Altered Books Made From Old Textbooks
Using a folding technique I picked up online (like a tramp during fleet week, the template screamed at me from across the dock), new books spring forth (not fall back) from the studio. Acquired a 1938 sixth grade geography book “The New World Past and Present” and after reading all about the
NuvoFluxus -- Vol 1, Issue 256
South after the Civil War which wasn’t at all civil, now was it?,
I decided to rip out the map pages and fold them into nice little NuvoFluxus Books, the first of a series of 8-
NuvoFluxus Aren't You Tired of Reading NuvoFluxus
page mini-books. Well, those looked pretty cool but rather skimpy and anorexic. For the first book, I stacked 10-12 of the mini-books, glued them together with ES6000 glue, and then bound them with a nice cover made from a stack of ACEO’s that were lying around, doing nothing, just taking their own artful time waiting to become something more than the mere cards they were. No one, so far, has jumped up and hollered “WE want SOME MORE of YOUR Art CARDS! NOW!” so I knew it was safe to include them in this art project.
NuvoFluxus -- Vol. 1, Issue 256
The 8-page mini-book fold directions are simple to follow. Fold page in half fold in half again – then one more time, open and cut … ooops, that is difficult to explain without the pix.
Go to ThinkQuest and follow their directions. Interesting part is, any page will do, any size piece of paper. So the 6″x9″ geography book produced a really nice palm-size book. As previously stated, I used the endpaper from the book, really nice art deco look to it, and created the binding and cover. On others, I used ACEOs as covers and bound the books with fabric.
These photos were taken with the camera on my MacAir so the quality is not exactly top notch, but you can at least get an idea of the project. It’s an altered book squared, because I am creating an altered book from the textbook and I am making books from the altered book and if you look into a
NuvoFluxus -- Vol. 1, Issue 256
mirror and hold it just right in front of another mirror and hold these books in your hand between those two mirrors, the books will go on into infinity…
And still, no one would read them.
They are my first
NuvoFluxus Book Collection:
Ten Volumes of Pointless Beauty and Never-Ending Joy.
And now, you too, can face an endless evening of unbridled joy, of passion untamed, of love that has no boundaries, all because you read my blog post and know the happiness I feel when I palm this little beauties. Aren’t you happy for me? Why don’t you make a NuvoFluxus volume of your own, so you too can feel my joy…
Plastic Sleeves for Matchbooks
I stumbled into an amazing cacaphony of matchbooks about three years ago. Michael Cable’s Woodside Antiques, an auction house in Farmville North Carolina, offered box loads of stuff at the end of a large estate sale. Cable is a marvelous auctioneer who inserts bits of trivia with every round of bidding. I hesitate to admit how much of my household detritus and ephemera was purchased through his auctions. Lots of decapitated dolls and schmucky bric-a-brac which somehow became art…
Responding to the “Who’ll start at twenty? Twenty? Ten? Ten? Five? Five? Five?” and jumping in at FIVE with no competition, I won the mixed lot. We’d arrived late at the auction and didn’t go through this box of joy, so imagine my surprise when what I thought were cigar boxes were actually fruitcake boxes. Ten of them. Filled with matchbooks. And another large Mason Shoe box filled with matchboxes. International in scope and copious in number, this collection is astounding because of its diversity. 
So — I searched around for a way to contain them since I needed the fruitcake boxes for an assemblage project. I bought plastic archival quality sleeves from HobbyMaster. Great products, good service, quality — and I don’t get a kickback from the link. If you check the matchbook gallery, you’ll get a pretty good idea on just what came in those fruitcake boxes.
That particular auction was the estate of a woman who saved everything, but not in a hoarder, styrofoam container kind of way. There were letters, boxes of personal correspondence and buyers really snapped to attention when bidding for those. I think one boxful went for over $85 which shows you ephemera is going for more than it used to. Marty was there from ECU’s Joyner Library – he represents the NC Collection, I think. I knew him decades ago when working on a graduate fellowship for Special Collections. His presence signaled “worth something” because his sniffing around means real history is on sale.
So, all of the sudden I’m rambling on about an auction. That’s because I’m trying to figure out what came in through the front door over the last 
seven years and what needs to go out the back. There’s a yard sale to benefit our local dog park and it’s next week so this gives me the incentive to sweep the halls and closets clean of some of our EXTRAS.
Back to this auction – I bid on another “lot” of items and it turned out to be a boxful of handmade lace, linens and a couple dresses from the Victorian era. Incredibly intricate, beautiful … breathtaking. There’s a photo in here somewhere of the lace, let me find it and post it.
Art for the Little Art Show – fundraiser for BCAC
I got all happy-grab and committed to five (5) canvases for the Beaufort County Art Show fundraiser. See here for details. Joey Toler, neighbor and head o’the arts council, was inspired by similar fundraisers held by similar arts councils, knew he had a great conflagration of artistical people within hollering distance of downtown. When I delivered my contributions today, Joey gave me a glimpse of what’s been donated so far and
the art is
fabulous!
Even if you don’t live in Beaufort County, North Carolina, US of A, these $30 a piece ($100 for 4) original artworks are worth your money because the 8″x10″ canvases do more than earn $ for our hometown arts scene. They are damn nice pieces… worth over $30, if you ask me and you must be asking me because you’re reading my blog so you must want to know what I think. Eh? What was that again?
Here’s a preview of MY work for the
Little Art Show.
Oh, yea, I mean CLICK HERE FOR THE ART.
A Book About Death moves into its next phase
Welsh artist Sonja Benskin Mesher is creating an installment of the international “A Book About Death” series. The link is for the Call for Submissions page. Deadline is March 16, 2010 for .jpgs of artist’s submissions for this segment of the International Exhibition. Obviously this is an abbreviated post — much more shall be said regarded this project, Matthew Rose, Ms. Ferrara, etc……..
When I view art exhibitions of this level and magnitude, the corny creative search for synonyms begins and there’s nothing like a cliche’, is there? All the inane descriptions of how one feels when hit by brilliance come to the forefront.
The exhibition by Matthew Rose and artist Angela Ferrara created the video below. Compelling. Watch the whole thing. The words and music description can be found here after the video CLICK HERE.
Ok, so I’m going to suck it up and send a few .jpg’s which will migrate into postcards which must be mailed ASAP. How long does it take mail to travel from North Carolina to Wales? Guess we’ll find out.
Death was my companion throughout 2009. First my Uncle Jimmy, the last of the Bob Clan, then my sister Ann, followed within a mere handful of weeks by my Mom who was 93 and the joy of our lives. Every where I turned last year, death’s memories clouded my view.
Now I polish my ghost with care and silent pain. The dead watch me throughout the house in venues created by memories represented in two-dimensions that turn to 3D when I turn my head quickly and catch the movement of the ever-lingering spirit of the dead.
Beaufort County Arts Council fundraiser
You can own an original work of art
by one of the following artists!