learning with tim ely

in toronto

as in any city

weird things can stop you up short

 so on saturday morning i saw this

this was quite a surprise

 why would anyone take off these "shoes"?
leave them on the edge
of walk and ride?

nearby

a black squirrel was 

having a ridiculously delightful time

doing flips

  questioning MY motives

and then:

there's the japanese paper place.
sigh!
77 brock
were the workshop was held.

(tim's exemplar)

 working with master alchemist,

binder,

wonderer,

maker,

timothy ely.

 i love these marks,

 loved how he taught,

his use of language and respect for story,

felt challenged and heard.

the class was filled with very

very talented artists…

 i learned more about a passel of concepts

which seem to be 

knocking at my brain: 

"pay attention, knock knock"!

so then the ride home was

 an adventure

i just love union station

 as messed up as it is

(just try to find your way

after a blue jay's game and a 

city wide parade)

 home, in my kitchen i found this

 rock books

a drain strainer

empty jars

ink

so my sketchbook 

 taken out and examined
a few days later
after i'd gotten over the mistakes,
i had to forgive myself for those,

there are many.
but this little inlay is
a bit of paper decorated by tim
(it has sparkles in it) 

and i played with paste and color 

still unfinished, but i will slice the last
of the pages apart, paste up the corners,
endsheets,
and start using this thing.
the book WORKS so well,
it's a mechanical device for memory.
it opens flat and deliciously.
there are spare 
marks and bits for me to 
connect the day's notes drawings ideas paste-ins.
thank you tim.
amazing diving board for me.
and i like to swim.

more from maine

i really enjoyed

the northeast harbor library

i spent all day saturday there.

 the maine room had this treasure

hidden in the stacks

 with beautifully letterpress 

 printed words

and even more beautiful garden prints

 and this small one

 this!

 and this-- 

and more.

 and i got to page through this book!

 so amazing

 a cross, in a way

 between two other book artists that i stand in awe of:

 timothy ely 

and 

william blake

 my eyes would go fuzzy

and then i'd go back to the book

 and this reminds me of rima staines.

who was trained 

as a book artist.

 and maybe a botanical artist or two.

 here are a few of his words

 and a few more

maybe carol barton.

~~~

and these last two

which so amaze me.

~~~

i'm home again, with more pictures 

for another day.

i promise.

color and text(ure)

these are naturally dyed kozo papers, a gift from wendy from the japanese paper place, that i have out to use, or at least to think about as i step forward into making shifu. 

it's a book, says mark. i want you to show it to my students.

i went to town today to the slu library to look at a book by mark mcmurray of caliban press and archivist at the library. this is what i went looking for:

it's called  

illustrated by tim ely.

i went to look at this book, to talk with mark a little about the papermaking class he asked me to teach to his history of artists' books class, and to go on to the farmer's market. what i found out was that tim was his binding teacher in the 80s.

synchronicity.

andrea (with lovely toenails) and marilla and their wheels, just back from two workshops, nuno felt in massachuetts, and spinning in harrisville. i'm no fan of felt, but this stuff has lovely drape and hand, and reminds me of the cloak of india's i wore.

color feasts, pale in kozo, richest in silk

and huge in sky, and i'm guessing, paint on letterpress.

good work

there are times when i become intrigued with someone's work, and end up reading all of, say, terry tempest williams, or looking at all of hedi kyle's inventive structures and finding one of her workshops, peruse for hours the lovely papers at cave papers, perhaps seeing the group of seven oil sketches in the national gallery. i get hooked on a voice. a vision. another way of seeing and understanding that somehow infuses mine, which i suppose is research. or, as i say (wendy!) someone who "gets it". they resonate. often that person is female, sometimes not. this internet has been a boon to hermits like me. because the bits isolated old me gets to see are now so much bigger. and i can view video right on this macbook.

yesterday i watched a book artist talk with such love about his work. awe might be a better word, but in any case timothy c. ely caught my imagination yet again. about 15 years ago i was in our wonderful local university bookstore and i found this book. which i had to buy. it was made like a fine art book crossed with a magnificent children's picture book.

it is called the flight into egypt, binding the book. it is simultaneously a book about a mysterious journey into egypt and building a book, and includes amazing drawings and marks. it is so very much more than just what i've written. it was obviously a facsimile of a book, and even though the book is lovely, it is, i know not nearly what the original was.

i recently visited the website of the planetary collage and found this book, a catalog of work from a show a few years back. i purchased it and got a fine email from tim with the purchase arrangements. he inscribed it for me, including more beautiful marks in his own writing system, with enough english to help me along.

this is, i think, one of the blessings of the internet, this connecting. in the video, tim mentions a huge difference in book art and, say, painting. the book is held in the hands, explored with the eyes, it's best if it's smelled. how right he is, how intimate and visceral this experience is! 

it is my hope that my work in textiles, papers, fibers, is becoming stories, books, that, if possible, heal.