My ‘Telescope Book’ Class is the first in a series titled ‘Books that Pop, Move, and Go BOOM!’, offered by Seattle Center for Book Arts (SCBA). The three classes, including Flag Book with Karen Vance Chickadeleach and Jacob’s Ladder with Chandler O’Leary, take place on consecutive Sunday evenings from 7-10pm, starting with my class on Feb 22 (Click here then click on Yvonne Jenks & Evelyn Finley to read what two artists say about their Telescope Books).

Click SCBA for information on all three classes in the ‘Books that Pop, Move, and Go BOOM!’ series, instructor bios, registration details, additional classes, resources and more.

Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year filled with peace, joy and prosperity!

Seattle and surrounding areas got hit pretty hard with snow for about a week starting on the 19th. Photos above were taken on December 23rd on Queen Anne right out side our front door. Downtown buildings are visible in the background in the top image. We were snowed in for 6 days - very surreal and unusual for Seattle.

Tim Hammonds, inventor of the Scor-it Board and Scor-it Mini (my favorite paper craft and bookbinding tools) has featured me in his current E-Newsletter. Once there you can read my bio and  interview questions, watch my YouTube video with instructions for Easel Card and Slider Card from my book CARDS THAT POP-UP, FLIP & SLIDE, read about the Kodak World’s Largest Photo Album, see images of two recent matchbox projects and more.

June Sekiguchi on PATTERN PLAY
I explore pattern in a cultural context. I am interested in the transition where universal patterns evolve into an ethnic identity and how that further synthesizes into a significant personal aesthetic. Pattern in this continuum is a result of an extensive study of the arts, particularly textiles and architectural details from the historic Silk Road regions. The Silk Road was a network of trading routes ranging from the Far East through Central Asia and the Middle East to the Mediterranean. It served as a conduit for the reciprocal flow of ideas, necessities, and expressions of  art, craft, and design. I find great meaning in the idea of the Silk Road as a metaphor for cross-cultural exchange, and I see a timely relevance of the importance to achieve cultural understanding of these regions in our world today.

Judy and I were hanging out last month at All City Coffee, and I picked up a post card with a photo of a beautifully painted, intricate wooden sculpture. The piece, titled ‘Jack’, is pictured below. It is one of artist June Sekiguchi’s many sculptures in her solo exhibit ‘Pattern Play’ at ARTXchange Gallery in Pioneer Square.

Title: Jack • Media - acrylic on scrollcut wood • 24 x 24 x 24 inches • 'Drop...bounce...collect...is a repetitive cycle in the child's game of jacks. Inherent in the process is an increase of skill with a progressive difficulty of success. Jack is an interpretation of a piece of the game manifested by the intersection of planes' • June Sekiguchi

We decided to go to the gallery and check out the exhibit. Lauren Davis, the gallery manager, greeted us warmly and shared a virtual goldmine of information about June and her art as we examined each piece in the exhibit. We learned from Lauren that June would be demonstrating her scrollcutting technique the next evening in Issaquah as part of Artists in Action.

We met June at this event and watched as she operated her scrollsaw and worked on a piece. She had lots of cut wood pieces on hand and she encouraged us and other viewers to pick them up and handle them freely. June’s patterns consist of numerous holes cut into each piece of wood, and to do this, she first drills a small hole into the negative space of each area to be cut out, then carefully feeds the scrollsaw blade through one of the holes and connects it to her saw, then starts cutting. She repeats the process for each cutout shape. It’s a hugely time-consuming process and requires lots of skill.

Title: Ripple Effect • Media - acrylic on scrollcut wood • 22 x 22 x 9 inches • 'Mandalas radiate from the center outward as in a ripple effect' • June Sekiguchi

June’s work in ‘Pattern Play’ consists of intricately scrollcut and painted pieces of wood, layered and combined in various ways to create tactile sculptures with a beautiful play of shadows and positive and negative space. Having done a little scroll cutting in the past, I am very impressed with the complex patterns in June’s work. As it turns out, ‘Pattern Play’ is a very apt title for the wide range of work in June’s exhibit.

Ajrak Series, 2008 • Media - acrylic on scrollcut wood • 24 x 24 x 3 inches • 'This ongoing series of wall-hung sculpture draws from the Ajrak fabric printing technique native to the Sindh region of Pakistan. The original woodblock printing process is deconstructed by keeping the layers separate so that the positive and negative spaces become sculptural. Layering the patterned screens obscures what is behind while adding the depth and texture of cast shadows' • June Sekiguchi

Here’s a quote from the press release for June’s exhibit prepared by ARTXchange Gallery:

The centerpiece of PATTERN PLAY is a group of interchangeable ‘Stacking Blocks’, intricately scrollcut in iconic patterns from Southeast Asia to Northwest Africa. The collection is based on the basic shapes of children’s building blocks. By increasing the proportions, Sekiguchi plays with memory of building blocks to form a new experience. Children’s blocks in such a large scale become overwhelmingly architectural, reminding the viewer of the relationship of simple shapes to all human construction. June Sekiguchi will be present at ARTXchange Gallery periodically throughout the exhibition to rearrange and reconfigure the installation.

June Sekiguchi (on the left) with ARTXchange Gallery Director Cora Edmonds, standing in front of STACKED BUILDING BOXES (interchangeable sets), 2008, acrylic on scrollcut wood, various sizes, from 13 x 13 x 13 inches to 36 x 12 x 18 inches

June’s exhibit, Pattern Play, runs through Dec 31 at ARTXchange Gallery, 512 First Avenue South, Seattle WA, 98104
Phone - 206-839-0377
website - www.artxchange.org
A beautiful, full color catalog is available for $15

First public display of ARTISTS VILLAGE, along with a framed description of the collaborative project and a telescope book model, made by Betty Schlicting.

Last month I blogged about ARTISTS VILLAGE, a project created by 11 ‘Escape Artists’. Each artist used the basic project from my Telescope Book Class as a starting point, and created an entire ‘village’ with a total of 40 different shops! You can view images of the buildings made by each artist in my November post.

Judy and I drove out to Edmonds last week to see ARTISTS VILLAGE in person for the first time, at the Frances Anderson Center, where it will be on display through December 14. It was exciting to see how each artist used my three-part, articulated telescope book structure in clever and exciting ways, adding awnings, courtyards, roof tops and more to create the unique and charming buildings.

Artists Village will be displayed at the Lynnwood Public Library during the month of February, 2009.

The Village base measures 21.5" x 28" and the tallest building is 13.5" - Click on this image for a larger view