lineage

Posted on September 6, 2015April 29, 2019 Posted in artist books, handmade booksTagged on book-making

A couple of years ago our dear Asuka Ohsawa gathered around her magnetic self a group of 6 artists to collaborate on a limited edition book inspired by inheritance – be it within families, cultures or generations.

I learned a lot just by observing Asuka’s talent for sharpening our focal point while allowing for such a rich periphery. “Lineage” is lovely to look at, with its 6 entirely different perspectives yet cohesive and meaningful as a whole. It’s has a varied zoom kind of quality, with some of us staying really near home while others took a bird-eye shot, or presented an abstraction, or even offered a kaleidoscopic view of the matter. This next image shows the spread Asuka created:

As the following images show, immigration at its contradictory-most level provided me with both the field perspective and the field itself.

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The book is bound as a drum-leaf with silk & paper hard-cover (hotstamped), approximately 6×6″. Produced in an edition of 10, a couple of which are for sale. The price is $350.

Authors: Asuka Osawa, Stephanie Beck, Jessica Lagunas, Ana Paula Cordeiro, Roni Gross, Sarah Nicholls.

Text and images were printed from handset type, photopolymer plates, woodcuts and linoleum blocks on a Vandercook Proofing Press at The Center for Book Arts, NYC, winter 2013/2014. The photos above where taken by Roni Mocan with the exception of Asuka’s page, which was taken by Roni Gross.

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lightweight the limp-vellum

Posted on June 15, 2015April 29, 2019 Posted in artist books, consider codexes, considered haptic, handmade booksTagged books by commission, consider coherence, on book-making

my long time obsession with limp vellum bindings, finally fully indulged.

and there is even an explanation for it:

as for the content, after many weeks working long hours to finish it up in time for the spring Book Fair, all I can say is I hope you will enjoy as much as I do (meaning, even though I’m completely exhausted it still tickles me, as a puppy or a kitten that keeps one awake the whole night would)

oh yes, it surely had to have its own funny box:

you probably wouldn’t be seeing these images without the priceless technical expertise, creativity and heartfelt generosity of Celine Lombardi and Roni Mocan, not to mention the constantly invigorating enthusiasm of Maureen Cummins, Linda Broadfoot, Kara Lack, Sarah Nicholls and Jessica Lagunas. And of course, none of this would have ever happened if it wasn’t for my Mom.

happily ever after

For the artist statement, tech specs and more images, please click here.

Lightweight Photos: Roni Mocan

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book heads

Posted on April 13, 2015April 29, 2019 Posted in artist books, consider codexes, considered haptic, handmade booksTagged on book-making

I do find book anatomy a very sexy subject, and I quite am sure I am not alone at that. In case you don’t know: the top of the book is called “Head”, and the bottom is called “Tail”. The spine is known as “Spine”, and the page opening side is called the “Fore Edge”. Why, I realized after the fact that all the images that slide away on this blog header are, well, “Heads”. Oh, nerds! Don’t we love them?

This particularly attractive Head is from Lightweight, the new project featured here. The top portion of the pages turned out so pretty, I had to show it off. I had to.

(yes of course I paid a price, yes of course a staggered Head is not a particularly predictable element. Yes, yes, it drove me crazy. I know! But it makes me happy, what else can I say…)

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what i do when i am not “working”

Posted on April 10, 2015April 29, 2019 Posted in artist books, consider codexes, considered haptic, handmade booksTagged books by commission, consider coherence, on book-making

is what some may call “also work”, as in “breathing”/”forgetting-breathing.”

Sometimes I say I am just making “something for someone”,

sometimes it’s “my own work”, sometimes it is a “job”. I must say, though,

– I have never gone through any of the above as if in a vacuum. I understand proper labeling is an important function, I guess. But, what if one’s interest falls exactly in the conflict zone?

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journals

Posted on April 10, 2015April 29, 2019 Posted in consider codexes, consider immigration, considered haptic, handmade booksTagged consider coherence, on book-making

For me one of the great advantages of having a bookbinder mentality is the ability to, uh, bind.

Having to constantly deal with the imports of my unrelenting memory, I quickly realized how soothing is to gather my somewhat scattered mind products in order to get them folded-pressed-stitched-glued-and-covered.

There is hope for us all, books tell me. I am not sure I can always believe, but apparently a faltering faith is all the more faithful. Crawling leaps.

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getting into it

Posted on April 10, 2015April 29, 2019 Posted in artist books, consider codexes, consider immigration, considered haptic, handmade booksTagged consider coherence, on book-making

I am a bookbinder. My skill is my comfort – I hardly ever feel need to take breaks, or to zone out of work. My life, however, is pretty damn complicated:

Living Abroad/Papers/Politics,

Legitimate/Illegitimate Limits,

Tomorrow/No Tomorrow.

Creating my own work alongside grew out of necessity to cope, language being a tool both for shaping and to shape.I hear often that what I do is sculpture, and that is certainly part of it. Words not set on stone gotta take some sort of form for my taste. But my previous career was in Communication, my first obsession was metalinguistic artifacts, and my present gravitational field is around coherence.

It all naturally coalesces as book forms.

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ana paula cordeiro

Tag: on book-making

lineage

lightweight the limp-vellum

book heads

what i do when i am not “working”

journals

getting into it