The second meeting of the Chattanooga Book Arts Collaborative (CBAC) was held on February 20 at Create Here. Seventeen people attended, some repeating from the first meeting, and others attending for the first time. The list of interested individuals now tops 50 names. Several group members showed some of their own book arts work, which helped to inspire the rest of the group and illustrate the wide variety of materials, binding techniques, purposes, and content available in the book form.
At the February CBAC meeting, we were joined by Jane Muller, an artist and elementary educator from Columbia, SC. Jane showed and described a rich and inspiring variety of her own book creations, as well as examples of her students’ work.
The next meeting of CBAC will be Sunday, March 20.
For details, go to http://www.chattanoogabookarts.blogspot.com/
On a personal note, several things have happened since my last blog entry. I have prepared a written “artist plan,” outlining the goals and actions that will guide my work in the coming months. The plan focuses on finding inspiration for my own work; building my skills and expertise; having access to tools, equipment, and materials; and continuing to build CBAC. I will be upgrading my board shear, the original purchase of which was made possible by my MakeWork grant. The new shear will arrive later in March, and it will have a spring gauge, in addition to a back gauge, making it easier for me to cut greater quantities of book board to exact specifications, including narrow strips of board used for book spines and box dividers.
I have joined the Asheville BookWorks Co-op and will be traveling to Asheville more regularly to attend Co-op meetings. Book making resources are shared through the Co-op’s Yahoo Group, and this information and the connections through the Co-op will help me build my skills and expertise. I plan to participate in the small book exchange at BookWorks this fall. I will also be studying more with book artist Dea Sasso later this month.
