23 Sandy Gallery

The 23 Sandy Gallery Blog has Moved!

2012-01-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

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.

23 Sandy Gallery is Closed for Winter Break

2012-01-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

We will reopen on First Friday, February 3, 2012

Wish I could report a vacation to some tropical location, but alas, as usual, breaks here at 23 Sandy mean big trips and big projects. On Thursday I'll be heading to San Francisco for the College Book Arts Association conference. This conference is very exciting because other than a quick 20-minute lecture, I'm going as an artist. Usually I go to fairs and conferences as a vendor and it's all work. This conference will be all about getting inspired as an artist plus connecting with all of my book artist friends and colleagues. But, the week after will be even more fun as I bop around the bay area visiting university and museum friends and peddling artist books.

These rest of January will be devoted to a new project that I am very excited about. 23 Sandy will soon have all of our inventory on a real online storefront. Thanks to Erin Derge and her tech guru Marshall, we have the store architecture up and running and even have the first 20 or 30 items posted. The shopping cart is working and we are ready to populate the hundreds of artist books, broadsides, photographs and more that we carry here in gallery inventory. Catch a sneak peak at our new store here.

While the gallery is closed stop by for a special installation viewable from outside our gallery windows: The Labyrinth of Tantalus by Anna & Leo Daedalus. More information about this intriguing installation coming soon.

Posts will continue, but at a slower pace in January. In the meantime, have a great month.

And, Happy New Year!

Laura

Two Inspiring Calls for Entries

2011-12-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

Book Arts Cornucopia III at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver looks to be a terrific show. In fact, I just finished my prototype binding for a new book I plan to enter. Abecedarian Gallery is owned by my good friend Alicia Bailey who taught the very first artist book workshop that I took nearly 15 years ago. Plus, Alicia opened her gallery just a year after I opened 23 Sandy and her first location was in my old studio space in Denver. This year's Cornucopia is being juried by Tony White who is the Head of the Fine Arts Library at Indiana University Bloomington. Up to $1500 in purchase and exhibition awards will be awarded at gallery director’s discretion. Find out more here.

Also accepting entries is Illahe Studios & Gallery, located in Ashland, Oregon with their third annual artist book exhibit. Two of the jurors for this show are very talented area book artists: Cathy DeForest, owner Gallery DeForest and talented poet, printer and book artist and Sabina Nies, a very talented book artist and fine binder. Ashland is such a charming town. Be sure to make a stop there next time you head west. Find out more about this show here.

Both of these shows are un-themed and open to any concept, structure or book arts medium, which leaves your options wide open.

Happy creating!

Laura

Holiday Hours & Globe Giveaway

2011-12-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

Holiday Hours

23 Sandy Gallery will be open our regular hours this week and next: Thursday, Friday and Saturday from Noon to 6:00 p.m. through December 31. Stop by if you need some last minute give ideas. We have a terrific selection of affordable artist books in the back room, plus the amazing globe show continues in the front gallery. We also have a selection of gift ideas on our new online store here.

Globe Giveaway

Here's a fun contest! Stop by the gallery before the Welcome to My World globe show ends on December 31 to enter to win the Money Makes the World Go Round globe shown above by guessing how many dollar bills were used to create this collage globe. The closest correct guess wins the globe!

Happy Holidays,

Laura

Holly Senn Rescues Library Books

2011-12-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

Terrific article about Holly Senn in Tacoma's Weekly Volcano. Congratulations, Holly! You may remember her terrific installation here at 23 Sandy which you can revisit here.

Click here to see the Volcano article.

Celebrating Calligraphy, Poetry and Carol

2011-12-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-03T13:25:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-29T12:17:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-23T15:39:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-19T14:10:00.001-08:00

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?

2011-11-12T12:49:00.001-08:00

The Business of Art

The Assignment
December 2009

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

Running the submission process, which includes paying aprogrammer or forms provider to program the form, accept and host the onlineform submissions and maintain the submissions database.
Advertising the call for entries on art deadlines web sites andpublications that require a fee.
Printing and mailing a printed, full-color catalog to our topcollecting museum and library customers as a way of promoting the show. This isa major expense as our catalogs are very expensive to print and mail. We mailanywhere from 30-50 copies to libraries and museum curators.
Purchasing a "purchase prize" book that is donated toa library. With our most recent show this book was given to a randomly selectedlibrary amongst those who voted for our "librarian's choiceaward."
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 totheir library.
Postcard printing and mailing.
Insurance to cover the works in while they are in the gallery incase of loss, theft or damage.

And, don't forget about the overhead expenses of running thegallery. Entry fees help pay for things like rent, lights, heat, web sitehosting, 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 gallerydirector.

Congratulations Susan, Heidi & Fritz!

2011-11-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

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 Mayof 2009. That show led the artist to worldwide acclaim including a featurearticle on Gizmodo.com that received over 60,000 visitors in just the first 24hours plus sales to art collectors around the world. His work has also sincebeen featured in such publications as Esquire Russia, Art China and The Atlantic.

Jim Kazanjian’s surreal landscapes offer phantasmagoricvisions of a where-is-this world, defined by impossibly complex architectureand M.C.Escher-esque black-and-white graphics. Inspired by the imaginary realmsof cult author H.P. Lovecraft—whose wild, cosmic short stories set the mold formuch of the 20th century’s best science fiction—Kazanjian’s aim is to redressthe “misunderstanding that photography has a kind of built-in objectivity…todefamiliarize 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

2011-09-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

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.

Congratulations Eric Stotik

2011-07-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) 2011 Fellow in Visual Arts

Our congratulations to Eric Stotik for winning this year's RACC Fellowship, which includes a $20,000 prize. We are very excited by this news as Eric's work is featured in a fine press book we carry here at 23 Sandy Gallery titled, The Emperor. Published by Charles Seluzicki, this gorgeous book also includes a surreal fable by Charles Simic and hand lettering by Stotik. It's a beautiful specimen of a finely printed book that we have a hard time keeping on the shelves. Click here to learn more about this intriguing book.

RACC says, "For the past 26 years he has produced gorgeously unique artwork, transcending time and place. With his extraordinary technical ability he creates surreal paintings — skeletons with wings, arms and legs emerging from red smoke, a nude figure hung over a bear skin — compelling images drawn from Stotik’s curious mind. The effect he is aiming for, he has noted, is “insight with a gasp.”

You can learn more about Eric and his award here at the RACC site. Eric is represented by our good friends over at the Laura Russo Gallery. See his paintings here.

Congratulations Eric!

23 Sandy and the Emmy!

2011-07-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

Pop-Up Art for Grown Ups

Here's something exciting. Remember the TV spot featuring our Pop-Up Now exhibition on KATU’s AM Northwest program way back in October? Well, the photographer who shot the segment, Bob Bullock, won an Emmy! He won for “Photographer – Program – Composite.” The composite included four short segments that he produced, shot and edited—one of which was Pop-Up Now. Bob told me, "I've reached the pinnacle of my career. The only thing bigger I could ever win is an Oscar or a Pulitzer."

A big thanks to all of the artists who were featured in this segment and to all of the artists in the show who helped make this show so compelling. Bob discovered us while taking a break from working at KATU’s studios, which just happen to be located just two blocks away from the gallery. During his walk, the amazing books inside the gallery windows caught his eye and the rest is history.

During my Marketing 101 for Book Artists talk I always talk about the value of entering juried shows. Exposure is one of the greatest benefits. This was great exposure for the artists featured plus great exposure for the book arts in general. A whole new audience discovered the book arts with this plus the Oregon Art Beat feature about the same show. Keep entering all the juried shows you can muster—you just might be part of an Emmy winning show.

You can view the “Pop-Up Art for Grown Ups” segment here

And, you can see the online catalog for Pop-Up Now here.

Congratulations Bob!

Call for Entries Updated: Uncommon Threads

2011-07-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

Uncommon Threads: The Handicrafts in the Book and Paper Arts

My Private Constellation
by Roberta Lavadour

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.

A couple of updates about the show. First off, work for this show does not have to be for sale. We know how hard it sometimes is to part with your masterpiece.

Also, we have created a new prize for this show: one artist will receive the "Library Choice Award" which will be awarded based on ballots cast by our library and museum customers who will be mailed a print catalog for this show. That artist's work will be purchased by the gallery and donated to one of the voting libraries.

Entries are already rolling in and I must say this is going to be a terrific show. The submissions so far have very strong concepts, are well designed and very well crafted. We hope you can join us by submitting your own work to this show.

Submissions are due by midnight August 13, 2011

Acomplete call for entries for Uncommon Threads can be found here.

An Inventory Of Al-Mutanabbi Street - A Call To Book Artists - From Beau Beausoleil

2011-07-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Help us reach 200 artists by 1st September 2011!

On March 5th 2007, a car bomb was exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. Al-Mutanabbi Street is in a mixed Shia-Sunni area. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. Al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic centre of Baghdad bookselling, holds bookstores and outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, and even tea and tobacco shops. It has been the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community.

The Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition is issuing a call to book artists to work on a project to “re-assemble” some of the “inventory” of the reading material that was lost in the car bombing of al-Mutanabbi Street.

We are asking book artists to join our project and further enhance the work of the Coalition by honouring al-Mutanabbi Street, by creating work that holds both “memory and future,” exactly what was lost that day.

We ask that you create 3 books for the project, which is also raising funds for Médecins Sans Frontières. The books will tour venues alongside the Al-Mutanabbi Street broadsides from early 2012. A complete set of all the books will be donated to the Iraq National Library. An update on the broadsides tour is at: http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/mutan11.htm

If you would like to know more, or would like to join this project, please download the PDF for more information which is also on our newspage (http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/newsdata.htm), and if you have any questions please email
Sarah Bodman: Sarah.Bodman@uwe.ac.uk or Beau Beausoleil: overlandbooks@earthlink.net
We would love to have you contribute to the project.

We have 167 artists on board, and will keep going with our call until the end of August…
Do join us. Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here.

Gone Fishing!

2011-06-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

23 Sandy is Currently

Closed for Summer Break

As you may recall, we are usually closed for the month of August. But, this year we are taking our summer break a bit early. We'll be closed now through August 4.

If you need to pick up artwork or see something special during the break, please contact Laura for an appointment.

Please join us when we reopen in August with a second solo show with Jim Kazanjian

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.”

You may remember Jim's previous solo show here at 23 Sandy way back in May of 2009. We are very excited to see Jim's new work in August. More details plus an online catalog will be coming soon. In the meantime you can view more info and see his work here.

Also in August: Linda Welch

Portland artist Linda Welch has been a crowd favorite with her 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) 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 see a sampling of Linda's paintings and artist books currently in gallery inventory.

Have a great summer!

Artist on Site - Mary Bennett

2011-06-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 25

Noon to 6:00 p.m.

Installations are best experienced when you can talk about the work directly with the artist. Here's a unique opportunity: Mary will be sitting the gallery all day next Saturday, June 25 from Noon until 6:00 p.m. This is a great time to learn more about the story behind the installation direct from the artist herself. And, since this is also the last day of the show, it's your last chance to see this remarkable display of perseverance before it comes down for good.

About 1,983 Rejections: 3 Acceptances

New to Portland, conceptual artist Mary Bennett presents homage to an unknown poet by covering the walls of the gallery with the poet’s publication submission notes. Found in a dumpster, the poet’s typed and annotated index cards document her work in the 1970’s and are filled with coffee stains, cigarette burns, poem titles and handwritten notes as she attempted to publish her poetry.

Bennett’s installation examines the personal qualities of perseverance, deliberation, consistency and faith that were possessed by one woman, an unknown poet and dedicated writer. This woman believed in herself so much that she sent out 1,986 submissions. She received 1,983 rejections and only three acceptances. Her dedication will be displayed as all of these tattered index cards cover the gallery walls.

Click here to see more about the show plus see images of Mary's collage and mixed media pieces in the show.

Celebrating Photo Alchemy One Last Time!

2011-06-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Jody Ake

Juror's Choice Award Winner

Today we finally wrap up our three Photo Alchemy Juror's Choice Award Winners with this final entry: Jody Ake.

Portland is very lucky to have this talented artist in town. Jody recently moved back to Portland after a stint in New York. He is an extremely adept image maker, creating nudes, portraiture, still lifes and landscapes with old fashioned large format wet collodion on glass plates. Not very many people work with wet plate collodion in landscapes. Just imagine the risks of loading a wet glass plate into a large format camera while standing in the Columbia Gorge, famous for it's winds that roll up and down the river.

Jody's work has been featured here at 23 Sandy Gallery twice. First, we were pleased to include his luminous portrait in our Resurrection show back in May of 2008. And, most recently two of his landscapes were included in Photo Alchemy.

As part of his Juror's Choice Award we have assembled a portfolio of 10 more of Jody's landscape photographs. Click here to view the portfolio on our web site.

The image shown above reminds me of some of the historic works in Wild Beauty, an exhibition at the Portland Art Museum accompanied by a magnificent book that was our friend Terry Toedtemeier's magnum opus just before his death in December of 2008.

Congratulations again to Jody as well as to S. Gayle Stevens and Bill Westheimer for their Juror's Choice awards. And, thank you again to Laura Moya for her insightful selections in this amazing show.

Success: Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

2011-06-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

A Lecture on Artistic Success with Eric Miller
Tomorrow, Saturday, June 10, 2011, 4:00 p.m.

The much-debated concept of “is it art or is it craft” is often side-stepped for lack of meaningful ways to avoid the all too common misguided value judgments inherent in the topic. Not only does this ignore the continuous interplay between these ideas, it also limits our ability to measure the success of our creative practice.

What we perceive as success or failure has more to do with the way we measure those results then it does with any kind of intrinsic value we may discover. Understanding the forces at work and reconciling them with our own ideas of our position along the continuum of craft and art can be essential to artistic success. This lecture is idea for writers, artists, performers—anyone who struggles to define creative success.

This lecture is free and open to the public and registration is not necessary.

Eric Miller works with artists and creative people through his design and consulting business. He is the publisher of the print journal Funny Sexy and a graduate of the Master in Writing program at Pacific University. His business, EK Miller Design LLC, has been working with artists and creative companies worldwide for over 18 years.

See you then!

Another Photo Alchemy Juror's Choice Winner

2011-06-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Bill Westhiemer

So, remember that really sweet tintype of the dragonfly in the Photo Alchemy show? Yes, it was one of favorites, too. Photo Alchemy may be over, but we are still taking orders and selling catalogs from this stellar show. Rave reviews continue to roll in from near and far.

Congratulations to Bill Westheimer for winning the Photo Alchemy Juror’s Choice Award for his stellar work in the exhibition. Bill was one of three artists who were chosen by the exhibits juror, Laura Moya for this award. We thought that you might enjoy seeing some more of his work.

Bill's dragonfly is part of a terrific series of bug photograms. Be sure to see the butterfly images, they are just such beautiful decay. Bill tells us, "I love to photogram the small things that we often overlook: a weed, or a broken piece of glass. I pursue those things that are rejected, the trash and the detritus, because I enjoy the challenge of finding something exquisite in the ugliest garbage. Like the ancient Japanese Zen monks’ tradition of wabi-sabi - which venerated the ephemeral complexity and beauty of nature’s imperfections - I pursue my fascination with the art of impermanence."

Click here to see Bill Westhiemer's online catalog.

Check out Alder Ego!

2011-06-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

David Paul Bayles

Fans of trees should check this out. 23 Sandy Gallery artist David Paul Bayles has created a very interesting blog called "Alder Ego." According to David, this project is "a visual exploration of being human and living with trees with a mission is to inspire an online forest by uniting art-makers with art-lovers." Looks like a fascinating blog to stay in touch with. Congratulations, David.

Link to the Alder Ego here.

Artist on Site - Mary Bennett

2011-06-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 4, 2011

3:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Installations are best experienced when you can talk about the work directly with the artist. Here's a unique opportunity: Mary Bennett will be sitting the gallery on two Saturdays during her show. Tomorrow, June 4th from 3:00-6:00, and Saturday, June 25, from Noon-6:00 p.m.

These two days will be a great time to learn more about the story behind Mary's installation direct from the artist herself. Mark your calendar and plan to be captivated by Mary and the story of the unknown poet.

Learn more about 1,983 Rejections:3 Acceptances here.

Image: A previous installation © Mary Bennett.

Please Join us for First Friday - Tomorrow Night!

2011-06-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

First Friday

June 3, 5-8:00 p.m.

Please join us for an artist reception for Mary Bennett. We'll be celebrating her installation titled, 1,983 Rejections: 3 Acceptances.

New to Portland, conceptual artist Mary Bennett presents an homage to an unknown poet. In the early 70’s this persevering artist recorded on hundreds of index cards her submissions to literary journals. Many years later those index cards were rescued from a dumpster. Part installation, part exploration, part interactive meditation on how artists define success. We are also featuring several of Mary's collage mixed mixed media works.

You can learn more about Mary's installation here plus see some of her collage work here.

See you then!

In Tacoma Today?

2011-06-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

If you happen to be near Tacoma this evening be sure to stop by the opening reception for the Puget Sound Book Artists members exhibition. Starts at 4:30 today and looks to be a terrific show. Get more info about the show here.

It's fun to think of all of your favorite 23 Sandy artists who come from Tacoma: Holly A. Senn, Victoria Bjorklund, Jessica Spring and Chandler O'Leary.

Be sure to say hello to one of my very favorite librarians, Jane Carlin. She has done an amazing job pulling this group together. Congrats to all the artists in the show!

Here's the link to the PSBA web site if you'd like more information about the group.

S. Gayle Stevens Juror's Choice Award

2011-05-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Still Basking in the Glow of Photo Alchemy

Seems like yesterday when you stopped by for the Photo Alchemy exhibit here at 23 Sandy Gallery. Hard to believe it is gone already but the show was immensely popular with a huge number of visitors.

We want to send out a big congratulations to S. Gayle Stevens for winning a Photo Alchemy Juror’s Choice Award for her stellar tintypes in the exhibition. Stevens was one of three artists chosen by our juror, Laura Moya for this award. We'll show you the other two winners soon, but for now we thought that you might enjoy seeing more of Gayle's work in this online portfolio we've created.

Click here to see 10 more of Gayle's terrific tintypes.

Have a good weekend!

Laura

Book Arts Deadlines Blog

2011-05-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

Book artists should subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog from Shawn K. Simmons. Excellent compilation of call for entries for book arts competitions. Shawn is a very talented book artist who uses a lot of photographs in her books and is also a graphic designer. She even posted my call for Uncommon Threads before I had a chance to send it to her. Thanks, Shawn!

Find Shawn's blog here.

1,000 Artists' Books

2011-05-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Call For Entries For Artist Books

Gallery favorites Peter and Donna Thomas are putting out a call for entries for an upcoming commercially published book that will feature 1,000 artist books. Yes, you read that right, 1,000 books!

You may have seen the artist books of Peter and Donna here at 23 Sandy Gallery. The miniature books that this amazingly creative husband and wife team produce are popular for their sweet imagery and intriguing miniature structures. Now we are helping to spread the word about their current project. Peter and Donna will be co-editing (along with Sandra Salamony) a book that will feature 1,000 artist books and we thought you might want to submit your work.

1000 Artists' Books is being published by the same publisher who published Peter and Donna's first book More Making Books by Hand. The publisher, Rockport Publishers/Quarry Books is known for their high-quality visual and idea books for design professionals and creative enthusiasts. This book will be part of their series of 1000 image books. It will be a gallery-style book titled 1000 Artists’ Books (publication date June 2012), which will present 1,000 images of artists' books.

The goal is to show a variety of artists' books. Since the readers of this book will not be able to hold your actual book, they will be looking for multiple images that visually show the reader how and why the book is an artists' book and not just a sculpture in book form. Granted some artists' books will be three-dimensional objects, but most books will have some quality of sequence that cannot be understood from a single image. They want images that show those qualities. They will be giving preference to images of books that have both outsides (bindings) with strong visual appeal and insides (text and/or imagery) with just as strong visual appeal, but will also accept single photo images that nicely illustrate a single striking aspect of a certain type of artists book. At this time they anticipate showing 1-3 books by each artist, so will ask you to send images of 4-6 books, a maximum of 20 images, for them to choose from.

Peter and Donna are very excited about this project and hope that you will contribute to it. As there are so many great book artists their selection will be based a little on "first come first serve", so get your images in soon. That will help them meet their deadlines, and secure your spot in the 1,000.

The call for entries for 1000 Artists's Books can be found here.

Good luck!

Call for Entries

2011-05-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

Uncommon Threads: The Handicrafts in Book Arts

Exhibition dates: September 23 - October 29, 2011
Deadline for Entries: August 18, 2011

THEME - 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.

Uncommon Threads seeks artist books and other forms of book and paper art that utilize handicraft techniques, materials or subjects as a way to round out, illustrate or compliment a central concept. Remember, it’s not just about the materials or techniques. Let’s dispel the myth that the handicrafts can’t have any part in meaningful art.

MEDIA - 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. Any medium, any style, any size.

AWARDS - Three artists will receive "Best of Show Awards" which will include a certificate and special marketing blitz focusing on their work. One artist will receive a "Library Choice Award" which will be awarded based on ballots cast by our library and museum customers and will also receive a certificate and marketing blitz.

DEADLINE – Submissions are due no later than August 13, 2011

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

Happy Creating!

Image credit: Charles & Camilla by Gail Smuda

ADDENDUM - After taking some criticism for our Uncommon Threads show I have edited our call for entries to read as shown above. As my faithful fans have always known, content and concept in artist books have always been very important to me. But, apparently I left that out of the call for entries which greatly offended someone. I see this as a direct challenge to prove that we can find a happy marriage between craft and content. Please help!

1,983 Rejections: 3 Acceptances Opens Today!

2011-05-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

A New Installation by Mary Bennett
Now Through June 25

New to Portland, conceptual artist Mary Bennett presents homage to an unknown poet by covering the walls of the gallery with the poet’s publication submission notes. Found in a dumpster, the poet’s typed and annotated index cards document her work in the 1970’s and are filled with coffee stains, cigarette burns, poem titles and handwritten notes as she attempted to publish her poetry.

Bennett’s installation examines the personal qualities of perseverance, deliberation, consistency and faith that were possessed by one woman, an unknown poet and dedicated writer. This woman believed in herself so much that she sent out 1,986 submissions. She received 1,983 rejections and only three acceptances. Her dedication will be displayed as all of these tattered index cards cover the gallery walls.

Meticulously recorded, continually re-submitted and endlessly documented, this poet wrote and wrote and wrote. To continue in the face of such rejection she must have known something that most of us don’t. Perhaps she believed so completely in herself that she knew the next envelope was going to be an acceptance. We imagine her heading for the mailbox just knowing that today would be the day.

Bennett poses these questions in regards to this installation, “How do you know when to give up? How do you know that maybe your talents don’t lie in this particular field? How do you know that it’s OK to do something else? Are you driven by need to do? The absolute belief that recognition is around the corner? That your work is not valid without someone else saying so? Can an artist, writer, actor, doctor, lawyer, be a success without outside recognition?”

Part installation, part exploration, part interactive meditation on how artists define success, the installation also features a re-creation of the poet’s writing studio as imagined by Bennett. Gallery visitors are invited to use the poet’s typewriter to contribute their own definitions of “artistic success,” which will then be added to the gallery walls.

This unique documentation of a poet’s struggle and success were found in a dumpster in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood in the mid 1990’s, and the cards show a record of submissions to literary journals from 1973 to 1978. The installation is an attempt to recognize and honor this poet for her forbearance and patience and is accompanied by Bennett’s own artwork consisting of mixed media collages that incorporate torn dictionary pages, painting and found ephemeral text.

Learn more about Mary's installation and see her collage works here.

Catch Andrea Benson on OPB

2011-05-17T14:58:00.000-07:00

This Thursday

May 19 at 8:00 p.m.

Great news! 23 Sandy Gallery favorite Andrea Benson will be a featured artist on this week's episode of Oregon Art Beat. Her spot in the limelight was filmed here at the gallery and in her studio during her solo show last May titled Hands and Minds. Andrea's encaustic paintings have amazing detail and a technical prowess unmatched in the field of hot wax and paint.

Andrea tells us, "My strongest memory of the day is attempting to suppress the feeling of alarm at having someone hover around me with a large camera. The OPB program guide says I reveal my secret—I'm not sure which one that is, but it will be fun to see."

Catch Andrea this Thursday evening, May 19 at 8:00 p.m. After Thursday the segment can be viewed at the OPB web site.

In the meantime, click here to see Andrea's paintings that we currently have in gallery inventory.

Congratulations, Andrea!

Photography and the Artist’s Book: Manchester UK Opportunity

2011-05-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to 23 Sandy Gallery artist Amandine Nabarra-Piomelli for forwarding this call for presentations. Amandine is a very talented photographer who has created several gorgeous photographic artist books and has a keen interest in advancing this crossover genre as collectible objects both in the photography and book arts worlds. Check out Amandine's work here.

Call for Presentations
Symposium: Photography and the Artist’s Book Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections, Manchester, UK. Friday 21st October 2011 There is a renewed interest in the relationship of photography and the artist’s book as both works of art and as alternative sites for exhibition and dissemination. There is also a notable expansion in the activities of self-publication by photographers and artists who use the photograph. Further to this, the theorising of the photographic essay and notions of ‘conceptual documentary’ have become important areas of discourse for those practitioners and theorists who are interested in working with the photograph in book form (Stimson, 2006 and Miles, 2010).

This symposium, which will precede the 6th Manchester Artist’s Book Fair, aims to bring together theorists and practitioners in order to more fully explore the issues raised by the relationship of photography and the artist’s book. Abstracts are invited for critical and/or creative papers that might respond to (but are not limited to) the following areas:

• photography and the artist’s book or ‘bookwork’
• the photographic essay
• the photo-novel and other narrative forms
• sequence, seriality and typology
• audience: zines, multiples and limited editions

Please send proposals (250 words) for papers (20 minutes) to Theresa Wilkie at t.wilkie@salford.ac.uk. Closing date Tuesday 31st May.

This symposium is a collaboration between Salford School of Art & Design (University of Salford) – www.artdes. salford.ac.uk, Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections - www.specialcollections.mmu.ac.uk and Hot Bed Press (Salford) www.hotbedpress.org

This sounds like a fantastic symposium. Please report back if you go!

Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition

2011-05-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

A Call to Action for Book Aritsts

On March 5, 2007 in Iraq, 30 people were killed and over 100 more were injured in a car bombing on Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. Along with the people who died came the death of a cultural mecca. Al-Mutanabbi was “the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community.” On Al-Mutanabbi Street were bookstores, outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, and tea and tobacco shops.

Al-Mutanabbi was most known for publishing and selling books that were banned as well as books that were not. This street was an outlet for those who wanted to write and read freely. The street was named after the poet Al-Mutanabbi who was killed for his writing. The bookshops contained literature of Iraq and the Middle East; history, political theory, popular novels, scholarly works, religious books, technical books, comics, children books and even stationary and blank school notebooks.

After hearing of this tragedy, Beau Beausoleil, who lives in San Francisco formed the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition. In April of 2007, Beausoleil sent out a worldwide call for broadsides to commemorate and honor everything that was lost in the bombing. Broadsides came in from all over the world, including Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Britain, the U.S.A. and Canada. 130 broadsides were collected and a series of them was given to the Iraq National Library in Baghdad. A selection of those broadsides can be viewed here.

Now Beausoleil and the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition, is calling for a new set of submissions from book arts world. Beausoleil is asking for artists to work on a project to “re-assemble” some of the “inventory” of the reading material that was lost in Baghdad. Beausoleil is looking for work that holds both “memory and future” which is exactly what was lost on Al-Mutanabbi Street.

Beausoleil is also asking that each artist create three books within one year from the date that they sign on to the project. As with the broadsides one set of 130 will be donated to the Iraq National Library in Baghdad, while the other two sets will be exhibited with the broadsides as well as individually. As Beausoleil tell us, “one of the purposes of this project is to let those in the Iraqi arts community know that we will not let them endure the destruction of the Iraqi culture in silence.”

You can find the official call for artist books here.

Beausoleil is also collecting donations to create an anthology of the broadsides. The goal is to raise $4,000 and he needs your donations to make that happen. To donate simply send a Paypal payment to the email address listed in his contact information below. You can also contact Beau for more information about either project.

Beau Beausoleil

719 Lisbon St.

San Francisco, CA 94112

Email: overlandbooks@earthlink.net

The Business of Being an Artist

2011-04-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

How To Get Your Work Into Art Galleries

One of the big questions on every artist’s mind is: how do I approach an art gallery with my artwork? This can be a tricky question since all galleries have different ways of finding new artists to add to their rosters. This article will give you some ideas on how to get the gallery attention your art deserves.

23 Sandy Gallery Artist Jim Kazanjian

First off. Do your research. Find out what kind of art your target galleries generally show. Each gallery has aesthetic, style or medium preferences. Go to the gallery or their website, and see if your art fits. Make a list of the best venues for your artwork and target just those galleries.

Second, find out the gallery’s “submission policy.” For example, some galleries only reviews artist submissions each year for a specific time period. Some galleries may say they are not accepting any new artists at this time. Co-op galleries features artist members, with occasional openings to become a member. Some galleries have special areas that are available to consign artwork or they feature unrepresented artists selected through a jury process. Does a gallery only show local or regional artists or are they open to out of town artists?

23 Sandy Gallery Artist Linda Welch

All of this important information can usually be found on the gallery’s web site. Look for their “artist submissions” page. You may have to do a little digging to find it, but check these areas: Contact, Artists or About Us. Some may request a link to your web site, your resume or your bio. Some galleries may require slides, or JPGs on a CD via mail. Some galleries hate getting JPGs via email. Find out how they want to be approached and follow their guidelines.

23 Sandy Gallery’s submission policy is fairly detailed and can be found here.

So, what if you follow the guidelines with no results? Do not feel too disheartened. There are still other steps you can take to try to get a gallery to pay attention. Here are a few things that you can do to increase your chances of getting what you want.

23 Sandy Gallery Artist Andrea Benson

Get to know the gallery. If the gallery is local, go visit, and do it frequently. Go to their openings, events or artist lectures. Meet the people who work at the gallery, and then go even further and build a relationship with them. Remember, even a gallery receptionist might be a good person to get to know. They have the ear of the gallery owner or director. Also, support the gallery. Buy some art, a book, some cards. Whatever your budget allows. Anything helps.

Watch your target galleries to see what sort of opportunities they have for artists. Perhaps they have special areas set up for new artists. Or, perhaps they will have a call for entries to juried shows. Entering juried shows is a great way to give the gallery a test run. You get to know them and how they operate and they get a chance to give your art a “test run” with their regular collectors. Watch for these opportunities and then jump on them.

Some notes on etiquette.

Don’t bombard the gallery owner with emails. Don’t add them to your monthly email newsletter list without asking their permission first.
Find out the name of the person you send should contact. Sending an email to "Dear Curator" or "Dear Gallery Owner" gets you right to the trash bin.
Ask for the sale. If you do send an email, don’t say “here is my new painting.” That’s nice, but what do you want the gallery to do about it? Tell them if you are looking for feedback or for a show or whatever.
Be seen and be heard, but don’t be annoying. Galleries are not going to work with artists they don’t like. If they get to know you and your charms, getting your art noticed is easier.
Gallery folks are very, very busy. Most off all, respect their time.

If you follow these three steps, you will have a much easier time getting your artwork seen and your creative voice heard. Also remember to just keep trying, it may take persistence and perseverance, but eventually you will succeed.

Letterpress Animation Invitation

2011-04-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

Please Join Us for a Very Special Event!

Old-Time Film Screening

A Letterpress-Printed Animation Short by Barbara Tetenbaum and Marilyn Zornado

Sunday, May 1, 2011

7:00 p.m.

Location: 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Ave, Portland, OR

Join us as Barb and Marilyn present their three-minute animated short, Old-Time Film which was created entirely through letterpress printing (which they dubbed Vander-mation). They will show the film and give a presentation about the processes involved in its creation. Marilyn will also screen her award-winning stop motion film Insect Poetry and her MFA Thesis Project Spring Lines. Old-Time Film was supported by a grant from Regional Arts and Culture Council. This event is free and open to the public.

Barb Tetenbaum is a visual artist, working mostly as a printer and publisher of limited edition artist books. She teaches and heads the Book Art Department at the Oregon College of Art & Craft.

Marilyn Zornado has been practicing calligraphy since she was in her teens, producing animation for 20 years and is now teaching and administrating in the Media Arts & Animation Department at The Art Institute of Portland.

See you then,

Laura

Photography Unveiled

2011-04-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Alternative Processes Behind Photo Alchemy

The current exhibit, Photo Alchemy, here at 23 Sandy Gallery includes hauntingly beautiful photographs that have piqued the interest of many viewers. That interest leads some to curiosity about how these alluring alternative process photographs were created. To help out, here are some definitions of the processes that were used to create the images. Follow the links to see an example of each process.

Daguerrotype: (shown above) An early variety of photograph produced on a highly polished silver plate, or copper plate covered with silver, and rendered sensitive by the action of iodine, or iodine and bromine, on which, after exposure in the camera, the latent image is developed by the vapor of mercury. See: he speaks with the raven, first as a boy, then as a man –Curtis Wehrfritz

Ambrotype: A photograph created using a positive image on a sheet of glass using the wet plate collodion process. The difference between ambrotype and wet plate collodion is that ambrotype uses the plate image as a positive instead of a negative. One side of a clean glass plate is covered with collodion then dipped in a silver nitrate solution. The plate is exposed to the subject while still wet. The plate is then developed and fixed. See: Power Lines, Oregon –Jody Ake

Mordançage: (shown above) Mordançage is an alternative photographic process that alters silver gelatin prints to give them a degraded effect. The mordançage solution works in two ways: it chemically bleaches the print so that it can be redeveloped, and it lifts the black areas of the emulsion away from the paper giving the appearance of veils. Once the emulsion is lifted it can be removed and manipulated depending on the desired outcome. See: Rending the Curtain –Christina Z. Anderson

Platinum/Palladium: Platinum prints are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process that provides the greatest tonal range of any printing method using chemical development. Unlike the silver print process, platinum lies on the paper surface, while silver lies in a gelatin or albumen emulsion that coats the paper. Palladium is a chemical element that is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal. See: Traverse –Brian David Griffith (shown at right).

Wet-Plate Collodion Tintype: Tintype is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that is blackened by painting, lacquering or enameling and is used as a support for a collodion photographic emulsion. See: Finally Free –Barbara Dombach

Cyanotype: Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue colored print. The process includes two chemicals: ammonium iron citrate and potassium ferricyanide, usually painted on paper or fabric. See: Winter Weave –Jose Betancourt and Susan Weil.

Photogram: A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material, such as photographic paper, and then exposing it to light. The result is a negative shadow image varying in tone depending on the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white, those areas exposed appear grey. See: Transparent Uniforms X –Anita Douthat (shown at left).

Printing Out Paper: This paper is used to produce contact prints in daylight. First the paper is exposed under the negative to produce a deep purple-red print. Then the image is washed, toned and fixed in 15% hypo solution. Then it is washed again and sometimes toned using gold or other chemicals. See: Madeline Larsen, from the series memento –Karen Stentaford

Van Dyke Brown: First the choice of paper is coated with solution under tungsten light, air dried and coated a second time, if desired. Then the negative is placed on the thoroughly dried coated substrate and is weighted with a piece of glass. The glass negative substrate sandwich is exposed to a source of UV light. The image is now washed, or cleared, in several changes of water to remove soluble iron and silver compounds. See: Amateur Physics: String Theory –Jim Leisy (shown at right).

Ziatype: The ziatype uses lithium palladium chloride as the primary metal and ammonium ferric oxalate for the iron compound to produce a continuous tone print. The color and contrast are controlled chemically, and a full image is printed out instead of developing it out so you see what you get after exposing. See: Reverse Engineering –Mark Rupert

So, there you have it. Curiosity satisfied! Let us know if there are any other images in the show that intrigue you and we'll get word directly from the artist about the process or techniques used to create the photograph. Contact Laura with your questions.

View the complete online catalog for Photo Alchemy here.

Definition References:

www.wikipedia.com

The Ziatype Process by Christina Z. Anderson

Early Photographic Processes: Printing Out Paper by Colin Harding

The Moveable Struwwelpeter Series from Marianne Petit

2011-04-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

Pauline and the Matches

Based On The Children's Books by Heinrich Hoffmann

In 1845 a German psychiatrist named Heinrich Hoffmann wrote a series of short children’s stories that all contain a strong moral emphasis and show the consequences of misbehavior. It was a cold winter’s night, during Christmastime, when Hoffmann went out in search of a picture book for his three-year-old son. Not finding anything of substance, Hoffmann went home and wrote and illustrated his own children’s book that consisted of ten short stories. Nine of these stories contain children and feature strong moral lessons, while the tenth one is about a rabbit that picks up a hunter’s rifle and turns into the hunter rather than the hunted. Hoffman’s friends finally convinced him to publish anonymously, and the book first came out under the (translated) title Funny Stories and Whimsical Pictures with 15 Beautifully Coloured Panels for Children Aged 3 to 6.

Little Suck a Thumb

It wasn’t until the third edition, in 1858, that it was published with its well-known name, the Struwwelpeter series. Struwwelpeter translating into Shaggy-Peter, which is a name based on one of the stories. It soon became a popular and beloved children’s book all over Europe. Since it was published the story has been adapted into everything from stage plays to films, and even an English adaptation written in 1848 titled Slovenly Peter by Mark Twain. It has also appeared throughout popular culture in things such as the television show The Office and a song titled “Hilf mir” by the German band Rammstein. Struwwelpeter remains a celebrated book today although some wonder if the age range, 3 to 6, is a little bit incongruous with the actual content.

Little Suck a Thumb

Today, these children’s stories have come alive visually through Marianne R. Petit’s handmade moveable artist books. Petit has created a series of quirky moveable books that capture the gruesome side of these tales, while still showing Petit’s artistic side and consist of tunnel books, carousel books, and flag books. Petit’s hand is evident in her work giving it an appropriately unpolished look, with raw edges and a somewhat roughhewn look and feel. However, her moveable books have become popular in their own right with moveable book fans both in the US and in Europe.

Petit’s moveable books based on this children’s series include Augustus Who Would Not Eat His Soup, which is a series of six tunnel books that portrays the story of a boy named Augustus who would not eat his soup, and ends up wasting away. These books also include LED backlighting. Then there is Shockheaded Peter, the story for which the title comes from, it is an accordion moveable book that tells the story of Peter who is a filthy boy with uncombed hair and dirty nails, as a result no one wants to be around him.

Flying Robert

The Story of Flying Robert is a flag book, which tells of rainy days, when other children would stay inside and play, but not Robert. He went outside and got blown away. Petit’s most recent moveable book is a carousel book titled Pauline and the Matches. This is a story of Pauline who played with matches while her mother was away, and burned herself to ash. Finally, Little Suck A Thumb (also with LED lights) is a gruesome tale about a boy named Conrad who will not stop sucking his thumb, and so the tailor comes in and cuts his thumbs off.

One day Mamma said “Conrad dear,

I must go out and leave you here.

But mind now, Conrad, what I say,

Don’t suck your thumb while I’m away.

The great tall tailor always comes

To little boys who suck their thumbs;

And ere they dream what he’s about,

He takes his great sharp scissors out,

And cuts their thumbs clean off—and then,

You know, they never grow again.”

Marianne R. Petit is an associate arts professor at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Petit teaches courses in digital media, animation and storytelling. She also oversees the assistive technology and social justice curriculum. In addition to her teaching she is also the co-founder of Greylock Arts, a non-commercial art space that is dedicated to interactive new media and emerging art practices.

Shockheaded Peter

In addition to moveable books Marianne R. Petit also works in animation and video, dioramas and installations and web and interactive art. Marianne tells us “I am interested in storytelling, the stories of others, and the multiple ways in which stories can be told. I work in a variety of media including: book, animation, dioramas, installation, and online spaces. Recently I have been exploring paper engineering with embedded electronics.”

As a fan of moveable books, Petit’s collection is a must-have. They are part of literature history since they are based on such a well-known and admired collection of children’s stories. These moveable books truly are an impressive addition to any collection.

You can view a full online catalog of Marianne’s Struwwelpeter Series here.

To view Marianne R. Petit’s work and for ordering information contact:

23 Sandy Gallery

Phone: Laura Russell at 503-927-4409

Email: 23sandygallery@gmail.com

Celebrating Portland Photo Books

2011-04-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Our Friend
Jim Leisy

Did you know that Portland is a hotbed of photo book publishing? Blue Sky Gallery has had a publishing program for many of their 35 years; Photolucida publishes in conjunction with their annual Critical Mass endeavors; and Jim Leisy and his crew at Wiliam, James & Co. have published gorgeous books by local favorites including Ann Ploeger, Dianne Kornberg and Deborah Dewit Marchant, among others. A talented photographer himself, Jim Leisy acts as publisher or distributor for all of these inspiring photo books.

Stop by the gallery this month to check out this impressive showing of 16 of the best and brightest Portland-published photo books including several at discounted prices. This is a special one-month happening. Don't miss it!

Photolucida Events You Can Attend

2011-04-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

Kicking Things off Tomorrow, Already!

It's hard to believe Photolucida is upon us so quickly. The big events kick off tomorrow with a sold-out collecting lecture with Julia Dolan and Charles Hartman. But, there are three other Photolucida events that are open to the public that you might enjoy. In case you didn't know, Photolucida is a Portfolio Review event that happens every two years here in Portland. The events brings together photography curators and photographers for a speed dating-style event. If you want to keep up with the hottest photographers working in the field today this is the event.

Photolucida is just one part of Portland Photo Month. Click here for a complete roundup of events, gallery shows and venues celebrating what we hope will become an annual event.

Photolucida Portfolio Walk

Thursday, April 14, 2011, 6-9pm, at Sunken Ballroom, Portland Art Museum.

Meet the artists participating in Photolucida – over 160 photographers will be displaying their work in three one hour shifts. Art collectors and photography enthusiasts can view and purchase work. Free to public.

Todd Hido Presentation: Process, Source, and Influence

Friday, April 15,, 2011, 7pm, at Whitsell Auditorium, Portland Art Museum

Hido will discuss his most recent work and process, including sources and influences alongside his own images. He will focus on work that he does not often speak about, offering rare insight into his creative process. Presented in collaboration with the Portland Art Museum Photography Council. $12 general public, $5 students. You can purchase tickets online (http://portlandartmuseum.org/calendar/events/2011/04/15/Todd-Hido/) or at the door.

Pearl District Gallery Walk

Saturday, April 16, 2011, 5-7pm, Pearl District.

Numerous Pearl District Galleries showing photography for the month of April will remain open late and host various receptions with artists. Please see Photolucida website for complete listings. Free to public.

See you at the big events!

Image Credit: 2009 Portfolio Walk, Sunken Ballroom Credit: Tom Hubbard

Mark Your Calendar. Mecury Vapors, Oh My!

2011-04-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

Deadly Mercury Vapors and Daguerrotypes Explained

Daguerrotype: An early variety of photograph, produced on a silver plate, or copper plate covered with silver, and rendered sensitive by the action of iodine, or iodine and bromine, on which, after exposure in the camera, the latent image is developed by the vapor of mercury.

Whew. Mercury. Sounds like a scary process that you should know more about.

Please join us for a very special event—a walk through Photo Alchemy with the artists. Friday, April 15, 5:30-6:30 p.m. right here at 23 Sandy Gallery.

This is a great chance to hear from the photographers themselves the story and the techniques behind their beautiful images. Several of the artists from this show will be in Portland for the Photolucida reviews. While they are here we thought you might like to hear about their work. We'll also have a special award ceremony for our Portfolio Award Winner and our three Juror's Choice Award winners. This event is free and open to the public. No RSVPs are necessary.

Artists who will be joining us for this event include: Jody Ake, Susan Arthur, Natasha Bacca, Bryan David Griffith, Loli Kantor and Curtis Wehrfritz. We hope you can join us too!

Preview this show at the online catalog here.

See you then!

Tree Photographs Reach New Heights

2011-04-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Photography by David Paul Bayles Published in Two Magazines

David Paul Bayles has a specific artistic niche, he photographs forests, and concentrates on the interdependence of forests and trees, people and communities. He has been photographing trees since 1982 and you may remember his solo show of Falling Trees here at 23 Sandy way back in April 2009. His work has also been featured in the Portland Art Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

Recently Bayles has been able to add a couple more accomplishments to his list. His photographs have been published in two different magazines. His work can be found in the March/April 2010 issues of Orion Magazine and the Dutch magazine Quote. If you are interested in reading these articles you can download PDFs of them both here.

We'd like to send out a big congratulation to David Paul Bayles for this recent accomplishments. We are all very proud of Bayles and we wish him the best of luck and hope we have many more success stories to share.

To view or to order David Paul Bayles photographs visit his online catalog here.

P.S. We discovered David at the Photolucida Portfolio Reviews that happens every two years here in Portland. Photolucida just happens to be in town next week and it is very fun to report this Photolucida success story as we kick off Portland Photo Month.

April is Portland Photo Month

2011-04-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Venture out, learn about, and celebrate Portland’s city-wide focus on Photography.

Portland Photo Month web site is up. We hope this month-long celebration of photography will become an annual event. Many thanks to Mark Hopkins for his volunteer time to design this excellent resource for photography events, lectures and exhibitions in Portland during April.

Check out the web site here.

Artists Reception TONIGHT! for Photo Alchemy

2011-04-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

First Friday, April 1, 5-8:00 p.m.

Please join us for an artists reception for Photo Alchemy tonight. This show features several local artists who will join us for the fun so it should be a great party. Stop by for a glass of wine, a bit of nosh and some great art!

Photo Alchemy showcases the revival in alternative process photography. In recent years contemporary photographers have been taking a fresh look at early printing processes‚ from cyanotypes to daguerreotypes, these deep, dreamy images bring a unique style and surface to a photograph that can not be achieved digitally.
Click here to preview a full online catalog of Photo Alchemy.

See you soon!

Location:
23 Sandy Gallery
623 NE 23rd Avenue
Portland, OR
Find a map to the gallery here.

Photo © José Betancourt and Susan Weil

Heading to Tacoma to Lecture

2011-03-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Hope you can join us!

If you live anywhere near Tacoma you have probably already heard about this, but just in case you haven't it would be great to see you on Wednesday. Jane Carlin is the librarian at the University of Puget Sound. She recently rounded up area book arts fans to form the Puget Sound Book Artist group. I know the area is a gold mine of talented book and paper artists—many of whom you have seen at 23 Sandy including Victoria Bjorklund, Jessica Spring, Chandler O'Leary and many others. Under Jane's leadership I'm sure this group will have some really terrific activities in the coming years. Here are the details:

An Evening with Laura Russell: Photographic Artists’ Book

Wednesday, March 16, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Puget Sound Book Artists
Collins Memorial Library, Room 020
University of Puget Sound

Puget Sound Book Artists is pleased to host an evening with Laura Russell, of 23 Sandy Gallery, a fine art gallery in Portland, Oregon that presents local and national artists working in the fields of book and paper arts, photography and mixed media. Laura is an accomplished photographer and book artist who creates hand-bound limited edition artist books and exhibits widely. Laura holds a BBA from Northwood University and had a 15-year career in graphic design and marketing before becoming a full time working artist in 2002 and then opening the gallery in 2007. She is a past board member of the non-profit Photolucida and past co-president of the Colorado Women’s Caucus for Art. She is a current board member of both the Portland Art Museum’s Photo Council and the Portland Art Dealers Association. Her books are collected by many museums and libraries; including the University of California, the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), the Tate Collection (London) as well as Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound.

Her illustrated presentation will feature the work of photographers and book artists from around the world who are creating artists books to showcase their photographs. View purely visual books that allow the images to tell their own story, and books that marry image with text to form a compelling narrative. The artist books presented use everything from paladium prints to ink jet prints to cyanoprints. Explore structures from the simple stapled pamphlet to the traditional codex to sculptural books that challenge the viewer’s definition of a book.

The presentation is about 40 minutes, followed by a show and tell of books from gallery inventory plus Laura’s own photographic artist books. You are encouraged to bring your own photographically illustrated books as well!

Directions and parking information available from the university web site: http://www.pugetsound.edu/about/visiting-puget-sound/directions/

(Questions? Contact Jane Carlin: jcarlin@pugetsound.edu)

Last Weekend for Photo Book Works

2011-03-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

Can't Believe it Ends Saturday!

Last night's Photo Council event was a big hit. I wasn't able to be there myself but the reports I hear from the 20 or so folks who made it were glowing. Special thanks to Lauren Henkin and Victoria Bjorklund (photo at right) for talking about their work. And big thanks to Steve Russell and Jennifer Stoots for taking the reigns in my absence.

Photo Book Works has been a big hit and it just amazes me that this is the last weekend for the show. It's been a very busy show and the time has flown by. It seems photographers are totally intrigued by the idea of having a portable exhibition in the form of a book. Many photographers who only thought they would be interested in making POD books are now thoroughly intrigued by the idea that they could make their books with their own hands. The ability to expand the concept behind a body of photographs opens up a whole new world of materials and structures and even the tempting idea of pushing the definition of a book. Stop by today until 6:00 p.m. or Saturday from Noon to 6:00 p.m. for your last chance to get a look at the beauties in this show.

Have a great weekend,

Laura

Art Biz Blog

2011-03-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Artist Friends,

The questions I get most from artists often relate to the marketing of artwork. If you are an artist you should be reading the Art Biz Blog written by Alyson Stanfield. I have been marketing artwork, either my own or that of the other amazingly talented artists that I represent here at 23 Sandy Gallery for close to 10 years now. Alyson's blog posts and articles are always spot on advice and at least once a week she teaches me something new. Pay attention to the comments for her posts for other ideas and thoughts from her loyal following of artists. Mostly they are just affirmations of the posted topic, but sometimes they can also generate a lively discussion.

Today's topic was whether or not art demos detract from sales during events like art fairs, studio tours and such. Here at 23 Sandy Gallery we rarely make sales during demos or other artist events but we feel that they are an important public service and having the chance to educate and inform both art buyers and artists always pays off down the road in not only good karma but future sales. So, we'll keep doing them until we get tired of giving too much of our precious time.

Good luck!

Laura

Special Event in the Gallery Tonight!

2011-03-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

Photo Council Tour of Photo Book Works

Thursday, March 10, 2011
6:30 p.m.

Another great reason to become a member of this important organization! The Portland Art Museum Photography Council supports the photography collection with a regular roster of events such as the Brown Bag Lunch Series, private collection tours, the annual print sharing event and the always fun annual acquisition meeting where council members help choose new works for the collection.

This special event is a private tour of Photo Book Works for Photo Council members and guests. (Consider this to be your invitation to join us as my guest.) The evening is being hosted by the museum's curator of photography, Julia Dolan. Three of the artists featured in the show will be on hand to give you the inside story behind their work. Come find out first-hand how these beautiful photographic artist books were conceived and created.

Click here for more information on how to join the Portland Art Museum Photography Council.

Above Image: Jeanne Buescher Bartlett and Thomas Finke (left), Lauren Henkin (center), Judith Hoffman (right)

Please join us!

The State of Photobooks Today

2011-03-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

A Lecture by Virginia Dodier
TOMORROW!

Saturday, March 5, 2011
4:00 p.m.

Interest in photobooks is exploding, as witnessed by the many websites and blogs devoted to producing, studying and collecting them. On-demand publishing provides global distribution, which in turns broadens the audience of photographers, students and collectors, who in turn communicate and collaborate via the Internet. Virginia Dodier —photography historian and photobook enthusiast—presents an illustrated overview of the burgeoning international photobook scene. She'll also discuss how self-publishing and print-on-demand online services have affected the whole concept of the photobook as a collectible object. This lecture is free and open to the public.

Virginia Dodier's 30-year career includes five years at The Museum of Modern Art. She is the author of Clementina, Lady Hawarden: Studies from Life, 1857-1864, published by Aperture and the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1999. She is working on a master's degree in library science with a specialization in photobooks and artists books. She volunteers in the library at Blue Sky Gallery.

Please join us.

Talented Book Artist and Book Arts Promoter

2011-02-26T14:13:00.000-08:00

Sarah Bodman
Bristol, UK

Just updated Sarah Bodman's inventory on our web site with new books. You may remember her solo show here at 23 Sandy a couple of year ago. (Hint....Lady Vengence) Sarah is not only a talented, productive book artist but she is also a research fellow at the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England, where she runs projects investigating and promoting contemporary book arts.

Sarah is also the editor of the Book Arts Newsletter a vital (and free!) monthly book arts resource published at the CFPR; and the Artist's Book Yearbook a biennial publication on contemporary book arts, published by Impact Press. She is the editor of The Blue Notebook journal for artists’ books, and writes a regular news column on artists’ books for the ARLIS UK and Ireland News-sheet, and for the journal Printmaking Today. She is also the author of Creating Artists’ Books, a fantastic how-to book arts book.

Check out Sarah's work at this link. She's amazing!

Photo Alchemy Deadline is Tomorrow

2011-02-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

And, here's a great incentive!

One photographer will be awarded the "Portfolio Prize" by Diffusion Magazine, which will feature the selected winner's portfolio in a two-page spread in their next issue. We are big fans of this gorgeous photography magazine about "unconventional photography" which is published by a very talented Portland photographer named Blue Mitchell.

Photo Alchemy is a juried exhibition of alternative process photography that seeks to showcase the revival in alternative process photography. In recent years contemporary photographers have been taking a fresh look at early printing processes—from cyanotypes to daguerreotypes, these deep, dreamy images bring a unique style and surface to a photograph that can’t be achieved digitally. As darkrooms disappear we are looking for work made by artists who are exploring alternative process photographic methods‚ either as a response to the digital age or simply as a creative tool.

You can find the complete call for entries for Photo Alchemy here.

But, hurry. Deadline for submissions is tomorrow, Tuesday at midnight.

Good luck!

Another Reason to Join the Photo Council!

2011-02-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

Bea Nettles Lecture

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 6:30PM

A special event for the Portland Art Museum Photography Council members and guests as invited by Julia Dolan:

Bea Nettles, an influential artist who employs a wide range of photographic techniques ranging from cyanotype to dye transfer, has been creating autobiographical photographs and books since 1970. A graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Illinois, Ms. Nettles has taught at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Currently she is Professor Emerita the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She has had over 50 solo exhibitions of her work, and her photographs are in the permanent collections of many institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography, and the Portland Art Museum.

You may remember ... Bea Nettles was featured with a solo show here at 23 Sandy Gallery way back in September of 2007. You can see an online catalog of her show here and you can still purchase Bea's images from the gallery as well.

Click here for more information on how to join the Portland Art Museum Photography Council.

Above image: Bea Nettles, from the series Return Trips. © Bea Nettles.

Alternative Process Photographic Artist Books?

2011-02-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

Several book artists visiting 23 Sandy Gallery at the Codex Book Fair this week have expressed an interest in the Photo Alchemy show but were unsure if artist books were eligible for entry. Yes! They are. If you make artist books using alternative process photography we'd love to see them.

Photo Alchemy exhibition seeks to showcase the revival in alternative process photography. These deep, dreamy images bring a unique style and surface to a photograph that can’t be achieved digitally. Book artists also have a strong interest in alternative process photography as an image medium. We’ve seen artist books made from everything from cyanotypes to pages of glass negatives and can't wait to find out what you've been up to.

Find a complete prospectus and call for entries for Photo Alchemy here.

First Friday, Tomorrow!

2011-02-03T16:00:00.000-08:00

Artist Reception, February 4, 5-8:00 p.m.

Please join us for an artists reception for Photo Book Works, tomorrow, First Friday from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Stop by for a fun evening and scope out our new show!

23 Sandy Gallery is very pleased host this international exhibition of hand crafted artist books incorporating photography as a primary image medium. Photo Book Works was first presented at Abecedarian Gallery, a book arts focused gallery in Denver, Colorado in November of 2010 and was juried by Mia Semingson, a photographer, book binder and art instructor at the University of Colorado. 23 Sandy Gallery is pleased to host this stellar exhibition, which includes the work of 31 artists from the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia.

Semingson tells us, “The artists included in this exhibition bring their images back to the tangible realm and weave visual stories not just with photographic images, but with the materials they have chosen and the structure that houses their work. All of these ingredients deliver the artist’s concept to the viewer. As technology changes and upgrades, as we reach deep into our pockets to purchase the next version of Photoshop, one thing remains and will remain a constant—the book."

Click here to view an online catalog of Photo Book Works.

Above Image Credits: Jeanne Buescher Bartlett and Thomas Finke (left), Lauren Henkin (center), Judith Hoffman (right)

Mother Tree Film Screening

2011-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Ethos at IFCC, 5340 N Interstate Ave
Thursday, January 27th, 7pm

Last month's show of Helen Hiebert's handmade paper string drawings was a beautiful first look at the craft of paper making here at 23 Sandy Gallery. The medium is one that we look forward to exploring further in future shows. We hope you can join us to celebrate Helen's other recent project called The Mother Tree Project. You might remember that I blogged about this project when it was up downtown last year. It was an important project that very much deserves to be highlighted on film.

Join artist Helen Hiebert, filmmaker Ian Lucero and choreographer Tracy Broyles for a screening of this short film documenting the Mother Tree Project, followed by Q&A + snacks. You can also contribute a root to the project and purchase a copy of the film.

For more information about the project: www.helenhiebertstudio.com

See you there!

Call for Entries

2011-01-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Photo Alchemy
A Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Alternative Process Photography
April 1 – May 7, 2011

THEME - This exhibition seeks to showcase the revival in alternative process photography. In recent years contemporary photographers have been taking a fresh look at early printing processes —from cyanotypes to daguerreotypes, these deep, dreamy images bring a unique style and surface to a photograph that can’t be achieved digitally. As darkrooms disappear we are looking for work made by artists who are exploring alternative process photographic methods‚ either as a response to the digital age or simply as a creative tool.

MEDIA - This exhibit is open to artists working with alternative process photographic techniques and materials such as, but not limited to: photograms, tintypes, daguerreotypes, carbon dichromates, gum bichromates, emulsion on metals, cyanotypes, collodian prints, Polaroids and much more. First generation works please, no digital or ink jet prints. First generation works please, no digital or ink jet prints. Also not appropriate: straight silver work and photo transfers.

JUROR - Photo Alchemy will be juried by Laura Moya, executive director of Photolucida, a non-profit that works with emerging photographers, organizing their biennial Reviews festival and managing their publications. She has curated the exhibits Resurrection: A New Look at Old Processes at 23 Sandy Gallery, and Borderline/Safekeeping at the Lishui Photography Festival. Laura has lectured at the Pingyao Photography Festival in China, and written interview pieces for Griffin Museum of Photography and Finite Foto. She has performed portfolio reviews nationally and internationally, most recently at Atlanta Celebrates Photography and Lenswork/Fotofest in Paris.

DEADLINE – All entries must be received by February 22, 2010.

MORE INFO – Click here for a complete prospectus and entry form.

Happy Creating!

Above image: © Galina Kurlat, Specimen 5. Contact C-Print from wet plate collodion negative. A popular image featured of our Resurrection alternative process show way back in 2008.

It's Time for Winter Break

2010-12-21T10:39:00.000-08:00

Through January 26th!

23 Sandy will be closed for winter break through January 26, 2011. But, we are around (and working!) most of the month. If you need to pick up art or would like an appointment please contact Laura. We are very generous with appointments if there is something you need during the break.

Also during January we will be heading to Los Angeles and San Diego to peddle artist books. Contact Laura if you'd like to arrange a visit.

In The Meantime
Our inventory of unique and limited edition artist books is always available for perusing on our online catalog here. We will be shipping web and phone orders during the break.

And Coming Soon
Join us when we re-open on January 27 for and exciting new exhibition titled Photo Book Works. This international exhibition of artists’ books incorporating photography as a primary element debuted at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver in November and we are thrilled to have it travel here to 23 Sandy Gallery. Photo Book Works was juried by Mia Semingson, a photographer, book binder and educator in Boulder, Colorado. For this exhibition, Semingson selected the work of 31 artists from the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia. Online catalog coming soon.

Check out our Artists in Inventory here.

Last Weekend for Helen Hiebert and Sue Huggins Leopard

2010-12-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

Today, Friday and Saturday ONLY
Noon - 6:00 p.m.

Hard to believe how time flies! But, really don't I say that every month? Join us for one last weekend with Helen Hiebert's String Theory. A beautiful, elegant exhibition of string drawings embedded between lovely sheets of nearly transluent handmade paper. Also, showing for the last weekend artist books by Sue Huggins Leopard. Her book works inspired by the likes of Emily Dickinson, Marcel Proust and other literary idols are just gorgeous.

After Saturday the gallery will be closed until January 27th when we open with a show of photographic artist books.

Oh, and Happy Holidays!

Congratulations Jim Lommasson

2010-12-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

Jim has been featured in a few shows here at 23 Sandy—most recently our Book Power show back in June. Jim's book, titled I Wouldn't Wish War on My Worst Ememy is a powerful and haunting compilation of photographs and words from returning Iraq war vets.

This book was acquired from this show by Reed College and is currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Craft's new show, Object Focus: The Book. Be sure to catch this amazing selection of artist books from the Reed College collection. It is an in-depth overview of the many different avenues of the book arts world, ranging from Fluxus to German conceptual artist books to modern experiments in the book form.

Check out Jim's book here. We still have this book for sale here in the gallery with all proceeds from the sale benefiting two non-profits that work with vets. Stop by the museum or the gallery to see this remarkable book sometime soon.

You can learn more about the exhibition at the museum, which runs through February 26, 2011 by clicking here.

Congrats, Jim!

Join us for The Social Knotwork Project

2010-11-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

First Friday
December 3, 2010
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Join us on First Friday, December 3 for a very special event with Helen Hiebert — The Social Knotwork Project. Helen’s current artwork in the gallery involves untying knots and trapping the resulting string drawings between sheets of handmade paper. To encourage community participation, Helen is creating a knot database and you can contribute a knot to the project. Just tie a traditional knot or make up your own knot using string, thread or cord and drop it off at the gallery sometime during the month of November. Then join us on First Friday to watch Helen make paper with the knots contributed. If you sew, fish, tie your shoes, crochet, rock climb, knit, or sail you’ll have a great time at this very special First Friday event. In the meantime check out Helen's amazing knots here.

Black [and White!] Friday at 23 Sandy

2010-11-22T18:28:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 26, 2010

Noon - 6:00 p.m.

Please join us on Black Friday, November 26 for a little bit of post-Thanksgiving inspiration at 23 Sandy Gallery. All day on Friday we are offering 20% off anything black and white in the gallery. Photography, paintings, broadsides, or books—current show or back room goodies. If the art is black and white, it is 20% off. You can preview our Artists in Inventory here. (And, remember, the artist still gets their full share. That 20% is on 23 Sandy!)

And, just in case you are still hungry, we will be serving tea and cookies all day. We are featuring two very special selections of black and white teas courtesy of a lovely new teashop in our neighborhood called The Jasmine Pearl. If you have time, be sure to stop in and relax at their tea bar. Heather and her crew just celebrated their sixth anniversary as a tea maker by opening a new retail shop and tasting room just two blocks from the gallery. It's a great addition to our fun little neighborhood.

See you Friday!

(Offer applies only to in-gallery purchases. No phone or online orders, please.)

Above image: Red Gloves by Heidi Kirkpatrick.

Kazanjian on Gizmodo!

2010-11-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to 23 Sandy Gallery artist Jim Kazanjian on his post today on Gizmodo. By mid-day he had already received 40,000 hits on his page. Jim is currently creating a new body work for his upcoming 2011 solo show here at the gallery. Can't wait to see what warped new concoctions he comes up with!

See the Gizmodo story here.

In the meantime stop by to see the works we have in inventory in the gallery. Or, see his online catalog here.

Artist Talk & Poetry Reading - TONIGHT!

2010-11-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Helen Hiebert & Carl Adamshick
Monday, November 15, 2010
7:00 p.m.

Join us for a very special evening with Helen Hiebert and Carl Adamshick. Helen's String Theory suite is accompanied by a commissioned poem titled Similar Lives by Portland poet and recent Walt Whitman Award winner Adamshick. Come hear about the inspiration behind their collaboration.

Featured Poem in Today's Oregonian

2010-11-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

Did you see Alan Braden's poem featured in the Poetry column in today's Oregonian? It's about the "brute geometry" of horses. This poem is featured in an artist book we carry here at 23 Sandy of the same title, "Details of the Four Chambers to the Horse's Heart." A fine book by area letterpress printer Joseph Green using the full text of Braden's poem.

Excerpt of text reads:

Listen. The last time I saw my father
alive, he spoke of horses, the brute geometry
of a broken team in motion. He tallied
the bushels of oats, gallons of water
down to the drop each task would cost.
How Belgians loved hardwood hames the most.
Give them the timber sled at logging camp
any day, the workable meadows in need
of leveling, tilling, harrowing, new seeding.
We could've been in our dark loafing shed,
cooling off between loads of chopping hay,
the way he carried on that last good day.
With proper encouragement, he said,
they would work themselves to death.

Learn more about this book here.

Two Lectures + One Workshop = One Fun Weekend!

2010-11-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

Visiting Artist Talk and Demo
with Andie Thrams
Saturday, November 13
4:00 p.m.

California artist Andie Thrams is well known for her gorgeous painted books. She works in the wild, often remote, western forests creating a collection of illuminated field journal pages that chronicle forest experiences with drawing, painting, and writing. Andie will be visiting Portland and we hope you'll join us to hear more about her work and see her demonstrate the unique techniques that make her books so special. Andie was featured in our recent Book Power show here at 23 Sandy.

******************************************

Color Mixing Magic: The Autumn Color Palette
A Workshop with Andie Thrams
Sunday, November 14
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

If you've forgotten, never knew, or just want to delve more deeply into the language of color, come and find out how to get the colors you seek down on paper with ease and pleasure. We'll work both systematically and intuitively, to create a beautiful color wheel and complete other studies. Our experiments will focus on the autumn palette, inspired by fall subjects such as leaves, acorns and fungi. This workshop will deepen your awareness of how colors interact, what colors you are drawn to, and demonstrate how to make use of this powerful knowledge in future projects. $95 including materials. For more info, a supply list and registration please contact Andie directly at (530) 647-6947 or andiethrams@earthlink.net.

******************************************

Artist Talk & Poetry Reading with Helen Hiebert and Carl Adamshick
Monday, November 15

7:00 p.m.

Join us for a very special evening with Helen Hiebert and Carl Adamshick. Helen's String Theory suite is accompanied by a commissioned poem titled Similar Lives by Portland poet and recent Walt Whitman Award winner Carl Adamshick. Come hear these two very talented artists talk about the inspiration behind their collaboration. Preview Helen's show here.

*****************************************

You can always find a list of upcoming events on Events page on our web site. Click here to check out other upcoming special events.

Two Exciting Workshops in November

2010-10-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Shadow Lantern Workshop with Helen Hiebert
Sunday, November 21, 2010
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

In this workshop, participants will create a shadow lantern, composed of lightweight wooden panels featuring cut-outs that cast shadows onto a second layer of paper. The unique flexible Japanese hinge flexes in both directions, creating a versatile structure that can be assembled as a book, lantern or screen.

Fee: $50 + $10 materials. Click here for registration information.

********************************************

Color Mixing Magic: The Autumn Color Palette
A Workshop with Andie Thrams
Sunday, November 14, 2010
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

If you've forgotten, never knew, or just want to delve more deeply into the language of color, come and find out how to get those colors you seek down on paper with ease and pleasure. We'll work both systematically and intuitively, creating a beautiful color wheel and other studies. Our experiments will focus on the autumn palette, inspired by fall subjects such as leaves, acorns and fungi. Our practice will deepen your awareness of how colors interact, what colors you are drawn to, and how to make use of this powerful knowledge in future projects . $95 including materials. For more info, a supply list and registration please contact Andie directly at (530) 647-6947 or andiethrams@earthlink.net.

********************************************

Both of these workshops are being organized by the artists themselves, not by 23 Sandy, so please contact the artist directly for more information, questions or registration.

Happy creating!

Gallery Artist Accolades

2010-10-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

Heidi Kirkpatrick, a regular 23 Sandy Gallery artist and crowd favorite, has been selected for an Honorable Mention Award in the Photography Book Now competition. This major international annual competition is sponsored by Blurb and this year included such esteemed jurors as Darius Himes of Radius Books. Heidi won in the Portfolio Category for her beautiful book, Lost and Found.

In other news, Heidi's series of photographs titled Stories was recently accepted into Blue Sky Gallery's Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers here in Portland.

Stop by sometime soon to see the gorgeous works by Heidi in gallery inventory.

Congratulations Heidi!

Last Day for Pop-Up Now!

2010-10-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hard to Believe, isn't it? The six weeks of our amazingly popular pop-up artist books show have been just incredible. At some point today we will (hopefully!) reach 600 visitors for this show—a gallery record!

Thank you to all of the artists who made Pop-Up Now such a huge success with their feats of paper engineering.

Thank you to the Movable Book Society for kicking of the show with their super fun weekend conference here in Portland.

Thank you to video journalist Bob Bullock at KATU, for his gorgeous segment that aired on AM Northwest.

Thank you to Kartrina Sarson and her merry camera and sound crew who created a first-ever "Art Beat Extra" segment that aired on Oregon Art Beat just because they loved the show so much. The number of people who came to the gallery after seeing the show was astounding.

Thank you to Deborah and Steve for sitting the gallery while I went off and peddled books in San Francisco. Silly to schedule a trip during the busiest show in gallery history, for sure, but who knew?

You all contributed to an amazing show that couldn't have happened without you and I appreciate you all.

Pop-Up Now on AM Northwest TV

2010-10-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to write with an update on our amazing Pop-Up Now show. First, I must report that this show has been so busy its hard to believe! We've been swamped with book lovers, art lovers and everyone in between. Thanks to everyone involved in this fantastic show.

Pop-Up Now was recently featured on AM Northwest, our local ABC TV affiliate's morning show. Catch the clip here.

Enjoy!

Photo credit: Erotica Botanica by Catherine Alice Michaelis

Pop-Up Now on Oregon Art Beat

2010-10-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

Congrats to all the Pop-Up Now artists who caught the eye of Katrina and the crew of Oregon Art Beat TV show. The books all look just amazing in the video that aired Thursday night. Check it out at the link.

CALL FOR ENTRIES - Corvallis, Oregon

2010-10-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

“UN-SPEAK-ABLE”
A National Juried Exhibition of Artist Books
Exhibition dates: March 4-April 2, 2011
Location: The Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon
EXTENDED Deadline for entries: October 15, 2010

EXTENDED Submission deadline for postmarked entries is October 15, 2010.

Description:
The Arts Center will host a national juried exhibit of book arts, to include all book art practices. We seek “books” of all shapes, forms, and media - altered books, bindings, unique pieces, samples of small editions, books with imagery, books with calligraphy and so forth. With the exhibit we will introduce the medium of artist books in its broadest sense to the Corvallis community; it will show the range of what an “artist-book” could be. The title and theme of the exhibit “Un-speak-able” refers to the fact that a word can have many interpretations, and at times a picture is worth a thousand words. A few definitions for the term are...”communication beyond the spoken word, miscommunication, inadequacy of the spoken word, incapable of being described in words, unbelievable, restricted speech, nonsense, lost languages, appalling.” How would you define “unspeakable”?

Juror: Barbara Tetenbaum, Professor and Book Arts Department Head at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, is the founder of Triangular Press, her artist book imprint. Her books are exhibited and collected in the United States and abroad. In turn she is an avid collector herself. She is the recipient of the 2010 Sally Bishop Faculty Fellowship at the Center for the Book in New York City as well as a 2010 RACC Project Grant. Other awards include an Oregon Arts Fellowship, other RACC grants and two Fulbright Fellowships. Tetenbaum earned her MFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago.
Websites: http://www.vampandtramp.com.html/home.html
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/artist_book/staircase.html

Awards: The juror will select cash awards from the actual work, while having selected participants from digital images.

Fee: There is $15 submission fee. Invited artists are asked to pay all shipping expenses. The fee will be used for juror’s fee and cash awards for artists.

For complete Entry Guidelines go to: www.theartscenter.net/exhibitions/call-to-artists/un-
speak-able

Bookmarks VIII : Escaping the Library System

2010-10-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

At 23 Sandy Now through February 2011

The Bookmarks projects series is curated by 23 Sandy Gallery artist Sarah Bodman who is a book arts research fellow at the University of the West of England. With this unique project Sarah’s aim is to encourage appreciation of work in the format of the artist's book. Participating artists each hand-produce an edition of 100 signed and numbered bookmarks to give away through distribution boxes at venues around the world. Each bookmark has the website address which brings visitors to the gallery of artworks online.

Over the last six years the Bookmarks series of free artwork distribution has visited 60 venues in Italy, The Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, France, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Singapore, Turkey, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Cyprus, Croatia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and the USA. Over 280 artists have contributed more than 28,000 bookmarks to the eight projects to date.

Editioned bookmarks are collated into sets; one full set being sent to each of the contributing artists and the rest divided and sent in distribution boxes to participating galleries, bookstores and libraries around the world, for visitors to take for free.

Bookmarks VIII Escaping the Library System 2010-2011 - has a twist - this time, it was library staff making them rather than distributing them. Quite a few previous bookmarks makers have been librarians, so Sarah thought she would ask library workers to infiltrate some non-library venues with their own bookmarks.

23 Sandy is thrilled to be a distribution venue for the librarian bookmarks. Each month, through February we will put out a new batch of bookmarks. So, stop by and take your pick from this inspiring, community-building project.

First Friday Tonight!

2010-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Please join us for an artists reception for Pop-Up Now tonight from 5-8 p.m. It's a terrific chance to see the show, enjoy the gallery hopping crowd and get a chance to meet a few of the artists. See you soon!

Spreading the Gospel of Artist Books!

2010-09-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a video clip of my talk at Ignite Portland last week. 650 people at the Bagdad Theater. Not nearly as awful to watch as I thought it would be! Congrats to the many local and not so local artists who got the spotlight on stage including Stewart Harvey, Jim Lommasson, Sue Collard, MJ Linford, Susan Lowdermilk, Roberta Lavadour, Edgar Papazian, David Kearns, Paul Johnson, Colette Fu and many, many more.

Congratulations Prize Winners!

2010-09-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

Wow. What an exciting weekend for Pop-Up Now. Opened the show on Wednesday to a super crowd of folks who came to Portland a day early to catch the show. Then lectured to 650 people on Thursday night about artist books, including many of the books from the show. Then, Friday morning, lecture and award ceremony at The Movable Book Society conference. Then, a TV crew filmed the show in the gallery on Friday afternoon (link soon, hopefully). Then, Friday evening reception for all of the fantastically fanatic conference attendees. Then, a book fair at the conference on Saturday. Whew, what a weekend. Needless to say I was glued to my couch all day on Sunday and now it's going to take a week to dig out from under the madness.

Congratulations to the following artists who received awards from our three marvelous jurors: Ellen Rubin, Larry Seidman and Jill Timm. I have to tell you that they had a very tough job. Deciding who got into the show was hard enough, but deciding the prize winners was even tougher. Our jurors puzzled over the books and negotiated into the wee hours on Wednesday night to come up with this list. Our undying gratitude again for their hard work. So, without further delay, here are the winners:

Best of Show, Unique (One-of-a-Kind) Book - Kevin Steele for The Movable Book of Letterforms

Best of Show, Editioned Book - Mary Jeanne Linford for Tool Box

Juror's Choice Award - Sue Collard for her Small Museum of Nature and Industry

Juror's Choice Award - Kitty Maryatt and Her Scripps College Press Students for Arch

Juror's Choice Award - Linda Johnson for Blessing Bowl

Gallery Choice Award - Elsi Vassdal Ellis for There Goes the Neighborhood

Kevin and Mary Jeanne both will receive a copy of The Movable Book Society's 10th Anniversary Special Limited Edition boxed set. (Thank you Larry Seidman and Ann Montenaro for donating these treasured prizes.) All award winners will receive a one-year membership to The Movable Book Society. Elsi also wins a solo show in the gallery sometime in 2011.

Congratulations again to everyone who is a part of this show. It really is a top-notch show and we are so honored to have your amazing work here at the gallery.

Call for Entries

2010-09-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

The Book as Art: Hand2Hand

Guest Curator: MalPina Chan
Location: Columbia City Gallery, Seattle, WA

Exhibition dates: Nov. 17, 2010 to Jan. 9, 2011

The theme for our second Book Arts exhibition at Columbia City Gallery is INTERACTION—from the artist's hands to the viewer's hands.

Media: This exhibit is open to artist books created as either editioned or one-of-a kind. Sculptural books, book objects, tunnel books, pop-ups or pop-outs, books with pull-tabs or flaps, altered books are encouraged as long as the book has interactive, movable elements. Your books can employ any medium, any style, and any size.

Please contact MalPina Chan for more information.
Email: mchanbookarts@yahoo.com
Phone: 360-866-8846

Movable Book Society Book Sale Welcomes Visitors!

2010-09-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 25, 3:00-5:00 p.m.

The Movable Book Society invites the public to the book sale portion of its Portland conference on Saturday, September 25 from 3-5pm in the Hilton Portland Executive Tower Salon Ballroom. The sale will include about 20 vendors--book artists and engineers, publishers, and collectors-- with merchandise oriented to pop-up and movable book enthusiasts.

A few tables may become available to local vendors, depending on space. If you are interested, please contact Anne Avery at anne.avery@comcast.net.

The Movable Book Society was organized in 1993 to provide a forum for collectors, artists, curators, book sellers, book producers and others to share enthusiasm and exchange information about pop-up and movable books. The Society has nearly 450 members worldwide.

For more info contact:
Anne N. Avery
Anne Avery Graphic Design
503.697.6210; cell 503.544.4174

Artist Talk with Stewart Harvey

2010-09-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today! 4:00 p.m.

Please join us for an artist talk with Stewart Harvey. Stewart show in the gallery this month, titled "I Am What I Need To Be," is a rich essay on the character and characters of New Orleans. Come join us to hear his stories and be sure to ask about the shop keeper who promised to shoot him in the foot!

New Monthly Gallery Newsletter

2010-08-31T16:03:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it is almost September already!

Our summer break was terrific but we are ready to get back into the swing of things. Very excited to open up two new shows this month with Stewart Harvey and Graham Schodda. We just sent out our monthly gallery email newsletter. In case you are not on our email mailing list, you can read it here.

See you soon for some very cool characters.

Prize Pop-Ups!

2010-08-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that we are working so hard right now on our late September/October show. How did it get to be so late in the year already! The first pop-up book for the show arrived today. Unpacking the books for a new show is always a little bit like Christmas. One of my favorite parts of my job.

We finally have a list of prizes prepared for the Pop-Up Now show. The jurors will arrive in Portland for the Movable Book Society conference on Thursday, September 23 and will come visit the gallery to choose which books will get the prizes, which will be awarded at a special reception for conference attendees on Friday evening.

Two "Best of Show" winners in the categories of best limited-edition book and best one-of-a-kind book will each receive a copy of the Movable Book Society 10th Anniversary Special Limited Edition boxed set, which contains pop-ups and movable reproductions from some of the most famous historical creators in the field. This highly sought-after collectible is being donated by two of our jurors from their own personal collections.

My own copy of this piece has served as inspiration for my work many, many times. You can see a video of this work here. Or see it listed on Robert Sabuda's web site here. I just did a search for it and found one dealer who has it listed for sale for $550. What a cool prize!

One artist will receive the "Gallery Choice Award" and will receive a solo show in the book room at 23 Sandy Gallery to be scheduled sometime in 2011.

Three artists will receive "Juror's Choice Awards" of a free one-year membership to the Movable Book Society.

Now comes the hard part of choosing the winners. The jurors have their work cut out for them. There are just so many great works in the show that it could take them hours to decide.

Image: Enchanted Garden by Paul Johnson. Just one of the many fabulous books you'll see in Pop-Up Now!