Sally Blakemore, BAG’s Artist-in-Residence, will be demonstrating pop-up engineering at the BAG member meeting on Saturday, April 10, 2021. She will do this because it’s fun, but also to help those who are interested in being part of the “City of Mud” large pop-up book project. Here are two of Sally’s designs. Click on the image to open in a new tab.
Saturday, April 10, 2021, 1 pm to approximately 3 pm MDT
Free; Open to the Public; All are Welcome
BAG’s member meetings are via the Zoom virtual meeting platform. The login information is NOT shared on this website. To participate in the meeting, you must be signed up for BAG’s email newsletter. If you are not, send an email to santafebag@gmail.com requesting that you be added to our mailing list. See you soon!
Many of you are familiar with BAG’s new book published in fall 2020, documenting the Pantone Postcard Mail Art project. But what you may not know is how we came up with the idea.
On Valentine’s Day 2013, Emily Martin, professor at the University of Iowa Center for the Book, was given a box of 100 Pantone postcards by her sister. On the one hand she thought she would like to keep the collection intact—“pristine and complete,” but on the other hand, “I wanted them to be used.”
Her inclination to have people do something creative with these cards won out. So on her Facebook page she posted a request for volunteers to receive these postcards, respond to the color in their own ways, and mail them back. In 17 hours, all the cards had been claimed. She mailed them in April 2014, and the 100 cards came back that fall, each individually treated by 100 people.
In 2017 Emily published a book of all 100 cards. The BAG mail art co-chairs got wind of the project, and thought it would be fun to use the idea for our monthly mail art exchange. Emily generously gave her permission.
With 54 BAG members participating, we got so excited we made not just 100, but 200 cards! In fall 2020, BAG’s own compilation of Pantone postcards came out in book form, and Douglass Rankin mailed a copy of the book to Emily. In January she replied:
Dear Douglass,
I was finally in the office at school and picked up my mail. What a treat to find the Santa Fe BAG Pantone postcard project catalog! Well done. You have a wonderfully active group out there. I hope you are keeping well, fingers crossed for vaccines soon for everyone.
My best to you,
Emily
Copies of the BAG Pantone Postcard book are available from the Blurb Bookstore:
https://www.blurb.com/b/10438615-pantone-postcard-project
Thanks go to Emily https://emilymartin.com/, Greg Berg, Barb Macks, Gail Murray, Douglass Rankin, and the BAG board of directors for inspiring, supporting, and instigating the project, and putting together the book. And a special thanks to the BAG artists who created the exceptional Pantone postcards.
Throughout this year the BAG board is challenging the members to create something, then photograph it and send it to BAG. We’ll post it here on the website and on social media. Challenges and challengers so far (click links to see the results): Holiday Greeting Cards by Liz Faust, Valentines by Ashisha, and Postage Stamps by Linda Zwick (due Wednesday, March 31, 2021; click here for submission details).
BAG Vice President Julie Filatoff is challenging BAG members to make a book using fabric and/or fibers. The percentage of fabric/fiber content is not important; use as much or as little as you wish. The book can be any structure you like, from simple to complex.
Take one or more photographs of your book–or even a short video–and email to julie@jirafstudio.com no later than Friday, April 30, 2021. (If you’re sending a video, email Julie separately to ensure she received it.)
To inspire you, here are a few artists who work with fiber/fabrics:
Julie Filatoff (shown above: Both Sides Now)
BAG member Austa Oliver created a greeting to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. “I want to wish all BAG members well as we have just finished a year of hibernating,” explained Austa. “I made the word cloud (below) at the beginning…on 3-12-2020. And on 3-12-2021, I decided the part about changing my age number! Just a thought, as we all think about how long this has all been going on.”
See Austa’s artwork below. (If you’re receiving this via email, click on the title of this post–A Pandemic Remembrance, above–to view it in a web browser.)
BAG President Linda Zwick has issued the following challenge. Each BAG board member will issue a challenge to all members over the next year.
The Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee is appointed by the US Postmaster General. The committee selects subjects for recommendation for future stamps and accepts recommendations from citizens, with many rules in place: https://about.usps.com/who/csac/. These rules include honoring individuals only after their deaths and not considering disasters and negative events as subjects for stamps.
The committee selects subjects for recommendation about three years before a stamp design might be issued. However, BAG would love to see your design(s) for US postage stamps now.
Linda’s Challenge: Create one or more design(s) as an image for a postage stamp and submit images of those to julie@jirafstudio.com by Tuesday, March 30, 2021, for posting on the BAG website and social media.
(Note: The US Postal Service used to allow creation of custom postage stamps through approved third-party vendors, but ended the program in June 2020. Alas, Linda’s hope for seeing BAG members’ designs on actual postage has been dashed. We may, however, recreate these as non-postage stickers. We will keep you…posted).
You’re welcome to use the postage stamp template for your design, or develop or find another to your liking.
Click here to download the Postage Stamp Template as a .pdf (Acrobat file). (When it opens in another window, use the download arrow to save it to your computer.)
Click here to download the Postage Stamp Template as a .jpg file. (When it opens in another window, right-click then left click on “Save image as…”)
What a talented, loving bunch of people are BAG members! We received photos of more than 50 valentines. Click on “Continue reading” below to see them. (If you are viewing this post in an email, visit https://wp.me/p88BbH-SC to see the post). Continue reading “Valentines by BAG Members”
BAG will sponsor three different swaps. You may choose one or more.
A. Art Journal Pages via U.S. Mail or local contactless delivery
B. Round-Robin Journal (book) via local contactless delivery only
C. Round-Robin Journal (book) via U.S. Priority Mail
1. Abide by the rules. 😊
2. Be a BAG member in good standing (i.e., your membership dues are current).
3. Inform Cynthia Leespring no later than Saturday, March 1, 2021, that you are interested via email at cynleespring@gmail.com.
4. If you do NOT receive an email confirmation from Cynthia by March 10, email her again or call/text (505) 470-2629. (Check the spam folder of your email program first, though!)
5. Deliver or mail your pages/journal when due.
6. Do your best to interpret the journaler’s theme, if there is one.
7. Have fun!
Email Cynthia with your name, email, mailing address, phone number, and which group(s)/swap(s) you want to join (or use the form below). She will place you in a group and send you complete instructions and your partners’ contact information.
We will mail or deliver our pages and books once each month. The Round Robin will complete in four months. If all goes well, we can jump right into another round. Page swaps can continue as long as there is interest.
Saturday, February 13, 2021, 1 pm to approximately 3 pm MDT
Free; Open to the Public; All are Welcome
BAG’s member meetings are via the Zoom virtual meeting platform. The login information is NOT shared on this website. To participate in the meeting, you must be signed up for BAG’s email newsletter. If you are not, send an email to santafebag@gmail.com requesting that you be added to our mailing list. See you February 13!
The Santa Fe Book Arts Group’s bylaws call for at least three and no more than 10 Directors. A Director’s term is three years. Officers (President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary) are elected from the Directors, serve one year, and may be re-elected.
President: Linda Zwick
Vice President: Julie Filatoff
Treasurer: Liz Faust
Secretary: Gordon Fluke
Directors:
Retiring from the board after several years of service as Secretary is Marilyn Bennett. Thank you, Marilyn!
If there is anything you wish to discuss with the Board, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of us or email santafebag@gmail.com.
At the December 2020 membership meeting, Kim Burkholder led us in an exercise to create a “Word Cloud” by submitting words/terms of what comes to mind when we think of BAG, or what we are thankful for about BAG. She used the tool at Menti.com, and the larger the word and more centrally located, the more people submitted it.
Below is a screenshot; click to enlarge. You can also see it by clicking here.
Because we won’t be able to gather in person at our Annual Meeting on December, we asked BAG members to send their year-end greetings digitally.
We’ll continue to update this page as we receive more cards, so check back!
Click on any image to start the slideshow. Click on the < and > arrows to go forward and backward. Use the X to close the window and come back to this post.
Because we won’t be able to meet in person at our Annual Meeting in December, we would like to give you an opportunity send your year-end greetings to your BAG friends.
All members are encouraged to make a greeting card. It can be a holiday card (Christmas, Hanukah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, or any other holiday you want to celebrate). It can be a card that communicates any message you want to send out in December that is not linked to a specific holiday. You are artists; I don’t have to explain the concept of “no rules.”
Once you have completed your card, photograph it and send the photo to elizfaust@gmail.com no later than Tuesday, December 1. You can send a single photo of the front of the card or two photos—one of the front of the card and one of the inside. These will be assembled into an online gallery that will be posted on the BAG website. Also, send me a greeting from you to other BAG members. This greeting will be displayed along with the images of your card.
Cards can be any size and shape that you can dream up. If you would like some help kickstarting your creative process, our Artist in Residence, Sally Blakemore, has designed some pop-up templates that you can use as a starting point for your design. The templates are listed below.
Liz Faust
All of these are just formats, so I encourage artists to just the the idea for themselves and do something totally in their own styles!
Tiny Book Holiday Greeting Tree |
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Download the template here. |
Tyvek (FedEx Envelope)
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Slot Movement Mechanic
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Download the butterfly template here.
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Skinny Comet
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Download the template here. | |
Soft Pop-Ups
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Download the template here. |
Slot Designs:
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Download the template here. |
Pop-Up Basketball Court
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Download the template here. |
Left, The “plain” Pantone postcards that artists used as the basis for their artwork. Right, the cover of the book showing a selection of the cards by 54 artists. Click to enlarge the photos.
217 full-color pages! 
This book showcases a collection of mail art postcards from members of the Santa Fe Book Arts Group. It is a visual fiesta, a diverse exploration of art that illustrates the range of talent within the BAG membership, keeping alive the mail art tradition.
This book tells the story of the two-year project, fashioned after Emily Martin’s similar project. The project was based on the Pantone Matching System (PMS), considered the “universal color language” used in art and industry. The cards, created by 54 members of BAG, are original and very creative.
$35 if picked up locally; buy here with PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=UY8XMF9VKRT3C
$39 with U.S. mailing; buy here with PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7VHSZPAAYEJFU
Or send a check for $35 or $39 per book, along with the shipping address, to:
BAG
PO Box 4332
Santa Fe, NM 87502-4332
23 Sandy is excited to announce the relaunch of its online gallery and a transition of ownership.
23 Sandy was founded in Portland, Oregon, by book artist and photographer Laura Russell in 2007. For 10 years it was a brick-and-mortar gallery space exhibiting a wide range of unique and edition artist books and paper art. 23 Sandy closed its physical doors in 2017, becoming an online gallery. In July 2020, the gallery is relaunching under the ownership of book artist Erin Mickelson, 23 Sandy’s long-time gallery assistant until her relocation to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
23 Sandy’s new online gallery will feature book and paper art as well as maintain a record of the gallery’s rich and vibrant history through exhibition archives, a vast catalog (over 1,000 titles) of available and sold works, and historic posts. Over its years, the gallery hosted 91 inspiring exhibitions—20 of which were international juried exhibitions featuring thoughtfully curated works by a talented roster of artists from around the world. In addition to featuring creative and contemporary works, the online gallery is an extensive resource for anyone curious about artist books.
In addition to managing the online gallery, Erin will represent 23 Sandy at book arts workshops, conferences, and visits to institutions, and will work with local art spaces to exhibit artist books. She will continue to grow and diversify the gallery’s catalog of works.
A few words from Laura and Erin:
“It is such a thrill to pass 23 Sandy into Erin’s knowledgeable and capable hands. For four years she played a vital role in the success of the gallery, and I’ve always been grateful for her time and energy. Erin’s well-trained, critical, and thoughtful way of looking at books will bring a fresh and considered viewpoint to the wide world of book arts. I am thrilled to be able to retire into my studio and that 23 Sandy will live on with such an exciting vision.”
—Laura Russell“Much gratitude is due to Laura Russell for creating such an impactful and inspiring art space. 23 Sandy has been an invaluable resource and platform for the book arts community, thanks to Laura’s diligent efforts and creative thinking. I’m excited and honored to carry the torch.”
—Erin Mickelson
Visit the gallery online at 23sandy.com and contact director@23sandy.com with any questions or comments.
The Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival nonprofit is opening northern New Mexico’s one-of-a-kind creative reuse center, Resourceful Santa Fe. It is at 2879-A Industrial Road (off Siler Road). A creative reuse center is a well-curated thrift store with real thrift store prices, an unofficial art supply store, a dumpster diver’s paradise, a community space, an economic development driver for local artists, and a local nonprofit. Its mission is to divert material from the waste stream by collecting and redistributing discarded items to artists, educators, social service providers, and the community for reuse and repurposing.
You can:
BAG member Laura Wait participated in a studio tour/interview with one of the galleries that represents her, Gallery Mar in Carmel, California. Click the link to see Laura at work in her studio: https://www.facebook.com/gallerymarcarmel/videos/335709957403021/
