latest publication Forgotten, Lost and Found, I was reminded of my very first artists’ book My Memories of My Memories touching a similar subject; the one of childhood memories. I think all types of memories are a subject matter that interests all people.

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When I was young my parents divorced and a few years after their breakup I realized I had lost all memories of my early childhood. I don’t know if I had a problem remembering or if it was a response to the traumatic event. Since then, I have been on a quest to understand how memory works.

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t store memories. We reconstruct them, and this process is quite unreliable. With the help of photographs and family anecdotes, I feel I have recovered many these memories but how real are they?

I decided to create an artist’s book that would illustrate three types of memories: the ones we forget completely, the ones we don’t remember, and those we recover. I chose a tunnel book structure and used the three sides, one for each type of memory. The structure offered a story that could be read in any three ways.

The process of forgetting and losing memories was placed on the side of the structure. I captured pictures of people lost in the night, running, walking and trying to find their way. The cold colour tones add to the doubts of the frantic search.

© 2013 Amandine Nabarra. Forgotten, Lost And Found by Amandine Nabarra represents thoughts and feelings, scenes of vivid memories or forgotten experiences. The depth of the book reminds us of the passing of time; 5 inches x 6.5 inches closed; extends to 9 inches

For the inside of the book, I photographed the tunnels along the freeway that linked Italy to France. It was constructed in the mountains or hills and the tunnels were long, extremely long. I am slightly claustrophobic, so it made me nervous driving for hours from one tunnel to the next. Nonetheless, I used warm colour tones to depict them since they lead to a happy memory recovery.

The depth of the tunnel structure represented the time it took to remember and the hurdles we have to go through in order to reconstruct our memories.

I printed my photographs on a Japanese mulberry paper to convey a sense of nostalgia. The long fibers of this paper created a subtle movement. The images looked matte with a little sheen, and it added a slight blurriness, which emphasized the idea of lost or old memories.

The mix of abstract and figurative photographs taken at night was enhanced by the use of colour tones that bind the images together as it expressed feelings of loss or recovery.

In the process, I found the science of memory fascinating. How we encode, store and retrieve information to make decisions is a complex issue. Some memories might help us; some will haunt us for the rest of our life. As for me, I am happy to have recreated my childhood memories even if I will never know if they are “new memories” of my past or if I've remembered them. — Amandine Nabarra

© 2013 Amandine Nabarra. Forgotten, Lost And Found by Amandine Nabarra; inside view

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Amandine’s success depends upon finding the proper balance between her intuition and her reason. I hope you will find her out of the box thinking and her vision intoxicating!

Have a great month of March! / Bon mois de mars !