Jan Baker's BOOKS + WORDS! at Long Ridge Farm

BOOKS + WORDS!

with Jan Baker

Date/Time
Dates: Aug 17 - Aug 21 , 2016 - 5 day(s)
9:30 am - 4:30 pm each day.

Computers, tablets and e-books are capturing our attention, but how can we create our own handmade innovative books? Experimenting with different folded, glued and sewn book structures, participants will also explore stitching, weaving and layering book pages.

The interplay between materials, structure and content will be discovered. Personal words will be encouraged… to be incorporated into these innovative book structures.

Participants are encouraged to bring old books and interesting materials from their own collections to experiment with. Sample artists’ books and slides will be shared for inspiration.

We are not bound by convention.

---------

I was first introduced to Jan Baker's amazing work in 2013 during Sandra Brownlee's Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word workshop at Big Cat Textiles in Scotland. I fell head over heels in love with Jan's work...well, even more so, truth be told...last August while experiencing Sandra's workshop again, this time at Long Ridge Farm. 

The first assignment in Sandra's class is to cover your notebook in such a way that you want to hold it, touch it and work in it. I chose a fairly large one and, at the end of day 2, decided that it was jsut wrong for me because every exercise over the first 2 days had been a struggle.

Day 3 found me carrying a new, smaller notebook, indigo fabric, thread and my chair out into the field where 

I settled in front of Jan's section of the fence line to gain inspiration while creating a new cover. 

The whole class found Jan's work mesmerizing, inspiring and mysterious. In fact, Jan Baker, who are you? became a central theme that week.

Can you guess where I'll be August 17-21? I hear there are a few more spots open in the class. Click here if you're interested. Hope to see you there!

 

Sandra Brownlee at Long Ridge Farm - Day 3

Each morning of Sandra Brownlee's Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word workshop at Long Ridge Farm found us gathering by the fence line to observe the wonders that Sandra had hung as samples and inspiration of/for the day's teachings. Last Friday the line was hung with words - typed, printed, crocheted, painted, tatooed, stitched...the list is endless.

Day 3 = Words

We had time to look, to be awestruck,

to soak in the glory of words and letters

in whatever form or

or shape they took.

Letters from friends captured our hearts

with their creativity.

Taproot jumped out at me from this word laden elephant. 

And then we gathered to listen to our wise teacher's words

as Sandra began to share

her own work with us.

Her journals are exquisite.

Her reports even more so.

One last look before getting to work.

I had struggled on Day 2. Odd as we'd been working with paper - something I fall more and more in love with every day. Each exercise left me unhappy and wondering just what was wrong with me. Why couldn't I settle and find that creative pathway?

Toward the end of the day, it finally hit me - I didn't like the paper of the pages in my notebook. Too smooth and perhaps a bit too large. There was another in my bag though - smaller, more intimate with handmade pages. It would mean creating a whole new cover.

Jan Baker's wondrous work

On Day 1, or perhaps 2, Sandra had likened the classroom to taking a journey on a barge. Sometimes you want to stay on the barge and join in the activities on board or view the shoreline from there. Other times, you want to get off and explore or simply enjoy wandering alone. Either is okay to do.

So...with permission to get off the barge, I gathered indigo (from Glynnis Dolce of Shirbori Girl) pins, batting, thread, needle and departed the barge.

Settling myself in front of Jan Baker's glorious work, I took time to really look at it. Letter after stylish letter, the words and letters themselves flow together - they touch and dance along in a line that catches one up in the rhythm and has you whirling along before you realize your feet have left the ground.

The letters hint at words, at sentences, at stories that need telling yet are perhaps a bit shy about yelling out their story.

With those thoughts in mind, I set about stitching a word across the full width of my cover in a way that the letters merged just enough so that when the cover is closed, what is seen is curves and lines mingling together.

There is a word there. Can you guess it?

Scotland - Tactile Notebooks Day 2

Too tired to write coherently so enjoy the photos from around the studio!

work by Jan Baker