Santa Fe Book Arts Group Collaborative Book 2022: The Ledger
Content
A line or two of your favorite poetry, prose, or inspirational quote along with your illustration
(collage, drawings, photo, letterpress–whatever suits your fancy).
Size is 3” high x 8.5” wide, to be read horizontally
Single unfolded pages. Because these are single sheets, you are encouraged to decorate the back side of your page, but you are not required to do so.
Leave 1” on left for binding, therefore 7.5” for image and text
Soft or hardcover options for your complied book
There will be Japanese stab binding options (simple to complex) for your compiled book
Required Paper
Canson Mi-Teintes 98#, any color (comes in pads of variety of colors–can order from Dick Blick and others; Artisan has single sheets)
Before the compilation meeting in December we will provide you with details on options for creating your book cover, suggested materials, and options for recommended stab binding.
Schedule
Sunday, October 9, 2022: Sign up to participate.
No Later Than Wednesday, October 12: Participants will be notified of how many pages to make.
Saturday, November 12: Pages due to Linda. If you are local to Santa Fe, you can deliver them to Linda at the Art Flea Market on Saturday, October 29. Another day and place will also be announced for local delivery. Or you can mail your pages to: Linda Zwick, 202 La Cueva Street, Los Alamos, NM 87544.
After November 12 (Date TBD): If you mailed pages to Linda, she will mail back a packet of pages from other participants and a title page/colophon. If you delivered pages to Linda, she will set a date for distribution of packets to those who wish to pick them up in Santa Fe.
Saturday, December 3: Compilation meeting, either via Zoom or hybrid (in-person and Zoom).
Santa Fe Community College’s Library and the President’s Diversity Advisory Committee (PDAC) present two art events in September on Aalpana-making, a form of circular ground art rooted in ceremonial art traditions from south Asia. Shalimar Krebs, co-chair of PDAC and Associate Dean of the SFCC School of Liberal Arts and School of Arts, Design, & Media Arts said, “This circular-art-making event at SFCC hopes to mark and symbolize the coming together of our campus community at the beginning of this school year.”
SFCC art instructor (and BAG member) Sudeshna Sengupta will present both the online lecture and the live Aalpana-making, which are free and open to the public.
Aalpana ground art is an ancient form of “ephemeral art happening” rooted in ceremonial art traditions of south Asia, in which the art-making process offers a collective experience to the individual viewers and participants gathering around it through the duration of the artform. Temporary in nature, traditionally the process of creating this form of circular floor art brings people together to welcome and celebrate special occasions. Our natural tendency is to form a unified whole from smaller parts — to help people, who gather around it, to develop a calming focus to collectively set goals for common good and work together.
Sudeshna will present an online lecture about Aalpana-making from 12 noon to 1 pm MT on Thursday, September 8, 2022. Participants must pre-register at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SFCC-Aalpana.
There will also be a live demonstration of Aalpana-making in the SFCC Courtyard (6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87508) from 9 am to 10 am on Thursday, September 15. The actual art creation will take much longer. The Aalpana will be available for viewing until sunset, when it will be dismantled.
Sudeshna Sengupta, MFA, is an Adjunct Faculty member at the SFCC School of Arts, Design, & Media Arts. Her career as a teaching artist spans multiple decades, continents, and cultures that inform her pedagogy of decolonizing studio art. Besides her academic training and contemporary art practice, Sudeshna grew up with and around various traditional art forms in India, all of which continue to nurture her life and art. If you have questions, email Sudeshna at sudeshna.sengupta@sfcc.edu.
Saturday, September 10, 2022, 1 pm to approximately 3 pm MT Free; Open to the Public; All are Welcome
Agenda
Welcome and Announcements by President Linda Zwick
My Life as a Book Artist and Letterpress Printer, a Presentation by Bettina Pauly (see below)
Art Flea Market Update by Cynthia Leespring and Julie Filatoff
Art Journal Page and ATC/Rolo Swap Update by Ruth Anna Abigail
October Mail Art Description by Linda Zwick
October Anything Goes Description by Linda Zwick
Community Announcements (calls for entry, upcoming exhibits and workshops, other highlights) by Attendees (2 minutes maximum, please)
Please note: For security reasons we never put the Zoom link on our website. If you did not receive an email from Santa Fe Book Arts Group with the link, please check your email program’s “spam” or “junk” folder. Still not there? Email santafebag@gmail.com with your name and your email address.
My Life as a Book Artist and Letterpress Printer, a Presentation by Bettina Pauly
Bettina will tell us how she came to the USA, started to learn about book arts and letterpress printing, enrolled at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, took classes at the San Francisco Center for the Book, and left her main job to become a teacher for book arts and printing, a book artist, and a letterpress printer. She will give us a close look at some of her artist books, including:
• The Year of the Dragon, a flag book
• A sun that rises, an accordion-fold book
• California Poppies, an accordion-fold book
• What a Catch!, a flag book
Bettina will also sow us some of her mail art, which includes miniature pop-ups.
Bettina Pauly studied at the Academy of Art University (San Francisco) in the Book Arts and Letterpress program under Chris Rolik and Macy Chadwick. In addition she took classes at the San Francisco Center for the Book, taught by Mary Laird, Kumi Korf, and Julie Chen.
Bettina lives in San Francisco as a book artist and works as a letterpress printer with Kim Vanderheiden at Painted Tongue Studios in Oakland, California. She teaches book arts and letterpress classes at the Academy of Art University and the San Francisco Center for the Book. She loves books and boxes both as physical objects and as containers of meaning, and is interested in a variety of folded, sewn, and woven structures in which she can incorporate her printing. Bettina was part of “Al-Mutanabbi Street starts here,” contributing a broadside and an artist book, and spoke at the opening of that exhibition in 2016 in Portland, Oregon. She is a member of the Hand Bookbinders of California, the Movable Book Society, and the Book Club of California. View her work at http://blog.bettina-pauly.com/.
And the Next Saturday (September 17), an Online Workshop!
If you would like to sign up for this workshop after hearing Bettina’s presentation, please go to the registration page here, send a check or pay for it with PayPal, and text Julie Filatoff at 505-660-9942 so she sends you the supply list and prompts!
The Magic Wallet: A Workshop with Bettina Pauly
Presented by the Santa Fe Book Arts Group
Saturday, September 17, 2022, 1 pm to 3 pm MT, via Zoom (online)
Suitable for beginner to advanced students, but you MUST be a current Santa Fe BAG member
$29 (payment options: check or PayPal); must be received by September 12, 2022
The Magic Wallet is one of those oddities related to a möbius strip. Its form is used in many actual wallets and you can make a quick-and-dirty version with two cards and two rubber bands. The magic is that when you place a dollar (or a flexible piece of paper) into the wallet and close and open it, the straps will have wrapped the bill behind them. As you open the wallet from one side and then the other, the bill will appear to move from side to side. If you make the straps from paper or ribbon with a different color on each side, you will see that you are seeing successive sides of the straps as you open and close the wallet. This makes it a useful vehicle for content which can appear and disappear (like magic!).
Register here: (NOTE: You must fill out the form; simply paying for the workshop does not secure you a spot.)
Fragments is a juried exhibition held at Strata Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The exhibition will run from January 3 through January 21, 2023.
This exhibition will feature artists whose work expresses and articulates the myriad, exciting, and challenging ways in which our reality has become fragmented. All of us experience the dizzying splitting of our attention among the burgeoning opportunities of ever-improving digital devices, the abundance of disparate and competing news reports, and the allure of social media. Our bodies themselves are increasingly prosthetically enhanced, and humanity embraces the possibilities of artificial intelligence. Gene editing/genetic engineering are other visionary and groundbreaking experiments with fragmentation and hybridization. Contemporary art, as possibly never before, is an ecstatic discourse of fragmentary styles and genres.
There are many compelling creative opportunities to embody this kaleidoscopic reality in visual art, from Neo-Cubist spatial fragmentation, Modernist conflation of surface and depth, Post-Modernist marriage of disparate styles and iconography, to digital pixelation, to the playful deployment of literal, material fragments in collage and assemblage. Any artwork that addresses or involves fragmentation/hybridization/cross-fertilization is a potential prophet or embodiment of this brave new world.
Prizes:
$200 Best of Show (1)
$150 Director’s Choice (1)
$50 Honorable Mention (2)
Juror: David Olivant is the President and co-founder of Strata Gallery. He was professor of painting for 25 years at CSU Stanislaus. His work has been featured in solo exhibitions in New Delhi, New York City, Chicago, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, Fresno, and San Bernardino. His recent bodies of work, Heteroglyphs and Retroglyphs, address heterogeneity, as well as spatial and temporal fragmentation.
If you wish to enter your work but don’t want to drive to Albuquerque, please contact Julie Filatoff so you can deliver to her your art prior to THIS THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, no later than 7 pm. (Julie lives near SFCC.) Contact her at julie@jirafstudio.com or 505-660-9942.
The following all take place at the Creative Arts Building on the fairgrounds:
Deliver your entries on Friday, August 26, and Sunday, August 27, 9 am to 5 pm. If you cannot go to the Fairgrounds to drop off your entries, you can make prior arrangements with Esther Feske (505-255-5958) to meet or drop off. Please include a printed sheet with your name, address, phone number, email address, and titles/detailed descriptions of each book/box you are leaving.
The State Fair is open from Thursday, September 8, through Sunday, September 18, and at that time you can see if your artwork won a ribbon and view all the other wonderful entries!
Pick up your entries on Monday, September 19, from 9 am to 12 noon. (Julie will pick up any work that she delivered.) If you delivered your own artwork and cannot make that time, contact Mita Saldana at 505-280-9323 for alternate arrangements.
This category is sponsored by Mita, of Against the Grain Bindery, and Libros New Mexico Book Arts Guild. They need volunteer artists for 2-hour demonstrations during the fair, especially during the weekends. You get a free ticket for entry into the fair for the day and Libros will reimburse you for parking. Interested? Text or call Mita or Esther at the numbers above.
Presented by the Santa Fe Book Arts Group
Saturday, September 17, 2022, 1 pm to 3 pm MT, via Zoom (online)
Suitable for beginner to advanced students, but you MUST be a current Santa Fe BAG member
$29 (see payment options below–check or PayPal); must be received by September 12, 2022
The Magic Wallet is one of those oddities related to a möbius strip. Its form is used in many actual wallets and you can make a quick-and-dirty version with two cards and two rubber bands. The magic is that when you place a dollar (or a flexible piece of paper) into the wallet and close and open it, the straps will have wrapped the bill behind them. As you open the wallet from one side and then the other, the bill will appear to move from side to side. If you make the straps from paper or ribbon with a different color on each side, you will see that you are seeing successive sides of the straps as you open and close the wallet. This makes it a useful vehicle for content which can appear and disappear (like magic!).
(Click any image to enlarge)
Bettina Pauly studied at the Academy of Art University (San Francisco) in the Book Arts and Letterpress program under Chris Rolik and Macy Chadwick. In addition she took classes at the San Francisco Center for the Book, taught by Mary Laird, Kumi Korf, and Julie Chen.
Bettina lives in San Francisco as a book artist and works as a letterpress printer with Kim Vanderheiden at Painted Tongue Studios in Oakland, California. She teaches book arts and letterpress classes at the Academy of Art University and the San Francisco Center for the Book. She loves books and boxes both as physical objects and as containers of meaning, and is interested in a variety of folded, sewn, and woven structures in which she can incorporate her printing. Bettina was part of “Al-Mutanabbi Street starts here,” contributing a broadside and an artist book, and spoke at the opening of that exhibition in 2016 in Portland, Oregon. She is a member of the Hand Bookbinders of California, the Movable Book Society, and the Book Club of California. View her work at http://blog.bettina-pauly.com/.
Please register as soon as possible! We will email the supply list after receipt of payment. Register HERE.
Saturday, August 13, 2022, 1 pm to approximately 3 pm MT Free; Open to the Public; All are Welcome
Agenda
Welcome and Announcements by President Linda Zwick
Materials and Concepts: Books Developed through Sensory Observation and Engagement, a Presentation by Marci Ross Easterbrook (see below)
Art Flea Market Update by Cynthia Leespring and Julie Filatoff
Announcement of Fall Book Arts Courses at SFCC by Gordon Fluke
Round Robin Art Journal Update by Cynthia Leespring
Art Journal Page and ATC/Rolo Swap Update by Ruth Anna Abigail
September Mail Art Description by Linda Zwick
September Anything Goes Description by Linda Zwick
Community Announcements (calls for entry, upcoming exhibits and workshops, other highlights) by Attendees (2 minutes maximum, please)
Please note: For security reasons we never put the Zoom link on our website. If you did not receive an email from Santa Fe Book Arts Group with the link, please check your email program’s “spam” or “junk” folder. Still not there? Email santafebag@gmail.com with your name and your email address.
Presentation: Materials and Concepts: Books Developed through Sensory Observation and Engagement with Marci Ross Easterbrook
Marci will present her work through different projects that show how the use of materials developed a concept. She will also talk about using your sensibilities to observe what happens as books in different materials stimulate ideas and can translate into other projects.
Marci Ross Easterbrook is an illustrator, printmaker, papermaker, book artist and teacher at Santa Fe Community College. Marci strongly believes that materials are a key source for knowing yourself as an artist and will lead each person to creative new work through text and image. She uses materials of paper, Tyvek, altered pages, and mixed media to create unique surface design that leads to discovery of creative concepts and content for books.
And the Next Day, an Online Workshop!
If you would like to sign up for this workshop after hearing Marci’s presentation, please go to the registration page here, send a check or pay for it with PayPal, and text Julie Filatoff at 505-660-9942 so she sends you the supply list and prompts!
Sense and Signatures: A Materials and Book Workshop with Marci Ross Easterbrook
Sunday, August 14, 2022
10 am to 2 pm (with a lunch break)
Via Zoom Online Platform
In this four-hour workshop you will develop your five senses (touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight) into materials for concept and content development. This will become five signatures which you will bind into an artist book with a side-sewn accordion spine and Tyvek covers.
You will receive a supply and tool list prior to the workshop. The sequence of events: surface techniques on paper, staining Tyvek, making the accordion spine, lunch break, making signatures, sewing the spine and cover, and sharing your books with the other students and Marci.
Marci will also provide a printable .pdf document with directions, a jig, and concept prompts.
Limited to 15 students; held on Zoom. $69 per person (no materials included). Questions? Email marci.easterbrook@sfcc.edu.
Register here: (NOTE: You must fill out the form; simply paying for the workshop does not secure you a spot.)
Santa Fe Book Arts Group announces a call for vendors for its 2022 Art Flea Market!
UPDATE: The Art Flea Market is full! Want to be on the waiting list? Email Julie Filatoff.
Saturday, October 29, 2022, 10 am-3 pm (setup 8:30-10 am; takedown 3-4 pm)
At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Fe
107 West Barcelona Road (at Galisteo), Santa Fe, NM 87505
The Annual Art Flea Market enables BAG members to declutter their art studios. It is highly anticipated by other BAG members, the art community as a whole, and visitors to Santa Fe.
For a $20 vendor fee, members can sell any art supplies or tools that one would use to make art, display art, or be inspired to make art. This includes (but is not limited to):
• Handmade papers
• Ephemera
• Paints, pastels, pencils
• Brushes, palette knives
• Tools
• Boxes
• Books about art techniques or artists
• Art storage items
• Frames
• Fabric and Yarn You are also welcome to sell your own artwork. Please note: This is not a garage sale. If you have items that are not art or related to art, the organizers will ask you to remove those items from display.
To participate as a seller, click here to download this document [NO LONGER LINKED; SEE NOTE ABOVE], read the entire document, then fill out the application on page 3 and follow the instructions at the bottom of the page.
Santa Fe Book Arts Group’s Santa Fe Origins & Ancient Travelers Exhibition
Opening Friday, August 5, 2022, 5 pm to 7 pm
Exhibition Continues Through August 26, 2022
Click on any image to enlarge.
Adobe and the Horno
La Fonda Ghost Skeleton
San Miguel Altar
Tlaxcalan Aztecs
Historic Santa Fe Foundation (HSFF) is pleased to host the Santa Fe Book Arts Group. Santa Fe Origins & Ancient Travelers is a 12.5’ long, handmade book exploring the history of Santa Fe from its beginnings. The exhibition will open at El Zaguán, 545 Canyon Road, Suite 2, Santa Fe, NM on Friday, August 5, 2022 from 5-7 pm.
Santa Fe Origins & Ancient Travelers is a collaboration between paper and book artists from the Santa Fe Book Arts Group (BAG). The group is made up of working artists who love the fertile creative spirit of Santa Fe and have contributed to the piece throughout the pandemic by hand making and cutting paper as well as through providing individual paper mechanics and illustrations. Sally Blakemore, as BAG Artist in Residence from 2020-2022, proposed the book as a collaborative project promoting Santa Fe’s fascinating human history of Native people, migrants from Mexico, colonization through European influences, the Catholic Church, scientists, archeologists, and adventurers.
ABOUT THE SHOW:
Santa Fe Origins & Ancient Travelers is a handmade, interactive book which features the history of Santa Fe from her beginnings.
Who traveled to Santa Fe?
Why did they travel to New Mexico?
What did each group contribute to the diverse culture?
How diverse is Santa Fe’s history?
How has tourism enriched the experience?
Santa Fe Origins & Ancient Travelers is a folding, accordion book that is 15.5″ by 20.5″ closed and 12.5’ long when fully opened and appears as a wild scrapbook of historical facts. Each spread contains a central piece of adobe and historical architecture hand cut from lokta paper, dyed to match the adobe colors of Santa Fe. The following buildings are the centerpiece of their respective spread: the Oldest House, San Miguel Chapel, St. Francis Cathedral, the Palace of the Governors, and La Fonda Hotel. These structures provide a starting location for the stories and historical entries contained in small books which are comprised of illustrations in paper engineered formats, paintings, drawings, and articles by scholars concerning Santa Fe’s diverse history. Each group of travelers has brought wisdom, beliefs, foods, the wheel, honey, agriculture, music, dance, ritual architecture, business, and stewardship to the Southwestern region. The public is encouraged to explore the piece and acquaint themselves with the mystery and wonder of Santa Fe by removing the small books from their cases and flaps.
Sense and Signatures: A Materials and Book Workshop with Marci Ross Easterbrook
Presented by the Santa Fe Book Arts Group
Sunday, August 14, 2022
10 am to 2 pm (with a lunch break)
Via Zoom Online Platform
In this four-hour workshop you will develop your five senses (touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight) into materials for concept and content development. This will become five signatures which you will bind into an artist book with a side-sewn accordion spine and Tyvek covers.
You will receive a supply and tool list prior to the workshop. The sequence of events: surface techniques on paper, staining Tyvek, making the accordion spine, lunch break, making signatures, sewing the spine and cover, and sharing your books with the other students and Marci.
Marci will also provide a printable .pdf document with directions, a jig, and concept prompts.
Limited to 15 students; held on Zoom. $69 per person (no materials included). Questions? Email marci.easterbrook@sfcc.edu.
Register here: (NOTE: You must fill out the form; simply paying for the workshop does not secure you a spot.)
Marci Ross Easterbrook is an illustrator, printmaker, papermaker, book artist, and teacher at Santa Fe Community College. She strongly believes that materials are a key source for knowing yourself as an artist and will lead each person to creative new work through text and image. She uses materials of paper, Tyvek, altered pages, and mixed media to create unique surface design that leads to discovery of creative concepts and content for books.
Please note: For security reasons we never put the Zoom link on our website. If you did not receive an email from Santa Fe Book Arts Group with the link, please check your email program’s “spam” or “junk” folder. Still not there? Email santafebag@gmail.com with your name and your email address.
Saturday, July 9, 2022, 1 pm to approximately 3 pm MT Free; Open to the Public; All are Welcome
Agenda
Welcome and Announcements by President Linda Zwick
Printed Matter Festival by Lisa Miles
Santa Fe Origins Project Update by Sally Blakemore and Barb Macks
Artist’s Books, Installations, and The Art of Papercraft: A Presentation by Helen Hiebert (see below)
Art Journal Page and ATC/Rolo Swap Update by Ruth Anna Abigail
Round Robin Art Journal Update by Cynthia Leespring
Art Flea Market Update by Cynthia Leespring and Julie Filatoff
Community Announcements (calls for entry, upcoming exhibits and workshops, other highlights) by Attendees (2 minutes maximum, please)
There are a few spots left in Helen’s workshop via Zoom
on Saturday, July 16, from 10 am to 12 noon! Click here to register.
Presentation: Artist’s Books, Installations, and The Art of Papercraft with Helen Hiebert
Helen Hiebert will talk about her journey on paper. She will show several unique artist’s books and installations, while describing the twists and turns in her entrepreneurial career. Helen will also discuss her newest how-to book, The Art of Papercraft.
Helen Hiebert is a Colorado artist who constructs installations, sculptures, films, and artist’s books using handmade paper, thread, and light. She teaches and lectures about papermaking and lamp-making and exhibits her work internationally. She is author of the several how-to books about papermaking and paper crafts. Helen has an extensive network of paper colleagues around the world and her interest in how things are made (from paper) keeps her up to date on current paper trends, which she writes about in her weekly blog post called The Sunday Paper. Helen’s most recent installation, Step Into the Light, is a giant paper lantern at Anythink Wright Farms, a library in Denver. She holds an annual paper retreat in her Red Cliff studio every August.
Printed Matter will host 50 printmakers from all across the Southwest, exhibiting and selling a diverse array of artwork. This includes fine art editions, book arts, hand-printed clothing, and experimental processes. Printed Matter is an affordable, all-inclusive fair welcoming all people, all nations.
Sunday, July 10, 2022 10 am to 4 pm Santa Fe Railyard Farmers Market Shade Structure and Railyard Plaza
Live demonstrations will run throughout the day with:
Axle Contemporary: Corn Tortilla Embossing (free tortillas for all!)
“Remnants” is a two-person art show opening this Saturday, July 2, from 2 pm to 4 pm (with a gallery talk at 3 pm) and closing Saturday, September 17, 2022, at the Albuquerque Open Space Visitor Center Gallery.
The theme “Remnants,” chosen by the two artists, encompasses the remains, fragments, and vestiges of found objects that speak of life’s mysteries. The artists collect, save, photograph, and sketch these objects that connect past, present, and future. Their combined art invites contemplation of nature’s elegant leftovers—rearranged and given a new life.
BAG member Margy O’Brien will be showing books of rolled scroll, threaded accordion, altered, popup, fold-up pojagi, and codex forms. Her work also includes two-dimensional mixed-media art. Her artist’s books have been included in past Santa Fe BAG Rotunda shows and included in the books 1000 Artists’ Books (Quarry Books) and 500 Handmade Books, Volume 2 (Lark Publishing).
Carolyn Berry will be exhibiting boxed assemblages featuring suspended gourds and found objects—from fragments of bones to seed pods embedded in encaustic wax. These unique shrines are dedicated to the beauty and treachery of nature all around us. Carolyn’s artwork is featured in the Spring 2021 issue of Encaustic Arts Magazine.
The Albuquerque Open Space Visitor Center is at 6500 Coors Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120, and is generally open Tuesday through Saturday 9 am to 5 pm (closed Sunday and Monday); phone (505) 768-4950. For more information, visit www.visitalbuquerque.org/event/remnants/49516/.
Saturday, July 16, 2022
10 am to 12 noon MST
Online via Zoom
$21 (BAG members)
In this workshop you’ll create a small booklet with a woven paper cover, then add cutouts to enhance your weaving. The double pamphlet stitch adds two signatures to the book with a simple stab binding.
Helen Hiebert is a Colorado artist who constructs installations, sculptures, films, and artist’s books using handmade paper, thread, and light. She teaches and lectures about papermaking and lamp-making and exhibits her work internationally. She is author of the several how-to books about papermaking and paper crafts. Helen has an extensive network of paper colleagues around the world and her interest in how things are made (from paper) keeps her up to date on current paper trends, which she writes about in her weekly blog post called The Sunday Paper. Helen’s most recent installation, Step Into the Light, is a giant paper lantern at Anythink Wright Farms, a library in Denver. She holds an annual paper retreat in her Red Cliff Studio every August.
We will email the supply list and template after receipt of payment.
Please note: For security reasons we never put the Zoom link on our website. If you did not receive an email from Santa Fe Book Arts Group with the link, please check your email program’s “spam” or “junk” folder. Still not there? Email santafebag@gmail.com with your name and your email address.
Saturday, May 14, 2022, 1 pm to approximately 3 pm MST Free; Open to the Public; All are Welcome
Agenda
Welcome and Announcements by President Linda Zwick
Art Journal Page and ATC/Rolo Swap Update by Ruth Anna Abigail
When Doodles Dare to Dream: A Presentation by Rosemary Ray (see below)
Santa Fe Origins Project Update and Pop-Up Demo by Sally Blakemore
Community Announcements (calls for entry, upcoming exhibits and workshops, other highlights) by Attendees (2 minutes maximum, please)
Presentation: When Doodles Dare to Dream with Rosemary Rae
Click images to enlarge.
Welcome to Rosemary Rae’s world of doodle books. Here bright bursts of possibility collide with song and curious geometry, creating an elaborate visual poem. Beauty, fun, and spontaneity leap from page to page. Inspiration blooms as Rosemary draws with marker, colored pencils, and crayon, adding collage, paint, and rubber stamps along the way. Join Rosemary on a technicolor journey through her multi-page gardens–swirling landscapes ablaze with words, roses, flames, polka dots, and stars. Rosemary hopes that her little illustrated books will inspire you to create one, too.
Rosemary Rae is a creative director/designer, artist, and design educator living in San Diego, California. A graduate of Moore College of Art & Design and Vermont College of Fine Arts, she currently works for a local publisher creating book covers, calendars, and kits that are sold nationwide. In addition to designing her unique line of letterpressed greeting cards, she also creates collages and artist books, which have been featured in many juried exhibitions. Her creative work provides the arena to play and experiment with book structures, paper ephemera, pop-ups, paint, lettering, and typography.
The Printed Matter network invites indie printers, art collectives, print collectives, printshops, artist activists, street artists, fine artists, and non-artists to exhibit and sell at a show with 60 vendors at the Santa Fe Railyard Complex on Sunday, July 10, 2022 from 10 am to 4 pm. This is an all-outdoor event; vendors and participants are encouraged to follow any COVID-safe practices as they see fit.
The event will include printing that is purely personal or traditional fine art to more cultural forms, including street arts, newsletters, book arts, handbills, stickers, cards, vinyl/CD art, and other publishing forms printed via etching, silkscreen, linotype, and letterpress, plus more DYI and guerrilla approaches such as street stencils, graffiti forms, potato prints, photograms, and lo-fi transfers. Items can be fine art or more utilitarian including lengths of fabric, clothing, patches, kitchen textiles, housewares, etc.
Vendor fee is $30 per artist or $40 for a group (two or more artists) and payment MUST be received by June 15. You must bring your own table, tent, booth/walls, etc. Wifi will be available.
During the event there will be live/hands on/interactive demonstrations of different types of printing. If you are willing to volunteer an hour or two to demonstrate your printing process, Printed Matter will waive your vendor fee. Contact Tim ASAP if you wish to demo.
During Printed Matter the Santa Fe Artist Market will be held in the nearby Farmers’ Market building, which has restrooms, electricity, and water.
The organizers will do the usual public announcements, mailing list, banners, and E-media, but appreciate help with announcements to artists’ own mailing lists. Bourland Letterpress will print a limited-edition poster with vendors’ names.
Speaking of James, he will host a potluck mixer the Saturday night before the event at Bourland Letterpress’s parking lot from 5 pm to 8 pm.
Libros New Mexico Book Arts Guild president Nicole Raven White offers a program called Art Therapeutics.
Art Therapeutics is the process of using writing and creative processes to help you on your healing journey. This course will also help you take the healing modalities you already partake in and enhance them even more with creative visuals that will keep you on track.
The mind is so full of information, we need visuals to keep us grounded and focused. Art Therapeutics techniques will help you create the ultimate grounding and focusing tools because you create them yourself.
All of these processes will be beneficial and successful whether you have art experience or not.
Use Art Therapeutics to reduce stress, anxiety, grief, loss, anger, frustration, depression, and most emotional and physical pain. If you are already an artist, this will be a fun course that will help you expand and increase your creativity. If you feel, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body” or “I’m not artistic,” Nicole will help you break through that limiting belief to show you how to unleash your creativity. “It’s fun and so much easier than you think,” says Nicole.
The Book as Sculpture: Narratives in Visual Play & Form
An 8-Week Class with Marci Easterbrook
Mondays and Wednesdays, June 6-July 30, 2022
9 am to 12 noon
In Person at Santa Fe Community College and Online Synchronous
Arts and Design Advanced Projects
Arts 2115L D1
CRN 10172
3 credits
In this class various materials will expand our knowledge of the book as a 3D story and art object. This is a hands-on exploration of materials that will make new and exciting relationships of shape, dimension, and text. You will create advanced artist books that are unique and will develop your art vision.
Students will use traditional and contemporary methods of binding, papermaking, paper casting, and repurposing of materials in a workshop experience that is intensive, fun, and applicable to learning about art, sculpture, and books in completely original ways.
For more information about the class, email Marci Easterbrook, Illustrator, Book Artist, Papermaker, and Printmaker, at marci.easterbrook@sfcc.edu. For registration information, email melba.ramos@sfcc.edu. Permission is required for advanced project classes; email patricia.pearce@sfcc.edu or call (505) 428-1504 or (505) 428-1230.
Examples of Sculptural Books Made from Metal | Wood Pulp | Fabric | Clay | Paper | Fiber | Found Objects | Altered Books
Andrea Singer, 2011
Marci Easterbrook, 2008
Isobelle Ouzman, 2012
Nance O’Banion, 2008
Linda Cross, 2016
Megan Singleton, 2014
“Read Me” altered book by Marci Easterbrook; altered pages rolled and bound with wire.
As you know, fellow BAG member Maia Sampson Michael passed away recently. Maia’s husband Dan is holding a sale of Maia’s book arts supplies to ensure that they are put to good use.
Saturday, April 16, 10 am to 2 pm (PLEASE, NO EARLYBIRDS!)
958 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM
Large Items Include:
Antique book press
Oak storage unit (ideal for rubber stamp collection and tools!)
BAG President Linda Zwick has given us a challenge. Create a piece of art of any kind (no limitations on size or structure), send to friends and family if you like, and send a photo to santafebag@gmail.com (for posting on the website and social media, and inclusion in a likely future slideshow at a BAG membership meeting). The themes are just suggestions; create whatever suits your fancy!
January
January 30 is Inspire Your Heart with Art Day.
February
February 8 is Hari-Kuyo in the Kanto region of Japan. It is the Buddhist and Shinto Festival of Broken Needles (celebrated in December in the Kyoto and Kansai regions) and is a memorial to sewing needles broken in their service during the past year. It is also an opportunity to pray for improved skills. Suggestion: Create something in honor of your favorite tool or tools or about your intentions to learn new skills of any kind.
March
March 18 is National Quilting Day. Suggestions: Create a quilted design, a quilted fabric block, a book containing quilted designs, or anything that incorporates the essence of a quilted item.
April
April 17 is International Haiku Poetry Day. Suggestion: Create one or more haiga, a style of Japanese painting that incorporates haiku, usually about nature or the natural world, with the painting more suggestive of the subject of the haiku rather than a direct image of that subject. Check out Matsuo Basho, a great master of haiku and haiga, if you are interested.
May
The second Saturday of May (in 2022, May 14) is World Collage Day, initiated by Kolaj Magazine in 2018. Celebrate collage this month!
June
June 8 is Frank Lloyd Wright’s birth anniversary. You likely know about his houses and his graphic designs for home furnishings and windows. But did you know that in 1927 Wright created 12 graphic designs based on seasonal themes that were projected to be the covers each month on Liberty Magazine the following year? Sadly, the magazine never used the designs he created, but you can find examples by searching the internet for Wright’s September Desert, December Gifts, The Flag, Saguaro Forms and Cactus Flowers, and May Basket. Suggestion: Using colored pencil as Wright did (or whatever tool you prefer), create an abstract design of a favorite object.
July
Alexander Calder’s birth anniversary is July 22. He is famous for both mobiles and what he termed stabiles. Suggestion: Create an engineered 3D artful object that interests you.
August
The second Wednesday of August (in 2022, August 10) is World Calligraphy Day. Calligraphy is art in written form. Suggestions: Practice calligraphy styles you know and love, create your own calligraphic alphabet, or play with an illuminated or doodled letter.
September
In Great Britain, Epilepsy Action designates an annual National Doodle Day to garner financial support for its efforts to improve the lives of those with epilepsy. In 2022, September 3 is designated as National Doodle Day. Suggestion: Create one or more doodles this month.
October
October 24 is the feast day of Saint Anthony Mary Claret. He is the patron saint of, among others, weavers. While many think of weaving as a yarn-based art, paper can be woven, too.
November
Georgia O’Keeffe’s birth anniversary is November 15. Many of us are familiar with her oeuvre. Suggestion: Create a piece of art in honor of O’Keeffe.
December
Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth anniversary is December 16. Suggestion: Create a piece of art with a component related to music.
Please note: For security reasons we never put the Zoom link on our website. If you did not receive an email from Santa Fe Book Arts Group with the link, please check your email program’s “spam” or “junk” folder. Still not there? Email santafebag@gmail.com with your name and your email address.
Saturday, April 9, 2022, 1 pm to approximately 3 pm MST Free; Open to the Public; All are Welcome
Agenda
Welcome and Announcements by President Linda Zwick
Round-Robin Art Journal Exchange Update by Cynthia Leespring
Art Journal Page and ATC/Rolo Swap Update by Ruth Anna Abigail
Making Natural Ink from Plants: A Presentation by Wendy Feldberg (see below)
Santa Fe Origins Project Update and Pop-Up Demo by Sally Blakemore
Community Announcements (calls for entry, upcoming exhibits and workshops, other highlights) by Attendees (2 minutes maximum, please)
Presentation: Making Natural Inks from Plants by Wendy Feldberg
Click on images to enlarge.
Wendy Feldberg will present on making natural inks from plants, and show examples of her work with those inks.
Wendy Feldberg lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in the boreal eco zone. She creates painted, printed, and stitched art textiles, papers, and artist books on mostly botanical themes. She is always inspired by the beautiful landscapes and plant life, both wild and cultivated, of that rugged region of Canada.
Working with nature as a gardener and as an artist is one of the chief constants and consolations of Wendy’s life. Here printed and stitched textiles and papers, like scrolls, become botanical records of plants and their environments in every season.
Wendy’s basic method is to print and stitch on textiles and papers, embroidering by hand and machine. Her intention is to build up layers of colored marks to express feeling and concept with line, color, and texture. As well as painting marks on substrates with acrylics or natural dyes, Wendy uses eco printing, a monotype process that applies pigments from plants, soils, and minerals directly from plants onto natural fibers. Printing and dyeing with native plants from her garden and foraged from the local environment have become her special interest.
This Friday, April 1: Anything Goes, a Show and Sale of Artwork and Artists’ Materials!
Anything Goes will be at the Tortuga Gallery from Friday, April 1, to Saturday, April 9, 2022. The gallery is open 11 am to 5 pm and is at 901 Edith Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, NM; (505) 948-8840; https://www.tortugagallery.org/. Santa Fe BAG and Libros members created the artwork.
The opening reception is tomorrow, Friday, April 1, from 4 pm to 7 pm. Please park on Pacific during events.
Exhibiting artists are:
Juliana Coles
Jacques Dorier
Paul Duggan
Esther Feske
Julie Filatoff
Adele Frances
Leah Gibbons
Annie Hooten
Cynthia Leespring
Susan Lord
Elizabeth McKee
Kate Padilla
Ginger Rice
Mita Saldaña
Beverly Tones
Julie Wagner
Nicole White
Karen Woolsey
Susan Wright
Artist Trading Cards by (clockwise from top left) Cynthia Leespring, Joyce Wood, Ruth Anna Abigail, Julie Filatoff, and Elayne Karickhoff. Click image to enlarge.
Hey, BAG members! Let’s swap Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and Rolodex Cards (Rolos)!
ATCs are 2.5” x 3.5” (vertical or horizontal—your choice)
Standard Rolos are 4” wide x approximately 2.5” high (depends on the die you’re using, etc.)
Large Rolos are 5” wide x 3” high
Sign up by the last day of the month (i.e., March 31, 2022). Ruth Anna Abigail will put you in a group of 3 or 4 people, and you will make one card for each person in your group. Mail your cards so that they arrive before the end of the next month. You will get back cards from all over!
To sign up, email Ruth Anna at raabigail@gmail.com (please put BAG in the subject line) and indicate which cards you want to trade (one, two, or all three):
The Surprising Form of Memory: Writing a Pantoum, a workshop with Lauren Camp
Saturday, March 19, 2022
2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Online via Zoom
$25 (BAG members); $30 (non-members)
The ancient pantoum is an ideal form for writing about the past. With a little direction, even uncertain writers are eased into shaping their crystalline memories, and more experienced writers will have the chance to delve into subjects that might not have opened up for them before.
Lauren will offer brief historical background on the form, then lead students in an idea-generating exercise to produce raw material for each student’s unique pantoum. Students will begin to see the juxtaposition and reverberation of sound and themes. Excitement builds quickly as students follow the form through to its ending.
Open to all levels.
Lauren Camp has written creative nonfiction and poetry for magazines, newspapers and journals. Her fifth collection of poetry, Took House, was published by Tupelo Press in 2020.
Each month you will create a 4×6 postcard (using cardstock) about anything that interests or inspires you about that month of the year. A holiday, a birthday of someone famous (or not), a feeling the month generates… whatever the month means to you.
Then email Linda Zwick (lindazwick55@yahoo.com) with your address before the third Saturday of the month. She will email you the name and address of your recipient the next week.
You have the entire month to work on your card. Please mail it to your mail art recipient by the end of the month. (For example, if you sign up in December for the January mail art, please mail your card by the end of January.)
Also email a photograph of your card to BAG (santafebag@gmail.com). These images will be used on social media, the BAG website, and occasional BAG slideshows. If you would prefer not to have your card exhibited in any of these venues, please just skip sending in an image.
Anything Goes! Adventures in Art
Each month at the Zoom member meeting (and in an eBlast the following week), BAG will introduce a new adventure. Create a piece of art, any size, shape, and with whatever materials you choose.
There is no assigned exchange involved in this project, so send to anyone you like or keep for yourself.
Please photograph and email an image of your creation to BAG (santafebag@gmail.com) by the end of the next month. As with Mail Art, your image may be used on social media, the BAG website, and for a Zoom presentation. Emailing an image serves as your permission for BAG to use this photo of your art.
The Anything Goes! Adventures in Art for January is:
“January 31 is Inspire Your Heart with Art Day.”
Today at the end of the BAG meeting Sally Blakemore will demonstrate two more paper engineering projects. This is part of an ongoing series for those working on the “Santa Fe Origins” collaborative book, and anyone interested in paper engineering.
First are the animated tabs and pulls. This mechanic operates with multiple slots through the front that contain items that lift when the tab is pulled down. Use it for any kind of reveal-and-conceal idea; for example, bugs under leaves or birds flying up or dancers or a village where the houses and the trees pop up.
You can add as many windows and struts as you wish.
Click on any photo to enlarge.
Click on the diagram to open it in a new window to download and print.
The second mechanic is the two-track wheel with two windows. This can be used for showing comparative things. In her example, Sally has humorously shown things you can accidentally run over with your car in New Mexico: snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, stink bugs, rabbits, chipmunks, ravens, beetles, and more. (Don’t worry, folks—it’s not real.)
Click on the diagram to open it in a new window to download and print.
BAG Artist-in-Residence Sally Blakemore is one of 100 paper artists who were invited to submit their work to the 2021 Shanghai International Paper Art Biennale.
The theme of the Biennale is “Feasts on Paper,” focusing on paper as contemporary art against the backdrop of the pandemic. The Biennale opens September 25 and includes an exhibition, a seminar, an International resident creation project, and a series of cultural and artistic activities (theme handicraft workshops, on-site cultural activities, parallel exhibition, Environmental Art Market, etc.). The themes of the three exhibition areas will be intertextual, sharing faith, and strength for the global fight against the epidemic.
“The pandemic that began at the end of 2019 has sealed each individual in an independent space, while at the same time being engulfed in a closely related human community,” note the organizers. “This is an era full of various uncertainties and possibilities. Questions about oneself, the space, and the world are endless, and the meaning of existence and unbounded love emerge. We need paper art more than ever. As an outlet for expression and writing, it comes from life and is a daily poetry regained in the world’s great torrent, and it shows a great love that connects everyone while bringing hope to each other.
“The Biennale will present various thoughts of artists around the world concerning the epidemic, nature, life, promising hope, and great love. The paper that has always written history will continue to write in the form of contemporary art at this moment, taking the real-time picture of epidemics and the river of consciousness. At the same time, we are able to swim through the cold winter and head toward the next spring, along with the soft-yet-tough power of paper.”
Sally’s book is “History Mountain,” which she describes as a “matriarchal/patriarchal look at human adaptation to change, both gradual change and catastrophic change.” The book contains four spreads; on the back of each is a visual warning or subtext to the topic in the spread.
Spread 1—PreHistory represents the Earth before technology. A humanoid emerges on the right wearing a spiritual costume.
Spread 2—Discovery of Fire represents the power of control and the resources found in this discovery of energy. How to use it is the real education and the responsibility it requires.
Spread 3—When a Bird Saw an Airplane is the view through Nature’s eyes. How long does Nature take to adapt to human-made detours and inventions?
Spread 4—Technological Blight represents a positive thing in a blighted world: that humans continue to search for beauty and energy. These include beauty products, commodified for markets, and found beauty, which is free to the self-educated and in the eye of the beholder.
The materials that Sally sued include watercolor, handmade papers, inks, acrylics, photocopies, acetate, jute, paint, Tyvek, Mylar, fabric, cover board, and tape. Her cutting methods include laser, plotter, hand cutting, and paper engineering. (Click on images below to enlarge; use back arrow to return to this page.)
Sally drew her inspiration from authors and cultures:
Oliver Sacks (Migraine, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) was a brain specialist and author who wrote case histories on brain anomalies like migraine aura and how resilient and flexible the brain really is.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari and Homo Erectus.
Work of the Dead by Thomas W. Laqueur is an astonishing history of human remains, just how they were disposed of and made sacred, from the Neanderthal to modern humans. Burials reveal so much of how cultures adapt and change.
Stiff, a book by Mary Roach, is a modern look and an update onthe understanding of remains and their value to science and art.
The Chinese Blue Willow Legend as shown on the manufactured dinner plate porcelain.
The Biennale is under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the Organizing Committee of the Oriental Beauty Valley Art Festival, and the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, with several sponsors including the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists. For more information visit https://www.paperartbiennale.org.cn/.
BAG member Ann Kresge’s exhibit, Places/Spaces, is no longer up at the Remarque Print Workshop gallery, but we are fortunate that the gallery has the pieces in an online catalog, which you can view here:https://www.remarqueprintshop.com/placesspaces-ann-kresge.html.
“This retrospective exhibition is composed of work inspired by a sense of place,” Ann said. “Many of these prints and artists’ books were created on site in these places and spaces.
“I am fascinated by people’s connection to geography. The patterns and impressions of places I have worked, lived, and visited inspire my art. These places include India, Japan, China, Egypt, Argentina, and throughout the US. Rock formations, caves, canyons, earth’s rims and edges compel me. I think about ideas, forces and people gathering and dispersing.
“As a contemporary printmaker and book artist I think in paper, pattern, series, sequence, layers, and interiors. I explore my sense of place in painting, drawing, and printmaking. My artists’ books are collaborations with poets and storytellers. I am interested in collaboration, interarts and books as objects.”
Here’s just one of Ann’s pieces. Be sure to click the link above to see the entire exhibition.
Shadow Play | Ann Kresge | Limited-edition artist’s book | 14″x18″x1″
When you’re on the Santa Fe Community College campus, be sure to look for the poetry posts. Santa Fe Poet Laureate Elizabeth Jacobson, along with Miriam Sagan (who originated the posts), will curate 12 poets in the next 24 months, ending June 30, 2023. Expect a gathering of voices and some fresh poetry. There are 10 posts for a walkable literary experience.
The inaugural installation is poetry by Elizabeth Jacobson, to celebrate her appointment, and is up through August 31, 2021.
“Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky.”
― Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
Artist-in-Residence Sally Blakemore and Community Projects Liaison Barb Macks are spearheading an amazing project, and you, as a BAG member, can be part of its creation. “Santa Fe: Origins in Mud” is sponsored by Santa Fe Book Arts Group (BAG) in cooperation with the Palace Press at the Palace of the Governors/Santa Fe History Museum and El Zaguan (located on Canyon Road and part of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation).
“Origins in Mud” is an interactive, paper-engineered book celebrating Santa Fe’s multi-cultural diversity and reflecting the origins of a society that literally grew out of the Southwest mud. The book consists of five spreads, each page being 15” wide by 20.5” high with 1” spines. When it is extended flat it will be 12.5’ long, dense with interactive flaps that engage the viewer to explore the hidden treasures. The mechanical paper forms will lift, pop up, rise, and unfold, reveal and conceal, or unfold and extend when the viewer opens a page. Architectural details will be cut into the papers with further details added.
Prototype of “Santa Fe: Origins in Mud.” Click image to open larger in another window.
For the exhibit at El Zaguan in Spring 2022, we envision a dark, empty gallery with a 20-foot-long table in the middle of the room. Under the table a wooden trough will contain all of the incredible colors of earth in the region, from yellow ochre clays to green sand to red earth. The actual earth will ground the brown colors in the handmade Lokta/Abaca papers created for the project by Tom Leech of the Palace Press.
The book is designed to be viewed in 360 degrees. Visitors will use flashlights to see inside and through the structures. From the back, painted rooms and silhouetted human life will create shadows that live in the paper as the light moves.
As you can imagine, it takes a lot of artists with skill in many disciplines to make this book a reality. Sally and Barb will hold in-person workshops for 2 or 3 people beginning in September.
Below is a description of each spread; the * and bold text indicates that artists are needed to create this piece. If you would like to create a piece, contact Sally at artyprojects@cybermesa.com right away.
1. The “Oldest” House
Corn stalks and river, inside flap painted with workers planting and showing corn
Foods made with corn, beans, squash, meat, and peppers *
Medicine bag of curandera herbs and sage *
Inside of the “Oldest” House (seen from the back): people and belongings and working with other people *
Vegetation to be added to the spreads, trees, bushes, flowers *
Fauna and flora of New Mexico *
Beaded and embroidered cloth map of El Camino Royale *
Ravens (The Raven’s Tale is a small book based on an Indigenous story but a modern book based on what the ravens observed for 10,000 years) *
The origins of this house reside in the relationship between the Catholic church and the curanderas of Mexico. The architects were the Aztec (Tlaxcalan) from Mexico City who set the standard for early building in New Mexico. The Urrutia map of 1766-68 shows a structure near the San Miguel Chapel in the approximate position of this house. It is believed that it was built by hand from mud and trees found in the area and constructed on top of an ancient footing from an Indigenous village underneath it. Tree-ring specimens taken from some of the vigas in the lower rooms’ ceilings show cutting dates of 1740-67. The house remains a unique remnant of the type of building once prevalent in the city—part Indigenous, part Spanish, low-ceilinged and rugged, with dirt floors and thick adobe walls.
2. San Miguel Chapel
Tlaxcalan (Aztec) builders *
Moorish Matachine Dancers on the plaza in front of the chapel *
Interior painting showing the altar and seating *
Pop-up of unique bell made in Spain and rung against the Moors *
Adobe and rammed-earth building components and hornos *
Ravens
The chapel was built around 1610 and is recognized as the oldest church in the United States. It is believed that it was constructed by Tlaxcalan people (Apaches) who came to New Mexico from old Mexico in 1598. In its early years, the church served a small group of Tlaxcalans, laborers, and Spanish soldiers who lived in this area. The church was partially destroyed in 1640, then reconstructed but severely damaged again during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. In 1955, a major restoration uncovered the original dirt floor and sanctuary steps that can be seen today.
3. St. Francis Cathedral and Original Chapel
Conquistadora portrait and story of rescue to El Paso during the revolt *
Altar and candles
Relic case with acetate window*
Pet Parade
Rose Window and Dove Window
Finger Labyrinth cut from handmade paper on the flap of the Pet Parade
Sculptures on the plaza: St. Francis, Corn Maiden, Dancing Maiden
Ravens
Cross of the Martyrs
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi was built by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy between 1869 and 1886 on the site of an older adobe church. Influenced by the French-born Archbishop Lamy and in dramatic contrast to the surrounding adobe structures, the Cathedral was designed in the Romanesque Revival style. The concurrence of the soil and color at the Cathedral is echoed in this passage from Frank Waters’ People of the Valley:
“Before her, fresh plastered, new-adobe Santa Gertrudes shimmered in the hot afternoon. The walls of Bishop Lamy’s new church rose clean ash-grey with adobe brought from Guadalupita. Behind it, chattering like a flock of blackbirds, the Sisters of Loretto watched their convent school being given its first coat of yellow tierra amarilla. In the row of stores, trading posts, and cantinas, Maria recognized the relumbroso from the red clay banks around Turquillo. And north and south, the scattered adobes reflected white and clay-blue from Cañoncito and Chacón. It was a single village street sprawled along the winding, rutted road between the pine hills and the cottonwoods lining the river. But with its colors the girls saw in it all the clay banks and canyons, the hills and chalk cliffs of the one long valley she wandered from end to end.”
4. La Fonda Hotel
The Ghost Fountain and story of the casino days (pop-up flap) *
Inside La Plazuela restaurant, with its painted windows *
La Titilla Peak in various light and seasons
Trees in the vicinity *
Ravens
Roof bar showing Titilla Peak and Caldera
Flamenco scene and Mariachis
City of Santa Fe records indicate that La Fonda sits on the site of the town’s first inn, established when the city was founded by Spaniards in 1607, making it the oldest hotel corner in America. In 1821, Captain William Becknell and his party found their way to La Fonda during the maiden commercial route across the plains from Missouri, establishing the Santa Fe Trail. The structure today was built in 1922 and features the influence of architects Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter and John Gaw Meem. In this book La Fonda represents an end-of-the-trail place of welcome (bienvenidos) and hospitality. It existed as a casino and brothel for many years at the edge of the St. Francis Cathedral, highlighting the contrast between sanctity and sanctified partying.
5. The Palace of the Governors
Plaza flap with another flap of the obelisk as it was and toppled *
Note about the Time Capsule *
Low Rider Parade with low riders in the accordion fold
Festivals around a suggested bandstand *
Baumann House *
Pop up of Tom Leech and the Palace Press letterpress *
As Spain’s seat of government for what is today the American Southwest, the Palace of the Governors’ adobe structure is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States. In the following years, the Palace changed hands as the territory of New Mexico did, seeing the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Spanish reconquest from 1693 to 1694, Mexican independence in 1821, and finally American possession in 1848. This piece of architecture holds our ancient mud history along with more modern histories. The seduction of the pristine Southwestern land preserved by Indigenous people is a planetary experience grounded in culture and mud. Indigenous hunter-gatherers came from Mexico City in search of water. Santa Fe was considered a cornucopia because of the Rio Grande and the Santa Fe River at San Isidro Crossing. The City was born from the dust of the Santa Fe Trail. Trains created larger markets for travelers, establishing the tourist economy.
Thanks to BAG members Sally Blakemore, Barb Macks, Helen Fabel, and Lynn Grimes, Santa Fe kids are going to look at bugs in a whole new way. Recently the four artists decorated two windows at the Santa Fe Children’s Museum: one with Nature Bugs and one with Urban Bugs.
“The installations are a wildly diverse experiment using materials as inspiration,” said Sally. “We created a Mylar ‘waterfall’ filled with bugs made from repurposed cookbooks from Kitchenality and Barb’s Tyvek color experiments.”
While working on the installation, the team heard that Eric Carle died. “Eric was a beloved children’s writer and illustrator who created bugs from paper and was one of our heroes of children’s publishing,” explained Sally, “so we dedicated the whole Bug exhibit to his memory.” The 91-year-old author was best known for his book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”
The BAG Bug Team also created kits for the Museum’s Garden Camp that starts in June.
The Santa Fe Children’s Museum is at 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505; visit https://santafechildrensmuseum.org/ or call (505) 989-8359 for more information. The bug windows are in the Lego building and will be on exhibit through September 2021.
BAG President Linda Zwick challenged members to create faux postage stamps. (The U.S. Postal Service used to allow creation of custom postage stamps through approved third-party vendors, but ended the program in June 2020.)
You can view the submissions in a video by clicking here.
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.
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:
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).
Books with Fabrics and Fibers Challenge
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:
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.)
What a talented, loving bunch of people are BAG members! We received photos of more than 50 valentines from these artists: Ruth Anna Abigail, Monica Andersen, Tracy Armagost, Ashisha, Sally Blakemore, Kim Burkholder, Jill Cowley, Andrea Cypress, Freya Diamond, Liz Faust, Julie Filatoff, Leah Gibbons, Cathleen Higgins, Marjie Kamine, Cynthia Leespring, Elizabeth McKee, Pat Moses, Mavis Murphy, Gail Murray, Austa Oliver, Victoria Rabinowe, Douglass Rankin, Helen Spielman, Susan Surprise, Kim Walter, and Amy Thompson West.
Click on any image to start the slideshow. Click the < or > arrows to advance; click X to close. You can also view a .pdf document with artists’ names here (large file).
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.
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.
Ashisha: Front
Ashisha: Inside
Liz Faust: Front
Liz Faust: Inside
Julie Filatoff: Front
Julie Filatoff: Inside. If I cannot bring you comfort Then at least I bring you hope For nothing is more precious Than the time we have and so We all must learn from small misfortune Count the blessings that are real Let the bells ring out for Christmas At the closing of the year Let the bells ring out for Christmas At the closing of the year. Now all the winter bells are ringing Hear them echo through the snow And the children’s voices singing On the streets so far below This is a time to be together And the truth is somewhere here Within our love of people At the closing of the year. Trevor Horn / Hans Zimmer / Christian Kolonovits
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Gail Murray
Joan Plummer: Front
Joan Plummer: Inside
Kim Burkholder: Wishing all a holiday season filled with love, hope, and creativity!
Mary Elizabeth Nelson: Happy Holidays to my friends in Santa Fe BAG.
Mavis Murphy: Front
Mavis Murphy: Inside
Rebecca Best: Front
Rebecca Best: Inside
Amy Thompson West
Amy Thompson West: Inside
Douglass Rankin: Front
Douglass Rankin: Inside
Geri Michelli
Geri Michelli
Geri Michelli
Geri Michelli
Judy Crawford: Front
Judy Crawford: Inside
Lisa Miles
Tracy Armagost: Front
Tracy Armagost: Inside
Rhae Burden
By Barb Macks. A haiku: Paste paper designs BAG ornament so festive FELIZ NAVIDAD!
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.comno 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
Sally’s Templates
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!
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.
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.
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
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:
Donate items (see the guidelines here; then make an appointment with Sarah Pierpont by contacting her at (505) 603-0558 or skpierpont@yahoo.com). All donations are tax-deductible.
Make an appointment (contact info above) to shop or to be placed on the mailing list for future pop-up events.
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/
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.
