Art 'n Soul Rubber Stamp Store in Lacey, Washington

WIRE-EDGE BINDINGS is my newest 1-day class, and consists of two book projects bound on the edges with wire. This versatile binding style was developed by Daniel Kelm, and can be readily adapted to create simple and complex book structures and articulated sculptural objects. When Daniel lectured to the Washington Book Arts Guild in 2000, I was completely blown away with his wire-edge objects. Some were quite ‘book-like’ and others were mind boggling interactive sculptures. I examined them closely and didn’t have a clue as to how they were constructed! My hat is off to Daniel for a most intriguing binding style.

I taught my WIRE-EDGE BINDINGS class yesterday at Art ‘n Soul. One of the two book structures has four pockets with removable pop-ups, and the other book has French doors and holds a tiny pamphlet-stitched book in a cavity on the inside. Both books are bound with a super simple version of wire-edge binding.

The artists pictured below proudly display their wire-edge books.

Judy Daugherty

Top view of one of Judy's books

Julie Shannon

Store owner Susie Tracy made these wire-edge books and portfolio

Artist Nancy Brones also made two wire-edge books yesterday. The photo below, however, shows us with the fabulous gift she presented to me at the beginning of the class. She learned to make Piano Hinge Books in a previous class at Art ‘n Soul, and constructed this one outside of class from vintage printed piano ephemera. Click on the photo to view a larger image and read the two-page spread just above the band with the word ‘piano’ on it. This spread IS one of the folios in the bookblock!! Nancy cleverly incorporated the printed pieces throughout the entire structure, including piano keys along the foredges. Thank you, Nancy, for this treasured gift!

I just got home from the 28th International Conference for Lettering Artists. This week-long, action-packed Conference took place 30 miles west of Chicago, at North Central College, in the beautiful residential Historic District of Naperville, IL. Many of the immaculately maintained homes in Naperville date back to the late 1800’s, with large yards and mature trees in abundance. Just walking around the campus each day was a visual treat. In short, Naperville provided an ideal setting for Letters Mingle Souls.

(And here’s a little bit of trivia for you – the Naperville Library is consistently ranked the #1 public Library in the United States).

Dave Wood (Australia), Annie Cicale (US), Georgia Deaver (US), Jacqueline Sullivan (US), Linda Hancock (US), Yves Leterme (Belgium)

Thirty nine instructors taught 2.5 and 5-day classes and 25 instructors taught 1.5 hour mini classes throughout the week. I sat with the six instructors shown above at the faculty appreciation lunch at the end of the Conference. Notice the smiles on the faces of these instructors? I shot this photo at the Faculty Appreciation Luncheon just before we received our paychecks, presented to us in a beautiful wood and tile keepsake box.

Here’s the breakdown on the week’s events:

Saturday, July 19
Opening Ceremonies, Faculty Introduction, and a performance of INK, a multimedia presentation featuring the Chicago Moving Company dance troupe

Sunday, July 20
WHEN WORDS MOVE: LIVE CALLIGRAPHY AS FILM, presented by Niki Nolin and Brody Neuenschwander
Ice Cream Social sponsored by Paper and Ink Arts

Monday, July 21
IN CONCERT WITH THE LAW OF GRAVITY: MY PERSONAL MADE PUBLIC, presented by Rick Valicenti, Graphic Designer

Tuesday, July 22
Classes end today at 11:30 am, and tours and cruise excursions begin

Wednesday, July 23
THE MUSIC OF INK, performed by Denis Brown
Authors’ Booksignings, sponsored by John Neal, Bookseller
All Chocolate Affair – Handmade Book Auction, sponsored by the Association for the Calligraphic Arts

Thursday, July 24
Calligraphers Night Out, sponsored by the Downtown Naperville Alliance

Friday, July 25
Show & Share, Closing Ceremony, Evening Social and send-off to Minnesota. Live Musical Entertainment by PJ and the Cats

Much more awaited Letters Mingle Souls participants In addition to the above events – eight exhibits (many open to the public, including the artwork on display by faculty and participants), Vendors, the Scribe Store, and Core Memories (a series of video sequences investigating the ’soul of text in motion’), to name just a few! This week was a total sensory overload!

Florida artist Chris Nelson participated in each of my classes – Offbeat Books and Creative Correspondence, and is shown here with some of the many projects she constructed throughout the week. Read her comments on Creative Correspondence – click on Classes at the top of this page, then click on Students Talk.

Instructors and participants viewing student work at the end of Letters Mingle Souls Conference

Projects created in Lisa Engelbrecht’s class ‘The Fine Hand Lettered Art Quilt’

Projects created in Eliza Holiday’s class ‘Sculptured Surfaces: Calligraphy in Three Dimensions’

Projects created in Michael Jacobs’ classes ‘Creative Correspondence’ and ‘Offbeat Books’

Pamela Paulsrud and Linda Barrett inspired these projects in ‘The Spontaneous Mark and Alternative Image Workshop’

Oregon lettering artist Carol DuBosch happily displays two vibrant pages created in Brody Neuenschwander’s class ‘Developing Meaning’

Calgary, Alberta calligrapher Ann Purdy with her beautiful piece from ‘The Spontaneous Mark and Alternative Image Workshop’

Faculty exhibit

Denis Brown, internationally renowned calligrapher from Dublin, Ireland, standing near his piece in the faculty exhibit

(Letters Mingle Souls sponsored the world premier performance of THE MUSIC OF INK on Wednesday evening, in which Denis used ‘huge self-made pens, brushes and unique tools’ to ‘perform and create large-scale calligraphic works drawing on classical traditions combined with the fields of street art, painting and performance art’. Click here to find out more)

Pamela Paulstrud’s and Marilyn Sward’s TREEWHISPERS exhibit

Timothy R. Botts exhibit – ‘The Word Made Visible’

I toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s first home and studio (built in 1889 and 1898, respectively) during the mid-conference break. FLW used these buildings to explore ideas leading to a new and radical American architecture – the Prairie style, with sweeping horizontal planes, dramatic overhangs and continuous bands of art glass windows. I also toured the Robie House (1908-10), a masterpiece of the Prairie style. The Robie House and Wright’s Fallingwater home (1936), are icons of American architecture.

Chicago Shoreline viewed from deck of Spirit of Chicago on dinner cruise

Kristen Doty, Cari Buziak, Andrea Wunderlich and Yours Truly on windy top deck of Spirit of Chicago

German calligrapher Andrea is participating in the International Calligraphy Exhibition in Russia from September 16-21 at the St.Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

Dr. Marcus Eriksen and researcher Joel Paschal aboard JUNK set sail on a 2,100 mile voyage from Southern California to Hawaii June 1st, 2008

Here’s a very sobering excerpt from an article by Summer Bowen in the July CONSCIOUS CHOICE magazine.

The amount of plastic debris currently clogging the world’s oceans – 3.5 million tons and (exponentially) growing – is certainly frightening’. AMRF has already made several trips to the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch,’ a swirling vortex of plastic twice the size of the continental United States

AMRF stands for Algalita Marine Research Foundation, whose mission statement is…

to let the world know about the giant plastic soup we have found in the Central Pacific Gyre and other marine locations so that something can be done to halt this increasing problem before it becomes worse than it already is. We do this with K-12 education programs, making presentations locally, at the state, federal and international levels, by the distribution of our signature video Our Synthetic Sea, and through every facet of the media.

The brief article outlined an amazing adventure that began June 1st, 2008, when Dr. Marcus Eriksen, Director of Research and Education for AMRF (chief sponsor of the voyage), and researcher and filmmaker Joel Paschal set sail on a 2,100 mile voyage from Huntington Beach, California to Hawaii, on a vessel named JUNK, made from 15,000 used plastic bottles with a Cessna 310 airplane body for the cabin. Anna Cummins is the land based third member of the team, and will post updates on the two-man crew’s adventures via the JUNK blog.

Click here to see YouTube video ‘Junk Raft Departing for Hawaii’.

View looking out from main entrance to Red Deer College

I got home from Red Deer, Alberta, yesterday evening and Judy and I immediately went to the Bahn Thai, our favorite Thai restaurant on Queen Anne. Going out to dinner when I get home from a teaching gig is a ritual we’ve observed for many years, and something we look forward to. Sipping wine (Judy) and Thai beer (Michael) on the outdoor deck as we shared Tom Kah soup with chicken and a scrumptious salmon dish was a perfect re-entry into Seattle.

When I arrived in Calgary last Saturday, author Sharon Wildwind was waiting at the airport. We first met Sharon online several years ago when she ordered our book ‘Creative Correspondence’, and we’ve been in touch ever since. Sharon, who lives in Calgary, offered to drive me from the airport to Red Deer College, about 80 miles away! I gratefully accepted, and got to meet this talented artist in person.

My week-long workshop, titled ‘The Book as Sculpture’, was part of SERIES ‘08 SUMMER SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, running May through August at Red Deer College. Each week, a new set of instructors arrives for week long-classes. This year, from July 7-11, 9 instructors taught workshops in clay, welding, painting, mixed-media, drawing, photography and paper and book arts. Highlights included an instructor art exhibit all week long and a student show in the library with an amazing assortment of class projects produced during the week.

Instructors and class titles for week July 7-11:

1. Kathy Triplett • Handbuilding Sculptural Wall Tiles
2. Jacqueline Sullivan • Marks and Metals
3. Ross Bradley • Open Studio – The Figure
4. Ken Flett • Bricolage
5. Isabelle Hunt-Johnson • The Versatility of Watercolour
6. Dwight Arthur • The Art of Photography
7. Sam Johnson • Introduction to Welding for Atists
8. John Cooper and Kathleen Pemberton • Colour Theory
9. Bev Tosh • Figure Painting Workshop

Barbara, Marie, Jacquelyn, Celia & Sheila (l-r) gather around projects created in my class The BOOK AS SCULPTURE. Barbara and and Celia (Edmonton, Alberta) are mother and daughter, Marie (Edmonton, Alberta), Jacquelyn (Medicine Hat, Alberta), and Sheila (Sydney, Australia) are sisters

This was a wonderful experience, a great week and I feel like I’ve been given the gift of countless ideas and possible variations to take home. THANK YOU!

Barbara Johnston

Students, Instructors and the public view student work on display in the Red Deer College library

Calligrapher, Artist and Instructor Jacqueline Sullivan stands near a small sampling of the work created by the students in her MARKS AND METALS workshop

Visitors gather around the tiles created in Kathy Triplett’s workshop HANDBUILDING SCULPTURAL WALL TILES

Tomorrow morning I’ll be driving north to Edmonds, Washington (this time singing along with Jimmy Buffet), to be interviewed by Karen Landey, creator of Indie Arts DVD Magazine. I’ll be the featured artist in issue #9, and I’ve been dusting and packing lots of art and craft creations the past couple of days to bring to the shoot, which will take place at ArtWorks. Click on Karen’s Blog to find out more about Indie Arts and click here to see YouTube clips from Indie Arts first anniversary.