Su Blackwell, Book Sculptor Extraordinaire

Ravenous has found another wonderful book artist from the UK, Su Blackwell.  Here is a sample of her work:

In her profile she discusses her process:

I always read the book first, at least once or twice, and then I begin to create the work, cutting out, adding details. The detail is what brings it all together, the magic element.

To view more of Su’s sculptures go to her portfolio.

The Providence Athenaeum has a budding paper sculptor, Robin Wetherill, Circulation and Development Assistant. A sample of her work:

Creative and clever, what a great combination.

Let There be Light!

The re-invention and re-purposing of books continues, this time it is into lamps. The above example is called the Lumio, created by architect, Max Gunawan, and fully explored in a post at Colossal. Portable and cool, this is a Raven-ous favorite.

Studiomeiboom, has another approach they call the Enlightenment:

Evidently some of the proceeds from the sale of these lamps goes towards education.

Philip Hansen, a San Diego designer, and host of  Typewriter Boneyard has a quite literal take on book lamps with his Hardback Book Lamp design:

Now if you’d like to make your own “book lamp” there are instructions at Grathio Labs to make this model:

This sampling of book lamps is hardly exhaustive,  there are many more clever designs out there for your illumination.

 

Edgar Allan Poe, Illustrated

Literature and the visual arts have fed off of each other for as long as the two have existed. It should be no surprise to anyone reading this that the evocative imagery of the works of Edgar Allan Poe have been complemented with illustrations numerous times in their publication history. This includes several of his short stories collected as Edgar Allan Poe’s World of Fear in a 1969 issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine, a Japanese comic anthology (note the Japanese toy ads at the bottom of the image).

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The most iconic illustrations, however, come from the edition of Tales of Mystery and Imagination illustrated by Harry Clarke (the Providence Athenaeum has a copy). Both of the illustrations included depict the climax of Poe’s short story The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar which, while not the most well-known of Poe’s works, is  visually distinctive, and really shows the difference in the two art styles.

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     January 19th 2013,  Happy 204th Birthday,  E.A.P.

 

Dragonfly Bindery/Studio Exhibit

John Russell Bartlett Society members Pat and George Sargent have operated their Dragonfly Bindery for thirty years, offering a wider range of services than most binderies, including restoration and design work that makes use of their art background and training as alumni of the Rhode Island School of Design. They have been able to challenge their creativity and explore new directions in producing unique bindings, casings, and displays for rare books and other printed artifacts which elevate the presentation up to and beyond the artistic level of the content.

The Providence Athenaeum will be exhibiting books, posters and artifacts in the Philbrick Rare Book Room from January 8th to January 29th.

The Sargents will be presenting a talk:  Looking Back at 30 Books from 30 Years at Dragonfly Bindery / Studio on Saturday January 26 at 1 pm.

Thanks to guest blogger, Kate Wodehouse, Collections Librarian

 

 

An Art Book Windfall

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum have mounted exhibit catalogs, collection guides, and numerous other publications on their websites for free.

According to Open Culture, the Guggenheim made this material available last January and the Met followed suit a few months later. The Met has built a much bigger collection to choose from, and they provide pdf’s for download.  At the Guggenheim website you can only read the books online but some of the titles are available from the Internet Archives.

This is a great find and a wonderful contribution to the creative commons.

Luzinterruptus

Luzinterruptus is an anonymous light art collective from Madrid that is known for taking over public spaces. Raven-ous is intrigued by the installation they performed in Melbourne Australia titled: Literature vs Traffic:

Books and lights are the medium and watching people interact with them is the entertainment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many more photos here and for examples of other installations check out this Colossal post and Vimeo for some videos.

 

Thanks Christina

CDZA: Interpretive Music Videos

CDZA creates incredibly clever music videos like this:

and this:

The videos are an interesting mix of talent, pop culture, history, and fun. For more on the collective cadenza check out this Fast Company article. Well done!

Yayoi Kusama

Many wonderful artists have interpreted Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland but none as unique as Yayoi Kusama. The usual images we associate with the story appear to be missing. There is no blue Caterpillar blowing smoke, Cheshire Cat, or mad Hatter. There are flowers and alligators and dots. Intriguing.

Currently there is a Kusama exhibit at the Tate Modern in the UK and they have posted this fascinating biography of the artist:

Thanks to Brainpickings

Roycroft Press Books

The Providence Athenaeum’s collection of Roycroft books and periodicals, donated by longtime member and poet Brett Rutherford, are on display until the end of the month at the RISD Library. The exhibit is curated by RISD Librarian Robert Garzillo and highlights the graphic design work of Dard Hunter. The exhibit includes items on loan from Brown University, Providence Public Library, the University of Rhode Island, RISD Library, and the Redwood Library and Athenaeum.

On March 14th at 6 pm. in the RISD Library Special Collections Reading Room there will be a talk by historian Walker Rumble on Hubbard’s Roycroft: A Little Journey to East Aurora. This presentation is sponsored by the John Russell Bartlett Society. For more information check the RISD Library News.

Typography

PBS Arts received many comments on this video but I liked this one: If words have meaning and type has spirit then handwriting got soul! shaunoconnordotnet

There are innumerable fonts and imaginative ways to express letters and numbers. Paul Octavious stacks books to create numbers.

BYGG Studios has designed an entire alphabet of stacked books.

 

Brain Pickings has put together their list of 10 Essential Books on Typography.

And the Athenaeum recently bought Simon Garfield’s Just My Type. As they say in the video: you need type again and again and again to get through the day, to live your life.

 

 

Thanks to @Brainpicker