Preparations!

February 5, 2017

The week flew by with residency and exhibition preparations. Lots of details to iron out as the days are short and timing is everything. City Shields will be part of the show, but not the focus. The attention will be on the idea behind my work, my obsessions, my collecting and my archiving. City Shields is the most obsessive and most popular project of my career, so it is a major component of the exhibition.

Time was spent choosing between all my published books—the ones that best describe my artist statement. Equinox was the first to make the list, but since I found a new home for the books at the beginning of the year, the books won't be present at the gallery—with imagination you might see nine years of my life. Other books in line are: A Day Filled with Onomatopoeias, Traverse, Parade, Perception, and Ambivalence.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, spread of Ambivalence artists' book

WhiteWall Photo Lab will print large prints of certain pages of books, these will adorn the walls. I’m anxious about the proofing—there goes that obsession again! Kristen Cooper the Program Director at Ming Studios is overseeing the printing in Berlin, Germany, where she lives and works. Cooper is a conceptual artist, her work is exhibited internationally, Kristen must know about the printing process. I hope the surprise will be good.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, spread of A Day Filled with Onomatopoeias artists' book

Set-up of pedestals begins next week—a good start to figuring out the gallery space. I am contemplating on the look of the show, the books, the prints... Stay tuned, here I go!

The Beginning!

January 31, 2017

I’ve met with the executive director and the program director of Ming Studios to prepare for my residency starting February 6th.

MING Studios is an international contemporary art center and residency program in Boise, Idaho. The gallery brings international artists to Idaho and introduces new opportunities for regional artists. Ming serves the community by hosting innovative programs including workshops and cultural activities, performances, screenings, readings and artist talks.

Keeping active between meetings and emails, I’ve verified files, edited text, printed and cut the last eleven volumes of City Shields.

Through the conversations, the scope of the exhibition has changed. Subsequently, we wanted the viewers to capture the nature of artists’ books. The spotlight is no longer on City Shields but the idea behind my work.

I appreciate simple moments characterizing our lives, building our history, whether sensational or monotonous. Fascinated by memory and identity, the day-to-day events entertain me.

I want to familiarize the readers with mundane activities that link us together to regain our childhood innocence. Autobiographical references are characteristic of my work, which centers on the act of collecting and storing my memories, my self-identity, and my environment. I study my surroundings with camera in hand and accumulate memories. My process of investigation continues as I manipulate images in Photoshop and iMovie, re-organize, write and plan my artists’ books. I finish a book when my conceptual framework reads as a physical object.

A digital method of reproduction gives my books a contemporary look. I work with different binding structures that respond to the book in question. The final product is a limited edition book representing the mundane in a unique, imaginative, and dynamic way for the reader to experience.

This video is my interpretation of the game Decision of the Flower: She loves me, she loves me not, originally Effeuiller la marguerite. I present this game in the French style making the potential outcomes more numerous. "Il/Elle aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, pas du tout" (translates to "He/She loves me a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not at all"). I created four small flip books that demonstrate these outcomes: m'aime pas du tout (loves me not), m'aime un peu (loves me a little), m'aime (loves me), and m'aime à la folie (loves me madly).

The exhibition represents how I collect, document and archive using my complex, French Canadian culture.

Farewell Equinox

January 15, 2017

I studied the responses of emails to my inquiry about a donation to Special Collection Libraries. I finally made a decision and I’m delighted to announce that I found the perfect home for Equinox. Equinox will be part of the other 65,000 books housed in the Golda Meir Library. The library is part of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

After speaking with Max Yela, the Head of Special Collections, I relinquished all of my stress. I can now breath easy and able to let go of my project. The UWM Book Arts Collection endeavors to document and show the use of the book form as an art medium and has a world-wide reputation. With its active exhibitions, the Golda Meir Library will bring Equinox to the public and make them aware of my work.

The Golda Meir Library already holds 3 of my artists’ books: City Shields, Outside the Studio (AIR.10, copy #4), and 26NOV2006.

The most important criteria on my list were that Equinox would find a home in a Canadian Collection. When that turned out negative because of budget restraints my thoughts went to other important criteria, the library receiving Equinox as a gift had

acquired my artists’ books in the past, and
understood my work.

New Year, New beginnings!

January 1, 2017

Celebrating one year of blogging! It’s been a pleasure getting to know all of you through my posts. Thank you for the support.

Major changes are in the air for my 1/2 Measure Studio this year. The reasoning behind my books is on my mind these days. I’m questioning the trajectory of my work. Changing paths is a big moment and one I want to see bring forward movement to my work.

For now, confusion! Why do this? Why do that? Why be an artist?

Do you have questions that haunt you as an artist?

In the last month, I have been working on a new artists’ book—a sequel to my book entitled Beside Me. Beside Me was a wonderful book on teams published in 2005.

How do your books come to life?

Mine usually start with a trip, a thought, an experience... This one started with an emotion.

Completely filled with emotion, my mind started to think of how to create this book and in what format. Thoughts raced through my mind.

Think, re-think, plan, images, dream, re-think, write, view it in my mind’s eye, dream of it, camera in hand, photograph, template, re-think, write, play in Photoshop, design pages, dream, cover? Binding! Think! Choose fonts, discussion, re-think, compose photographs, relate to book Beside Me, write, edit, paper size, size of book, re-design, Edit...

Ideas have gelled, cover and binding chosen. The real work starts and frustrations follow!

I had difficulties in ordering paper with the proper grain direction needed for printing the pages of my book. Was everyone in the companies I called asleep at the switch? After many phone calls, I’m hoping to receive the correct paper.

Particular companies understand book publishing and grain directions. One of those companies is Moab papers by Legion. They are always happy to talk about the needs of their customers.

What type of difficulties do you run into with paper? Size, grain direction, thickness, durability...

This waiting period is giving me time to conceive the cover and how the new book will flow with the first book Beside Me.

© 2016 Louise Levergneux, cover of Standing Alone

I continue working on my files of manhole covers to create eleven new volumes of different cities across the Canadian provinces.

©2016 Louise Levergneux, Saskatchewan manhole covers in Bridge ready to action in Photoshop — ©2016 Louise Levergneux, Saskatchewan manhole covers in Bridge ready to action in Photoshop

© 2013 Louise Leverghneux, Hotel Aloft, Minneapolis, MN, April 30, 2013

I hope happiness and prosperity comes your way in 2017!

Another Large Book

April 24, 2016

Lots of time this week was spent trying to integrate my website server with MailChimp (an email marketing service) with no luck. I have decided that spending so much time on a company that only cares for paying customers is not a good use of my time. My preference is to communicate with artists and create my books. So I have had to resort to the old fashion way of announcing my new blog posts.

Now to better news, I’m happy to announce the winners for subscribing to my blog posts. The first subscriber Peggy Seeger (brave soul) is the first winner of a volume of City Shields, the 15th subscribers after are: Ka Mahina, Kerry McAleer-Keeler, and Monique momo Moore-Racine. The numbers tell me I’m close to another volume give away, so please subscribe.

As an artist my ideas come from my surroundings. Subjects are numerous and I’m captivated by the themes that ignite the beginning of an artists’ book. How do you choose your themes? Where do your find your ideas?

I took 10 years to create a series of nine artists’ books entitled Equinox—books on the mundane of daily activities. I started in the spring of 1998. The first book of the series began after the death of my father. This experience reminded me of missed moments. Each book is not large per-say (9in x 11in x 4in deep) (23cm x 28cm x 10cm deep) but the years it took to finish these volumes were too many.

Nowadays, no matter what project I begin, my husband always teases me, “Think small!”

Continuing on this fascinating journey of large format artists’ books, a book that caught my attention was Elizabeth McKee’s book Assault of Angels. I was curious about the inspiration behind the book since I had as you know just gone through a major move last summer!

Artists’ books no matter their size, they reflect personal and heartwarming ideas. Elizabeth inspired by a poem and a decision to move her home across the world. From these experiences Elizabeth created Assault of Angels, a 22in by 3 in by 10in (56cm x 94cm x 25cm) deep accordion book that weighs about 70 lbs (1.9 kg) without the box. When opened Assault of Angels is 33ft (10m) long. The longest opened book I have seen yet!

Elizabeth clarifies... « In the late 80s around the time when my husband talked about moving us from Ottawa to Bangladesh. I found a poem in The Faber Book of Modern Verse edited by Michael Roberts, an English poet who died in 1948 of leukemia.

I remember sitting in our living room in Ottawa telling a visitor I was “very comfortable here.” So the line in the verse “A time comes when the house is comfortable and narrow” resonated with me. I wanted to paint angels as a mighty force signaling the fantastic size and power of the unknown, not creatures that sit gently on one’s shoulder. The images needed to break out of the pages. I started with twenty (22in x 30in) (56cm x 76cm) sheets of St-Armand cotton paper which I thought might eventually be framed and hung together. The folly of that idea dawned and the Japanese Screen Hinge binding saved the day. »

© 2010 Elizabeth McKee, Assault of Angels — © 2010 Elizabeth McKee, Assault of Angels

© 2010 Elizabeth McKee, Assault of Angels, acrylic paint and gesso on handmade paper mounted on foam core board which is backed with Ugandan bark cloth — © 2010 Elizabeth McKee, Assault of Angels, acrylic paint and gesso on handmade paper mounted on foam core board which is backed with Ugandan bark cloth

It took 10 years and four moves for Elizabeth to publish Assault of Angels.

What moves you to create?

More Large Format Artists' Books

April 17, 2016

Artists work on their own most of the time and wear many hats. Being queen and king of our domain we are free or are we? This freedom comes at a price—loneliness. As artists no matter what medium we work in, the solitary state of the studio comes into play. We are tough, it may take a while but in the end we get inspired by the world around us.

Look what I found in Boise! What will I do with this? Have I found home?

Last week I introduced Christopher Kardambikis’ large format accordion book Mundus Subterraneus. The first time we communicated I mentioned I had recently relocated from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Boise, Idaho. My blog post was a way to communicate with other artists. Christopher responded he had recently made a move himself to New York City from Los Angeles in a similar attempt to get to know more people making books and zines and such he started up a radio program. His program is at Clocktower.org. Paper Cuts is an exploration of the contemporary world of zines and DIY publishing. Hosted by Christopher Kardambikis himself, each program features writers, performers, and artists who have shared their work in print, on paper, and in small editions. This experience of reaching out and talking to many people has really been one of the best things he has ever done. So please listen to his program and find out how Christopher finds artists and writers discussing their practice, studio, daily rituals, and their work fascinating.

After communicating with Christopher I decided to send a call through the BOOK_ARTS-L mailing list by Peter D Verheyen to find other artists who create artists’ books in large format. The response was wild I could not keep up with the emails popping in my inbox.

I enjoy hearing the ideas behind books, and the stories that inspire them. Let me present to you Alex Appella’s, The János Book. Alex writes on the reasoning behind her large book that took 12 years in the making.

© 2006 Alex Appella, The János Book, 8.5 inches x 25 inches x 1.5 inches closed and over 4 feet opened — © 2006 Alex Appella, The János Book, 8.5 inches x 25 inches x 1.5 inches closed and over 4 feet opened

« How long is 90 years?
From the silence of its long black cover, The János Book opens, and explodes with what had been unspeakable for over 70 years.
“90 years is long enough to be a child in World War One, a man in World War Two…”
“90 years is long enough for secrets to last 70…”

My Hungarian grandparents emigrated to California in 1931. They passed away before I was born, but left a legacy of questions that began to surface in our home in the 1980s. By then, the only remaining family member who could answer those questions was János (pronounced Ya-noash), my grandfather’s youngest brother, who had emigrated from Transylvania to Argentina in 1949. The questions were innocent enough. My mother always believed she had only two uncles—János and Imre. But then a photo of four young men was found among my grandfather’s things. Three faces were familiar. Who was the fourth man?

In 1994 I traveled to Argentina to meet János, to ask the questions. The answers—the secrets—revealed our identity, and revealed the pain of lying, even to protect those you love. The János Book not only encompasses a family’s history, it reveals the man who, at the age of 90, decided to tell it. The reader is taken on a journey from Oregon to Argentina, to Transylvania, and beyond. Original letters, photographs and paintings entwine János’ testimony with my poetry to reveal a family’s identity whispered away two generations prior. »

© 2006 Alex Appella, The János Book — © 2006 Alex Appella, The János Book

And then Alex brought to us a second book of identical size The János Letter, an interwoven volume, a continuation of events.

© 2006, 2012 Alex Appella, The János Book and The János Letter — © 2006, 2012 Alex Appella, The János Book and The János Letter

© 2012 Alex Appella, The János Letter — © 2012 Alex Appella, The János Letter

Alex explains... « I worked for many years researching, writing, and creating The János Book. Over a decade. It's the project that brought me to Argentina originally in 1994, to speak with János, my grandfather's brother. János was the only elder living who could answer questions that arose in our home in the US after going through my deceased grandfather's things.

After nearly 20 years of accompanying this project, I was rather certain I had written and produced all that could be written and produced. But then, in May of 2014, I received a letter in the mail. From János.

He wrote it to me in 1983, and due to a string of incredible events, as only real life can offer us, it showed up on my doorstep last May. János passed away in 2003.

The letter from János, both its arrival and its content, was too incredible to not bring to the readers of The János Book. As a writer, and a book artist, it was a new challenge to revisit a work I believed to be finished, and create a book that is...a prologue? ...an epilogue? I leave it to the reader to decide. However it is labeled, both books are now inseparable. One depends entirely on the other. Not only did the new book design need to mesh with the very large János Book in English, it needed to mesh with the much smaller trade edition in Spanish. It was a unique challenge. »

It takes courage to make two books of this size. I have decided—small books and small editions are the way to go. What do you think?

What creates your history/herstory? We all have interesting backgrounds, how do you portray yours?

Nostalgia

April 9, 2016

Spring makes me nostalgic, it’s a time to renew, a time to clear our spaces.

When I de-clutter my surroundings after the winter months my thoughts meander towards the past and its meaning.

I’ve been creating artists’ books since 1996. I was doing installations at the time and was not sure this was the direction I wanted to continue.

During the previous year my husband Michael Sutton published his own book Documents Management for the Enterprise, Principles, Techniques, and Applications, best-seller till the late 90’s. In the early part of that spring we travelled back to his hometown, and the trip brought many ideas and creativity. I shot lots of photographs of Michael contemplating his childhood.

On our arrival back home, I read Michael’s book and appropriated groups of words or sentences from each chapter. These sentences taken out of context added a depth of emotions to the photographs I had taken. After months of talks on childhood and the past, I created my last installation on the theme of memories.

My installation was made of one book, a large book—My Memories of My Memories—a 22-inches by 30-inches closed artists’ book. The one-of-a-kind brings adults to perceive themselves as tiny in front of its size and resembles a family photo album. It needed to be big and awkward! The array of personal family images helped trigger people’s memories of childhood with each turn of a page.

Each page is a blend of my photographs, snapshots from a family album and a facsimile of the pages of Michael’s published monograph. Each chapter title of Michael’s book becomes each page of my book. The intermixed images simulate a bizarre sense of déja-vu.

This recollection brings me to re-introduce my artists’ book My Memories of My Memories. This is where my world of artists’ books began. I can’t remember the reason behind the long title!! But notice Michael’s book title!

© 1999 Louise Levergneux, My Memories of My Memories

© 1999 Louise Levergneux, My Memories of My Memories, Chapter 3

© 1999 Louise Levergneux, My Memories of My Memories, Chapter 4

© 1999 Louise Levergneux, My Memories of My Memories, Chapter 5

© 1999 Louise Levergneux, My Memories of My Memories, Chapter 9

Later, I created a smaller version of My Memories Of My Memories in an edition of 10. This version is 4.5 by 3.125 inches. One copy remains in my collection copy 1/10. The smaller version brings a childhood memory of keeping small treasures in our pockets and keeping them for rainy days.

The Library & Archives Canada/Bibliothèque et Archives Canada in Gatineau, Québec purchased the large format one-of-a-kind in 2007.

During this wistful affection for the past, I researched large format books and found the work of Christopher Kardambikis.

His 21-inches by 34-inches book Mundus Subterraneus, a hand-bound accordion extends to 28-feet unfolded. That’s BIG!

© 2012 Christopher Kardambikis, Mundus Subterraneus — © 2012 Christopher Kardambikis, Mundus Subterraneus

© 2012 Christopher Kardambikis, Mundus Subterraneus. Multiple digital print, silkscreen, india ink, and graphite on paper. Silkscreen on bookcloth. — © 2012 Christopher Kardambikis, Mundus Subterraneus. Multiple digital print, silkscreen, india ink, and graphite on paper. Silkscreen on bookcloth.

In the lineage of Kircher’s treatise, Mundus Subterraneus explores an absurd mythology for the future, pulling from the history of book production itself as well as science fiction, myth and cosmology. The work functions as an intimate atlas of artistic process. Reminiscent of Kircher’s play on the doubling of “mundus,” the visual information of Kardambikis’ book can be considered as both a series of two-page spreads or a 28-feet long image. In either case, one’s view is limited to a fragment or image of a larger schema. Like an atlas, an entire area is not viewed at once but rather is taken in as fractions of a whole. The book presents the viewer with sign systems of both the fantastic and the personal in an illustration that requires durational engagement.

The book tackles the measuring of space and how we traverse place and was exhibited at the University of California in San Diego. Christopher set up a series of prints cut from paper and adhered to the wall of the gallery called Squaring a Circle - forming an image of the horizon as scene from the nearby desert.

Mundus Subterraneus, the book, functioned like a cross section. If the earth formed a sphere that could be contained in the space of the gallery then the book was a core sample - a sliver of information down the centre of the sphere, flattened, condensed, and formed into an atlas. An atlas of the space, of the show, and of my practice all existing but never seen in its entirety all at once.

Such a wonderful book, I would have loved to see this exhibition in person.

I love big books and the philosophy behind them. Remind me though never make a big one again!

Explosion Box

April 3, 2016

My blog is fulfilling its goal, I’m meeting and talking, or should I say emailing artists more than ever.

I love to communicate with other artists I enjoy the interaction—the main reason for my blog. What a great day when emails are filled with wonderful images and accompanied information. It’s like Christmas!

Lots of work goes into blogging, and it takes time away from my most important priority creating artists’ books and taking photographs. Posts demand planning and communicating in an efficient manner. I am very grateful for those of you who responded on such short time frames.

Talking about lots of work, let's congratulate Helen Hiebert on her 100th blog post last Sunday!

My blog is receiving more and more subscribers thank you for the support. I’m giving away a volume of the original 7 volumes of my series City Shields to the first brave subscriber to my posts and to every 15th subscriber on the list. I appreciate the compliments on my book box Finding Home. We are never alone in our experiences, I’m pleased my book conveyed a sense of place.

With the sun out and the forsythias loosing their blooms we know it is SPRING! So with camera in hand I photographed the first flowers that made me smile!

Back to business and the explosion box/book box. I like the last term! Susan Bonthron created a double explosion box (box within a box) based on the Chinese sewing box. Wonderful!

Another book box creation of Susan’s is entitled Almost There and was part of the Philadelphia Atheneum exhibition From Seneca Falls to Philadelphia: Women of the Centennial.

Susan emailed the colophon printed on the inside of the lid of Almost There. A great insight into the work:

« The story of how the idea came to me is interesting. I looked at the call for entries for the Atheneum show, and thought, "No, I'm not going to enter that; it's political and not up my alley." But one night I saw the book in a dream--the scroll encased in a "jail" box, with windows made of upside-down American flags, the women visible on the outside of the scroll appearing to be "captured" in jail (Susan B. Anthony was jailed for attempting to vote), and the inside of the scroll printed with the Declaration of the Rights of the women of the United States (presented by the National Woman Suffrage Association on July 4th, 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial). The call for entries required a design for a book to be made specifically for the show. I drew my dream book and sent it in, and it was accepted. Then I had to figure out how to make the book! Fortunately my husband, Gilbert Ruff, is a cabinet maker, and he constructed the wooden scroll and its plinth. I made my first "exploding box with windows" for the case, printing the American flags on acetate and gluing them between the double frames of the windows. Quite a job! I created the scroll itself by researching the suffragists and finding images of them from which I drew and created silhouettes. Not all the important women fit onto the scroll, so I also included a list of the ones whom I could not create images for. On the back of the scroll I printed a reduced copy of the entire Declaration of the Rights for Women »—Susan Bonthron

Book Artist Kerry McAleer-Keeler also creates book boxes. I enjoyed viewing Boxed Spirits: Franny, Zooey, and Everyman a box structure inspired from the J.D. Salinger novel Franny and Zooey and the allegorical tale of the Everyman.

Inside the box structure one finds photographic transfers amongst a monotype printed background. The transfers represent the two main characters as children to their adulthood. Kerry used period family photographs as source material for the images. The main box also houses 3 smaller cubes that are containers for horse hair spheres that reflect the spirits of Franny, Zooey, and all of us. The piece exemplifies the spiritual search for Franny in the novel and for all of us in real life.

© 1999 Kerry McAleer-Keeler, Boxed Spirits: Franny, Zooey, and Everyman, part of the rare book collection at the Gelman Library, George Washington University in Washington DC — © 1999 Kerry McAleer-Keeler, Boxed Spirits: Franny, Zooey, and Everyman, part of the rare book collection at the Gelman Library, George Washington University in Washington DC

How do you express yourself and your ideas?

Bah! Grumble! Grumble! Got to take care of a printer misfeed. I’m printing business cards, another hat I’m wearing today, so have fun creating.

Welcome Bienvenue

Hello, my name is Louise Levergneux, I’m a book maker. This blog is where I share and reflect on the approaches and structures used in my creative process, artists' books, photography. and more...

Your comments and stories are welcome.

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