The Last Color, a new artist book

Finally some good documentation of my Small Plate book, The Last Color. This book was inspired by my interest in the history of color, particularly by listening to this. For larger pictures, just click on the images.

Due to the brevity of the residency, I didn't have time to make the paper. So I decided to pass on the good fortune, and support other papermakers. The book includes Sekishu Washi and Multi-dipped Indigo Cave Paper. The imagery was printed from two-color reduction woodblocks.

The book is a variation on the flag book structure invented by Hedi Kyle. In the front of the book is a short pamphlet with the text, printed in Garamond from hand-set type.

To purchase a copy, contact Malgosia Kostecka, Program Coordinator for the San Francisco Center for the Book, at (415)-565-0545, or visit the center. Copies are also available from Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore at 2904 College Avenue in Berkeley, or by calling them at 510-704-8222. And if those don't work, a small number are available from me directly, shoot me at email at michelle(at)michellewilsonprojects(dot)com to inquire.

My book, along with the other Small Plates editions, is currently on display at the Center in one of their beautiful new display cases!

The Making of a Small Plate

I've been busy these past few weeks completing the edition for The Last Color, my book for the San Francisco Center for the Book's Small Plates Imprint. Above is a photo that Cheryl took of the Small Plates artists and Chad: me, Andy, Chad (SFCB Studio Manager), and Patricia. This Friday, June 26, is the release party for the event - and everyone is welcome! The Facebook page for the event is here.

Making this book at the Center has been such a thrill - some photos of the journey below.

Printing many shades of blue:

Folded accordions stacked neatly:

Assembling the accordions with the flags:

After casing, an interesting weight solution that accommodates the accordion:

The books:

I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge all the assistance, advice, and problem solving by Chad Johnson, as well as the binding help from Jillian Bruschera and Lynn Prather.

Hope to see you on Friday!

Roadworks 2014

A belated post on the San Francisco Center for the Book's Roadworks Event! For those who may be unfamiliar, this is their annual event in which they invite a few select artists to make 3'x 3' linoleum block prints. These prints are then printed by steamroller at their public event, using the street itself as a press bed, and later sold to support the center.

I met my husband at a similar event, so it's was a pretty nostalgic day for me. This year, the center used a vintage steamroller that actually ran off of coal.

I'm always impressed by how organized the event is - teams of orange-shirt clad volunteers are divided into "clean hands" and "inky hands," so one team lays down and collects the block, while a another lays down the paper and pulls the print.

The event is also a street fair, with artists and organizations peddling their wares, and opportunities for people to try their hand at art activities, such as block carving, or papermaking! Papermaking was offered by the Mobile Mill, and it was my first time seeing it in action.

I was particularly impressed with the organization of the mill - storage for molds and deckles and pellon built right into the beater table. Although part of me questions the carbon footprint of a traveling workshop in this day and age, I think it's still pretty exciting, and anything that spreads the papermaking gospel has merit.

If you want to support the San Francisco Center for the Book by purchasing one of the prints, please visit here. You can also explore their website of which offers all sorts of classes, exhibitions and events.

Sculptural Papermaking Workshop Photos

Yesterday was the final workshop in the series I taught with Rhiannon Alpers - Sculptural Papermaking. The workshop focused on creating armatures from various types of wire, reeds, and thread, and covering them with overbeaten abaca. Above is a shot of reeds soaking in hot water.

The image below is kind of fuzzy, but it shows how, once soaked, these tough reeds can be shaped in to various perambulations.

Unlike our other workshops, this class enabled everyone to sit down, instead of the back-and-forth to the vats. We barely got any water on the floor, and I didn't slip once!

Some results from early experiments.

Rhiannon and I are going to be offering some of these classes again, along with a very basic, introductory paper class, later this fall and into the spring of 2013. This time, however, we will be working in conjunction with the San Francisco Center for the Book. I'll post more information when I get the final details.

Finally, I've got two more workshops coming up in October. First, on the 13, I'll be teaching an intensive Papermaking from Plants workshop through the Fibershed (follow the link to register). It will focus on harvesting and preparing local fibers, beater use, sheet formation, and how this can be adapted for classroom use. And later, on the Saturdays of October 27 and November 3, I'll be offering my Monoprinting and Pop Up Paper Engineering class through the Kala Art Institute (follow that link to register). Hope to see some of you there!

Left To Chance, San Francisco Center for the Book Opening

An estimated 300 people squeezed into the San Francisco Center for the Book on Friday for the opening of Left to Chance: In Search of the Accidental Book Art . The exhibition was curated by the luminous Hanna Regev, pictured below, center, bookended by SFCB Co-Founders Mary Austin and Kathleen Burch.

My new piece, Fugitive, was part of the exhibition. With the crowd, I could barely get close enough to take any pictures of it! The work was displayed with gloves so that viewers could handle and see the papers close-up.

The exhibition, which is on view till May 12, is inspired by the work of John Cage, and his use of chance operations. Some Bay Area folks, like Kathleen Burch, actually knew Cage and worked with him on projects. Cage, to me, has always been a distant figure, a colossus straddling visual art and music, influencing countless creatives of the past century until the present day. It's been so eye-opening to hear people who knew him talk about him as a person, someone who was sweet and full of life, with a quirky sense of humor. What I liked most was that people seemed to like him as a individual, not just as an Important Artist. The impression I get from them is encapsulated by the wall quote pictured below. If you can't read it - click on it for a larger image.

Sneak Peak - New Work for Upcoming San Francisco Center for the Book Exhibition

Some sneak peak details from a new piece, Fugitive. It's going to be part of the next exhibition, Left to Chance: The Accidental Book Art, at the San Francisco Center for the Book. As it reads on the colophon page for Fugitive:

"The title of this portfolio derives from the term used for pigments and dyes that fade when exposed to light. More commonly, it refers to someone who is avoiding arrest. The corporate logos and symbols that appear are representative of entities and activities that benefit from a global corporate monoculture that has led to financial and environmental devastation. The actions and organizations depicted have no fear of repurcussions for their criminal behavior.

The handmade papers for this portfolio were selectively exposed to light, causing their natural pigmentation to fade to create the images. Fibers used are from Andean Pampas Grass (Cortaderia jubata), a species invasive to the United States. Invasive species such as Pampas Grass decimate native ecosystems, drive out diversity, and their presence is due directly to globalization. Through their use as a fiber base for this portfolio, a symmetry between material and content is created, with the awareness that financial and environmental justice often go in unison."

No piece is ever made in a isolation, and I could not have made this work without the advice I received on the Yahoo Papermakers' Group, particularly the help of Winnie Radolan and Catherine Nash. In addition, thanks to Hanna Regev, curator of Left to Chance as well as the Get Lucky exhibition at SOMArts, for including me.