Book Arts News

Enjoy the new look of my Email Campaigns!

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?

Confined in Arizona

I hope you are all safe and taking this self-isolation time to keep busy so doldrums don’t become the new normal. 

For me, social distancing means no studio visits, I do miss the physical interaction with artists in their private atelier. Strategically planning these impressive outings throughout the year was a lovely diversion during my continuous travels. Talking and sharing ideas with artists paved the way for brainstorming on new concepts. I undoubtedly gained in depth knowledge on binding, which could be applied in my new artists’ books.

My only communication these days, like most of you, is by virtual contact between family and friends. Some of us share “happy hour”, converse our quest for life’s journey and most important knowing everyone is safe and well.

© 2020 Louise Levergneux. An Argentine Giant Cactus in bloom at the Fiesta Grande RV Resort in Casa Grande, Arizona.

In late March, with the shelter-in-place directive, we got grounded in Casa Grande, Arizona. The southwest is not a bad area to be stuck in, with it’s sunshine and blooming cacti. But, by the end of April, severe temperatures reached 107° F. It is getting HOT, HOT, HOT!

Shelter-in-place has given me the opportunity to start working on different projects. Meticulously planning my concepts, printing the visuals, writing statements, and studying Photoshop in more detail... 

© 2020 Louise Levergneux. Working on my 20th Anniversary cover for City Shields. Already 20 years has passed since the beginning of my on-going projet of manhole covers. WOW!

I’m making headway with the 20th Anniversary booklet of City Shields. One can’t wield a mighty hammer to pierce a small hole! — I’m frustrated at trying to use the necessary software rarely utilized in the past year.

© 2020 Louise Levergneux. The cover for City Shields’ 20th Anniversary package edition in progress. This is the first draft, the design may change as the work progresses.

We often swear at the technology in our possession but in these uncertain times, the internet has proven to be a valuable tool. I sincerely appreciate the social contact with all of you through private emails or communications received by the BookListServ though not as many as before the pandemic. Listening to Helen Hiebert podcasts brings a sense of closeness. The informative videos of John Cutrone, Book Arts 101: Home Edition takes us on different journeys. Different blog posts like the familiar one from Catherine Miller and Guylaine Couture naturally prompt me to smile as I have visited both artists. Many sincere thanks for your continual dialogue during our social isolation. 

These digital dialogues expand opportunities for me to receive information on newly completed artwork or work in progress from many artists. You could say that these are my new virtual studio visits. I joyfully received this artist statement from Jim Jenkins of Illinois. Jim is conscientiously working on a wordsculpture and transmitted it for review and comment. Between his first email and now, he has undoubtedly gone through additional re-crafting as we all do at the early stages of creative production.

After the clever piece had stirred up a bit more in Jim’s active mind, I received a shortened version of his statement for Cosmic Clockwork Comet and some images of the final artwork to present to my readers.

It has been said that time is an event more than anything else. We remember events, we usually don’t remember time passing as in the ticking of a clock. We usually don’t remember our hours of uneventful boredom unless we find some important thought momentarily hidden and then revealed within our boredom. Perhaps, this is when and how the sculpture began. Halley’s Comet and the fact that it is periodic and only visible to us every 75-76 years; provides a beginning, which in and of itself, is an event. The comet is on a far reaching elliptical orbit, a self-referential timed event, chronicled historically, beginning in 239 BCE in China. Mark Twain who was born and raised very near Quincy famously said that he was born on the arrival of Halley’s Comet in 1835 but would probably not be on Earth to witness the return. This proved to be true as he did pass away within the year of the return. Our perception of all things is contingent upon our ability to see, our individual vision. Things that are unseen or left out are many times as valuable to our understanding as what is visible. Some objects mirror other objects within our field of vision. An object like the comet is only occasionally visible. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t there it just means we lack the long range vision to see it. We do know however, it’s out there physically but imperceptible. I’ve incorporated two purposeful dates into the sculpture: 2020 the year of the placement of the sculpture and 2061 the return date of the comet. The students attending Quincy Junior High School today may very well see the return of Halley’s Comet, it’s unlikely I will. This will give me and Mark Twain something in common. What the world will look like in 41 years is of course unknowable and un-seeable today. This is at the core of the sculpture. The seen and the unseen, the thing and the no-thing.

J. Jenkins © 04.17.2020

© 2020 Jim Jenkins. COSMIC CLOCKWORK COMET by Jim Jenkins for Quincy Junior High School “Celebration of Education Sculpture Series.”

© 2020 Jim Jenkins. COSMIC CLOCKWORK COMET by Jim Jenkins, funded by The Moorman Foundation & Arts Quincy.

© 2020 Jim Jenkins. COSMIC CLOCKWORK COMET, drawing by Jim Jenkins.

As we all continue to self-Isolate, remember that communication with others via digital dialogue helps us to be together alone. STAY WELL! 

© 2020 Louise Levergneux. Beauty is everywhere. First Light, Hybrid Torch Cactus in Casa Grande, Arizona.