Come to the Loire Valley (in France!!!) this July and make books and mini-prints with yours truly and Laurie Corral of Asheville Bookworks. This heavenly 9-day workshop will be given at the Chateau du Pin, a half hour drive from Anger, and includes everything from creative guidance, sleeping in a castle, lovely five course meals every evening and ample quiet time for contemplation and daily walks.  What more could you ask for!

(Laurie and I are soooo excited!! Thanks for having us Peg and David!)

PRINTMAKING AND BOOKARTS with Laurie Corral and Annie Fain Liden
July 23-31, 2010 | $2,500 9 day workshop (includes lodging, breakfast and dinner)

In this workshop, we’ll be explorers of Le Pin, using the gardens, woodlands, vineyards and castle as inspiration for miniature prints and hand made books. Students will climb through the centuries; photographing gargoyles, recording textures, sketching and abstracting ideas for images suitable for printing. Mini prints can be created as individual works and/or integrated into hand made books with a distinctive point of view. Studio investigations will also include stitching, working with collage and paint, antique french papers and fabrics and various book bindings. Come explore the extraordinary and exotic! All levels welcome. College credit available.

To register or for more information contact Peg Gignoux/David Summer at mjgignoux.

(click on each image to see larger)

She also has a photo-journal of her process on her website.  Her approach is incredibly simple (and time intensive) considering the dramatic final effect.

Though it wasn’t a high-action drama or heartbreaking love story I was totally sucked in.   I think I was most inspired by how she absolutely could not ignore her passion for painting.  Even in really hard times she chose to spend her money on supplies for her art rather than food or coal.   I agree that it’s a little extreme, but the result was truly amazing. (Keep in mind that these paintings were pretty large, almost as tall as her.)

She was discovered in 1912 by Wilhelm Uhde, a German art critic and collector (first buyer of Picasso and Rousseau!).  She was working for him as his maid at the time.  You’ll have to see the movie to find out the rest, of course.

To learn more about her go to: http://serdar-hizli-art.com/modern_painting/seraphine.htm

To watch the trailer for the movie go to: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2926541/seraphine_movie_trailer/

]]> http://afainbooks.com/blog/2009/10/19/seraphine-de-senlis/feed/ 0 http://afainbooks.com/blog/2009/10/09/jenny-mendes/ http://afainbooks.com/blog/2009/10/09/jenny-mendes/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:17:15 +0000 Annie Fain http://afainbooks.com/?p=874 Continue reading →]]> I’m not sure I ever met Jenny officially, but I saw her from afar during one of my stints at Penland School of Crafts.  I remember loving her work and I just ran into her shop on etsy.  The following are examples of what she has for sale in her shop; “limited edition archival giclee prints of the original terra sigillata painting on a clay tile.” To see more of her work go to: www.jennymendes.com

“For thirty-six weeks, a sketchbook was sent in random order between four artists: two in Brooklyn, two in Belfast.

Every Wednesday, one participant would receive book. In order to maintain schedule, it was sent out the following Monday, giving each artist five days to complete a spread in response to the one that preceded it.

A small portion of each entry extends on to the following page. Beyond this, there was no communication between the artists concerning the content of book during its making.

book’s first trip across the Atlantic was on 2 June, 2003. Its final trip was on 2 February, 2004. By the time it was completed, book had travelled over sixty thousand miles.”

Here are some of the individual pages:

Each participating artist does work besides “book held” art, as Mac Premo calls the book page art.  They all have snazzy websites too.

Mac Premo

Duke Riley

Oliver Jeffers

Rory Jeffers

]]> http://afainbooks.com/blog/2009/10/02/book/feed/ 0 http://afainbooks.com/blog/2008/06/17/sing-behind-the-plow/ http://afainbooks.com/blog/2008/06/17/sing-behind-the-plow/#comments Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:40:44 +0000 Annie Fain http://afainbooks.com/?p=176 Continue reading →]]> As you will see from my bio I was lucky enough to grow up a few miles from the John C. Campbell Folkschool, a non-competitive learning community located in scenic Brasstown, North Carolina (the picture to the right hangs in the history center, I am the very determined little dancer at the front of the procession). The school offers year-round weeklong and weekend classes for adults in craft, art, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography and writing. Though you would expect that I am considerably biased, it is a woooonderful and welcoming creative place that everyone should have the chance to experience.

I began teaching at the school last year; book arts and beginning clawhammer banjo. Part of an instructor’s pay for teaching at the school is a free class. I was missing home and decided to cash in my free class and while I was at it, surprise my mother who was teaching a Sheep to Shawl class the same session. There began my week of silk paper making with Kathy Hays.

The exciting thing about silk paper making, besides the bright colors and sculptural potential of the medium is that the actual process of making the “paper” is rather simple both in terms of tools and materials. All you need is: silk roving (white or dyed), two pieces of tulle, a piece of fiberglass screen (what you would use to repair a screen door), soapy water and watered down Liquitex Acrylic Gloss medium.

First, sections of the silk are drawn out in small feathery sections that overlap each other on top of a piece of screen and tulle. Overall design and color combinations are determined at this point. Next, it is important that the silk fibers are completely wet through and through with soapy water so that they will accept the adhesive. The wet sandwich of screen, then tulle, fiber and tulle are then blotted dry and adhesive is confidently applied to the front and back with a brush, ensuring that each fiber is coated so that it will stick to its neighbor. It is then hung to dry and later the layers of tulle are pulled away to reaveal a completely flat, not fuzzy, colorful, almost interfacing-like in texture “paper.” The last step is to iron it between sheets of parchment paper which returns the silk’s natural gorgeous sheen.

Once we had the basic paper making down Kathy encouraged us to add other elements to the silk sheet while it was still wet, such as feathers and pressed flowers and also to add embellishment once the sheet was dry, stitching, beads etc. I am, and probably always will be addicted to hand stitching and also really love transparent layers, bits of fabric, dusty colors and such. The following images are examples of my experiments.

Thanks to Kathy for her organized instruction and color. Thanks to the Folkschool for supporting people of all ages in living creative lives and upholding their inspiring yet humble motto, “Sing Behind the Plow.”