Wednesday Exhibitions: Sarah Langworthy, Morpho Terrestre

Sarah Langworthy, Morpho Terrestre (2006)

Happy Leap Day, everyone! February 29th only comes around once every four years, so it's a great day to celebrate. Today we'll be taking a closer look at the rare beauty of Sarah Langworthy's combination of letterpress and book art in Morpho Terrestre (2006).

Langworthy's work is a small book of 10 gatefold pages on Sakamoto paper, bound with Japanese Multi Section binding using silk thread. The paper alone is soft and beautiful, but perhaps the most stunning part of the book is the beautiful, bold, and feeling of simultaneous depth and shallowness—like looking into a stream—of Langworthy's visual images.

The deepness of Morpho Terrestre was achieved through a process of layering ink upon ink: placing one color, allowing it to dry, and following it up with another image. Langworthy's visuals do not only use printed ink, however, but places a layer of ink painting in between. This can been seen especially well at right, where the layers of gray look like a watercolor painting: thin, soft, lightly brushed on the paper. The blue, however, looks thicker, deeper, both in its overlay and alone as the flowers on the top. The combination of these colors and styles make the paper no long seem to be paper, but a three-dimensional look into nature.

Nature is the main theme of Langworthy's piece, with the images inspired by (in her words) "various plants, roots, and leaves found in late winter/early spring." The pages contain images of mountains, flowers, leaves, streams, all in the subdued tones of purples and grays juxtaposed with bright whites and blues. The paper, dyed and printed unevenly, adds even more depth to the piece and gives it a pure and natural feel.

One of my favorite parts of Langworthy's piece is her use of poetry, written by Emily Wilson, alongside the visual images. While book arts do not necessarily need to have type involved, I find the mixture of language and color one of the most satisfying parts of any book. Poetry creates a visual and emotion as it is read, and that is conveyed even better when seen next to these paintings. Having the poems printed on the same sheets of paper (just the opposite side) of the images also make the poems feel organic, part of the pulped wood of paper and paint, part of the bits of nature Langworthy collected and scanned. Overall, the entire Morpho Terrestre feels like it sounds: a piece of the changing earth, capturing a glimpse of its cold nights and brisk, dim mornings, and placing the beauty of that alongside the beauty of poetry.

Sarah Langworthy's Morpho Terrestre can be seen until March 31st in the Center for Book Art's main exhibition, Fine & Dirty: Contemporary Letterpress Art. Admission, as always, is free!

For more information about Fine & Dirty, as well as our Featured Artist Projects, visit http://www.centerforbookarts.org/exhibits/

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about your favorite (or least favorite) piece of book art, either in our exhibition or somewhere else? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Tuesday Typefaces: Lydian

Lydian

This week's typeface is an interesting one: a modern, sans-serif typeface that still retains some qualities of the more old-fashioned calligraphy scripts. Lydian, designed by Warren Chappell for American Type Founders in 1938, lacks the extensions of letters at its terminals that would make it a serif face, but is also markedly different from last week's Futura, a typeface known for the equal weight of each line. Like a calligraphy text, Lydian's letters narrow around curves (and additional strokes, as in the "y") and thicken for straight lines. The dot of the "i," a small diamond, also looks just as if it came from a calligraphy pen.

Lydian Cursive

Though not as versatile as other typefaces, Lydian manages to have an elegant feel without being difficult to read, making it good for invitations, envelopes, and the main text of signs. The diamond shape of its punctuation (seen especially well in periods and colons) as well as its delicate curves (particularly in the ampersand [&]) also add a classical feel to the text, making it useful for older letters and certificates.

Lydian was a popular typeface when it came out, with its additional styles and weights all released in an eight-year period. In 1938, Lydian, Lydian Italic, Lydian Bold, and Lydian Bold Italic all appeared on the market. Quite soon after, in October of 1939, a US patent was granted. These were followed by Lydian Cursive, an alternate and more ornate variant in 1940, and Lydian Condensed and Lydian Condensed Italic, both released in 1946.

Lydian is also a typeface that has appeared in surprising and different ways, perhaps saying something about its versatility and elegant, yet modern, style. In the 1960s and early 1970s, actress Lucille Ball used it for the end credits in both The Lucy Show (1962-8) and Here's Lucy (1968-1974). At the same time, the International Baccalaureate Organization was using it for its document headings (if you ever took the IBs, you've seen it!) and continued to use it until 2007.

Most familiar for our readers would be also be its most contemporary use: as the typeface of choice in the on-screen end credits of the television series Friends (1994-2004)!

-Christina Squitieri
Have any stories about your favorite (or least favorite) typeface? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Monday Methods: The Kelsey Press

A Kelsey Press

Welcome to Monday Methods! Today we're going to be exploring the Kelsey Press, a type of hand press that is used for small-scale printing projects. The Kelsey Company produced hand presses from the 1870s through the 1980s, and for some letterpress artists throughout the years, the Kelsey is the first press you learn on: it's inexpensive, perfect for single projects (such as a card), and simple to use!

 

A basic use of the Kelsey press requires only a few small steps to begin printing. First, type is set in a composing stick, letter by letter, line by line, and spaced out so that you have a justified block of type. This block of type is called a form. The form is transferred to the chase. The chase keeps the text, spacing material (blank spaces around the work), and leading (spaces between lines) tightly together and prevents anything from wiggling, sliding, or falling out. Once the type is set and placed inside the chase, the form is locked into place using expandable pieces of metal that exert pressure on the form to keep it in place called quoins. Then a small amount of ink is applied, often with a small hand roller, to the ink plate. 

 

After that, rollers, taking ink from the ink plate, coat the type that has been set inside the chase. The paper you would like the text to be printed on is placed against a flat surface opposite the type. A handle is then pulled, slowly and carefully, levering the two surfaces together and pressing the inked text against the sheet of paper to create an impression. As seen in the diagrams, in five steps you have a hand-printed sheet of paper!

The Kelsey Company manufactured the Excelsior Press for about 100 years (1875-1975) and it was a popular press for young boys to learn printing on for many decades. The small scale of the press and its ease of operation make it a great introduction to the art of letterpress, and many artist-including the founder of the Center for Book Arts, Richard Minsky!- got their feet wet with a Kelsey.

Of course, fine letterpress printing is not as simple as it seems, and each press (and artist) knows the right techniques to use in order to create the desired results.  Experienced printers spend time adjusting packing, impression, and ink. Multiple colors require multiple sets of printing on the same sheet of paper. And, of course, different typefaces are used (and can be mixed and matched if desired) which are in themselves an art form.

The options are limitless when it comes to letterpress art, and I encourage you all to come down and see just some of the possibilities in our currently exhibit, Fine & Dirty, on contemporary letterpress art. The exhibition runs until March 31, and admission is free!

Like the bindery and other presses, the Kelsey press is available for rental by students and letterpress artists (starting at $15/hr for members). If you're interested in taking a class and learning how to use them, check out our courses at http://www.centerforbookarts.org/classes/, stop in, or give us a call at 212-481-0295. New classes on Contemporary Letterpress have just been added, so be sure to check it out!

-Christina Squitieri  

Is the Kelsey press your favorite press to use? What's you're favorite thing you have created on it? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Just want to say hi? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Friday Insights: Artist Interview with Gavin Dovey

Hunter S. Thompson, detail

For today’s Friday Insights, we have a special treat for all our readers: our first ever artist interview! This week we’ll be speaking with Gavin Dovey, a bookbinder and artist whose time at the Center for Book Arts helped lead to the opening of his own bindery, Paper Dragon Books. Dovey was kind enough to sit down with us and answer some questions about being a book artist.

How did you come to be a Bookbinder?

John Fowles's The Collector

That’s a question I get a lot and seldom am able to give a suitable answer. I could say that my interest started with reading old first editions from the remainder library of my school that was 900 years old! I could say that that I crashed and burned out of an English degree program, after realizing that I wasn't going to be the next James Joyce. Or maybe it was the time after that, stuck in a dead-end job, I found my new profession flicking through the local Yellow pages on a whim.
All of which may be true, but none of them were the real impetus.

The real epiphany took place upon a visit to the one bookbinder listed in the yellow pages in a small town in the very flat midlands of the UK.

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, detail

The bindery seems from memory to be from another world. The odd tools, equipment, the silence...and most importantly for me the intensity of the bookbinder Mark Cockram, and the astonishing beauty of his work. It turns out that I had stumbled upon a young Mark Cockram, then my age, and who is today a celebrated binder famed for his inventiveness, artistry, and fastidious attention to detail.

Now I can't point to an intellectual connection with the world of bookbinding, no. My immediate fascination with it was much more visceral, tactile...I just wanted to be able to make objects as beautiful as Mark's, and all I knew was that I didn't want to do anything else after that point. I studied with Mark for a year, and learned a great deal. He then saw that I enrolled in the last full-time design bookbinding course at the London College of Printing, and since then I've worked in many binderies in many capacities, finally washing up on the shores of Manhattan, where I was fortunate enough to be able to open my first bindery.

A work-in-progress on John Lennon

What's your favorite piece you've created?
That’s the kind of question you should ask me after at least 2-3 decades as a binder before I can answer it credibly. Logic suggests that young bookbinders should love the work they do today as opposed to the stuff they did in the early years. On the whole this is true for me, I tend not to like looking back, although I do still have one or two bindings from school that may not be up-to snuff by today's standards, but I still like to have around. (Confessions of an English Opium Eater, my first ever design binding, and one that Bernard Middleton expressed some interest in some years ago, is a source of great personal pride!)

What's you're favorite part of designing a book?

Having completed an inordinate amount of fine work in the last few years, I have learned a great deal. The most joyous of these discoveries are those that afford me greater freedom as a binder. Lately I have had great success with printing and stenciling leather covers, inlays, and onlays, and I know that I am very fortunate to be able to continue to make these developments everyday, and hope that it continues. Any skill a binder learns, uses and then enjoys, adds to their experience as a whole. Learning methods to finish in gold leaf with consistent results has personally been for me a great hurdle finally cleared in the last 5 years. Anything that you learn that you are then able to use to earn a living and create work in a field that you love would make anyone feel good. Knowledge is power, and knowledge is freedom too!

Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, detail

What do you love about the Center for Book Arts?
When I first came to New York, I naturally gravitated to the Center for Book Arts on 27th st. The Center provides invaluable access to great teaching in a fusion of book art related fields, as well as work study programs, internships, and scholarships. More than this it provides access for young book artists to a working studio space that binders and printers can rent at affordable rates whilst building their careers, enabling some, like me, to go on to open their own studios. Without which I personally would have found it a great deal harder getting a start in the city, so I for one am very thankful for these opportunities and hope they continue to do great things in the future. 

Do you have any advice for aspiring book artists?

As far as advice goes, what little I can offer is "start small," a hard lesson I learned starting in 2006. Never take on work that you are not comfortable with and always bind to your limitations. If you feel too limited, you need to learn more. Never expect anyone to buy work from you that you wouldn't buy, and always be comfortable standing behind your work. Keep your knives sharp, don't expect work to come to you, and be ready when it does. Mark always used to tell me "if it’s not right, do it again," that one has served me well. When it becomes too much like work, something is wrong. That’s about it from me.

C.S. Lewis Collection

Where do you see book art going in the future?

The Future? Who knows...certainly not me. It seems this question is about the difference between a specialised approach and a generalised approach. Questions about the state of the book and the role of new technologies I will leave to the intellectuals...All I know is, as I go forward I will worry less and less about these, and hope that I am able to get to a point where I can concentrate on the work I want to do. There will always be people that love art, books, and fine craftsmanship, and if you make good books or art, there will always be people to support you...And if not, well, I'm going to carry on regardless.


gavin dovey

www.paperdragonbooks.com
www.designerbookbindersofamerica.org

Dovey in his bindery

Thank you very much to Gavin Dovey for the lovely interview! If you are a book or letterpress artist  and are interested in being interviewed for Friday Insights, please contact info@centerforbookarts.org

-Christina Squitieri

Did you enjoy our artist interview? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts), or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Thursday Terms: Casing In

Casing in a text block

So after you finish your text block and your end sheets are tipped in, how do you physically join your text block to  the hard front and back covers of your book? Today's Thursday Term teaches you just that: a process known as "casing in.

Hardback book cases, made from binder's board, are built separately from the text itself. When working on a hardback book, the text block is completed first, and then board is cut to fit the text block. These boards are then covered in cloth or paper, and will look like a long, floppy, and colorful piece of cardboard, as seen in the image above. Through the process of casing in, this floppy outer case of the book will be glued to the text block, creating a near-finished book by joining the two individual pieces.

The process of casing in alters slightly depending on your text block—flat, round, or blocks with raised cords—but most require the all important end sheets. As seen above, the decorative endsheets of the text block are on either side of the text; one side is attached to the text block, but the other is not attached to anything. It is this part of the endsheet that can be glued to the binder's board, giving the first part of the book a neat and elegant feel. Because the endsheet will be the first thing you see when you open the book, the choice of paper (including color, pattern, and weight) can be very important.

When casing in a book, the text block is first lined up perfectly with its case, and pressing boards should be chosen and prepared. Glue mixture (PVA mixed with methyl cellulose) then coats the backside of one endsheet. The front cover of the book is then closed onto the endsheet until it makes contact  and pressure is applied to prevent the text block from slipping. You can then flip the book over and repeat the process on the other side, while making sure to keep the text block and case steady and neat. When this is completed (but before the glue dries!) the entire book is placed in a press, between pressing boards, where it will remain for a few hours. When removed, congratulations! Your book is completed!

If you have any hardcover books, I encourage you to open them up and examine the colorful pages which appear between the first page of text and the front and back covers of the book. Those are endsheets and, odds are, they are glued securely and evenly on both sides. Though the process will be different for mass-produced books, they, too, have been cased in!

>-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about casing a book in? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Just want to say hi? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Wednesday Exhibitions: Diane Jacobs's Light Blue Sun Hat

Diane Jacobs: Light Blue Sun Hat (2010), from Fine & Dirty at the Center for Book Arts

One of the best parts of the Center for Book Arts' main exhibition, Fine & Dirty, is the examples of how letterpress and paper arts can be expanded beyond the book. Diane Jacobs's piece, Light Blue Sun Hat, is one that combines letterpress, writing, typography, and paper weaving into a delicate, unique, and fun piece of art.

Diane Jacobs, Light Blue Sun Hat (2010), detail

Not only is Jacobs's piece an actual hat, but it is also one filled with surprising text: derogatory names, mostly ones ascribed to women. These include common ones, such as "streetwalker," as well as the more obscure "barber's chair" and "piper's wife." Some of these names, seen right, are very funny in their absurdity and punning (Garden Nun? Dusty Butt?). Despite this hat being made from insults, Jacobs's use of light-colored paper and her whimsical design make the whole piece feel bright and cheerful. It is funny, jovial, and a bit uplifting. Jacobs has shredded the negative language and weaved it into a piece of fashion associated with relaxing on the beach in the summertime. While the intricate work Jacobs did to create this piece from paper is in itself beautiful, what I most enjoy about it is reading the insults and appreciating the connection Jacobs makes with the words and her chosen typeface. Though the hat cannot be touched, it is easily readable from its place on the wall.

What I also love about this piece is that it did not happen overnight, but took years of consideration and effort. Jacobs began this piece in 1997, when she first began to collect derogatory names. She then set the type (using many different typefaces) and printed the text in 1998. 12 years later, in 2010, she cut the paper into thin strips and weaved it into the final product seen above.

Jacobs's sunhat (and many other pieces of book and letterpress art) is a part of the Center for Book Arts' main gallery exhibition, Fine & Dirty, open until March 31st. Admission is free, so come on down, "Merry Legs"!

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about your favorite (or least favorite) piece of book art, either in our exhibition or somewhere else? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Tuesday Typefaces: Futura

Examples of Futura typefaces

Despite my penchant for serif typefaces, the less decorative sans-serif families, with their focus on readability, revolutionized type design. They are just as much pieces of artwork as their more ornate counterparts, despite an appearance that may seem at first glance to be "basic" or "plain." Commonly used for both the small type in magazines and the large type in billboards, sans-serif faces such as Futura are clean, non-nonsense typefaces that are incredibly versatile.

Futura is known as a geometric sans-serif typeface, one regarded for its symmetry (especially seen in the "a" and the "o") and modern look and feel. Created in 1927 by Paul Renner, who was commissioned by the Bauer Type Foundry to create a typeface to compete with Erbar, Futura was released in many different weights at once. In 1928, Futura Medium was released simultaneously with Light, Bold, and Bold Oblique weights. By 1930, Light Oblique, Medium Oblique, Demibold, and Demibold Oblique typefaces were all released, followed by Book in 1932. Extra Bold Italic, the most recently produced, was released in 1955.

In order to create a typeface that recalls efficiency and forwardness, Renner designed Futura from simple geometric shapes: even circles, equilateral triangles, and perfect squares. Each letter used strokes of even weight, so each part of the letter, such as the tail of the "a," is just as thick as the base of letter. The uppercase characters are also very proportional, as seen in "HEADLINE TYPE," that make it perfect for posters and news titles. With proportions similar to those of classical Roman capitals, and weights in everything from extra bold to light, Futura is a typeface family perfect for nearly every letterpress project. From subway signs to postcards...

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about your favorite (or least favorite) typeface? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Monday Methods: Board Shears

Board Shears at the Center for Book Arts

In last week's Monday Methods, we discussed a very significant part of bookbinding and printmaking: the guillotine, used to cut large stacks of paper down to size. The guillotine, however, cannot be used to trim binder's board (used for making the casing, or covers, of many hardback books). Binder's board is often purchased in large sheets and must be trimmed to size before use. So how to cut them? That's where board shears come in.

Cutting a piece of binder's board with Board Shears

Board shears look similar to modern paper trimmers, but to a much larger scale. Like the guillotine, the board shears are heavy and sturdy, contain a stationary blade for cutting, and use a clamp to keep the materials in place. Unlike the guillotine, however, the blade does not come down automatically, but is mounted on a cutting arm. This cutting arm, as seen in the picture above, is pulled down manually, cutting small stacks of paper or book board with the force of the user.

Board shears also have a ruler printed on the top to make measuring easier, as well as a guide bar to keep your measurement in place. If you know you would like a 9" tall book, for example, you can easily set the movable guide bar to the 9" line, place your binder's board down, and cut. The guide bar is able to slide to different widths and can be locked in place once your measurement is set. Your board or paper is then placed flush and square with the bar (as the piece of binder's board seen above) and the clamp is pressed down using a foot pedal, preventing the board from slipping under the force of the blade and insuring a straight cut. Because the guide bar stays in place, board shears can also be used to conveniently cut multiple pieces of paper or board at the exact same size without remeasuring.

While board shears are used in contemporary hand binding, the earliest known reference to one comes from 1842, in an article in Penny Magazine titled A Day at a Bookbinder's. An 1854 article on the history of bookbinding places the invention of the board shears even earlier, to 1836, with credit given to Warren De La Rue.

Our board shears are a popular piece of equipment to rent by the hour, for binders who want to work on their own projects, but don't have room for their own boards shears in their apartment. If you're interested in coming in to cut some board on our shears, give us a call at 212-481-0295 and ask if the studio is free for the day- hourly rental  starts at $15 per hour for members.

-Christina Squitieri

Do you have any stories/anecdotes/jokes about board shears? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Just want to say hi? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Friday Insights: Korean Papermaking Techniques Class

Aimee Lee's Korean Papermaking Techniques Class

One of my favorite parts of the Center for Book Arts—and what drew me to them in the first place—is the huge diversity of classes offered. For this week's Friday Insights, I thought it would be fitting to explore the educational side of the Center by looking at a recent workshop: Paper like Leather, Bark like Thread: Korean Papermaking Techniques.

On February 4th and 5th, the Center for Book Arts hosted a workshop on traditional Korean paper techniques—including paper felting, cording, and weaving—and non-traditional applications, taught by Aimee Lee. Aimee Lee is an interdisciplinary artist who works in paper, book, performance, installation, and text arts. Her post-graduate research as a Fulbright fellow focused on Korean papermaking. She complimented her papermaking research with studies in paper weaving, paper felting, natural dyeing, and calligraphy, and shares these in lectures and workshops while traveling as a resident artist. Over the course of two days, students in her workshop created unique pieces of paper art that can be used as covers for books, clothing accessories (such as pins), or stand-alone display pieces of artwork.

Korean paper, known as hanji, is a type of  paper known for its long and strong fibers. Made from the inner bark of the Paper Mulberry tree, hanji has multiple applications in an array of book and fiber arts. Mixing hanji with water allowed the students to try a felting and collage technique called joomchi which makes a textured paper.

Some of Aimee's work.

Students also experimented with techniques that allowed them to make hanji yarn, thread, and bark lace. Aimee Lee also demonstrated jiseung, or paper weaving, which she used in the picture seen at the left. Aimee has an extensive collection of amazing photos here of some of her work with this technique.

After only two days, the students in Aimee's class were able to experiment extensively with these new techniques. Some had no prior experience to the process, yet were able to bring home something beautiful. If you stop by the Center for Book Arts right before closing or on weekends, odds are, a class is either going on or about to start. The Center has wonderful teachers from all over the bookbinding, paper arts, and letterpress world, and even if you have never touched a bone folder before (I know I never did) you'll be guaranteed to learn something new and create something beautiful. Even in a weekend!

For a full schedule of classes: http://www.centerforbookarts.org/classes/

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about your favorite part of the Center? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Thursday Terms: Tipping In Endsheets

A book with decorative endsheets

In last week's discussion of text blocks, endsheets were mentioned as the pieces of paper that mark the boundary between cover and text, used to attach the book to its casing. These endsheets need to be attacted to the text block somehow, and can be either sewn into the top- and bottommost sheets of paper, or alternately, glued down in a process known as "tipping in" or "tipping on."

To tip in an endsheet is a simple procedure. After masking off a thin portion of the inner edge of the endsheet with newsprint, glue is applied to the exposed area. The endsheet is then "tipped" gently onto the spine side of the text block. Once in position, the tipped sheet is pressed down with a bone folder, making a tight seal. Because one is placing a thin line of adhesive along the edge (or tip) of the endsheet and then lightly tipping the wet paper onto a text block, this procedure is aptly titled.

Tipping in does not only apply to endsheets, however, but can be used to attach any addition leaf of paper to another. The procedure is the same, and, as with endsheets, will most likely occur along the binding edge or spine of the book.

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about tipping in, or on, or up? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Just want to say hi? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Wednesday Exhibitions: Ethan Shoshan's Miss Piggy

Miss Piggy, Ethan Shoshan's Strange Birds

 One of the main goals of the exhibition program at the Center For Book Arts is to help expand our understanding of book arts.  Ethan Shoshan's Strange Birds, a Featured Artist Project open until March 31st, is a great example of how that can play out.

A blend of the visual and aural, Shoshan invited a group of 31 collaborators to each submit an object that  represents something personal and significant to its owner. He then interviewed each participant in the project, capturing the story behind each object. His installation consists of the 31 objects given to him by their owners, and an audio guide which stores each interview. Visitors to the gallery can then read his installation as an audio book.

One of my favorite objects in Strange Birds is an old Miss Piggy doll, owned by Brian 'Soignes' Wilson. Though the stuffed pig is old and dirty, she is dressed for a ball: wearing a gown, pearls, and elbow-length gloves (along with a glamorous hairdo and shoes), Miss Piggy is supposed to be beautiful. Shoshan spoke to me about this object once and the significance of it being Miss Piggy. Pigs generally bring to mind something dirty, rolling in the mud; the stereotypical pig is not someone you would picture in high society. Yet this doll is just that, a pig breaking conventions and running counter to the stereotype, showing how a pig can be gorgeous, elegant, even sexy. Shoshan said that for the owner, it was his way of viewing his own identity as a queer, black male. Wilson, through Miss Piggy, learned that did not have to adhere to the stereotypes applied to him, he could succeed, he could be strong, confident; he didn't have to be (in his own words) "at the bottom of the food chain." Miss Piggy will be who she is, and Wilson says she taught him to be himself. After all, she is not just a pig, "but a pig in pumps."

Shoshan's exhibit has this object and more, each coupled with an audio track that shows the connection between people and objects, the little things that change us and have meaning. Weaving together forgotten histories, memories, and embodied experiences, Strange Birds is an affirmation of life and its lessons.

Ethan Shoshan will be giving an artist talk on this exhibition on Wednesday, March 21st, at 6:30pm. There is $10 suggested donation/$5 members

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about your favorite (or least favorite) piece of book art, either in our exhibition or somewhere else? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Tuesday Typefaces: Cloister Font Family

Cloister Light Face-Specimen sheet from the Dale Guild

The Cloister family of faces  was designed by Morris Fuller Benton, an influential type designer known for having completed 221 typefaces in the early 20th century. All of his typefaces were produced by American Type Founders, the dominant American manufacturer of metal type for most of the twentieth century. Benton headed the design department at ATF and was their chief type designer from 1900 to 1937.

Cloister Black

Cloister Old Style and Cloister Italic, believed to be the earliest in the series, were both completed in 1913 and were based on Venetian typefaces from the late 15th century. Cloister Old Style was modeled after a face created by Nicolas Jenson in 1470, while Cloister Italic was based on a 1501 typeface designed by Aldus Manutius.

Most of Cloister's original 9 typefaces were completed in the early 1900s, with one of the last (Cloister Cursive Handtooled) completed in 1926 by Benton in collaboration with Charles H. Becker. Cloister Black, the typeface seen on the right (and which the Center for Book Arts also has in its collection), may have been an even earlier member of the Cloister family (it was finished in 1904 and was adapted from the 1870s Priory Text), but its artist has been disputed and credit is often given to Joseph W. Phinney.

Some early Venetian Typefaces

Unlike last week's bold headliner Cheltenham, many of the styles in the Cloister font family are perfect for the main text of a book or sign. Clean, smooth, and easily readable, Cloister has a delicate serif that gives it a historical but not old-fashioned feel. Whether one uses the original, light, or bold variations, Cloister is a versatile face that can still be used in novels and websites today. In fact, according to Alexander Lawson's Anatomy of a Typeface (a recommended read for anyone interested in the history and artistry of type), although Cloister has become less popular than more modern Venetian-inspired typefaces, it remains particularly popular in advertising and periodicals, and its boldface version has been used for headlines in local newspapers.

Cloister Initials

The Cloister family also has the advantage of having some very bold and ornate variations, including Cloister Black and Cloister Initials. Both of these typefaces take the old-style quality of the original Cloister to the extreme, giving us letters fit to begin passages in Bibles or 17th-century sonnet sequences. As today is Valentine's Day, the Cloister typefaces might just be the most suitable for the hand-printed love poems you've been writing!

 
Join us next week as we explore another typeface, and wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day from all of us here at the Center for Book Arts!

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about your favorite (or least favorite) typeface? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Monday Methods: The Guillotine

No, this is not the French Revolution kind of guillotine used to cut off the heads of monarchs, but one used to cut large stacks of paper, an essential tool in book binding. The paper used in hand book-binding often comes in larger sheets that need to be trimmed down. Instead of cutting each sheet individually, a thick bundle of paper can be cut swiftly, easily, and neatly using a guillotine. This machine is specifically designed to quickly cut stacks of large paper into smaller pieces, all at once. You can also use the guillotine to evenly trim the edges off of text blocks, giving a smooth edge to your book-in-progress.

Our guillotine is a large metal machine, about 3 feet wide, that runs on electricity (and does not look too different from the one above). The sides of the cutting section are both flat and squared with the back, another straight piece of metal. Paper, when placed flush against a side and back, will be cut perfectly straight and square.

The back piece of the guillotine cutter is not flat like the sides, but has large grooves in it in order to cut stacks of paper that may not have perfectly straight backs, such as text blocks, which are trimmed on the guillotine before a book is cased in. This is particularly useful for the text blocks of books with raised-cords, as seen right, where a flat back would either crush the text block or make cutting uneven.

Once the stack of paper or text block is placed in the guillotine, the machine has a manual handle used to gently pull the back forward, to set the depth of the cut. Once the paper is lined up with the blade, a clamp is screwed down (with a rotary handle on the top of the machine) to keep the paper stack from slipping under the force of the blade. After the paper is flush, lined up, and securely pressed down, two handles are pulled and a large steel blade slices through the stack of paper. As the machine itself is large and heavy, the paper stays steady and produces clean and straight cuts, even through thick stacks of heavy-weight paper.

The Center for Book Arts is lucky enough to have our own guillotine, which can be used by artists and students that rent the space. In order to use the guillotine, one must be trained in a short class and then certified by the Center for safety measure. Training sessions are given often by the excellent CBA staff and are definitely worth it for both letterpress artists and bookbinders!

The guillotine is another one of the tools still used in the mass-production of bound books today. Though the machines used by commercial binderies are significantly larger and more high tech than the ones used for hand bookbinding, those clean edges on the sides of your favorite novels come from the very same place!

-Christina Squitieri

Do you have any stories about how you have used a guillotine cutter before? What was it like being trained by the excellent CBA staff? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Just want to say hi? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Friday Insights: Our Exhibition Space

The Main Gallery

Featured Artist Project.

Last week, Friday Insights looked into the workspace offered by the Center for Book Arts. This week, we're going to continue looking at another great asset of the Center, enjoyed by book artists and non-book artists alike: our exhibition space!

The Center for Book Arts has a main gallery, complete with library and flat glass cases for display, podiums, as well as walls that hold different types of shelves based on each exhibition. Until March 31, that is where our main exhibition, Fine & Dirty, will be on display. We also have other walls and sections of our space that hold our Featured Artist Projects. Currently, Patricia S. Ward's Re/Vision (who was featured in last week's Wednesday Exhibitions) is on display is the gallery between the binderies and the printshop, while Ethan Shoshan's Strange Birds is on display both by the bindery and the printshop.

A part of the second Featured Artist Gallery

Our exhibition space is also used when holding events, particularly the space by the printshop. It is here where the Center for Book Arts hosts artist talks, annual chapbook readings, open houses, gallery openings, invited speakers, and other events. This week we had Barbara Henry discuss Nineteenth century typography, and next Wednesday we'll welcome Jeff Rathermel, one of the curators of the current main gallery exhibition, Fine & Dirty. 




The gallery spaces of the Center for Book Arts hold a wealth of works in brightly-colored place. Even those who have come to the CBA before may be surprised to realize just how many pieces of art are on display at any given time. This winter, in fact, just one artist (Ethan Shoshan) has a whopping 31 pieces on display in our Featured Artist space!

Well, that's it for another exciting week of blogging from the Center for Book Arts! I encourage you all to come down and visit our galleries. The artists we show do some incredible things, and they're really worth seeing. Even if you were not previously interested in book arts, now would be a lovely time to expose yourself to a new art form!

Until next time...

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about your favorite part of the Center? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!

Thursday Terms: Text Block

A text block made of signatures

In most case bound books, there is a text block, the "guts" of the book itself. The text block is the collection of sheets of paper within the book; a stack of sewn or glued together pages that are placed within a case. A text block is also likely what one finds most significant in the books on their shelves: in a novel, the text block contains the story; in a dictionary, it contains the words and their definitions; in a phone book, it holds names and numbers.

A text block and hard-back casing

Text blocks can be made in different ways, but a common method is sewing together a group of signatures, as seen in the picture above. Signatures are stacks of paper folded together, and are what most hardback books are made of (the distinct "u"s are often hidden behind last week's headbands!). The signatures are stacked one on top of the other and sewn together, creating a large bundle of paper—what contains the images and words that make up a book—known as a text block. When sewing together more than a few signatures, linen tapes (as seen above) are often used to keep the text book tight and neatly together.

A completed text block may also include endsheets, pieces of paper (usually of a heavier weight) that mark the boundary between cover and text. Though the process is different for casing in hard- and soft- cover books, both text blocks often use endsheets in order to be properly glued into the their respective front and back covers.

Don't forget to join us next week as we discover another term!

-Christina Squitieri

Have any stories about making a text block? What was the biggest text block you've ever made? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Just want to say hi? Comment on this post, email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts) or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts). Can't wait to see you there!