Week 11: KEEP OUT

A gate the artist came across in Winston-Salem, NC

   Gates can be barriers against passage from one space to another. Metaphorically, the gate can signify any sort of stop or blockage. The book-of-the-week for Week 11, KEEP OUT, is about one element of gates... locks. It's a pictorial essay of 29 different locks... antique ones and contemporary ones... locks with keys and locks with combinations. It's just the locks. 

   The small case-bound book is covered with paper from a colograph print made by the artist and the spine is covered in black Japanese silk bookcloth. The title plate is handmade paper of abaca and linen  which was printed with polyester plate lithography for the lock image and letterpress printed for the title.

Throughout the book, hues of black, white, brown, beige and gray set the mood. When the book is opened, one sees the endpapers of vintage gray marbled paper. The pages are a soft handmade semi-transparent Japanese mulberry paper... chosen to contrast with the hardness of the locks. The locks were printed on the mulberry paper by the polyester plate lithography technique. A thorough discussion of this relatively simple process, is found at: http://www.nontoxicprint.com/polyesterplatelitho.htm. 

A few of the 29 locks...

Whatever the purpose, locks are intriguing

...and sometimes beautiful.

Week 10: Gate Translated

    The book-of-the-week for week 10 is titled Gate Translated. It's based on the idea that language is a sort of gate... by simply translating the word gate into 18 different languages. .

   A papyrus cover with mother-of-pearl button clasp and a red satin ribbon make up the outer cover of the little 3.5 inch by 3.5 inch book. Marbled paper accents the fore-edge flap. Inside, are the translations... hand-lettered on crimson ruled lines over lithographic prints of the Rosetta Stone.

The binding is made with the chain-link coptic stitch using a dyed linen thread. Added strength is created with Ethiopian headbands at top and bottom. A great resource book for instructions on corporating headbands onto handmade books is Headbands: How to Work Them, by Jane Greenfield and Jenny Hille.

A close-up view of a page spread shows a lithograph print of the Rosetta Stone, done in sepia ink. The Rosetta Stone dates back to approximately 196BC Egypt, and is one of the most important discoveries ever made with regards to translating ancient languages.. and ultimately opening the door to lost cultures. The prints are rotated in a variety of ways ... just as differing languages can change viewpoints and thought patterns...

Gate Translated...

Chinese: da men, fang men

Dutch: port, draaihek

French: porte, portillon

Egyptian: bab

German: tor, flugsteig, gatter, pforte

Icelandic: hliðið

Irish: geata

Italian: cancello, valvola, porta

Hebrew: sha’ar

Hindi: phāṭaka

Japanese: mon, gēto

Korean: mun

Portuguese: portão

Russian: geit

Spanish: paso, portalyn, verja

Swahili: mlango

Swedish: öppning, grind

Turkish: geçit, patika

   When two contemporaries speak the same language, the way is open for understanding and sharing. Learning a new language can take years of study, a quick memory, and the ability to think logically and reasonably. Certainly learning a language cannot be mastered by books alone, but requires the input of teachers and peers who already know the language. This is not a new concept. Linguistics was studied as early as 500 BC by Pāṇini... who, in studying Sanskrit, found over 3900 rules of grammar. Certainly, even today's modern languages are just as complicated...  and it can take years to master the nuances of the lexicon of a language. The words in Gate Translated are taken from literary sources and bilingual dictionaries, not necessarily the most common usage. Instead, they were chosen to make one regard the beauty of all the world's languages... and work for the blessedness of understanding... even if it's one word at a time.

Week 9: Red Gate Haikus

   The book-of-the-week for Week 9 is a small collection of haiku poems titled Red Gate Haikus.  Haiku is a form of Japanese verse dating back to the 1600's. Haiku poetry has a clearly defined set of rules based on the number of lines (3 lines for non-Japanese haiku, one line for traditional Japanese haiku),  the number of syllables per line (5-7-5 for non-Japanese haiku), a subject matter based on nature, and an unexpected twist in the poem's meaning on the last line. Modern haiku may not follow all of these parameters, yet will incorporate some of the elements.

   The book has been bound with a traditional Japanese 4-hole stab stitch. The cover is made of vintage printed Japanese silk such as might have been used for an obi sash or lining a kimono. Red waxed linen thread and red silk book cloth compose the binding elements. A wonderful reference for the process of binding Japanese books is Japanese Bookbinding: Instructions from a Master Craftsman, by Kojiro Ikegami.

Japanese stab-bound with cover of vintage silk 

   The text block was made of handmade kozo and Stonehenge printmaking paper. A carved linoleum block of a Japanese gate was printed in red on each sheet of Stonehenge paper. The title and haikus were letterpress printed on the kozo paper using either 18-pt Brush type or 14-pt Ionic type. The type-faced kozo sheets were wrapped around each Stonehenge leaf so the red gate print showed through the translucent Japanese paper. 

Red Gate Haikus...title page

These are the haikus....

Hush...

Be quiet when you enter this gate

Peace lives here

Strong, broad posts beckon

heartwood from the Tree of Life

walk inside its blood

Ancient red gate

to Eden's locus amoenus

Eternal spring

Crosshatch crisscross gate

Garden of the Golden Mean

Holy rules laid out

Red gate rises tall

Monks in saffron robes kneel, pray

to Buddha at the Bodhi tree

Sunset of the day

Red frames the gate to Heav'n

Welcome!

Week 8: Olympic Gate

   This week marks the end of the 2014 Winter Olympics... officially titled the XXII Olympic Winter Games. Held every 4 years (with some exceptions and revisions) since 1924, the Olympics have always symbolized sportsmanship and excellence. The first Olympic games occurred in 776BC on the plains at the base of Mount Olympia in Greece. They continued for twelve centuries until 393 AD when they were banned for being pagan by Emperor Theodosius. Though linked with festivals for the god Zeus.. the games were not really religious; but were to showcase the physical prowess of the competitors and to promote good relations between the cities of Greece. That sense of community through non-violent competition is what marks the Olympics as a sort of gate. The book-of-the-week for week 8 is inspired by this year's Winter Olympics. It is titled Olympic Gate.

front view: gatefold covers, beads, and maps

   The front cover of Olympic Gate is  two gate-fold coverboards which are faced with two sections from a 1957 National Geographic World Map. Tiny glass beads, serving as door knobs, are sewn onto the coverboards. Inside, more sections of the map are used to cover the back wall and the three cut-out gate-shaped panels... The two sides, made of of accordion folded heavyweight black Fabriano paper hold the gate panels in place.

a tunnel book of gates

When the front cover gates are swung open, the 88 nations competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics are revealed as placards glued to three tunnel-book panels. 

open the gates...

   Looking down, one can clearly see how the panels fit in place and make up the whole book. The circular arches at the top of each panel are like some figure skater's arms reaching to the heavens. As the first Olympic games were centered around religious festivals, but not rites in themselves.. the archways allude to the godliness of striving for excellence.

from above...

   ...Still, these games are held on Earth.. in a place this artist had never heard of until these games.... Sochi, Russia. Sochi is a small resort area between the eastern edge of the Black Sea and the base of the Causasus Mountain Range. Seeing the area around Sochi on an antique 1957 world map puts things in perspective, and brings the heavens to earth.

Sochi is south of Tuapse...

Population in the area of Sochi dates back over 100,000 years to early peoples of Asia Minor migrating north from Colchis (early Georgia.) Ancient Greeks sailed to the area via the Black Sea in the 5th and 6th century BC and found tribes of people including the Maeotae, Cercetae,  and Sindi.  During the reign of the Roman Empire, the Zygii people lived in Smaller Abkhazia under the Kingdom of Pontus, an extension of the Roman Empire. From the 6th to 11th centuries AD, the region was ruled by the kingdoms of Lazica and Abkhazia, who built a dozen churches within the city walls. Ruins of the Loo Temple, a Byzantinesque basilica, built in the 11th century AD, still stands.

Between the 14th and 19th centuries, the area was controlled by the Abkhaz, Ubykh, and Adyghe tribes. In 1864, with the victory of the Russians over the local tribes in the Caucasian Wars, these peoples were deported... primarily to Turkey... at great hardship. As the Russians settled into the Sochi region throughout the late 1800's, agriculture was the primary source of income... with a considerable effort directed to tea plantations. During the 20th century the area was promoted as a dedicated area for hospitals and sanitariums and eventually become known as a resort area... Now, it is famous for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

ruins of the Loo Temple near Sochi, Russia

Like the Loo Temple wall, the Olympic Gate, is a combination of many parts. The countries participating in the games are the building blocks...

all the participating countries

Though the majority of the competing countries are located in Europe and Asia, there are three countries from the continent of Africa... Morocco, Togo, and Zimbabwe. 

There are three countries from the continent of Australia... Australia, New Zealand, and Tonga. 

The 18 Asian countries competing are... China, ROC Taiwan, Hong Kong-China, India, Iran, Japan,  Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Uzbekistan. 

The 15 countries from the Americas are... Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Dominica, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, USA, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (Brit.), Virgin Islands, (US). 

And the 48 countries competing from Europe are... Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Rep. of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Former Yugoslavia, Turkey, and Ukraine. 

All there... country-by-country... making up the Olympic Gate.

Week 7: The Three Gates

   The book-of-the-week for Week 7 is a pop-up book titled The Three Gates.  The book of three photographs, three poems, and three accompanying pop-up structures is inspired by three aspects of the Loire region of France... the vibrant gardens, the magical forests, and the finely crafted architecture. A colorful pastepaper cover seemed to best set the mood... The text was printed on the Pearl letterpress with white ink and 14-point Caslon type.

Cover of Japanese silk bookcloth and pastepaper

The first poem, Bounty, is letterpress printed over a photograph of a backyard garden that this artist espied (beyond a gate) in western France.

Bounty

Beans, broccoli, beets, brussels-sprouts, and basil;

Leaks, limas, lavender, lentils, lettuces, and lovage;

Swiss chard, spinach, snow peas, and squash;

Tomatoes, thyme, tansy, turnips, and tarragon;

Potatoes, pumpkins, persimmons and parsley; 

Peas, parsnips, petunias, and peanuts;

Cauliflower, cabbage, collards, and chives, 

and corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, corn.

The bounty goes on and on, beyond the pretty 

----------------::::iron gate:::------------------

a garden and a box pop-up of a gate...

The second poem is called St. Peter Was Out to Lunch. It has a sliding pull tab which moves a cut paper gate across a photograph of a serene forest this artist came upon unexpectedly.. while walking about a mile from the Loire River. 

St. Peter Was Out to Lunch

Morning walk

I found myself

in a place of Grace

some heaven on earth

golden and peace filled

I walked right in

the gate wide open

St. Peter was out to lunch

tab pushed in...

tab pulled out... come in!

The last page has a photograph of the lovely Chateau du Pin (http://sci-le-pin.com), where this artist visits whenever possible. The V-fold pop-up of another cut paper gate accents the poem, Behind the Gate...

Behind the Gate

Turrets and gables

gargoyles and ghosts

the elegance of decay.

Window panes catching 

reflections of clouds 

are really just pages

of the stories 

of the house

behind the gate.

opening the page, the gate lifts up..

fully open, the gate is upright and the house in full view

So, this week's book is a sort of trinity of threes... three places, three poems, three pop-ups... of The Three Gates.

Week 6: The Door in the Wall

   Week 6  book-of-the-week is The Door in the Wall. It's inspired by an old door seen in western France, in a place called Saint-Florent-le-Vieil. 

Marbled paper mirroring the colors of the old stones, the muddy Loire River, and the mossy countryside covers the outer boards. A photograph of the door in the wall that borders the park beside the old cathedral at Saint-Florent-le-Vieil is the title piece.

The accordion style book is sometimes referred to as a panel book...this artist likes to call it a swinging panel book. 

The backside of the panel book is paper made from a collagraph print. Silk brocade bookcloth in aqua forms the page attachments of the accordion pages. When stretched out, the little 7 inch by 4 inch book is 6 feet long. 

Gray paper, chosen to frame the photography, is the background of the front side.

This is the poem...

A tall gray wall

stones stacked and cracked

mottled moss

a mummified cast

cuts the hill in two

This side mown green,

plaited, path'd jardin pittoresque

of primever'e and jonquille,

and coiffed trees scattered about

reach for the grayish sky.

Leading to the eastern edge,

cobbled plaza crusts the rim,

and across the hazy lazy Loire

mirrors of the patchwork brim.

Spired cathedral rises up

and looks across the way

the long stone wall

 a line of gray

horizon broken midway

pale blue-green door

once thick hardwood

now pealed and splintery

hangs mute and shut a mystery

as gates can sometimes be.

doors...