Asheville BookWorks Gallery is seeking work for an upcoming show of prints with the theme, Beyond Language.

It is only natural that after all of these years printmaking still carries the torch for it’s greatest partner and eternal love – Letters. A letter can, with ease, deliver to us striking form, content, and even context; usually these fine things are strung tightly with an understanding and usage of language. Within the bounds of art and design this need not be the only use for these uniquely versatile characters in the world of mark making. Beyond Language is to be an exhibition of printed works that find themselves made using these building blocks of communication, all of them structured deliberately not to be read as text, but rather understood as compositions. DOWNLOAD PDF / CALL FOR ENTRIES / Beyond Language

Exhibition Dates: March 6 – May 5, 2012

Juror: Bryan Baker. Stukenborg Press, Bryan Christopher Baker’s letterpress studio, has spent the last year exploring the astronomical number of variations possible while utilizing a limited set of variables; six-sided dice. After years of printing with traditional hand-set type, he has begun a series of limited edition prints that are composed and printed solely from dice. Each composition is arranged on the bed of an antique printing press, and inked impressions are pulled directly off the face of the array. These prints touch on notions of order, disorder, fate, and chance; but, also can bring to mind cellular structures, and systems of computation. From within Bryan’s “fields of situations” patterns emerge that shift between textile design and depictions of microscopic forces.

Bryan spent the last three years in Brooklyn, NY where he split his time between teaching printmaking around the city and working in his studio. His studio practice as a printmaker had a chance to develop under a very unique canopy, after graduate school he became a full-time designer and printer at Yee-Haw Industries, 2002-2008. There he made custom hand-printed letterpress ephemera for record labels, music venues, museums, and more. Through the years he spent at Yee-Haw two bodies of work took shape; one out of the purely functional side of print, and another which has much less to do with practical applications and is more concerned with cognition and experience. These two modes and manners of approach now often overlap and influence Bryan’s current work.

A recent move finds Stukenborg Press setting up a letterpress facility in Detroit. This new location will function as both a studio for Bryan’s ongoing projects, and a printshop that is accessible to the local community. stukenborgpress.com

'Origin' by Dan Essig

The Time Travelers exhibition, on view at the BookWorks Gallery, opening January 17 (1 – 8 PM) through February 29, showcases a juried selection of artist books inspired by historical bookbinding. The books on display demonstrate technical skill and artistic expression within an historical framework.  Artists used binding structures representing a range of cultural traditions and periods, showing how handmade book practices have transformed over time and distance.

The exhibit is particularly focused on books made by hand with special attention to the artists’ personal research into an historical structure, including design sensibilities and techniques.

Jana Pullman, bookbinder, book conservator and book arts instructor, who resides in Minneapolis, MN, was the juror for Time Travelers : Historical Book Structures. She says, “It was an honor to have been asked to be a juror for this exhibition. I have had a long-standing interest in the history of binding structure and was pleased to see others do too. We have a heritage of thousands of years and countless artisans to learn from.”

Ms. Pullman was struck by the rich diversity of the work and how artists are taking this rich history of bookbinding and using it in contemporary ways.  “Experimentation with materials has been a regular practice in the field of bookmaking and the work in this exhibition shows that this experimentation continues. As we move forward with our work in book arts we will always have the firm

'Duration: 20 Devices' by James Reid Cunningham

foundation of the work done before.”

Asheville artist, Daniel Essig’s piece gives us not only an historical book structure but also a sculptural setting to house the book. His innovative interpretation of book structure and aesthetics give the work a look and feel of age and history and it is only fitting that it holds a book whose sewing structure dates back to the 4^th century.

Papyrus sheets held together with ticketing is one of the earliest codex forms dating around the 4^th century.  From Cambridge, MA, James Reid Cunningham’s book takes these materials and techniques and gives it a twist with an angled shape to the book and then carries these angles through to his imagery on the pages and slipcase.

Paying homage to the look and patterns in early medieval bindings Madelyn Garrett’s beaded covers displays the intense craftsmanship and skill involved in binding.  Her sensitivity with color and pattern in this work gives richness to the pieces reminiscent of treasure bindings. Ms. Garret lives and works in South Jordan, UT.

The theme of taking an earlier structure and giving it a distinctive modern feel is also seen in Karen Hanmer’s book. Based on the scaleboard binding, which was popular in Colonial America in the 16^th to the 19^th century, her use of color with wooden covers and

'The Sinfulness and Pernicious Nature of Gaming' by Karen Hanmer

snakeskin brings the book into our century. Ms. Hanmer resides in Glenview, IL.

On Tuesday, February 7^th at 6 PM, Asheville BookWorks will host an illustrated lecture called Telling the Tale: A Brief History of Binding and Illustration in European Manuscripts and Incunabula presented by Laura Dufresne, Ph.D. and Laura Gardner, Ph.D. from Winthrop University, SC.

Laura Dufresne, art historian, and Laura Garnder, artist and art educator, come to book arts sharing a love for the book as a holder of meaning, a vehicle for ideas and stories, and as an aesthetic and historic structure. Together they teach a book arts class at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and have presented regionally and internationally on book arts, collaborative and interdiscipinary learning.

BookWorks Gallery is open M – F, 1 – 5 PM and on Saturdays, 1 – 4 PM.

Opening on Saturday December 3rd & through the month of December, the gallery will be transformed into a book arts and letterpress destination for those looking for unique gifts, ornaments, cards, handmade books, prints, and more.

Invite Friends and Family to join us on Saturday December 3, 1 – 5 for the best selection along with some spiced cider and ginger snaps!

If you’re a Letterpress Printer, Book Artist or Printmaker and are interested in participating, more info and a consignment sheet to fill out, is posted as a .pdf on the Co-op Page.

Get Your Bells ON!

Historical Bindings by Jana Pullman, juror

Exhibition Dates: January 10 – February 29, 2012 at BookWorks Gallery. Asheville BookWorks will create an on-line gallery too.

BookWorks Gallery is seeking work for an upcoming show of handmade books with the theme of Time Travelers / Historical Book Structures.

Preference will be given to bindings based on the artist’s personal research into an historical structure, including design sensibilities and techniques. Exhibit will showcase works with technical skill and artistic expression within an historical framework. Focus on books made by hand, based on structures from the birth of the book to the encroachment of the machine-assisted binding.

We hope to present a range of cultural traditions and periods, showing how books have developed and changed over time and distance. We’re in search of books that go above and beyond examples made in classroom or workshop settings.

Jana Pullman, bookbinder, book conservator and book arts instructor, is the featured juror.

For dates, including a full description in PDF format, please click Historical_Bindings_Prospectus-1-1

Thursday, November 17th at 6:30 PM at BookWorks Studio

Bill and Vickie Stewart, Vamp & Tramp BookSellers are coming back with a new collection of books, spreading contagious enthusiasm for the art of the book! Please join us for this free event.

We love books that haunt and comfort us. That’s what we’ll try to have for each of you. ~Vicky & Bill Stewart