tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43079898578192526472024-03-13T09:17:00.895-04:00BookGirlRandom Musings On My Bookish (and Occasionally Other) PassionsClarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-84592829505249957412010-04-16T10:56:00.008-04:002010-04-16T12:14:19.473-04:00A Yen for PaperI seem to be obsessed lately with advertising involving the clever use of paper. Maybe it's because interesting advertising is rare. But there's also a bit of nostalgia here, as paper becomes less and less important in society -- newspapers losing ground to reading online, books in print being overshadowed by ebooks, etc.<br /><br />Paradoxically, paper has become even more important to me in the past few years. I've always been an avid reader of books, magazines, and newspapers (not to mention cereal boxes, catalogs, posters -- you get the idea), but now that I make books, I've developed a whole new and delicious appreciation for all kinds of paper. In some ways, then, I may be going backward instead of forward in time. In this case, I don't think it's a bad thing.<br /><br />This is the trailer for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlwJHnQgrH0&feature=channel"><span style="font-style: italic;">Le Petit Nicolas</span></a>, a live-action film based on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Petit-Nicolas-French-Sempe-Goscinny/dp/2070364232">book</a> of the same name. The book was first published in 1959, written by <a href="http://lambiek.net/artists/g/goscinny.htm">Rene</a> <a href="http://www.goscinny.net/">Goscinny</a> (who also wrote the <a href="http://www.asterix-obelix.nl/">Asterix</a> comic books), and illustrated by <a href="http://lambiek.net/artists/s/sempe_jj.htm">Jean-Jacques</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/books/08semp.html">Sempe</a>. Followed by several more books about Nicholas and his friends, the books became wildly popular in France in the 60s.<br /><p>Thanks to <a href="http://celestefrittata.blogspot.com/">Celeste Frittata</a> for the heads up on this video.</p><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zo9w2147z4A&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zo9w2147z4A&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object><br /><br />How about you? Do you, too, have a lust for paper?<br /><br />P.S. For those of you who are much more Blogger-savvy than I, how do I get an accent mark on that final 'e' in 'Rene' and 'Sempe'?Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-76270639944113073952010-03-13T12:15:00.005-05:002010-03-13T13:03:01.369-05:00Ads Don't Have to be BoringI've written about <a href="http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/gallery.php?id=1">Su Blackwell's work</a> <a href="http://ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/2007/07/bibliokinetics.html">before</a>, and it continues to amaze. Below is a 45-second t.v. advertisement for Beringer wines from 2007 that I learned about on <a href="http://allthingspaper-annmartin.blogspot.com/">All Things Paper</a> (thanks, to Ann Martin).<br /><br />Blackwell, a UK-based artist, combines arts (pop-ups) and paper-cutting in remarkable ways. Worth seeing is the "making-of video" for the Beringer ad (also below), which features Blackwell.<br /><br />And just for fun, in case you missed it the first time 'round, is a charming video from singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan's CD, <a href="http://www.lisahannigan.ie/">Sea Sew</a>, which I wrote about <a href="http://ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/lisa-hannigan-handmade.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sDyEgf6WFIY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sDyEgf6WFIY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EFtoLBaJPS0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EFtoLBaJPS0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fyXmp-FiPJo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fyXmp-FiPJo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/lisahannigan?blend=1&ob=4">Here</a>'s Lisa's official You Tube Channel.<br /><br />Stop-motion video seems to be encouraging advertisers to do more with paper arts (hurray!). Have you seen any examples recently that we may have missed?Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-42788678779615900572010-03-04T12:07:00.012-05:002010-03-04T13:43:27.099-05:00How Do You Feel About the Printed Word?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/S4_zv75Al9I/AAAAAAAABgw/f_EGuFW6bGE/s1600-h/ReadingStatue.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 271px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/S4_zv75Al9I/AAAAAAAABgw/f_EGuFW6bGE/s320/ReadingStatue.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444838479370426322" border="0" /></a>I have a new widget -- <a href="http://readtheprintedword.org/">I Pledge to Read the Printed Word</a> -- on this blog (see left) that I found while reading one of the (too many) blogs I follow on my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS">feed reader</a>.<br /><br />I embrace technology, particularly the extraordinary access to data and knowledge that it provides through the Web -- no, I'm not forgetting the also extraordinary levels of useless detritus, but for me, the pros far outweigh the cons. I also appreciate the value of a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015T963C/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=4963579797&ref=pd_sl_a6eh7sgtv_b">Kindle</a> when traveling -- I wish I'd had one when I seemed to live on a plane during a past work life.<br /><br />So I'm certainly no <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/luddite">Luddite</a>. Nevertheless, the printed page is to me one of the true wonders of the world, and I'll be forever in debt to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg">Herr Gutenberg</a>. Curling up with the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html"> Sunday Times</a> or the <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781400063734-0">book</a> I'm currently reading (you MUST read this) is one of my great pleasures. Curling up with a Kindle? Not so much.<br /><br />When I came across this wonderful "manifesto" from <a href="http://fischerenglish.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/i-pledge-to-read-the-written-word/">Mrs. Fischer's English Classes</a>, I had to share it:<br /><blockquote>I, hereby, pledge to read the printed word. I pledge to hold books in my hand, to visit public libraries, to flip tangible pages, to read for pleasure and imagination, to pause from my reading to tilt my head heavenward to consider what information I have just absorbed.</blockquote>I couldn't have said it better.<br /><br />What do you think of "Mrs. Fischer's" pledge? Any thoughts on electronic readers such as the Kindle?<br /><br />Image Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/takomabibelot/309130731/">takomabibelot</a> on Flickr<br /><b><i>The Reading Girl (La Leggitrice)</i></b>, model 1856, carved 1861<br />by Pietro Magni (sculptor), Italian, 1817-1877<br />Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-58235473961080046562009-07-11T15:51:00.004-04:002009-07-11T16:09:31.633-04:00A Life in Post-its<span style="font-family:verdana;">There's a special type of creativity that makes art from the mundane. I love this animated stop-motion video, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Deadline</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">, by Bang-yao Liu. It was his senior project at <a href="http://www.scad.edu/">Savannah College of Art and Design</a>. Liu says: "where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel not that I am fighting with my work,...I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadlines."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The second video is about the making of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Deadline</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BpWM0FNPZSs&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BpWM0FNPZSs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Deadline</span><br />Directed by Bang-yao Liu<br />Music by Röyksopp (<a href="http://royksopp.com%29/" target="_blank" title="http://royksopp.com)" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">http://royksopp.com)</a><br />Sound design by Ian Vargo, Shaun Burdick<br />Actor: Chun-yao Huang</span><br /><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ArJYvaCCB3c&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ArJYvaCCB3c&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The Making of 'Deadline'</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Filmed by Jay Tseng</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Edited by Bang-yao Liu</span>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-73394272576516822082009-06-26T10:07:00.011-04:002009-06-26T14:12:09.779-04:00Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTk_IlLJ6I/AAAAAAAABgk/AsNSXhg1_Ok/s1600-h/alice_cup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 325px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTk_IlLJ6I/AAAAAAAABgk/AsNSXhg1_Ok/s320/alice_cup.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351654030509287330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was delighted to hear that we'll be seeing director </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/">Tim Burton's</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Alice in Wonderland</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> next year. <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/carroll/">Lewis Carroll's</a> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780141439761-0">Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> (read and see the facsimile of the original book, with <a href="http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackham.htm">Arthur Rackham</a>'s illustrations, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28885/28885-h/28885-h.htm">here</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">) and </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780141439761-0">Through the Looking Glass</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> (read </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12/12-h/12-h.htm">here</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">) are two of my early favorite books, and anything by Burton (his most recent film was his version of </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.sondheimguide.com/sweeney.html">Stephen Sondheim's</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.sweeneytoddmovie.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Sweeney Todd</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">) is bound to be, at the very least, a visual treat. The cast includes </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000136/">Johnny Depp</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> as the Mad Hatter, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000307/">Helen Bonham Carter</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> (Burton's wife) as the Red Queen, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004266/">Anne Hathaway</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> as the White Queen, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000410/">Stephen Fry</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> as the Cheshire Cat and </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1985859/">Mia Wasikowska</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> as Alice.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">According to Burton in an article in Disney's new magazine, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.disneystore.com/d23-collectibles-pins-d23-disney-twenty-three-magazine-premier-issue/p/1243434/66493/">Disney Twenty-Three</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, the new film is not a re-telling of the 1865 novel, but a new story that has Alice returning to Wonderland, as a teenager, several years after the events of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. He describes the movie as "kind of a mixture of some distorted live action and animation." Hmmmm.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here are a few of the images that recently were released by Disney to give a feel for Burton's artistic concept. You can find more images </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/06/first-look-tim-burton-takes-alice-to-weird-wild-wonderland/">here</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.cinematical.com/photos/alice-in-wonderland/2098942/">here</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. I'm looking forward to learning more.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTkWt2_4HI/AAAAAAAABgc/2oLlSbHM1Ak/s1600-h/madhatter_1700.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTkWt2_4HI/AAAAAAAABgc/2oLlSbHM1Ak/s320/madhatter_1700.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351653336141521010" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter</span><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTkWBQ8HRI/AAAAAAAABgU/ZJ69H2GAzMU/s1600-h/alice-in-wonderland_3-1600.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 184px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTkWBQ8HRI/AAAAAAAABgU/ZJ69H2GAzMU/s320/alice-in-wonderland_3-1600.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351653324170730770" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTkV3i53xI/AAAAAAAABgM/kfOlkb_XoFY/s1600-h/red-queen_1750.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SkTkV3i53xI/AAAAAAAABgM/kfOlkb_XoFY/s320/red-queen_1750.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351653321561726738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen</span><br /></div>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-75643546011310511502009-05-20T10:54:00.015-04:002009-06-12T01:31:42.596-04:00Making Books with Andrea Dezsö<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRBratR8dI/AAAAAAAABek/TVi6Tp1hlyw/s1600-h/Dezs%C3%B6-tunnel-LivingInside-Theforest.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 339px; height: 197px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRBratR8dI/AAAAAAAABek/TVi6Tp1hlyw/s320/Dezs%C3%B6-tunnel-LivingInside-Theforest.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337963672500302290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I <a href="http://ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/2007/08/andrea-dezso.html">wrote in this blog</a> about Andrea Dezsö a year-and-a-half ago.</span></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">I began with "How smitten am I with Andrea Dezsö?" Well, I'm even more smitten now. When I found out that Andrea was teaching at the <a href="http://www.southeastbookarts.org/">Southeast Association for Book Arts (SABA) conference</a>, a scant two-and-a-half-hour-drive away, I signed up immediately. I didn't even read the description of the class. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As it turned out, the two-day class covered tunnel books on day 1 and pop-up books on day 2. Andrea, whose regular day job is at <a href="http://www.parsons.edu/">Parsons New School for Design</a> (you can see her work <a href="http://a.parsons.edu/%7Edezsoa/index.html">here</a> on Parson's site -- including her <a href="http://a.parsons.edu/%7Edezsoa/BOOKS_Tunnel1.html">pop-up and tunnel books</a>), </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">kept things simple. She doesn't believe in showing students how to replicate one of <span style="font-style: italic;">her</span> books</span>; <span style="font-family:verdana;">she prefers to teach them the form and let them experiment with their own ideas.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> During our class, Andrea was available to guide, demonstrate, and answer questions, but made a point of not imposing her aesthetic on us. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">She showed us two alternatives for a tunnel book: the first was the more traditional accordion style; the other is a, simpler, wrap-around format. In the latter, each individual "screen," or portion, of the tunnel book has side tabs that are are affixed to a long strip of the same material. The strip "wraps" around the sides and back of the book. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">You can see some of the work our class created at the end of this post. And I couldn't resist including some images of Andrea's tunnel and pop-up books.<br /><br />This is the first time I'd attended the SABA conference, which is organized by the <a href="http://www.cas.sc.edu/art/">Art Department</a> at the <a href="http://www.sc.edu/aboutusc/index.shtml">University of South Carolina</a> in Columbia, and held there for four days every two years. The organizers are a mix of members of the Art and <a href="http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/">English</a> departments at USC, and they did a terrific job. Each day began with a presentation from one of the instructors, and lunch included a lecture or workshop by someone from the school -- for example, the head of the university's <a href="http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/rarebook.html">rare books collection</a>s spoke on what book artists can learn from such a collection's resources. A national exhibit of artists' books, <a href="http://www.southeastbookarts.org/Juried_Exhibition.html">Intimate Curiosities</a>, was mounted in conjunction with the conference, juried by artist <a href="http://www.beanettles.com/">Bea Nettles</a> (Bea also took Andrea's class) and the opening of the exhibit was held at the University's <a href="http://web.mac.com/mcmastergallery/McMaster_Gallery/On_Display.html">McMaster Gallery</a> during the first evening of the conference. Magnolia trees were in full bloom in Columbia during our visit, and Andrea, who'd never seen the flowers, was immediately captivated, saying that they were "as big as a person's head!" (As a side note, she made some beautiful sketches, including of the flower and its striking seed pod, during class).<br /><br />I was delighted with the entire experience: with the professional and still friendly way in which the conference was run, with the organizers and speakers from USC, with the exhibit, with my fellow students, and of course, with the program and the instructors (and a good word, too, for <a href="http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/rarebook.html">The Inn at USC</a>, which gave us great rates, and cookies and milk every night). I'm only sorry that it comes around only once every two years.<br /><br />If you'll be in New York City between October 2009 and January 2010, check out the Museum of Art & Design's show: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/qmkumw"><span style="font-style: italic;">Slash: Paper Under the Knife</span></a>, an international exhibit that will include Andrea's work.<br /><br />(Note: the image at top right is Andrea Dezsö's tunnel book: <span style="font-style: italic;">Living Inside: The Forest</span>. Andrea mentioned that this book was stolen from a gallery in April 2008. If you learn its whereabouts, please contact Andrea via her <a href="http://a.parsons.edu/%7Edezsoa/">"Contact" link at Parsons</a>.)<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDlmw14CI/AAAAAAAABes/GVSjSpatgC8/s1600-h/Bea%27s2dTunnelBook1.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDlmw14CI/AAAAAAAABes/GVSjSpatgC8/s320/Bea%27s2dTunnelBook1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337965771680505890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Bea's tunnel book</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDl6O7ydI/AAAAAAAABe0/JH5YTrwAwyE/s1600-h/MarvineCole%27sTunnelBook2.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDl6O7ydI/AAAAAAAABe0/JH5YTrwAwyE/s320/MarvineCole%27sTunnelBook2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337965776906996178" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Marvine's tunnel book<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDmcZOYFI/AAAAAAAABfE/_nOY49dmOcs/s1600-h/Marjorie%27sTunnelBook1.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 269px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDmcZOYFI/AAAAAAAABfE/_nOY49dmOcs/s320/Marjorie%27sTunnelBook1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337965786076962898" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Marjorie's tunnel book<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDmKl8_fI/AAAAAAAABe8/k4QfzupfTRY/s1600-h/CB%27sTunnelBook2.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDmKl8_fI/AAAAAAAABe8/k4QfzupfTRY/s320/CB%27sTunnelBook2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337965781298511346" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Clara's tunnel book</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFMgZwu1I/AAAAAAAABf8/EKg1biD_c7o/s1600-h/Susan%27sTunnelBook.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFMgZwu1I/AAAAAAAABf8/EKg1biD_c7o/s320/Susan%27sTunnelBook.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337967539499613010" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Susan's tunnel book</span><br /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDm87RoGI/AAAAAAAABfM/0DmK-ZQi_8M/s1600-h/M%27sPopUpBook.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRDm87RoGI/AAAAAAAABfM/0DmK-ZQi_8M/s320/M%27sPopUpBook.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337965794809716834" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Gina's pop-up book<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRE_50fVyI/AAAAAAAABfU/O1nAR5sJbJ4/s1600-h/Andrea1.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 264px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRE_50fVyI/AAAAAAAABfU/O1nAR5sJbJ4/s320/Andrea1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337967322984306466" border="0" /></a>Andrea explaining a pop-up structure<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFBE4bv-I/AAAAAAAABfk/5_hjJ2fWqd8/s1600-h/Dezso-stillwater-AIRInKamiyamaJapan2008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 343px; height: 235px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFBE4bv-I/AAAAAAAABfk/5_hjJ2fWqd8/s320/Dezso-stillwater-AIRInKamiyamaJapan2008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337967343133507554" border="0" /></a>Andrea's Dezsö Pop-up Book: <span style="font-style: italic;">Stillwater</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFAjyxUPI/AAAAAAAABfc/d5DrSecjzu8/s1600-h/Dezs%C3%B6-tunnel-LivingInside-TheMantis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 287px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFAjyxUPI/AAAAAAAABfc/d5DrSecjzu8/s320/Dezs%C3%B6-tunnel-LivingInside-TheMantis.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337967334251385074" border="0" /></a>Andrea Dezsö Tunnel Book: <span style="font-style: italic;">Living Inside: The Mantis</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFBTi5SyI/AAAAAAAABfs/g4yLJ1F_SBM/s1600-h/MagnoliaSeedPod.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFBTi5SyI/AAAAAAAABfs/g4yLJ1F_SBM/s320/MagnoliaSeedPod.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337967347069700898" border="0" /></a>Magnolia bloom "as big as a person's head"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFBg5tq7I/AAAAAAAABf0/cc3Jy8w_4aI/s1600-h/Andrea%27sSketchOfMagnolia.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ShRFBg5tq7I/AAAAAAAABf0/cc3Jy8w_4aI/s320/Andrea%27sSketchOfMagnolia.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337967350655069106" border="0" /></a>Andrea's sketch of the magnolia bloom<span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-49349725121872073182009-04-22T14:56:00.011-04:002009-04-23T09:56:25.684-04:00Lisa Hannigan - Handmade<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Se95K-0Qq_I/AAAAAAAABec/a3LAHsusrsg/s1600-h/LisaHanniganHand-SewnLyrics.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 288px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Se95K-0Qq_I/AAAAAAAABec/a3LAHsusrsg/s320/LisaHanniganHand-SewnLyrics.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327610113770433522" border="0" /></a><span>Is it just me, or are we seeing a surge of of pop-up-book art and paper-cuts art? I <span style="font-style: italic;">know</span> we're seeing a renewed interest in and appreciation for the handmade object. Singer and songwriter Lisa Hannigan's <a href="http://www.lisahannigan.ie/">new CD</a>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Sea Sew</span>, and the promotion for the disc, incorporate all three of these elements. Hannigan hails from Ireland, and sang backup for <a href="http://www.damienrice.com/">Damien Rice</a> before being fired by him after seven years (see <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102977723">this NPR interview</a>).<br /><br />The central image for the web site for<span style="font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://www.lisahannigan.ie/">Sea Sew </a></span>is a piece of knitting by Hannigan's mother. The original liner notes (song lyrics), photographed and included in the CD package, were hand-embroidered by Lisa (see the lyrics for <span style="font-style: italic;">Keep It All above)</span>. The song <span style="font-style: italic;">Lille</span> -- the first of the two videos below -- is illustrated by pop-up imagery. That's Hannigan turning the pages. The pop-ups are by <a href="http://www.maeveclancy.com/">Maeve Clancy</a> and <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/user1313597">Jamie Hannigan</a>. The second, <span style="font-style: italic;">I Don't Know</span><span>,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>has Hannigan literally "cutting-and-pasting" a room for herself (also created by Clancy). You can buy the album <a href="http://www.lisahannigan.ie/Store/Category.aspx?id=Albums">here</a> and <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cou3zc">here</a>. I love both of the songs and videos and have been playing them all afternoon.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lisahannigan.ie/stitch/LH_lisasBlog.aspx">Hannigan's blog</a> entry for March 10, 2009 recounts her appearance on <a href="http://tinyurl.com/czcjy5">The Colbert Report</a>. Catch that interview and performance <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/221065/march-09-2009/lisa-hannigan-pt--1">here</a> and <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/221066/march-09-2009/lisa-hannigan-pt--2">here</a>. Image credit for <span style="font-style: italic;">Keep It All </span><span>lyrics</span> (above): ATO Records. Thanks to <a href="http://blueroofdesigns.wordpress.com/">Blue Roof Designs</a> for the heads-up.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;">"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaFs_uEfqhM">Lille</a>"</div><span><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QaFs_uEfqhM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QaFs_uEfqhM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;">"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSaPbVjcrp4">I Don't Know</a>"<br /><br /></div><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WSaPbVjcrp4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WSaPbVjcrp4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-47236815927904466472009-04-20T08:36:00.002-04:002009-04-20T21:07:24.024-04:00Making Paste Paper<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu22Jo5T0I/AAAAAAAABeU/s-fq8C3zQvg/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-33.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 303px; height: 227px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu22Jo5T0I/AAAAAAAABeU/s-fq8C3zQvg/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-33.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326552025712381762" border="0" /></a>I had the great good fortune to take part in a paste paper* workshop with Larry Lou Foster recently. Larry Lou (Louise Lawrence Foster), a book artist and fine binder, is a respected expert and innovator in paste-paper design. She has studied paste-paper traditions extensively and, over the years, replicated many historical patterns, as well as created new designs. It was a delightful and intense two days of work and study. Larry Lou is as generous as she is knowledgeable, and she was determined to share with us as many of her techniques and insights as our time with her allowed.<br /><br />Printer, paper maker and book artist <a href="http://www.speakeasypress.com/frank.html">Frank Brannon</a>, who met Larry Lou while in the <a href="http://www.bookarts.ua.edu/">MFA in Book Arts program</a> at the University of Alabama, introduced Larry Lou to <a href="http://www.ashevillebookworks.com/instructors.html#LaurieC">Laurie Corral</a>, director of <a href="http://www.ashevillebookworks.com/">Asheville BookWork</a><a href="http://www.ashevillebookworks.com/">s</a>, who immediately engaged her for a weekend workshop this spring. Frank is working on an edition of a book that will contain many examples of Larry Lou's paste papers, along with a discussion of her work. He not only designed the book and letterpress-printed the text, but made the paper for it as well. Once he's incorporated Larry Lou's paste-paper samples, which she created for the edition, he'll bind the books and make them available for sale.<br /><br />Here are a few photos from the workshop. All of the paste papers pictured are Larry Lou's, although each of us who took the workshop came home came home with a lovely and ample supply of our own paper for book covers, boxes, cards, collage, etc.<br /><br />* Paste papers are one of the earliest forms of decorative paper, first used in the 17th century for covers and end papers in books. Many of the beautiful and intricate designs of these papers are being used as inspiration by today's paste paper artists, who are also creating wonderful contemporary designs. The "paste" in "paste paper" is usually a wheat- or rice-paste mixture, to which pigment (acrylic paint or ground pigment) has been added. The colored paste is brushed onto dampened paper, then a variety of objects -- kitchen tools, carved brayers, and found objects, -- are used to draw into the paste while it is still wet. For those of you who may not have the convenience of a class, one of the best books on paste papers is Diane Maurer-Mathison's <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/dzf555">The Art of Making Paste Papers</a>.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2WVvzhJI/AAAAAAAABeM/drByJBrb1wU/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-01.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 304px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2WVvzhJI/AAAAAAAABeM/drByJBrb1wU/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-01.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326551479206773906" border="0" /></a>Larry Lou, using a long dowel to create diagonal lines on the paper,<br />over which she'll draw a design.<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2WQBlStI/AAAAAAAABeE/zawP9DnK9vM/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-16.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2WQBlStI/AAAAAAAABeE/zawP9DnK9vM/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-16.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326551477670726354" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2WC0IK3I/AAAAAAAABd8/4ioxkX0iEz4/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-18.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2WC0IK3I/AAAAAAAABd8/4ioxkX0iEz4/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-18.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326551474124630898" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2VoEAe3I/AAAAAAAABd0/2tXdKBURJiM/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-31.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2VoEAe3I/AAAAAAAABd0/2tXdKBURJiM/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-31.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326551466943478642" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2VVrBeJI/AAAAAAAABds/-TiUhsa5j0U/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-37.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu2VVrBeJI/AAAAAAAABds/-TiUhsa5j0U/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-37.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326551462006847634" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1rjDbqpI/AAAAAAAABdk/ee2LPxKwRf0/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-30.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1rjDbqpI/AAAAAAAABdk/ee2LPxKwRf0/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-30.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326550744044382866" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1reiRqQI/AAAAAAAABdc/_1zsL5aTve0/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-33.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1reiRqQI/AAAAAAAABdc/_1zsL5aTve0/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-33.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326550742831573250" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1q-PlNcI/AAAAAAAABdM/LxOf2PeOW_U/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-41.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1q-PlNcI/AAAAAAAABdM/LxOf2PeOW_U/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-41.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326550734163228098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1qoTuglI/AAAAAAAABdE/bkg2r8ApNwc/s1600-h/PastePaperClass09Mar-48.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/Seu1qoTuglI/AAAAAAAABdE/bkg2r8ApNwc/s320/PastePaperClass09Mar-48.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326550728275034706" border="0" /></a>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-69541708267457296552009-04-06T12:56:00.011-04:002009-04-06T15:32:19.088-04:00Sunday in the Park With...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpB9_7ymWI/AAAAAAAABbw/4t4iOcQXeMg/s1600-h/GoingToTheDogPark09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 287px; height: 217px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpB9_7ymWI/AAAAAAAABbw/4t4iOcQXeMg/s320/GoingToTheDogPark09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321638443081701730" border="0" /></a>A digression from "bookishness" today: I thought I'd share some photos of our outing yesterday with our two pups. We're fortunate to have several dog parks in the area, and we visited one of them for the first time yesterday afternoon. Coco (in spite of being the youngest and smallest of our two dogs, and among the smallest at the park), immediately took to the adventure. (That's Coco to the right, being "chauffered" to the park.) She made friends with everyone, dogs and people alike, and ran as fast as her very-close-to-the-ground legs would carry her. Twiggy, a more tentative pup, stuck close to me and Steven, venturing out only when Coco was with him. I was impressed at how well-behaved all the dogs were at the park. None of them showed any aggression, and all welcomed Coco's friendly overtures.<br /><br />Next we headed downtown for a stroll. We live in a very dog-friendly place, so we can always depend on finding other people walking their dogs downtown on a weekend. Many shops allow pets inside, too. Twiggy and Coco had a great time exploring, then, when we took a break for hot cocoa and cookie, watching dogs and their people walk by.<br /><br />This "puppy love" is a relatively new state of affairs for me. I've never been much of a pet person, and were it not for Steven, I doubt I'd ever have shared my home with an animal. Once we were married, 'though, Steven started to work on me, slowly but insistently, until I said 'yes' to bringing Twiggy home a little over four years ago. I still have a hard time believing that I agreed to a second dog (might Steven have put something in the water?). Nevertheless, I'm now besotted with Twiggy and Coco, and I've become one of those people to whom I used to feel superior while smiling indulgently as they talked about (and to) their dogs.<br /><br />There's a moral here somewhere. Maybe one of them is that it's sometimes good to let go of old biases and welcome the unexpected.<br /><br />Oh, by the way, Twiggy has his own <a href="http://www.bookpuppy.blogspot.com/">blog</a> (yes, clearly I've gone over the edge). He took a break after Coco arrived -- she's quite a handful -- but he expects to be posting more regularly again.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDyQ4jW7I/AAAAAAAABc4/-p2_3x3C3Yw/s1600-h/DogPark1-09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 245px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDyQ4jW7I/AAAAAAAABc4/-p2_3x3C3Yw/s320/DogPark1-09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321640440496348082" border="0" /></a>Getting to know the dog park pups.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDx3poydI/AAAAAAAABcw/SMEI1tu5Idg/s1600-h/DogPark-09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDx3poydI/AAAAAAAABcw/SMEI1tu5Idg/s320/DogPark-09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321640433722902994" border="0" /></a>Coco makes a (big) friend.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDD_UvmbI/AAAAAAAABcY/h59AJle7b1Q/s1600-h/Downtown2-09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDD_UvmbI/AAAAAAAABcY/h59AJle7b1Q/s320/Downtown2-09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321639645508770226" border="0" /></a>Twiggy makes a friend downtown.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDlbBsEI/AAAAAAAABcQ/G2uZ8aY7z3Q/s1600-h/Downtown3-09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDlbBsEI/AAAAAAAABcQ/G2uZ8aY7z3Q/s320/Downtown3-09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321639638555799618" border="0" /></a>Spring is here (and Steven's behind it).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDi9SZBI/AAAAAAAABcI/iXZUkv30BGY/s1600-h/Downtown6-09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 282px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDi9SZBI/AAAAAAAABcI/iXZUkv30BGY/s320/Downtown6-09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321639637894194194" border="0" /></a>Coco watches the Sunday strollers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDbeApvI/AAAAAAAABcA/v_TowziWFfs/s1600-h/TwiggyWantsACookie-09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDbeApvI/AAAAAAAABcA/v_TowziWFfs/s320/TwiggyWantsACookie-09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321639635883960050" border="0" /></a>Twiggy wouldn't mind a bite of Steven's cookie.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDAWmgQI/AAAAAAAABb4/IPlPxh9F-z0/s1600-h/GoingHome-09Mar.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 253px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SdpDDAWmgQI/AAAAAAAABb4/IPlPxh9F-z0/s320/GoingHome-09Mar.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321639628605128962" border="0" /></a>Going home after a long day.<br /></div>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-70447747882839763512009-03-21T11:11:00.010-04:002009-03-21T12:19:30.211-04:00Gocco<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ScUPodnVUvI/AAAAAAAABbQ/F4yzxmV8-zc/s1600-h/YellenaGocco.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 345px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ScUPodnVUvI/AAAAAAAABbQ/F4yzxmV8-zc/s320/YellenaGocco.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315672122999526130" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I bought a Gocco (from a Japanese word loosely translated as "make-believe play") more than a year ago, and I've yet to use it. Mind you, when I learned that the manufacturer was going to stop making Gocco and shipping supplies to the U.S. in December 2008 (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gocco">here</a> and <a href="http://blueroofdesigns.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/more-gocco-anxiety/">here</a>), I stocked up on inks, screens, and bulbs in a panic. But, <span style="font-style: italic;">nooooo</span>, that didn't motivate me to actually </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >use</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> my Gocco. The Gocco and the supplies still sit on my shelf, untouched.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />I don't know about you, but I'm pretty visual when it comes to learning how to make something. But I also need to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >hear</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> the instructions -- for some reason, visuals without words don't seem to take -- so the best combination for me is both hearing the instructions and seeing the action.<br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">So I was delighted when I came across </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJzkhfWwrXM">this video</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> (below) from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/storque/authors/EtsyLabs/">Etsy Labs</a> on YouTube. Not only does it promise that Gocco printing is insanely simple, but it shows this to be really, truly so. So for all of you who have been procrastinating about making Gocco prints (to use in your books, natch), you have no excuse now (I'm saying that to myself as well as to you). Get out your Gocco and print!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">P.S. Here are some </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.northwoodstudios.us/faq.html">FAQs</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> about Gocco, should you want to learn more.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">And for inspiration, the beautiful Gocco print shown above is by <a href="http://www.yellena.com/">Yellena</a>, who has some gocco prints among the work for sale in her <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5066099">Etsy shop</a>. And </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://nebopeklo.typepad.com/nebopeklo/2008/11/new-gocco-print---winter-poppies.html">here's</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> a gorgeous multi-color Gocco print from </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://nebopeklo.typepad.com/nebopeklo/">nebo peklo</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and some lovely work from <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cpobbj">Two Guitars</a>, including these cards:<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ScUQ34Y4XDI/AAAAAAAABbY/bCSQg8wKf8c/s1600-h/guitars-715515.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 318px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/ScUQ34Y4XDI/AAAAAAAABbY/bCSQg8wKf8c/s320/guitars-715515.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315673487396330546" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span> <a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJzkhfWwrXM">Gocco Printing From Etsy Labs</a> <object style="font-family: verdana;" height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iJzkhfWwrXM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iJzkhfWwrXM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-76545000248038013022009-03-10T10:08:00.007-04:002009-03-10T15:49:30.286-04:00The Journey<span style="font-family:verdana;">This is a wonderful short video based on the recordings of </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.alanwatts.com/">Alan Watts</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> (1915-1973), produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.southparkstudios.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">South Park</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Watts was a British philosopher and writer. He was well known for his writings and lectures on Eastern philosophy and religion and the nature of reality. I </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Way-Zen-Alan-W-Watts/dp/0375705104/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_img_in">initially read</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> his work years ago, when it seemed everyone was enamored of all things "Zen." His words, which then had the air of fashion, are now simply real and true. Here, Watts talks about likening our lives to music, that is, savoring the journey.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">(Parker and Stone have produced </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://coldhardflash.com/2007/07/flash-animated-philosophy-from-south.html">several videos</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> based on Watts' recordings, including </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXi_ldNRNtM"><span style="font-style: italic;">Prickles & Goo</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, based on names Watts assigned to personality types. For </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://gumbydharma.com/">Gumby</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> aficionados, this is where Gumby creator </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/gumby/index.html">Art Clokey</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> got the names for Gumby's pals -- Clokey was Watts' lifelong friend).</span><strong style="font-family: verdana;"></strong><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4"><span style="font-style: italic;">Music and Life</span></a><br /></div><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ERbvKrH-GC4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ERbvKrH-GC4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-15794742404573122872009-03-02T14:49:00.010-05:002009-03-03T08:45:19.795-05:00Margaret Kilgallen<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SaxKYyCzDUI/AAAAAAAABaA/IJI2VW2_jEM/s1600-h/MargaretKilgallen.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SaxKYyCzDUI/AAAAAAAABaA/IJI2VW2_jEM/s320/MargaretKilgallen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308699850373795138" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">The late Margaret Kilgallen was a central figure in the San Francisco Bay area street art movement. She was influenced by American folk art, hand-painted signs, typography, and symbology. I was first drawn to her because of her dynamic images and lettering, and only recently learned that she was a bookbinder and had been a book conservator at the San Francisco Public Library. In addition to her mural work, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Kilgallen also worked on found paper -- including discarded book endpapers, -- reflecting, it seems, her book arts background.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The first season of the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/index.html">PBS documentary series</a> <span style="font-style: italic;">Art:21</span> <a href="http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kilgallen/index.html">profiled Kilgallen</a>, and had this to say about her:<br /></span><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"Early experiences as a librarian and bookbinder contribute to her encyclopedic knowledge of signs drawn from American folk tradition, printmaking, and letterpress. Painting directly on the wall, Kilgallen creates room-size murals that recall a time when personal craft and handmade signs were the dominant aesthetic. Strong, independent women walking, surfing, fighting, and biking feature prominently in the artist’s compositions. Her work has been shown at Deitch Projects and the Drawing Room in New York, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Luggage Store in San Francisco, the Forum for Contemporary Art in St. Louis, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Kilgallen’s work was recently presented at the UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum. She died in June 2001 in San Francisco, where she lived with her husband, Barry McGee."*</blockquote><span style="font-family:verdana;">In the <span style="font-style: italic;">Art:21</span> documentary Kilgallen says:</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"I like things that are handmade and I like to see people's hand in the world, anywhere in the world; it doesn't matter to me where it is. And in my own work, I do everything by hand. I don't project or use anything mechanical, because even though I do spend a lot of time trying to perfect my line work and my hand, my hand will always be imperfect because it's human. And I think it's the part that's off that's interesting, that even if I'm doing really big letters and I spend a lot of time going over the line and over the line and trying to make it straight, I'll never be able to make it straight. From a distance it might look straight, but when you get close up, you can always see the line waver. And I think that's where the beauty is."</span><br /></blockquote><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ejN8ZlX4U">This snippet of the documentary</a> shows Kilgallen working,; she also talks about her influences.<br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/04ejN8ZlX4U&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/04ejN8ZlX4U&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">You can read the <span style="font-style: italic;">Art:21</span> interview with Kilgallen <a href="http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kilgallen/clip2.html">here</a>, and see images of Kilgallen's work on Flickr <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=margaret%20kilgallen&w=all">here</a>.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">*sadly, Kilgallen died at 33, of complications from breast cancer, three weeks after the birth of her daughter.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">Image Credit: Work on paper from installation at UCLA Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2000. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer</span></p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Kilgallen#cite_note-10" title=""><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></a></p> </blockquote>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-27902314745026268002009-02-27T21:14:00.007-05:002009-03-10T11:06:57.179-04:00Creavity a la Tharp<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SaiyhJdSkUI/AAAAAAAABZ4/1tE_1H5UdwI/s1600-h/TheCreativeHabit.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 241px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SaiyhJdSkUI/AAAAAAAABZ4/1tE_1H5UdwI/s320/TheCreativeHabit.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307688443400327490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've been reading <a href="http://www.twylatharp.org/home.shtml">Twyla Tharp</a>'s book <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cagxpt"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Creative Habit</span></a>. In addition to thinking that she's a terrific choreographer and dancer, I have a soft spot for Ms. Tharp. For my 30th birthday, two of my friends from high school flew me Washington, D.C. to see her company perform at The Kennedy Center. Not too longer after that, in Miami, I saw <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cl2tx">Mikhail Baryshnikov</a> dance (beautifully) in Tharp's <a href="http://www.twylatharp.org/archive/dance_page.asp?danceSelected=82"><span style="font-style: italic;">Sinatra Suite</span></a> and </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://www.twylatharp.org/archive/dance_page.asp?danceSelected=43#_self"><span style="font-style: italic;">Push Comes to Shove</span></a>, which Baryshnikov had commissioned for <a href="http://www.abt.org/">American Ballet Theater</a>, and I was hooked.<br /><br />I read 80 pages of the book this afternoon in one sitting, partly because I find Tharp's message compelling, and partly because I find her dedicated approach to her art appealing. She's of the school that believes that talent doesn't count for much unless you're prepared to work hard and consistently. And that's much of what the book is about: setting work habits that foster the conditions in which creativity is most likely to flower. Here's some of what I jotted in my Moleskine this afternoon while I was reading:<blockquote>"When I'm unable to shake my fears sufficiently, I borrow a biblical epigraph from Dostoyevsky's The Demons:" I see my fears being cast into the bodies of wild boars and hogs and I watch them rush to a cliff where they fall to their deaths." [beats counting sheep.]<br /><br />"The other obstacle to good work is distractions. When I commit to a project I don't expand my contact with the world; I try to cut it off...I list the biggest distractions in my life and make a pact with myself to do without them for a week." [she cuts out movies, multi-tasking, "numbers," and music. Add the Internet for me.] "Subtracting your dependence on some of the things you take for granted increases your independence." and<br /><br />"There's a difference between a work's beginning and beginning to work." [In other words, starting to work doesn't necessarily mean that you know how the work will begin.] "Just start. You never know where it will take you."</blockquote>Here's Baryshnikov in a bit of Tharp's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJC677BNKJw">Sinatra Suite</a> and in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mio_pT5rZX0">Push Comes to Shove</a>, for old times' sake:<br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7jj8McPlVY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7jj8McPlVY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /></span><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mio_pT5rZX0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mio_pT5rZX0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-41329462805787296822009-02-09T11:26:00.003-05:002009-02-09T12:05:37.429-05:00What I'm Listening To Today<span style="font-family:verdana;">Forgive the digression from books today.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY">Oren Lavie: Her Morning Elegance</a><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2_HXUhShhmY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2_HXUhShhmY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />According to <a href="http://tinyurl.com/asman7">Lavie's blog on MySpace</a>, the video is made up of roughly 3225 still photos, using one camera hanging from the ceiling. It took four weeks before the shooting to create the animated storyboard for the video, using 3-D dummies.<br /><br />More about Lavie <a href="http://www.myspace.com/orenlavie">here</a>, who in addition to writing songs, writes plays and children's books. Thanks to <a href="http://practical-tech.com/">Steven</a> for the heads up.<br /></span>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-61893519969108864282009-02-06T10:14:00.014-05:002009-02-06T22:00:26.181-05:002008 Reading Redux<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SYyngFeL-iI/AAAAAAAABZw/OcHD3X2--qY/s1600-h/Matisse-WomanReading.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 242px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SYyngFeL-iI/AAAAAAAABZw/OcHD3X2--qY/s320/Matisse-WomanReading.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299795031174674978" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">As usual, there were some standouts in the year's (<a href="http://ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/2007/05/bookgirls-2007-reading.html">2008) reading</a>, as well as some clunkers. Reading is such a personal experience, 'though, that I hesitate to mention the latter, since my clunker may someone else's well-oiled machine. I'm reminded of <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/bfrbnt">The Memory Keeper's Daughter</a>, which I read in '07 and thoroughly, deeply disliked. It was a selection of my book club, and at least half of the group -- and we have a large group -- thought it was terrific. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I had a great time reading or re-reading several classics -- <a href="http://tinyurl.com/c7mwnk"><span style="font-style: italic;">Jane Eyre</span></a>, especially. I'd forgotten what a smart and strong (and feminist) character Jane is. (I was so taken with the book that I wrote about it <a href="http://ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/2007/10/re-reading-jane-eyre.html">here</a>.) I enjoyed my sojourn into Henry James country, re-reading some novels and savoring some short stories for the first time. I went on a bit of a <a href="http://www.henryjames.org.uk/">Henry James</a> jag and also read a very good biography, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/dmvuum">The Mature Master</a>, the second of two volumes on James by Sheldon Novick, and an equally good fictional version of James's literary life by David Lodge: <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/c52c5g">Author, Author.</a><br /><br />Other books that have stayed with me -- which is one way I judge a book's value, with the caveat that some of the truly bad ones also won't go away -- include <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/augryw">When Will There Be Good News</a>, the third book in British author Kate Atkinson's series about Jackson Brodie (wonderfully written and cleverly crafted); <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/cdd99s">A Long Way Down</a>, by Nick Hornby (as usual in Hornby's work, funny and touching at the same time, but never sentimental); Per Petterson's <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/atwvdy">Out Stealing Horses</a> (a quiet, lyrical novel), <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/cw84m6">Child 44</a>, by Tom Robb Smith (a compelling thriller set in Russia during Stalin's regime), and <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/d4lsa8">The Suspicions of Mr Whicher</a>, by Kate Summerscale. This last focuses on the actual murder of a child in 1860s England, and Summerscale uses her extensive research to explore the rise of the English detective and his role in English society. Wilkie Collins' <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/dhzmb3">The Moonstone</a>, which I'm reading now, and which was written a few years after the case described in Summerscale's book, borrows much from that book's real-life detective.<br /><br />I loved <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/dfjxs9">Three Junes</a>, Julia Glass's first novel, which I came to late, after having read and enjoyed <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/ckrzgn">The Whole World Over</a> a couple of years ago. I liked Willilam Gay's <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/cmwmhb">Twilight</a> (no, not <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Twilight</span>), a strange, striking novel set in the Tennessee country in which the author lives; enjoyed <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/d9zjh8">The Accidental Masterpiece,</a> essays on art and artists by Michael Kimmelman, and <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/cmx6zq">Valentines</a></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">, a slim volume of poetry by Ted Kooser; </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">and was nourished by poet Kathleen Norris's thoughtful <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/bja49v">The Cloister Walk</a>, about her retreats in a Benedictine monastery.<br /><br />Thankfully, I didn't read anything last year as unfortunate as <span style="font-style: italic;">The Memory Keeper's Daughter</span>. Still, there were ho-hum books, the kind that take up time that could have been spent reading something one enjoys more. Among these were <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/apkac7">In the Garden of Iden</a>, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/b5aw9h">The Society of S</a>, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/c3yyu5">The Spellman Files</a>, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/cl2ey2">The Writing Diet</a>, (a weight-loss book by Julia Cameron of <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/auxh6l">Artist's Way</a> fame) and <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/amemhv">Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance</a> (what's with all the fuss over the years about this one?). But, as one good friend says: "If you like this kind of thing, then this is the kind of thing you'll like."<br /><br />Here's to all the books yet to be explored in 2009. Happy reading.<br /><br />[Photo Credit: Woman Reading by Henri Matisse]<br /></span>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-65010559390043757142009-01-27T15:53:00.006-05:002009-01-27T17:03:38.126-05:00Crowned for the Holidays<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX-Bpv6kMvI/AAAAAAAABZo/kKdE_Q9JiTQ/s1600-h/Cogswell-CrownForClara7-08Dec.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 229px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX-Bpv6kMvI/AAAAAAAABZo/kKdE_Q9JiTQ/s320/Cogswell-CrownForClara7-08Dec.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296094241047720690" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">When I returned from Penland last summer, I wrote <a href="http://ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/2008/08/penland-08-part-3.html">here</a> about artist and friend Margaret Couch Cogswell, who is currently a <a href="http://penland.org">Penland</a> resident artist.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">As you may have gathered from that post, I think her work is terrific. There's much to like: </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">her versatility, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">her sense of color, the surprising ways in which she combines media. I think, 'though, that what I appreciate most is the sensibilities Margaret brings to her art, which resonate for me.<br /><br />So when my husband surprised me on Christmas day with a piece he'd commissioned from Margaret, I was more than delighted. I'm not easy to surprise, and my husband is not good at keeping secrets, so how I managed to open the box without even the tiniest inkling of its contents still amazes me. He knew I would love one of Margaret's crowns, but I'm told that the only guideline he offered her was that she should incorporate the concept of keeping doors open to creativity (no doubt in part because I tend to be just a tad (!) hard on myself about my own creations).<br /><br />I can't imagine changing a thing about this beautiful piece. It inspires me each time I look at it. Margaret will soon launch a blog, and she's also in the process of building a web site, so you'll be able to see a good deal more of her work online -- and make it your own. <br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX-A01TKzvI/AAAAAAAABZg/l2dh4DRI8j0/s1600-h/Cogswell-Crown4Clara-14-08Dec.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX-A01TKzvI/AAAAAAAABZg/l2dh4DRI8j0/s320/Cogswell-Crown4Clara-14-08Dec.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296093331960024818" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX-A0sx2CJI/AAAAAAAABZY/N6JY-tFENIM/s1600-h/Cogswell-CrownForClara3-08Dec.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX-A0sx2CJI/AAAAAAAABZY/N6JY-tFENIM/s320/Cogswell-CrownForClara3-08Dec.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296093329672767634" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX9_3c-NPKI/AAAAAAAABZI/ZYkVAy46OXo/s1600-h/Cogswell-CrownForClara15-08Dec.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX9_3c-NPKI/AAAAAAAABZI/ZYkVAy46OXo/s320/Cogswell-CrownForClara15-08Dec.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296092277457632418" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX9_2FVUdBI/AAAAAAAABYw/Wy9SIITk9-E/s1600-h/Cogswell-CrownForClara-08Dec.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX9_2FVUdBI/AAAAAAAABYw/Wy9SIITk9-E/s320/Cogswell-CrownForClara-08Dec.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296092253932254226" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX9_3GbhAUI/AAAAAAAABZA/rOAymi-f5bo/s1600-h/Cogswell-CrownForClara13-08Dec.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SX9_3GbhAUI/AAAAAAAABZA/rOAymi-f5bo/s320/Cogswell-CrownForClara13-08Dec.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296092271406547266" border="0" /></a>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-78220582821778577352008-12-26T12:20:00.004-05:002008-12-26T21:20:58.765-05:00The Day After Christmas<span style="font-family:verdana;">Obviously, Lev Yilmaz has met me. Clearly, he knows how I feel today.<br /><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 17px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-05521612864673259 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y9NgXIkyiwk&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 17px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-029594474212653066 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y9NgXIkyiwk&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 17px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-029594474212653066 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y9NgXIkyiwk&hl=en&fs=1"></a><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y9NgXIkyiwk&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y9NgXIkyiwk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br />Lev Yilmaz's<span style="font-style: italic;"> Tales of Mere Existence</span>: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9NgXIkyiwk">"Ready"</a><br /><br />Yilmaz is a San Francisco-based animator and cartoonist who considers himself an "Ambassador to the Alienated." On his <a href="http://www.myspace.com/tales_of_mere_existence">MySpace page</a> he lists among his heroes Rod Serling, Kurt Vonnegut, Matt Groening, Alfred Hitchcock, Egon Schiele, Iggy, Ziggy, and Adam West. Check out his <span style="font-style: italic;">Tales of Mere Existence</span> on his <a href="http://www.ingredientx.com/index.htm">web page</a>.<br /><br /></span>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-87948045950192853232008-12-21T08:29:00.005-05:002008-12-21T10:13:48.657-05:00Playing for Change<span style="font-family:verdana;">This post has is not about my usual topic: books, but it it speaks -- if indirectly -- to the season. The video is part of the documentary "Playing for Change: Peace Through Music," released by the <a href="http://www.playingforchange.org/">Playing for Change Foundation</a> (PFCF). Among other projects, PFCF is building and supporting a music school in the township of Guguletu, South Africa, as part of its program of uniting communities through the arts. Following this is an inspiring and informational interview with Mark Johnson, co-director of the film and co-founder of PFCF, by Bill Moyers on <span style="font-style: italic;">Bill Moyers' Journal </span>(it has a nice bonus: "One Love," from the documentary).<br /></span><span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Enjoy both.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM">Playing for Change: Song Around the World: Stand by Me</a><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"></a><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Us-TVg40ExM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHU0BTGHe3g"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Bill Moyers Journal: Interview with Peace for Change's Mark Johnson</span></a><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CHU0BTGHe3g&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CHU0BTGHe3g&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CHU0BTGHe3g&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CHU0BTGHe3g&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-06532808422660465 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CHU0BTGHe3g&hl=en&fs=1"></a><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CHU0BTGHe3g&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CHU0BTGHe3g&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-91809563465780586822008-12-18T16:35:00.003-05:002008-12-18T16:36:44.865-05:00Oops!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SUrCVgLXZiI/AAAAAAAABM0/D6iRUEl7g6w/s1600-h/WordsDropFromBook.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SUrCVgLXZiI/AAAAAAAABM0/D6iRUEl7g6w/s320/WordsDropFromBook.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281247187715974690" border="0" /></a>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-2030201596740337122008-12-14T10:49:00.004-05:002008-12-14T11:38:43.128-05:00A City Made of Books<span style="font-family:verdana;">Here's a must-see video commissioned by UK publisher 4th Estate and created by Apt Studio. According to the <a href="http://fifthestate.co.uk/2008/12/25th-estate/#more-486">post</a> on 4th Estate's <a href="http://fifthestate.co.uk/">blog</a> by Peter Collingride of <a href="http://aptstudio.com/">Apt Studio</a> asked Apt "to create 'something stunning' that would help them celebrate [their 25th anniversary], as well as celebrating books and [4th Estate's] ground-breaking, international, literary agenda." The result is wonderful three-minute film: <a href="http://www.25thestate.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">25th Estate: This is Where We Live</span></a></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">(see the embedded video below)</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">According to Collingridge -- his <a href="http://fifthestate.co.uk/2008/12/25th-estate/#more-486">post</a> is a well-worth-reading appetizer to the film -- "more than twenty animators and model-makers worked with over 1,000 books to build a world, and an everycity, made from the world's literature."<br /><blockquote>"The film incorporates works from many of the 4th Estate's acclaimed authors: Jonathan Franzen, Jean-Dominique Bauby, Fay Weldon, Simon Singh, Dava Sobel, Nigel Slater, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Alaa Al Aswany, Giorgio Locatelli, Robert Fisk, Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, Francis Wheen, Alexander Masters, Joan Didion, Michael Chabon, and many others.<br /><br />"My personal favourite moments are those of almost hidden detail: zebra crossings made from the paperback jacket of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Corrections</span>; the Imperial War Museum modelled from Robert fisk; the Greenwich Observatory made out of <span style="font-style: italic;">Longitude</span>; the cinema made out of all the film tie-in editions, and the homage to <span style="font-style: italic;">The Corrections</span> when the father falls out of the boat. The film is stuffed full of these references, and whilst they were a labour of love, they are (to me) what makes the film sing."</blockquote></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Enjoy!</span><br /><blockquote><object height="300" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2295261&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2295261&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="300" width="400"></embed></object><a href="http://vimeo.com/2295261"></a><a href="http://vimeo.com/2295261">This Is Where We Live</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/wherewelive">4th Estate</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></blockquote><br />P.S. Collingridge mentions that the pages of the books were influenced in part by artists <a href="http://www.josephbellows.com/exhibitions/2006_3_thomas_allen/">Thomas Allen</a> and <a href="http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/">Su Blackwell</a>. See my earlier post about extraordinary paper artist Blackwell <a href="http://ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/2007/07/bibliokinetics.html">here</a>.Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-49684153706272113132008-11-26T15:00:00.012-05:002009-01-27T17:26:47.238-05:00Thankful<span style="font-family:verdana;">This video -- made by Canadian director <a href="http://www.northernstars.ca/directorsal/dorfman_andrea.html">Andrea Dorfman</a> using <a href="http://tinyurl.com/6zbn4t">Tanya Davis</a>'s song, Art</span> -- <span style="font-family:verdana;">reminded me of the joy that art brings me. <span style="font-family:verdana;">Making it, appreciating it, discussing it -- what kind of person would I be without it? I have much to be thankful for, and today is art's turn.<br /><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 17px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-023302591525290872 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/qpunQZ4cUyI&hl=en&fs=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 17px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-08615150401650127 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/qpunQZ4cUyI&hl=en&fs=1"></a><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qpunQZ4cUyI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qpunQZ4cUyI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />My mother tells me that when I was three or four years old, I memorized the words of a children's book she often read to me. When we had visitors, they would point to a page and I would "read" it, to their surprise.</span></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Was that my first memory of the rewards of reading? Maybe. What I know is that books were my portal to the person I am today. Reading led me to many of the other art forms that I've enjoyed over the years: theater, foremost, but also dance, music, the visual arts, photography, design, and the handmade object.<br /><br />And now a different kind of "book lust" is opening new doors. <a href="http://www.philobiblon.com/site.shtml">Book arts</a> has introduced me not only to the craft of making books, but to art forms -- like printmaking -- that I'd only admired at a distance in the past. The more involved I become, the more I realize that the beauty of the handmade book is its ability to take on many forms, both literally and conceptually. It can exist on its own as an artfully-made object -- a blank journal, say -- or it can serve as a vehicle for expressing large and small ideas that incorporate a range of art forms -- as in <a href="http://content.otis.edu/collections/artistsbooks.htm">artists' books</a>.<br /><br />In my case, my appreciation of book arts is directly connected to my lifelong love of books and reading. And yet, some of my book artist friends are not readers. Hmmm. Sounds like a subject for another post. Happy Thanksgiving, all.<br /></span>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-74832246424886789632008-11-23T19:24:00.008-05:002008-11-24T09:41:37.558-05:00Slow Blogging<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SSn9DbW4sJI/AAAAAAAABMs/GQV8Ro0OIR4/s1600-h/blogger.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 188px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SSn9DbW4sJI/AAAAAAAABMs/GQV8Ro0OIR4/s320/blogger.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272023074139058322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Interesting <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/fashion/23slowblog.html?ref=todayspaper">article</a> in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sunday Styles</span> section of today's <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times </span>about "slow blogging" and the apparent shift in blogging patterns. Turns out that Todd Sieling, a technology consultant from British Columbia, wrote a "Slow Blog Manifesto" in 2006 positing that </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">"not all things worth reading are written quickly." </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Hard to disagree with that.<br /><br />Later in the article someone who studies popular culture and technology says that bloggers who tend to write short posts -- ones that mainly point readers to something they should read or see -- are moving to other venues, like Twitter or Facebook. Barbara Ganley, the blogger featured in the article, seems to agree. Her motto is "blog to reflect, Tweet to connect." As for me, I've yet to Tweet. For one thing, I like to communicate in complete sentences.<br /><br />I suppose it's inevitable that there would be a blogger shakeout. Burn-out, lack of time, and loss of interest are probably the major factors for those who stop blogging. I'm certainly guilty of the second, and very occasionally the third.<br /><br />I wonder how arts/artists' blogs fit into the discussion? Most of them, I find, are less about analysis (e.g., political blogs) and more about sharing and inspiration, and that may set them apart. I blog about books and book arts (and occasional asides) partly because the passion I have for these encourages me to share what I learn with others who have similar interests. And over the months that I've blogged, I've been so inspired and delighted by other bloggers' contributions that I feel a certain responsibility to give back, to contribute to the whole.<br /><br />I'll be interested to see how this develops.<br /></span>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-62072362520156532062008-09-25T09:27:00.012-04:002008-09-25T18:18:45.705-04:00Slow Book Salon Exhibit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvZnlA9QPI/AAAAAAAABLE/YNZ0RwwSrpw/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-A-Cicale1.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 261px; height: 195px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvZnlA9QPI/AAAAAAAABLE/YNZ0RwwSrpw/s320/SBS-Exh-08-A-Cicale1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250029064604696818" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I'm fortunate to be part of a group of regional bookmakers, the Slow Book Salon. The title is modeled after the "slow" movement: things don</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">e with attention, intention, and care. For the past three years, the group has been invited to show its work at the <a href="http://www.the-design-gallery.com/index.php">Design Gallery</a> in Burnsville. <a href="http://www.yanceychamber.com/">Burnsville</a>, a small, charming town about an hour northeast of Asheville, and about 15 minutes from <a href="http://www.penland.org/">Penland</a>. The Design Gallery is a lovely space, featuring the work of regional artists, and the exhibition coincides each year with the <a href="http://cmlitfest.org/">Carolina Mountains Literary Festival</a>, which Burnsville established and hosts. The book exhibit plays on the theme of the Literary Festival, which changes annually. This year it was "The Beloved Community."<br /><br />I love seeing the work of my fellow bookmakers together in one venue. As happens whenever I'm lucky enough to visit an exhibition of book arts, I'm delighted by the variety of the work, and the many interpretations of the book form. At this exhibit, I particularly enjoyed learning more about the personal aesthetic of each of the members of the group -- some of whom I know well and others whom I see only occasionally.<br /><br />Here are just a few of the books in the exhibit, which closes this week.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">A detail from Annie Cicale's book -- incorporating watercolor and calligraphy -- is at top right.</span><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaYvYWFAI/AAAAAAAABLk/bDIJyBaYyiM/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-S-Doggett.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaYvYWFAI/AAAAAAAABLk/bDIJyBaYyiM/s320/SBS-Exh-08-S-Doggett.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250029909200737282" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">The images in Susan Doggett's </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >The Red Thread</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> are linoleum block prints on mulberry paper.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaX0BKBKI/AAAAAAAABLU/98BKPhTXwyQ/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-K-Steinsberger.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaX0BKBKI/AAAAAAAABLU/98BKPhTXwyQ/s320/SBS-Exh-08-K-Steinsberger.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250029893265786018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Kathy Steinsberger's </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Happily Ever After</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> includes collagraph prints & photopolymer prints.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaYHfN-_I/AAAAAAAABLc/R94sG7Zvuxk/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-C-Norby.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaYHfN-_I/AAAAAAAABLc/R94sG7Zvuxk/s320/SBS-Exh-08-C-Norby.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250029898492148722" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Each year Carol Norby makes a "slinky" book using postcards from the prior year's exhibition.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaYr-jSsI/AAAAAAAABLs/-j_93Bw4I98/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-L-Blackburn.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvaYr-jSsI/AAAAAAAABLs/-j_93Bw4I98/s320/SBS-Exh-08-L-Blackburn.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250029908287244994" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">In </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Boundaries</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">, Lisa Blackburn created a -and-box combination that s handmade paper and image transfers. This is one of the spreads.</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcwXbivnI/AAAAAAAABL0/mPGiL5RDgdQ/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-B-Smith.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcwXbivnI/AAAAAAAABL0/mPGiL5RDgdQ/s320/SBS-Exh-08-B-Smith.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250032514111815282" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Bryony Smith presented an ancient book form.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcwwR9w5I/AAAAAAAABL8/2YNIuHCu2x4/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-M-Cogswell.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcwwR9w5I/AAAAAAAABL8/2YNIuHCu2x4/s320/SBS-Exh-08-M-Cogswell.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250032520782529426" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Margaret Couch Cogswell's mixed media creation, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >The Village Idiot</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcxLHCpvI/AAAAAAAABME/wEZ0U8q_hCI/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-C-Norby1.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcxLHCpvI/AAAAAAAABME/wEZ0U8q_hCI/s320/SBS-Exh-08-C-Norby1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250032527984469746" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Another mixed media work, Carol Norby's </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">These Beautiful Counties</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcxVjnxFI/AAAAAAAABMM/WOGhJ0V3r10/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-P-Hill.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcxVjnxFI/AAAAAAAABMM/WOGhJ0V3r10/s320/SBS-Exh-08-P-Hill.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250032530788697170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Priscilla Hill created a mixed media book with mica covers and pages.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcxtzzP9I/AAAAAAAABMU/j0gcpP8ityA/s1600-h/SBS-Exh-08-S-Sharp1.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SNvcxtzzP9I/AAAAAAAABMU/j0gcpP8ityA/s320/SBS-Exh-08-S-Sharp1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250032537299009490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sharon Sharp's linocut print was the centerpiece of her book.</span><br /></div>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-326400456943114802008-09-11T11:26:00.014-04:002008-09-11T14:45:46.118-04:00Sneak Peek at Interlude Editions' 2008 Small Book Edition<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlIws2xtgI/AAAAAAAABIc/3fggLVGM0fk/s1600-h/IE-08-Webster-Box.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlIws2xtgI/AAAAAAAABIc/3fggLVGM0fk/s320/IE-08-Webster-Box.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244803242561484290" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've been meaning to write about <a href="http://interludeeditions.org/">Interlude Editions</a>, and now's the perfect time. IE is a small organization that funds residencies for artists who want to create limited editions of artists' books and fine arts prints for education, exhibition, and distribution.<br /><br />A group of book and print artists living and working in Western North Carolina founded IE in 2007 to address the needs of artists working the book form for space, equipment, creative resources, and dedicated time to create editions of their work </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">(in the interest of full disclosure, I'm on IE's all-volunteer Board). </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">You can read more about the artists' residency program, eligibility, and the application and selection process <a href="http://interludeeditions.org/air.html">here</a>. IE Artists are resident at <a href="http://ashevillebookworks.com/">BookWorks</a>, which provides studio space, the use of specialized equipment, and staff support</span></span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Currently, IE's budget is tiny, and includes provision of a small stipend for the IE resident artists, which typically pays for supplies the artist is using in her/his project. IE's first resident artist is <a href="http://www.speakeasypress.com/frank.html">Frank Brannon</a>, a letterpress artist and papermaker. During his residency, he created an edition of more than 80 books featuring the paste-papers of "Larry Lou" Foster. Foster, who lives in Alabama, is a book artist, fine binder, and teacher, and is particularly known for her innovative paste-paper designs, many of which are based on traditional motifs.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">She and Frank will be at BookWorks in March 2009 to talk about her work and their joint project.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">IE's <span style="font-style: italic;">Small Book Edition</span> came to life in 2007 as one way to raise funds for the residencies (the <span style="font-style: italic;">Cold Mountain Collection</span> is another -- more on that later!). Fourteen book and print artists each created a handmade book, each book no larger than 3" x 3," for the collection. The books were placed in a handmade display box, and the collection was auctioned at BookWorks' annual <a href="http://ashevillebookworks.com/BookOpolis.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">BookOpolis</span> </a>event. The winning bid was from Western Carolina University, and the <span style="font-style: italic;">2007 Small Book Edition</span> is now in the collection of the <a href="http://fapac.wcu.edu/Galleries/index.html">Fine Art Museum</a> at that school. (You can see a photo of the 2007 collection <a href="http://interludeeditions.org/">here</a>.</span>)<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This year we're holding a raffle. The <a href="http://ashevillebookworks.com/pressroom.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">2008 Small Book Edition</span></a> includes 17 books. Inspired by Gaston Bachelard's <a href="http://tinyurl.com/6zelcq"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Poetics of Space</span></a>, the collection is housed in a wonderful one-of-a-kind handmade box with "movable rooms" created by mixed media artist Sandy Webster. The books incorporate a variety of printing and binding techniques and include both traditional and nontraditional books forms.<br /><br />IE is selling raffle tickets at $10 per ticket, or $25 for three tickets. We're selling only 200 tickets (I <span style="font-style: italic;">told</span> you our budget was small), so chances of winning are excellent. Having seen the full array of books, <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> the display box earlier this week, I've already bought more than a handful of tickets myself. The winning ticket will be selected on September 26, BookOpolis' opening reception (see more about BookOpolis <a href="http://ashevillebookworks.com/BookOpolis.html">here</a>), and you don't have to be present to win (which is good for book arts friends who live elsewhere). By the way, there's also time to submit a book for the BookOpolis exhibition!<br /><br />Here are some pix of the <span style="font-style: italic;">2008 Small Book Edition</span> collection and just a few of the individual books. The photo at top right is the amazing "box" that contains the books. Enjoy!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlJ0gNVgLI/AAAAAAAABJM/Nwlktd1Kcps/s1600-h/IE-08-Box-%26-Books1.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlJ0gNVgLI/AAAAAAAABJM/Nwlktd1Kcps/s320/IE-08-Box-%26-Books1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244804407397548210" border="0" /></a>the display box, opened to reveal its treasures (the "egg" book on the 3rd floor is by Margaret Cogswell, whom I wrote about recently; there's a tiny "room" in the attic for Dan Essig's book, "next door" is Heather Allen-Swarttouw's book (see below)<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlLExr_RyI/AAAAAAAABK8/3fd4VLXTy-w/s1600-h/IE-08-Cicale3.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlLExr_RyI/AAAAAAAABK8/3fd4VLXTy-w/s320/IE-08-Cicale3.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244805786479052578" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">a spread from Annie Cicale's accordion book, <span style="font-style: italic;">Poetics of 204</span>,<br />about the building of a new family home</span><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlKQfWBpJI/AAAAAAAABKM/SGPI6PVGVGg/s1600-h/IE-08-Liddle3.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlKQfWBpJI/AAAAAAAABKM/SGPI6PVGVGg/s320/IE-08-Liddle3.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244804888201897106" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Matt Liddle's tunnel book</span> (I took a printmaking class, which I loved,<br />from Matt at PBI this spring)<br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlJ0w_1ZtI/AAAAAAAABJU/ZqTdcAFb_lw/s1600-h/IE-08-Brannon.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlJ0w_1ZtI/AAAAAAAABJU/ZqTdcAFb_lw/s320/IE-08-Brannon.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244804411904321234" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">a spread from Frank Brannon's letterpressed book<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Eye Think A Lot About Potatoes: They Make Me Quite Round<br /></span>(Frank is the first Interlude Editions resident artist.<br />He's teaching a letterpress concentration at Penland this winter)<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlJaHGdETI/AAAAAAAABI0/WooGVNJTnLc/s1600-h/IE-08-Allen-Swarttouw.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SMlJaHGdETI/AAAAAAAABI0/WooGVNJTnLc/s320/IE-08-Allen-Swarttouw.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244803953981198642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Heather Allen-Swarttouw's untitled contribution to the collection</span><br /></div>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307989857819252647.post-64678710434147173532008-09-01T09:52:00.007-04:002008-09-01T15:16:04.598-04:00We Now Interrupt This Program...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SLwH1QF-5oI/AAAAAAAABIU/q5VcbeUEaWM/s1600-h/Korea-seoul-slow_sign.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 215px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4jT_1XTl0G4/SLwH1QF-5oI/AAAAAAAABIU/q5VcbeUEaWM/s320/Korea-seoul-slow_sign.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241072677786936962" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A brief break from my posts about this summer's Penland experience, occasioned by my discovery of the blog <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.slowreads.com/">slow reads</a></span>. <span style="font-family:verdana;">Glancing through the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span>' books blog, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/">Paper Cuts</a>, I read a comment to a <a href="http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/essay-question/">post</a> about the lack of good essays in the current crop of literary blogs. The author recommended several blogs that he felt provided just that. One of them was <span style="font-style: italic;">slow reads</span>. I plan to dig into it further, but the main conceit of the blog, the pleasures of reading slowly, struck a major chord. For me, not all books merit slow reading (what, as English majors, we used to call 'close reading' in college): if I'm reading nonfiction, and purely for information, for example, I rarely slow down. But there are books that offer</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> many more rewards to the slow reader than they do to the speed-reader. <br /><br />I couldn't resist including a few quotes from an <a href="http://slowreads.com/ReadingArtsSlowReader.htm">essay</a> by writer <a href="http://cassavarepublic.biz/content/view/17/85/">Teju Cole</a>, reprinted in the blog, and titled, naturally, "slow reader:"<br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: verdana;">"One day I went to the bookshop and selected a pile of books—Svevo, Kafka, James, Calasso, about a dozen in all—and from each I read page fifty. Naturally, I often found myself in the middle of a sentence at the page’s beginning or end. But these are the fragments from which a life is made, like those snatches of conversation one hears on the subway, which are free-floating pages from a much larger and more intricate narrative. I eventually left the bookshop, late late in the afternoon, and it was as though I had been to the world’s greatest luncheon..."<br /><br />and<br /><br />"As for <i>Love in the Time of Cholera</i>, don’t even get me started. I've read the first hundred pages of that book no less than three times, Saint Ursula is my witness. The first time was out-loud to my wife, three pages a night. Maybe or maybe not I will eventually read the rest; more likely, I’ll go back and read the first hundred again..."<br /><br />and<br /><br />"Life is too precious to waste on fast reading; I bet Neruda says something like that in his <i>Memoirs</i>, but I haven’t gotten to that part yet."<br /></blockquote><span style="font-family:verdana;">And here's the first paragraph of an essay by Dave Bonta (who blogs at <a href="http://www.vianegativa.us/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Via Negativa</span></a>, another blog mentioned in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Paper Cuts</span> comment), about the joys of second readings:</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><blockquote style="font-family: verdana;">"Reading something for the second time is so much more satisfying than that first read-through. So many books withhold their full treasures from the first-time reader. Not that the first time can't be special too, of course: surfaces are beautiful, and not to be taken lightly. During that first, heady encounter with a text, it is not merely the words that entrance us. The typefont, the design, the texture of the paper, the look and feel of covers and slipcovers, even the smell of the bindings - if new - or the patina that comes with good use: these too are manifest occasions for pleasure and surprise. <p>"But few of us possess the skill as readers to avoid succumbing to that first-time excitement and finishing the book too soon. And to lay it aside at that point, never to return, would constitute not simply callousness but profound disrespect. Unless the book at hand be some cheap, manupulative thing, in which case even a single reading amounts to little more than "an expense of spirit in a waste of shame," as Shakespeare once said about something else entirely."</p></blockquote><p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MainColumn"></p><p style="font-family: verdana;" class="MainColumn"></p>Clarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838656854709586779noreply@blogger.com0