I've been making books through Blurb Publishing for a number of years now. It is a great way to capture my art installations and my art series' on the printed page. My Blurb books are almost like little art exhibits that you can hold in your hands.
Bibliomuse 1 is a sub-series of KEEP: Modern Library. I created all of the pieces from 2016-2017 and they are entirely machine stitched. Obsessively machine stitched! You can read more about them here. Their creation culminated in an exhibit in Seager Gray Gallery in the Fall of 2017 (see images from that exhibit here). Seager Gray Gallery made a beautiful catalog and if you were lucky enough to get one then it will suffice. But, their distribution is limited so I decided to create a Blurb book in order to make the first Bibliomuse series more accessible.
Bibliomuse 2 is a series that I have just completed and that I've worked on in the last year, 2017-2018. In this sub-series of KEEP: Modern Library I return to hand stitching while continuing to look to discarded library books as inspiration. The new development in this series is that I'm dyeing/painting the linen with natural dyes such as woad, persimmon and walnut as well as india ink. This results is some more daring color juxtapositions with the cloth that I remove from the discarded library books. I had fun playing with color combinations in this series in addition to manipulating the size of imagery gleaned from the discarded library books. You can read more about Bibliomuse 2 in my last two posts here and here.
You can visit my Blurb page to see these two new publications as well as other books.
In both my Bibliomuse 1 and Bibliomuse 2 Blurb books I include images of the discarded library books that act as my muses as well as all of the art pieces in each series, along with close ups so that you can see all that stitching! Both books also include statements about the sub-series'.
If you have ordered books through Blurb before you know that they are not inexpensive - this is the price to pay for on demand printing - they will print as many or as little as your want and if you only want one then the cost is higher than might be expected for a book of that size.
BUT, they have a product now that they call "magazine" quality and I love it! I was skeptical so I created a draft and ordered one and on receipt I was so very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the printing. The paper is thinner which results in a more casual feeling publication. Both the paper and cover are matte - which I really like. AND - my photographer was impressed and pleased with the printing - he has an eagle eye for color and often criticizes art books for poor color quality. The reason I'm explaining this is because the "magazine" quality has allowed me to keep the price down on these two new publications and I just wanted to be clear that they are a little different from my previous Blurb books.
I'm taking off for a trip to Tokyo in a few days and will have some copies of Bibliomuse 2 with me there at an event at Blue and White - you can find me and the books there on January 12th.
Everyone else can order copies at anytime from Blurb!
I hope you enjoy them.
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| The Scandal of Silence, No. 1 - Bibliomuse 2 series |
You can visit my Blurb page to see these two new publications as well as other books.
In both my Bibliomuse 1 and Bibliomuse 2 Blurb books I include images of the discarded library books that act as my muses as well as all of the art pieces in each series, along with close ups so that you can see all that stitching! Both books also include statements about the sub-series'.
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| Theory of Collective Behavior, No. 1 - Bibliomuse 2 series |
If you have ordered books through Blurb before you know that they are not inexpensive - this is the price to pay for on demand printing - they will print as many or as little as your want and if you only want one then the cost is higher than might be expected for a book of that size.
BUT, they have a product now that they call "magazine" quality and I love it! I was skeptical so I created a draft and ordered one and on receipt I was so very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the printing. The paper is thinner which results in a more casual feeling publication. Both the paper and cover are matte - which I really like. AND - my photographer was impressed and pleased with the printing - he has an eagle eye for color and often criticizes art books for poor color quality. The reason I'm explaining this is because the "magazine" quality has allowed me to keep the price down on these two new publications and I just wanted to be clear that they are a little different from my previous Blurb books.
 |
| Genetics, Paleontology and Evolution, No. 1 - Bibliomuse series |
I'm taking off for a trip to Tokyo in a few days and will have some copies of Bibliomuse 2 with me there at an event at Blue and White - you can find me and the books there on January 12th.
Everyone else can order copies at anytime from Blurb!
I hope you enjoy them.
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