CB3 Panel Discussion and Opening

Last night I went to the Mohr Gallery for the panel talk and opening for Conceptually Bound 3. Each artist determined the subject of their talk. We each had 8 minutes. Slides were projected on a screen. There must have been 35 or 40 people in the audience.

Nanette Wylde, the curator, talked a little about the series of CB exhibitions. "The theme, Conceptually Bound, refers to the idea that the content of the book is in part expressed by the form the book takes." She plans to do more shows with this theme, and is hoping to have a retrospective eventually.

Peng Peng Wang told us how her experience as a Taiwanese-American influences her books. She was amazed by the money culture in Silicon Valley, so the first books she made have $100 bills as covers. Practical Chinese Conversation for Beginners contains cell phones that can be flipped open to reveal text messages in Chinese. They open to reveal an English translation. The book reflects her surprise that relationships begin and end with text messages.

One of Kent Manske's earlier books came out of his reaction to the disaster of 9/11. His more recent work has been more spontaneous and experimental. He uses "picture narratives" to explore things that spark his curiosity.

Melissa Kaup-Augustine talked about Uppercase Collective, the projects she does with her students at the Art Institute of California, addressing issues like war and global warming. If you look through this blog you can see she is giving her class assignments in the blog, and part of the project includes leaving information in the comments.

Lark Burkhart gave a moving talk on combining words and imagery to make books that "say" what she thinks about war on many different levels. Her book Peace Will Grow Through is a plea for people to "release the anger, hatred and fear that make war reasonable, desirable and then inevitable."

I spoke about my sources of inspiration. Basically they are: dreams, childhood memories, a phrase from an article, a wish to create tools to help me through life, and death. I plan to post a "beefed-up" version of the talk to this blog. Stay tuned.


Diane Cassidy, one of the artists in the show and Nanette Wylde, the curator/organizer/catalog creator, at the opening for the Conceptually Bound 3 exhibit.


The show is fantastic. There are a huge number of books, some can be handled with white gloves, which are provided in the gallery. It's a real treat to be able to pick these books up and turn the pages.


I loved seeing so many people standing around wearing white gloves. They are, inexpensive, loosely woven cotton. From a distance they remind me of going downtown shopping in Cincinnati when I was a little girl. Thank goodness we don't have to dress like that anymore.


And the required photo of me, in front of The Findings of the Expedition to an Unknown Land by Ludmilla Paulsdotter.

I was so struck by the range and quality of books in this show. So many different materials, techniques, approaches, and ways of thinking about books are presented. Nanette is very good at picking books. I wondered, looking at the catalog, how they could work in a show. But they do. As you walk from book to book and especially when you can turn the pages, there is so much to experience. You can get a little glimpse into so many different worlds which are unified by a love of books.

Open Studios

Ancient Book from the Zymoglyphic Museum collection. "The text of the book is only found in the natural patterns of the creases, folds, and patterns in its pages."

I'm taking a break from my usual Open Studios exhibit this year. However, the Zymoglyphic Museum will be open for two days, Saturday and Sunday, May 3rd and 4th. I will probably be hanging out in the museum forecourt for most of the weekend, or nearby, in my studio. Be sure to tell me "hello" if you come by.

Book Arts Jam 2007 Report

As usual, I didn't see everything, not nearly. But I enjoyed the day. I did get to the PodPost table to make a purchase, bought a wonderful book from Joanne Wilson, and some papers from Nancy Welch, the author of Creative Paper Art. I also bought some cards from someone whose name escapes me. I have the receipt, but there isn't any name on it. Hopefully the cards will show up.

Every time I left my table planning to take photos, I ended up looking at all the wonderful things. I did get a few shots:


The San Jose Printer's Guild. They had these really nice little printers, business card size. I overheard someone say they go for about $100 on ebay, but make sure it has . . . some part. I really want one!


Ginger Burrell.


My table, complete with my husband, Jim. It looked much better this year. I had a list of things to take and checked everything off as it went into the car. Behind in the center, you can see Cari Ferraro. Her calligraphy is gorgeous.


My matchbox pinhole camera demo. A very nice group of people. There must have been at least 34, all my handouts were gone.


The test photo I took showing them how to take digital photos of film. It would need to be reversed in an image editing program to look "normal."

Book Arts Jam, 2007

Matchbox pinhole camera demo, 2006.

On Saturday, October 20th I'll be at the Book Arts Jam at Foothill College in Los Altos California. From their web site: "The Book Arts Jam is a one-day celebration at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California at which you can view one-of-a-kind handmade artist books, zines, letterpress books and broadsides, mailart, calligraphy, fine art prints, handmade paper and multiples by over 50 exhibitors who are book artists, craftspeople, and workers in the allied fields of letterpress printing, papermaking, printmaking, photography, collage, and paper decoration." The BAJ web site. has photos of past events, directions, a complete list of the demos planned for this year and a list of vendors.

If you're in the area, come and see what's going on. It's a fantastic event. Every time I'm there, I come home exhausted and excited to make books. I'll be doing a pinhole camera demo at 11. Here are my flickr photos from last year's Jam. And if you're into letterpress you might like Zatoichi's flickr photos.

Metal Works North Opening

We went up to Ukiah (California) this past weekend for the opening of Metal Works North at the Grace Hudson Museum. My repair on the Lorgnette for a Fish Goddess was deemed acceptable by Marvin and Colleen Schenck, the curators. You might be able to guess, I am delighted.


Here I'm talking about Dream Focusing Device with my friend Jennifer. She is an accomplished artist (taking a hiatus to grow organic flowers) and always gives me insightful feedback.


John Marcel has two wonderful necklaces in the show. Here I'm telling him I like the catch on one of them. John, Jennifer, and her husband Jeff have been dear friends since we were students together at San Jose State.

I went back the next morning to get another look at the work. There is a huge variety of good work in the show, ranging from delicate jewelry to a double bed. You can see samples on the announcement. Click here to download a pdf of the front of the announcement and here for the back. The work is displayed beautifully. I love the Grace Hudson Museum, it's a very attractive, pleasant-to-be-in space.

I promised to send a link to someone at the opening for buying sheet metal. I like R. J. Leahy. My brain is a sieve at openings. If I promised you a link or some other information and you haven't heard from me by now, please email me at artATjudithhoffmanDOTnet and ask me again.

I have more photos of the trip on Flickr. And photos of the opening here.

It's all over but the clean-up

set up overview 1
Originally uploaded by bertmac.

Open Studios was fun! We had about 20 people, about half our usual number. Unfortunately, there were many other events happening on the same weekend. But this year we definitely had quality over quantity.

On Saturday someone drove over from San Ramon, probably an hour each way. She was so enthusiastic and asked tons of questions about my work, both the ideas and the processes. This is what makes Open Studios so valuable for me. When I had work in galleries, I seldom got to talk to people. Most of the gallery owners I dealt with were lovely people, but they have to approach everything from the "will it sell to my clientele" angle. Of course this makes sense, they have to pay their rent. But they don't usually have the unbridled enthusiasm that some "fans" have. I try to remember this when I see work I love. You can't tell someone too often or too emphatically that you like what they do.

On Sunday two people came from BABA, a wonderful book arts group. I don't get to meetings very often, and was delighted that they came. It was a chance to talk to them about books, and about content in art. I hope we will be able to continue these conversations. There were also visits from friends, who I just love to see. And in between guests, I worked on taking photos for a photo-tour on Flickr.

Heart Thrower Earrings for Open Studios

This week I'm making earrings. These people were my part of my jewelry line several years ago when I had a lot of work in galleries. I thought I would like to have a few pairs out with my other jewelry for Open Studios. They are $60 per pair. You can buy a pair, an individual ($30), or I can custom make two women, or two men. Each person is about 2 inches high. They are sterling silver and copper.

People asked about the jewelry last year, I strive to please. I also strive to make back my costs every year. All the jewelry will be offered at wholesale prices, since I'm not in galleries any more. Some galleries frown on competition, since they are working to provide publicity and space to sell the work that is consigned to them.


By the way, have I mentioned my Open Studio? It's this weekend, May 19 and 20. Here is the line of people flocking to the door, as we speak. No Smoking, Please!

Open Studios is two weeks away!

Okay, now it's time to panic. I need to clean my big worktable and make some kind of display. I am tired of my old one, but I don't think there will be time to make a new one this year. Then I will get boxes of stuff out of the closet and set up. I hope to have a lot of the found objects I love around the room, like the dinosaurs above.

Keeping in mind last year's meltdown, and my general stress over these events, I am trying to be very cool. I won't do any major cleaning, there will be piles of stuff in corners and I don't plan to do a big mailing this year. I had hoped to get the Dream Focusing Device done in time to have a postcard printed, but that didn't happen. I do want to get the old jewelry out, several people asked about it last year. It is mostly earrings, a few pins, made of copper and brass. I see it as fairly simple, funky metal things that I made years ago to be shown with the more complex brooches that I was selling in galleries.

And of course I will be showing all the work I can fit on my big worktable. The Dream Focusing Device will the the star this year.

There will be a spiral binding demo both days at 1 PM. Here's a spiral bound book. It doesn't require a lot of fancy tools or special techniques.

The Zymoglyphic Museum will also be open. You can see the exibits (for free!) and take a peek into the inner depths of a natural history museum's storage area. It's guarateed to be amazing.

This is part of Silicon Valley Open Studios. We will have free map guides available.

The Book Arts Jam 2006

Book Arts Jam - podpodpost
Originally uploaded by bertmac.

The Book Arts Jam was wonderful. There were so many things to see, and I didn't see most of it. Every year I think, "next year I won't apply for a table, I'll just attend, volunteer a few hours and enjoy everything." But talking to people about art, and my work in particular, is very energizing and helpful for me. There are photos on flickr. I didn't have much time to look around, so it's a very limited assortment. Tons of stuff happened that I didn't see. I think photos will be posted on the Jam web site.

I have to say, it went well for me. I sold two books, which is great. And I did get a lot of positive feedback. Although I saw a lot of nice people, including people I haven't seen for years, there wasn't really enough time to talk on a personal level. And by early afternoon, my brain had stopped functioning, so I think I have forgotten some conversations already. I'm just not good in these large, loud settings. People were streaming through. But I loved it!

Packed and ready to go

Packed and ready to go
Originally uploaded by bertmac.

Today I am ready for the Book Arts Jam and plan to do laundry and relax a little. Sunday I will be tired, but I want to start my next pinhole camera. And Monday it's back to the real world.

I got two fantastic book arts links yesterday from judyofthewoods. Check out her wonderful handmade house. The first link is Magic Fly Paula's Star Diary set. This is a beautiful collection of star (as in the sky) imagery.
And Ninth Wave Design's Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook. He is doing alchemy designs. Fantastic! Ninth Wave also sells Moleskine notebooks on the web site. Some are on special right now. I didn't know there were so many choices. Now I think I need a bundle of these.

There are comments on my blog entries that aren't showing up. In the past it has taken days, or they show up when I do the next post. Even that isn't working right now. Either I don't know how to use blogger, or it stinks. Both are possibilities. I wish someone would come to my house and fix all this for me.

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . JAM!

De Young Museum/James Turrell
Originally uploaded by bertmac.

The countdown has started. The book arts jam is only 7 days away. I have a list of things to do, including making a list. Today I finished the handout for the pinhole camera demo. What does that have to do with book arts, you might ask? Well, several people expressed an interest. Hopefully there will be more than two people at the demo. I'll try to get a few photos. Of course, photos are very useful for collage, and the pinhole cameras make great photos.

So the handout is on my website as a pdf, and on my flickr pages as a photo essay.

Later today I hope to work on my brass pinhole camera. I plan to bring it along to the Jam for good luck.

Instruction Manual auctioned at Book Arts Jam

Instruction Manual for the Moon
Originally uploaded by bertmac.

On Saturday, October 14th the Book Arts Jam will take place at Foothill College. This is the event people ask me about most often.

From the web site: "Individual exhibitors participating in the 2006 Book Arts Jam include over 30 makers of artists' books, zines, fine press books, hand-made and hand-decorated paper, mail art, limited edition prints, and other book-related works. In addition, you can watch demonstrations in the following specific interest areas: letterpress printing, silkscreen printing, calligraphy, bookbinding using the herringbone stitch over cords, pinhole photography, and silkscreen printing, and participate in hands-on sessions on making pastepaper, designing and making edible books, and making mail art."

There will also be an auction of book related objects. The book above is my donation. I will also be doing a pinhole camera demo.

Flexible blizzards!

I didn't do much art this weekend. Yesterday I intended to start another fern book, but felt very uninspired. I did clean some in the studio, always a good thing. I went to the BABA meeting today. We made flexagons and blizzard books. It was a nice day, talking a bit to people, making some books. I came home tired and read a little before dinner. Lazy day!


These are the flexagons. I can't really show them in a good light, they are all about movement. Think of the cootie catchers you made in school. They are puzzles, you see the result and can't imagine how to get there. Sally Morgan taught this part of the class. Her Christmas card example was gorgeous. People begged to be included on her Christmas card list.


These are the blizzard books. The one in front holds pages without glue or sewing. I folded the top and bottom of the front cover in to make it line up with the pages. I think I like the frame-like quality of the back cover better. I loved the folding and the tactile quality of the papers. Debbie Kogan taught this part of the class. She had some amazing samples.

I'm not sure if I will be able to incorporate these structures into my book ideas, but they are fun to make. Showing all these books to my husband this evening gave him a good idea for a fun card to make for our niece. And I feel more excited about making the fern books now. It's sometimes good to get out of the studio and have fun.

Dirty it up!

I took a fantastic Box Art class with Inge Infante this past spring at the Community School of Music and Art in Mountain View, California.


Here's Inge, inspecting a student's box in the Box Art class. She is a wonderful teacher. Her explanations are clear, she's very helpful when you're stuck, and she doesn't have any "secret" techniques that she won't talk about. She brought in some of her finished boxes to show us how the techniques look. I have seen some of these techniques demoed (sorry, I know that's not a "real" word) before, but hadn't realized how I could make them work for me. Inge's clear instructions and the examples she brought in both helped me to see the potential.

Now I am suddenly so much into transfers and the layering of images. I recently added some collage to a box I made for a little book. I wanted the collage on the box to match the collages in the book. It was hard to go back in time and do the old style collage. I kept thinking "it needs another layer," and "that paper is too clean and white." I view this a a very good thing, and have Inge to thank for it.


Here are some of the students. The class room was a nice space, the other students were great people. I loved all the little tips Inge had for us. The reasonably priced black gesso from Nova Color mentioned in a previous post was one of her tips. Inge is teaching a class at the Community School of Music and Art this fall that will cover boxes (assemblage), collage and altering books.

"Dirty it up" is often what she often says when a work in progress seems boring or isn't going anywhere.

Open Studios: After

Inge models "Lorgnette for a Fish Goddess" while Corrine and Linda look on.

Whew! Open Studios was a week ago. I don't have my studio back to it's usual messy state yet. The preparation was hard work, putting things back is almost as hard. But it was fun. I got to talk to lots of people. Some people came to see what I was working on. Some people came to ask questions about tools or other art processes. I know some artists don't want to talk about how they work, but I really enjoy it.

The question I get asked most often is: "Do you make money?" No, not really. I often make back what I have spent, but not always. This year I sold a few things, but not quite enough. I am doing some of the things "they" suggest to make money. I have some cards with images of my work that I sell for $5 and under. I usually put out what is left of the jewelry I used to make, and sell it wholesale. (I didn't do that this year - see below.) But I'm not a business person. My main focus is to show people the work I love, and to get to talk to other artists about art. I feel Open Studios was very successful this year. People came to tell me how much they like what I do, that is wonderful. Some people expressed an interest in workshops, that's great. And we talked about art and tools. What could be better?

Yes, I did have a little melt down on Friday. I couldn't find a mirror I usually put up near the jewelry. I was tired and so frustrated. I didn't have to have the jewelry out. It seemed the best thing to do was to let go of that part of my plan.

I added an Open Studios 2006 photo tour to my web site.

It must be true

My fortune from last night's fortune cookie.


Progress so far on the studio clean-up. I'm checking the book sizes against the height of the shelves. You can see the lovely and expensive set up I'm using. Those are 1 and 5 gallon plant containers, de-spidered, I promise. And some old boards across the top of them. This is actually an easy-to-transport set up. I used it at the Book Arts Jam two years ago. I will throw some sheets over the top Friday night. Our two adorable, but rambunctious, cats can uninstall (de-install?) for me in 10 minutes flat.

I was hoping to have time this week to run some errands and do more gardening. Monday when I was packing up stuff in boxes, I was afraid I would be done early and have nothing to work on. So I put all my collage stuff together in one box, easy to get to. Hahaha! Silly me, I hope to have it all together by Saturday.

Here's what I used for my reminder email (I included an image of the dinosaur book):
"The excitement is building! Well, I hope yours is, I’m running around, pulling art out of closets right now. My new work includes a book in a dinosaur and an explosive volcano book with a hammered copper cover and collaged pages. I will also have the maquette for my big project, 7 Extinction Events, on display. There will be a tube rivet demo at 1 pm both days. Tube rivets are a more versatile grommet. You can use brass, copper or silver tubing in various sizes. They can be applied to paper, book board, plastics and metal. (Mailing List Special Treatment: If you ask me, and if things aren't’t too busy, I’ll repeat the demo for you at other times.)"

I think it's a little more interesting than the first one.

Check this out!

I struggle to write anything about my work. I know the content so intimately I can't see it through other people's eyes. And of course I think visually, how can I put that into words? Last week I was re-doing a few things on my web site and I added a new Artist's Statement. It formed in my head as I was working on the web site. Maybe because I was looking at a lot of pictures of my work. I also left the old statements there. All together they might say something. I am not even sure.

Then I had to write an announcement for Open Studios. When I read the "entice me" entry on Allyson Stanfield's blog (February 13), I thought "Well, that kind of hyperbole isn't me. I am more straightforward. I am not attracted to anything where everyone who is anyone will be there. I don't care about being anyone." This is an interesting blog, in general, I just didn't go for this particular entry.

Then Jim sent out this announcement for Open Studios. I think it's fantastic. The Zymoglyphic Museum is in our driveway, and I do see it on a regular basis. But after reading his announcement I want to go out there and see it again. I think it's much better than the examples Allyson has in her blog (imho, as they say). It has humor, it describes the new work, it has a picture (very important to me - and I didn't put one in my recent, bland announcement).

I asked him how he did it. He says he removes himself, he steps back and writes as the museum staff would. I wonder if this isn't an approach that would work for me? Write as a gallery would? Or cop ideas from something someone else has written about you. I'll have to send out another announcement soon, people have been telling me I should have included a photo. I guess I have to work on it.

Open Studios: Before

We will be doing Open Studios in San Mateo on May 20 and 21. This is a big-deal event for me. It takes weeks of my art time to prepare. I'll send out postcards and email announcements. I have to clean off my big work table and set up as much of my work as I can fit in the space. Some years I clean off the top of a long cabinet for additional display space. I planted nasturtiums and poppies in the vegetable garden months ago. (I hope they bloom.) Every year, as the date approaches, I think "what was I thinking? I don't want to do this again next year."

After Open Studios, and after the mess in my studio is restored to it's rightful place, I change my mind. There are lots of good things about this event. It's always fun to talk to other artists. I like seeing the work displayed, instead of in boxes in the closet. Because I'm not in any galleries right now, I also value the exposure. I usually get new students for workshops. That's a lot, right?

My husband, Jim, will have the Zymoglyphic Museum open. Because there are two of us there is the Companion Effect. If it rains, or when it's slow because of Mother's Day, we can at least hang out together and complain to each other.

I do have a list of things to do. Things get added to it every year, but I always ignore parts of it. This year I'm going to bring in fresh flowers from the garden and hang prayer flags in the tree outside. The floor will be dirty, everything is always dusty, there will be piles of papers and collage materials hidden under my worktable. It looks like an artist's studio, slightly tidied up. I think it will be a wonderful two days. If you're in the area and can come by to say "hello," please do.