ABCD November 2022

Eight members of Artists’ Book Club Dove met on a sunny November day to catch up after Somerset Art Weeks and to make a Buttonhole Binding with help from Judy. Bron reported a successful and enjoyable SAW, though with fewer visitors than in 2019.
She has recently been in Venice for the Biennale and other exhibitions, including one of folded paper ‘aggregations’ by Kwang Young Chun.

Judith has recently returned from Sarawak and Vietnam bringing treasures with her, including bark-cloth from Kuching and hemp and paper from remote villages in Vietnam. I’m looking forward to seeing them used in future books!

We were at different stages of preparedness, but some of us managed to complete a Buttonhole book. Here are Carol’s, Jane’s, Judy’s and mine.

And here is one made many years ago by Bron, following the instructions for the soft-cover Buttonhole binding given in Keith Smith’s book ‘Books without Paste or Glue’ (Non-Adhesive Bindings, Volume 1) page 171ff.

Our next meeting will be on December 10th, when I shall be encouraging the others to make “Dream Books”, a fun and versatile structure invented in a dream by Mark Wangberg. After that, meetings will be every four weeks until April, with a different binding being taught/revised each time. The idea is that each of us will have six books, one in each structure, for our next exhibition. This will be at ACEarts in Somerton next June.

Until we meet again, here is a mash-up of quotations from the day.

November Dove-droppings

the ethnobotanist knew
by the length of the day
the cat stole my pricker

the Launderers
are all packed away
in nightclubs

my hens are menopausal
in a flowery National Trust way
just let them go

a booklet of lampoons
turned up in Louisville
in a clamshell box

it finishes mid-sentence
turning to clay
in the British Library

clay and paper string
persuaded him not to prosecute
the silent sneeze

even in the cafeteria
her own aeroplane
is made to be burnt

I’m in recovery
turning to nature
I need a bit more retrospect

I’m not a perfectionist
folding triangles for seventeen years
just get it right

you need a minuscule or two
you’ve got more elephants
are you satisfied?


Posted by Ama Bolton on 14 November 2022

Advertisement