23 Sandy Gallery

The 23 Sandy Gallery Blog has Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:00:00 +0000

New location link:
http://23sandy.com/works/blog

Please join us at our new integrated web site, blog and online store. All of your favorite posts from the past have been moved to the new blog. Subscribe via RSS and never miss the news.

Feel free to contact Laura if you have any questions.

Celebrating Calligraphy, Poetry and Carol

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:56:00 +0000

A Big Thank You to Carol Du Bosch

As you may have heard we are currently planning our next very exciting national juried exhibition titled The Poetic Pen. It's a celebration of calligraphy and poetry and will be on display here at 23 Sandy during the Calligraphy Northwest International Calligraphy Conference taking place in Portland in late June 2012.

A special thank you goes out to local calligraphy maven Carol DuBosch for her help with The Poetic Pen. Carol volunteered to create a logo for the show and it's a beauty! Carol's story on how she created this logo was recently featured on the Paper Ink Arts Blog. Read it here.

Get your thinking cap on. More details about this show will be announced later this month. But for now it involves calligraphy and poetry and the deadline for entries is April 20, 2012.

Happy creating,

Laura

Paybacks are fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:25:00 +0000

Congratulations Kerry

23 Sandy would like to send a very special thank you to Kerry Davis, one of our featured artists for the current globe show, Welcome to My World. At the behest of last month's curator and this month's co-curator, Kerry volunteered to shoot photographs of the artworks for both shows. His efforts were very appreciated by this gallery director, who felt bad that he wasn't getting paid for his efforts.

Well, lo and behold, Karma works is magical ways. Kerry's volunteer efforts were repaid with a surprise feature photograph in Thursday's Oregonian with a huge, huge, color photograph front and center on the Living section, plus a smaller photo on the top banner of the front page. Read the article, a First Thursday preview, written by Bob Hicks, here.

So, thank you Kerry, for all of your time shooting all the terrific photographs and thank you for creating such a eye-catching, conversation-starting piece of art. Kerry's globe, titled Under the Wire can be seen here.

You can also see a full online catalog for Welcome to My World here.

Artists Take on the World

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Opens Friday!

Welcome to My World

An exciting list of artists were invited to consider an unusual, three-dimensional object as canvas—a vintage world globe. This invitational exhibition was conceived and co-curated by new-to-Portland artist, Robert Tomlinson and 23 Sandy Gallery. The artists were asked to transform their globe using the expressive power of cartography to create a compelling new work of art.

Two of the artists transformed their globes into kinetic, electrified, sculptural objects that focus on the interior of the globe instead of the exterior. Anna and Leo Daedalus collaborated with Samuel Miller to create a you’ve-got-to-see-it-to-believe-it globe that features a second globe nested inside a larger globe that is viewed through magnified door peepholes. Peer inside at a moving interior featuring 300 found photos and postcard images from the latitude locations of the peephole itself. Susan Collard’s globe is also electrified. Viewed through equatorial slots, a spaceship-like sculptural interior “hints at an otherworldly passage: Aeneas or Orpheus journeying to the land of the dead, perhaps, but also that classic science fiction moment where characters discover their lives are bounded by a manufactured world.”

Welcome to My World will be on display through December 31. In the meantime, view a full online catalog of these magnificent globes here.

Image credits, left to right: © Allison Bruns, Kerry Davis, Dave Meeker

First Friday is This Week!
Friday, December 2, 5-8:00 p.m.

Please join us for a First Friday reception to celebrate the opening of Welcome to My World. We hope you can make it for what is sure to be a lively way to kick off the party season.

Special Event: Object Poems Curator on Site

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:39:00 +0000

Homage
(Helmut Löhr 1955–2010)
by Harriet Bart

David Abel

Saturday, November 26
Noon - 6:00 pm

A great chance to learn about Object Poems directly from the curator. David Abel will be in the gallery all day to share the stories behind the art. David says that “there have been a number of exhibitions and publications devoted to the work of authors as artists: paintings, drawings, sculptures, created independently of the writings for which they are primarily known.

David and several artists featured in the show will be in attendance on Saturday: Mark Owens & Maria José Gonzalez Arredondo, Jim Clinefelter, Drew Kunz, Anna & Leo Daedalus, Kaia Sand, James Yeary

Object Poems brings together striking and varied works
by more than thirty contemporary artist-poets and poet-artists:

poems in three dimensions
interactive poems
found poems
sculptural and utilitarian poems
conceptual poems
poems that depart in myriad ways from the familiar form of the printed page

Drew Kunz Alison Knowles Joseph Keppler Nico Vassilakis Harriet Bart, Michael Basinski Bill Berkson Jen Bervin Kristin Prevallet Clemente Padin James Yeary Alec Finlay Steve McCaffery Eric Magrane Jim Clinefelter Norma Cole J. A. Lee Anna & Leo Daedalus Marilyn R. Rosenberg Geof Huth MaryAnn Hayden Alan Halsey Buzz Spector Kyle Schlesinger Kaia Sand Curtis Steiner Mark Owens & Maria José Gonzalez Arredondo David Abel Andrew Topel K. S. Ernst

Find a full online catalog for Object Poems here.

Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:10:00 +0000

After the Fire

Give and Take
A new book in inventory
by Lynne Olson. A great reminder
of the never-ending cycles of our lives.

Ever go through one of those crazy busy periods in your life when you feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day? When you feel like you just can't catch your breath or get on top of the avalanche that is facing you daily? Well, I've just finished up one of those periods and while the to-do list is still eight miles wide, at least the fires are all out...for now anyway.

The coming holiday made me realize how lucky I am to have a great support system here at the gallery and that is time to say thank you.

My most sincere debt of gratitude goes to my husband, Steve Russell, for his continued help every single day. He is always willing to help with the gallery, whether it moving walls and installing shelves or critiquing and proofreading marketing materials. And, when the going gets crazy and I get crabby he always handles my madness remarkably well. Just yesterday, he offered to sit the gallery for the rest of the afternoon so that I could go upstairs and catch up. It's amazing he puts up with me and I'm so thankful he does.

Erin Derge also deserves a hearty thank you. Erin is here in the gallery every Thursday, sitting the front desk, helping to hang shows and whatever else needs to be done. She has taken on a huge Wordpress project and is doing some remarkable things. You would never know this but she found a way to make the Uncommon Threads online catalog, done in Wordpress, look virtually identical to my full web site. The things she has taught me are invaluable and I'm so happy to have her cheerful, smart self here every single week.

Erin's husband Marshall is also on my gratitude list. Marshall has become our de facto tech guru who always manages to pull off a miracle when disaster strikes. Like last Thursday: I somehow managed to delete the entire Uncommon Threads catalog and thought I would have to spend the whole weekend recreating it from scratch. Amazingly, Marshall fixed a config file in just no time at all and had us up and running in minutes.

Mary Bennett is soon to be accruing many points as well. Mary, who has become a good friend since her solo show last May, will be sitting the gallery on Fridays for the near future. Happily, I get to work off some of those points by helping her with her new MacBook and iPhone. As Marshall can attest I know just enough about computers to be dangerous, but I'm so happy to be passing on the tiny bit of Macintosh knowledge that I've acquired since my first Apple SE30 in 1989.

Alicia Bailey is also much appreciated. You might not know this, but Alicia co-taught the very first artist books workshop that I took in 1997. Then she opened Abecedarian Gallery a year after I opened 23 Sandy. Amazingly, her first gallery location was in my old studio space in Denver. Alicia and I chat frequently to trade business ideas, advice and emotional support. Whenever a sticky situation comes up with business side of things I'm so happy to have her willing ear to sort things through. It's amazing how much her experience helps.

And, I cannot forget past volunteers Deborah Watkins and Linda Kiley. Just yesterday someone asked for Deborah in the gallery and remarked how much they missed her graceful presence. Happily, I still get to see Linda now and then as she is volunteering now with the Art Source Portland publication that I work on. Her laughter and terrific writing skills are much missed. (And, if you are an artist or arts organization needing help with marketing or PR, give me a jingle and I'll connect you with Linda.)

Last, but not least, I am thankful for all of the very talented artists who trust me enough to let me show their amazing, thoughtful, gorgeous, important artwork. It is a true honor to be working with you all.

So, there you go. Wow. I feel blessed to have such a terrific network. Thank you all for your friendship and help.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Laura

What do submission fees pay for?

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:49:00 +0000

The Business of Art

The Assignment
December 2009

Here at 23 Sandy Gallery we host two national juried book arts show each year. These shows charge an entry fee or submission fee that helps administer and promote the call for entries, intake of submissions, curation of show, and general administration, marketing and management of the show. These fees are used for many purposes, including the following:

Running the submission process, which includes paying a programmer or forms provider to program the form, accept and host the online form submissions and maintain the submissions database.
Advertising the call for entries on art deadlines web sites and publications that require a fee.
Printing and mailing a printed, full-color catalog to our top collecting museum and library customers as a way of promoting the show. This is a major expense as our catalogs are very expensive to print and mail. We mail anywhere from 30-50 copies to libraries and museum curators.
Purchasing a "purchase prize" book that is donated to a library. With our most recent show this book was given to a randomly selected library amongst those who voted for our "librarian's choice award."
If there is a guest juror involved we pay them for their time, or give them some type of thank you gift, or purchase a book from the show to donate to their library.
Postcard printing and mailing.
Insurance to cover the works in while they are in the gallery in case of loss, theft or damage.

And, don't forget about the overhead expenses of running the gallery. Entry fees help pay for things like rent, lights, heat, web site hosting, advertising and the other basic expenses of running a business. Oh, and maybe some day, they will even help fund a salary for your friendly gallery director.

Congratulations Susan, Heidi & Fritz!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:55:00 +0000

Susan Collard

Honors Abound for Three Very Talented 23 Sandy Artists

Three of our favorite artists have recently won accolades that deserve to be spotlighted.

Susan Collard is featured in this month's issue of Oregon Home magazine with a full page with three color photos and a story about her always intriguing artist book constructions. Being an architect herself, Susan's work is a perfect fit for this local magazine. See an online version the article here. Also, stop by the gallery anytime to see Susan's work in inventory.

Heidi Kirkpatrick

Heidi Kirkpatrick was one of the Top 50 winners of this year's Critical Mass, an annual photography competition sponsored by Portland's own Photolucida that involves multiple rounds of voting by 200 distinguished curators, gallerists and other photography world luminaries. The field starts with over 650 photographers and competition is fierce. Heidi is one of our regular artists here at 23 Sandy. She has a permanent display in the back room featuring her lovely blocks, tins, books and more, all layered with her gorgeous photographs and often other printed matter such as Gray's Anatomy book pages. Heidi's new work will be up on her gallery web page soon but in the meantime you can check out her work an the other top 50 winners here.

Fritz Liedtke

New to 23 Sandy Gallery and new to the book arts world is local photographer Fritz Liedtke also won a coveted spot on the Critical Mass Top 50. Just last week we added a new unique artist book to our glass book case in the back room. He is working on a series of altered books, the copy we have here titled Lands and Peoples I: DaVinci, features one of his photogravures of a freckled women set inside the carved out text block. I don't have a photo of this work yet, but as soon as I do I'll set up his web catalog and let you know. In the meantime, you can see Fritz's work this month at Blue Sky Gallery here in Portland. His Astra Velum series (the aforementioned freckled women) is on display and is just gorgeous.

Congratulations again and keep up the good work!

Opening Weekend Events for Object Poems

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:14:00 +0000

Opens Friday!

Object Poems: Curated by David Abel

Object Poems brings together striking and varied works by contemporary artist-poets and poet-artists: poems in three dimensions; interactive poems; found poems; sculptural and utilitarian poems; conceptual poems; poems that depart in myriad ways from the familiar form of the printed page. The exhibition features more than thirty artists from across the United States, as well as Canada, England, Scotland, and Uruguay, including seven artists from Oregon.

Preview a full online catalog for Object Poems here.

First Friday is This Week!

Friday, November 4, 5-8:00 p.m.

Please join us for a First Friday reception for Object Poems. Stop by for a glass of wine, a bit of nosh and some great art!

Object Poems Poetry Reading & Performance
Saturday, November 5, 2011
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Participants in the Object Poems exhibition will read and perform their work, both on and off the page. Readers will include Geof Huth, Joseph Keppler, Nico Vassilakis, Mark Owens, David Abel, Leo Daedalus, and James Yeary. This event is free, open to the public, and RSVPs are not necessary.

See you soon!

Image credits

Top Image, left to right: © Niko Vassilakis, Harriet Bart, Michael Basinski

Middle image: © Andrew Topel

Bottom Image: © David Abel

Last three hours for Uncommon Threads!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:39:00 +0000

Better hurry. If you haven't seen this spectacular show you only have until 6:00 tonight. I'm very sad to see this one go. Thank you to all of the talented artists whose thoughtful, moving, substantial—and not to mention well-crafted—works filled our souls for the last six weeks. We placed 42 books in library and private collections from this show. A record that we just as well might as well call a sell out. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Just in case you can't make it you can find the online catalog here.

Congratulations Librarian's Choice Award Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:17:00 +0000

Sue Collard, Interlinear

Three Stellar Books

Finally! Results from our librarian friends who voted for the Librarian's Choice Award for Uncommon Threads.

We mailed catalogs to 30 special collections libraries at museums and universities across the country and asked hundreds more to vote online for their three favorite books in the show.

Julie Shaw Lutts, Alterations &

These committed librarians with a passion for artist books spent a lot of time combing through this amazing show to find the treasures and enthusiastically responded with a huge number of votes.

The artists receiving the most votes:

Susan Collard for Interlinear
Julie Shaw Lutts for Alterations & Adjustments
Doreen Barnaville for Fading Skills

Doreen Barnaville, Fading Skills

Thank you to all of the uncommonly good artists who took part in Uncommon Threads for making this such a successful show. It is hard to believe that there is only one more week before the show comes down. We've had a terrific number of enthusiastic visitors to the gallery plus lots and lots of sales for our deserving artists.

Congratulations to everyone.

Have a good weekend,

Laura

Congratulations Best of Show Artists!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:14:00 +0000

Three Uncommonly Good Works

23 Sandy Gallery is pleased to honor three artists with a Best of Show Award for Uncommon Threads: The Handicrafts in Book Arts. These three works are exemplary in content, concept, techniques, materials—and all have impeccable workmanship.

Tekla McInerney for Lament
This book is a beautiful knitted work that hangs from the ceiling and drops into a custom made fabric bag. From Tekla's artist statement, "There is comfort in the repetitive motion of knitting. It quietly consumes time and offers great satisfaction when the end of a skein is reached. There is no such neat end to mourning. Like the stream of words in a thesaurus—the endless linking of one word to the next—recovery from loss is an endless practice with no hope of mastery." But, out of grief has come a lovely work. We were very excited last Friday when Tekla walked into the gallery and introduced herself. Turns out she flew in from Massachusetts just that day to join our First Friday celebration. And, it was her birthday to boot! Learn more about Tekla's work here.

Elsi Vassdal Ellis for Notions & Fabrications | Remnants

Here at 23 Sandy we have been honored to have Elsi's work in every single juried show that we have held since opening our doors in 2007. As usual, Elsi's two works in Uncommon Threads are gorgeous, thought provoking and beautifully made. This book is "a fictional story about a struggling farmer’s wife’s life as expressed through the domestic arts of sewing, quilting and crocheting... this story had to be told in two separate volumes rather than one, that they should sit side by side, and it reflected the challenges of women of her generation." Learn more about Notions & Fabrications | Remnants here. P.S. Watch for Elsi's solo show here in the gallery in February of 2012.

Nanette Wylde for Between Us

Felting is a fascinating technique that I've never seen done quite so beautifully as in this book by California artist Nanette Wylde. She tells us "Interpersonal communication is a woolly fog of intentions and perceptions, interpretation and memory." This is one book that you really should see in person. Felting must be a difficult medium to capture well in photographs because this book is so much more stunning than it looks on your little computer screen. Check it out here if you can't make it to the gallery.

Congratulations to all three of these very talented artists!

A Special Benefit Event for the IPRC

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:50:00 +0000

Portland's Independent Publishing Resource Center
First Friday
October 7, 2011
5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Come join us tomorrow, night, First Friday for a special event benefiting the IPRC, a non-profit that teaches zines, book arts, letterpress printing and more to Portland teens and young adults. IPRC representatives will be in the gallery demonstrating letterpress printing and you might even get to try the press yourself. Buy at "i•art" button for $1 and the entire proceeds get donated directly to IPRC to support their terrific programs. Learn more about IPRC here.

And don't forget, this is also the First Friday artists reception for Uncommon Threads, our international juried exhibition exploring the handicrafts in book arts. We have several artists who either live in Portland or will be visiting for the events. Preview an online catalog for this incredible show here.

See you tomorrow!

Now in Stock: Artist Book Year Book

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:45:00 +0000

Get your copy today!

So, you've all heard me gush about Sarah Bodman and her work at the University of the West of England Center for Fine Print Research before. Sarah puts out an amazing array of research, publications, books, journals and more, all focused on advancing our field of book arts. Her job as a research fellow at the university is unmatched here in the United States and I for one am grateful for her hard work.

This year's Artist Book Year Book looks fantastic. Another compendium of who's who and what's what in the book arts—around the world.

You can pick up your copy here at 23 Sandy. I have only 10 copies on hand, so get here quick. Cost is $25.

Here's a list of what you will find in this year's book as listed on the UWE Web site:

Over 600 artist’s book listings from 207 national and international artists. Reference listings of: collections, libraries, archives, bookshops, galleries, centres, design print & bind, publishers, dealers, presses, studios, competitions, fairs, festivals and exhibitions, journals, reference books, organisations, societies, websites, academic projects, touring programmes and courses.

Essays include:
John Bently on books and community; Earle D. Swope’s extraordinary account of how he came to be a book artist; an update on the work of the collaborative artists’ group AMBruno; a study by Eileen O’Keefe of Sarah Jacobs’ thoroughly absorbing - Drawn from the Inventory: the Notebooks of Elisabeth Faulhaber; Jackie Batey celebrates the 10th issue of Future Fantasteek!; Lawrence Upton has written on his extensive art collaboration with Guy Begbie; Davy & Kristin McGuire explain their beautiful performance piece The Icebook; Nicola Dale looks at the artistic potential of book destruction, and Radoslaw Nowakowski asks: Is a hypertext (artist’s) book possible? Linda Newington explores the book works of SALT + SHAW; Paulo Silveira reflects on the start of his recent academic project: The University and the Artist’s Book, and Reinhard Grüner shows us some of the very special presentation copies of artists’ books in his collection.

Artists’ pages by:
Amir Brito Cadôr, Eric Doeringer, Lara Durback, the Idaho Book Artist’s Guild, Susan Johanknecht, Paul Laidler, SALT + SHAW, Clare Thornton and Maria White. Cover design by Tom Sowden.

Pick up your copy today!

Learn more about this an other UWE publications here.

Now Showing: Uncommon Threads

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:29:00 +0000

Exploring the Handicrafts in Book Arts

Book and paper artists have the ability to work with an enviable palette of artistic materials and techniques—including traditional handicrafts. Think knitting, embroidery, sewing, beading, felting, needlework, stitching, quilting and other myriad possibilities.

Combine these techniques and materials with a strong concept, meaningful content or a compelling narrative and we have a new era in the art and fine craft of book and paper. With this exhibition we seek to dispel the myth that the handicrafts don’t have any part in meaningful art. This international juried exhibition includes artists from across the United States plus the United Kingdom, Canada and Argentina.

Preview a full online catalog for Uncommon Threads here.

Pop-Up Book Workshop Coming to Portland

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:07:00 +0000

The Mechanics of Movables

Instructor: Shawn Sheehy
Time: Oct 22, 23, 2011, 10am-5pm
Location: Oregon College of Art & Craft, NW Barnes Road, Portland, Oregon

Pull a tab. Turn a wheel. Bring new life to your page by animating it with movables! In this 2-day workshop participants will learn the fundamental principles that guide the movables seen in many interactive books published today. Beginning with basic tools and techniques, the workshop will quickly move on to building a series of increasingly complex movable structures based on wheels, pull tabs and other ingenious mechanisms. Participants will leave with a bound collection of 10-15 models. Throughout the workshop, participants will view and discuss the work of commercial paper engineers and discuss conceptual possibilities for movables in their own work.

No experience necessary, though patience is a must!

Workshop Fees

GBW (Guild of Bookworkers) members: $180 (includes materials)
Non-GBW members: $210 (includes materials)

Register for This Class

Contact Shu-Ju Wang, shuju@fivebats.com, 503-245-8177.

Friday Evening Lecture

Oct 21, Friday, at 23 Sandy Gallery, free and open to the public. More information to come.

About the Instructor

Shawn Sheehy combines paper engineering and paper making with an interest in biology and science to produce sculptural pop-up books. Shawn has taught workshops at PBI, Penland and the Centers for Book Arts in Chicago and New York. His commercial pop-up clients include American Greetings, Pee-Wee Herman and Vintage Magazine.

Jim Kazanjian Last Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:42:00 +0000

It's so surreal!

Hard to believe how fast time flies. Jim Kazanjian's show here at 23 Sandy ends this Saturday, September 10th. Be sure to catch his surreal photographic compositions before they are gone!

This show, titled Anomalies, features six new pieces in continuation of his last solo show in May of 2009. That show led the artist to worldwide acclaim including a feature article on Gizmodo.com that received over 60,000 visitors in just the first 24 hours plus sales to art collectors around the world. His work has also since been featured in such publications as Esquire Russia, Art China and The Atlantic.

Jim Kazanjian’s surreal landscapes offer phantasmagoric visions of a where-is-this world, defined by impossibly complex architecture and M.C.Escher-esque black-and-white graphics. Inspired by the imaginary realms of cult author H.P. Lovecraft—whose wild, cosmic short stories set the mold for much of the 20th century’s best science fiction—Kazanjian’s aim is to redress the “misunderstanding that photography has a kind of built-in objectivity…to defamiliarize the familiar.”

MORE INFO – A complete online catalog for this show can be found here.

Above image: Untitled (Chateau) © Jim Kazanjian, Archival Pigment Print

Artist Book Spotlight: Amy Ryken

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:49:00 +0000

Are You a Boy or a Girl?: Conversations about Gender in Elementary Classrooms

23 Sandy Gallery is pleased to carry a new artist book by Tacoma teacher and artist, Amy Ryken. Here's an excerpt about the book from the Tacoma reporter Alec Clayton, from a recent Weekly Volcano:

Are you a boy or a girl? It seems like a simple enough question for most people. But what if your gender identity is not so obvious? What if you are transgendered or intersex or a girl with short hair and small breasts who wears gender-neutral clothing? And what if you're an elementary school teacher and it's your students who are asking the question?

Amy Ryken is an educator who has often come face-to-face with this issue. "I've noticed that pre-service teachers are interested in exploring issues of sameness and difference with their students, whether it be gender expression, sexual orientation, race or religion. There are many missed opportunities in public school classrooms to engage young students thinking about identity as it naturally arises in conversation," Ryken says.

Her elementary school students were asking her about her gender, so about a year ago she started recording their conversations, and she turned it into a book titled Are You a Boy or a Girl?: Conversations about Gender in Elementary Classrooms.

You may remember Amy's partner Holly Senn from her stunning paper mâché tree installation here at 23 Sandy two years ago this month. Having the opportunity to get to know both of these talented artists has been a pleasure and we are very happy to help Amy generate more conversations about gender and education.

See more information about Amy and her open edition artist book Are You a Boy or Girl? here.

Artist Book Spotlight: Shereen LaPlantz

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:04:00 +0000

Historical Jewish Wedding Rings

A Limited Edition Artist Book
by Shereen LaPlantz

Now Available at 23 Sandy

I recently had the great pleasure of meeting David LaPlantz—even if just virtually for now. Through myriad connections (that prove how small the world of book arts really is) David phoned me to chat recently and that call made my day. David is currently re-publishing his late wife Shereen's book titled Innovative Bookbinding: Secret Compartments and Hidden Places. That book was produced by Shereen in an edition of 3000 hand made copies that included secret pockets, pullouts, pop-ups and more. It is a treasured and sought-after book that we are all excited to see make a comeback.

In chatting about this book David mentioned that he has copies of a limited edition artist book that Shereen created in 1994, Historical Jewish Wedding Rings, that he wondered if I would like to carry in the gallery. As you can guess, I jumped at the chance.

You see, in April of 1997 I attended a talk by Diana Phillips, the owner of Two Hands Paperie at her much-too-short-lived store in downtown Denver. (Her Boulder store continues to thrive, even though she has passed the torch to new owners.)

Anyway, that April event was presented to members of the Denver chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) and she presented a slide show of artist books and other types of paper arts. The photos from that slide show were all photos from Shereen's book, Cover to Cover. Then Diana gave us all a few sheets of handmade paper and we sewed two books, a simple pamphlet stitch booklet and an easy side-bound ribbon binding. (Yes, I still have those books!) Sadly, Shereen passed away in 2003, after inspiring so many artists and a whole movement.

To this day I can go through Cover to Cover and tell you exactly which books were in the slide show and why they proved to be life-changing inspiration to me. That slide show is why I am where I am today. I like to say I that at that moment I was infected with this disease called book arts. After that night I started taking every book arts workshop I could find in Denver, plus I even traveled as far as Guatemala to take a workshop. Today, all these years later, I still make my own artist books plus have the great honor of owning this little gallery that specializes in all things book and paper.

Now you can see why I was so pleased to talk with David LaPlantz about his re-publishing project. I can tell that he misses Shereen dearly and am I so grateful that he has entrusted me with her wedding ring book.

Click here to learn more about Historical Jewish Wedding Rings. This page also contains Shereen's biography and her artist statement and if you are at all like me you'll be thrilled to add this to your collection of truly remarkable artist books.

Thank you, David!

Mark Your Calendars!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:02:00 +0000

Artist on Site with Linda Welch
Saturday, August 27, 2011
at Nine Gallery
1:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Art is sometimes best experienced when you can talk directly with the artist. Here's a unique opportunity: Linda will be at Nine Gallery on Saturday, August 27 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

This is a great time to learn more about the story behind the art direct from the artist herself. And, since this is also the last weekend of the show, it's a great chance to see this remarkable work before it comes down for good.

Nine Gallery is located at 122 Northwest 8th Avenue inside Blue Sky Gallery in Portland's Pearl District. Hours are Tuesday -Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Click here to preview Linda's paintings at Nine Gallery.

Above Image Credits: Conflict of Destination, 22 x 30 inches. Oil, graphite, collage on paper on panel © Linda Welch

And while you are out and about...

Stop by 23 Sandy Gallery to view Linda's other show also on view this month. Here at 23 Sandy Gallery we are featuring a selection of her painted artist books and smaller paintings.

Click here to preview Linda's artist books now on view at 23 Sandy.

Above Image Credits: proceed as before, Unique artist book, 4.5 x 2.25 x 1.5 inches. Mixed media, 28 pages, coptic binding, 2011. © Linda Welch

Behind the Scenes of Jurying an Exhibtion

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:54:00 +0000

An amazing week with Uncommon Threads

Just a sampling of the works submitted to Uncommon Threads.

Wait until you see the beauties I just spent my week with: 227 pieces of important book and paper art by 120 artists. The theme for Uncommon Threads was "The Handicrafts in Book Arts" and it proved to be a very popular theme. Artists from all over the United States plus England, Australia, Argentina and Canada submitted an amazing array of works using beading, sewing, embroidery, knitting, felting, handmade paper plus just about any other traditional handicraft you can think of.

The process of jurying a show is really something unique. Having juried many shows both here for the gallery and for other outside shows, I am always amazed at how much time goes into the process. Usually we have a guest juror or two for juried shows. The nice thing about a guest juror is that I have someone else to blame when artists ask me why they didn't get in. For this show, I really wanted to jury the show myself. Having taken sewing classes in 4-H in middle school, and having played with just about every kind of handicraft myself at one point or another (macrame, anyone?), I was really excited to see how artists were using these crafts in the book and paper arts realm.

One of the important things for me is to avoid rash judgements. When the images come in they are immediately downloaded into one big folder on my computer and not looked at again until everything is in. I consciously avoid the urge to judge or categorize any work too soon.

When I sit down to really start the jurying I spend a lot of time reading the artist statement for each work submitted. The thought process and the concept behind the work are just as important to me as what the work looks like in photos. I want to know the back story for each piece so that I can see that the work is a well rounded project.

Then I put all of the submitted photos into Adobe Bridge and run through a slide show several times to really get to know the work. Each artist is allowed to submit up to three photos of up to three different artworks. That can add up to a lot of photos! For this show we received 619 photographs.

The next step is to start rating the work. I assign each piece a rating of 1 to 5 stars and allow myself several days to go through the images multiple times. After much sorting and culling, the works that stick in my mind, those that come to me while sleeping, showering or on my morning run are the ones that I know are the most powerful and affecting works. Conversely, the one's that I'm concerned about for one reason or another also come up at these times.

One more run through each work checking sizes, materials and construction methods allows me to visualize how large the works are and how they will fit in the gallery.

Next, I print out and cut apart contact sheets of all the highest-rated works and spread them all out on my dining room table. Each piece is considered for how it fits with the whole of the show. At this point I try to make sure the show is well balanced as far as techniques or themes. Do we have too many embroidered books? Or too many books about grandmothers? Are we missing any of the important techniques?

The last step is checking to make sure all of the final selections will fit in the gallery. Invariably, we always have too many pieces. This time we ended up with 65 highest rated pieces—which just will not fit in our space. Whittling it down to somewhere between 40 and 50 pieces is painstaking and difficult. At this point, late in the week, I am in love with all the works. I feel like I know them intimately and truly want everyone who submitted to be in the show. Taking pieces out, especially those by artists I know, truly affects me. But, what is the saying about hard things making us stronger? After much hand-wringing and fretting over each and every work I know that we have ended up with a cohesive, compelling exhibition showing a considered variety of techniques, concepts, themes or topics. Making sure that every artist's voice is heard is what, in the end, makes for a terrific show. And, I can't wait to show it to you.

Thank you to all of the artists who submitted to Uncommon Threads. It was an honor to consider each and every piece. I'll post a list of accepted artists soon. Stay tuned for more details.

CALL FOR ENTRIES FINAL REMINDER

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:19:00 +0000

Uncommon Threads: The Handicrafts in the Book and Paper Arts

One of the best aspects of working in the field of book and paper arts is the chance to work with such varied artistic materials and techniques—even traditional handicraft techniques. Think of knitting, embroidery, sewing, beading, felting, needlework, stitching, quilting and any other myriad possibilities. Combine these techniques or materials with a strong concept, meaningful content, a story to tell or a compelling narrative and we have a new era in the book and paper arts. This exhibit is open to hand crafted book and paper arts related works created as either edition or one-of-a-kind. Artist books, sculptural books, book objects, altered books, zines, broadsides and sculptural pieces are all encouraged.

Submissions are due by midnight on Saturday, August 13, 2011

A complete call for entries for Uncommon Threads can be found here.

Photographing Your Artist Books – Part III

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:11:00 +0000

Hiring a Pro and Finding Community Resources

"Jovenes" by Barbara Gilbert.
Photo by Dan Kvitka.

Here at 23 Sandy we are currently in the heat of Uncommon Threads, a national juried exhibition of artist books. Entries are rolling in and it looks to be a fantastic show.

One of the hardest parts about entering a juried show is providing good quality images of your books for submission. Unfortunately, about 25% of all books submitted to our juried shows suffer due to incorrect resolution settings, poor tonal balance or even out-of-focus photographs.

When you are entering a juried show, your photographs will be used for curating the show, but they may also be used in printed or online catalogs. We always recommend that you put your best foot forward as you never know who might notice your artwork. Maybe a coveted librarian or museum curator will see the catalog and want to purchase your book. Making sure your images are the best quality possible will help you cinch the sale and get you into the show.

The 23 Sandy Blog features two articles about photographing your books using your own camera in a home environment. You can read them here. But, there are times when you either don’t have the equipment or software necessary or just don’t have the time or the brainpower for all the technical digital details. In that case, there are other options.

Hiring a Professional Photographer

"Displaced" by Lauren Henkin.
Photo by Stephen Funk.

One option is to hire a professional photographer to shoot photographs of your books. This is always something I highly recommend. Not only will you use these images now for your exhibition entry, you will use them for many years to document your career as an artist. From web sites, to library catalogs your images will travel far. Professional photos are a good investment in your work and your career.

But, finding and affording a photographer can be another story. Some professionals charge by the hour, some by the item, and some have a flat minimum fee. Within that first hour you can usually get multiple shots of a few different books. When the job is done they will provide you with a disk with your images in several different sizes and file formats.

Ask other artists in your area who shoots photographs of three dimensional artwork or who does good “product shots.” Referrals from other book artists are always a great way to get started. Show the photographer images of other artist books so they have an idea of what you like for background and lighting options.

Here in Portland we have more photographers per capita than almost anywhere I have ever been. Two that I can highly recommend are Stephen Funk and Dan Kvitka. Both have full studios with professional lighting and backdrops set up and ready to go.

Utilize Your Local Photography School or Center

Newspace Center for Photography

Check to see if you have a local a community resource to help you make your own photographs. Here in Portland we are very fortunate to have Newspace Center for Photography. This amazing non-profit resource has darkroom and digital labs that can be rented by the hour plus an extensive roster of workshops—including workshops on studio lighting and product photography.

Newspace also has a terrific option for book artists who have a good quality digital camera but no backdrops or lighting. They offer a lighting studio to rent at a special artists rate of just $20 per hour. It include lights, (either strobes or hot lights), backdrops, softboxes and any thing you might need. Bring your books and your camera and you are ready to go. (One more reason to appreciate the portability of our art form!) In addition, Newspace is staffed by an incredibly enthusiastic and helpful staff who are happy help you get started.

Another idea: perhaps your local university has a photography department and can refer you to some students who need a project for a class assignment. Someone just getting started as a photographer might be less expensive or might even be able to barter for the work. But beware: the old adage about getting what you pay for is really true. (Believe me, I've been down this road. You'll see plenty of not so good shots on my own web site.)

Explore your options when you get ready to enter a juried show. Good photographs are vital to your success. The investment you make in your work today is worth the extra effort and expense in the long run. One sale of one book just might make it all worthwhile.

Good luck and write to me if you have any questions.

Laura

It's First Friday Tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:51:00 +0000

Friday, August 5, 5-8:00 p.m.
at 23 Sandy Gallery

You're invited. Please join us for First Friday. We'll be celebrating the opening of Jim Kazanjian's surreal photo compositions and Linda Welch's painted artist books. Stop by for a glass of wine, a bit of nosh and some great art on a fine warm summer evening!

Preview Jim's work here.

And Linda's work here.

See you soon.

23 Sandy Pops Up in the Pearl

noreply@blogger.com (Laura Russell) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:51:00 +0000

Linda Welch
Urban Conversations
August 4 - 27, 2011
At Nine Gallery and 23 Sandy Gallery

And, two shows means two parties, of course!
First Thursday, Nine Gallery, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

First Friday, 23 Sandy Gallery, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Portland artist Linda Welch has been a crowd favorite with two very successful solo shows here at 23 Sandy Gallery. This month we are pleased to be working with Renée Zangara, a member of Nine Gallery, to curate two new shows of Linda's abstract paintings, sculptures and artist books in two different locations.

Opening on First Thursday at Nine Gallery (inside Blue Sky Gallery in Portland's Pearl District, 122 NW 8th Avenue,) we will be presenting Linda's larger paintings and sculptures. Then the following evening, First Friday, we'll celebrate again at 23 Sandy Gallery with a show of Linda's artist books and smaller paintings.

Click here to preview Linda's painting and sculptures at Nine Gallery.

Click here to preview her books at 23 Sandy Gallery.