The Book Shopper

From the Books-as-Art-as-Books Archives

The recent article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Jerushia Graham’s exhibit at the Callanwolde Gallery reminded me of the often overlooked Books-as-Art-as-Books section of the blog. Graham has appeared a couple of times in this section dating back to May of 2012 (oh yes, we have been at this blogging for over a long time) when she was a curator for the Art Institute of Atlanta-Decatur Wallbound exhibit, which was a precursor to the Decatur Book Festival’s Book Art Series.

If you scroll through the 32 entries that make up the Books-as-Art-as-Books section, you should come away with the sense that we have a somewhat loose interpretation of what that exactly means.  Enjoy the gallery.

Into the Spinning Void

While reading Vladimir Nabokov’s 1953 humorous novel Pnin about the teaching life of a Russian émigré in a fictitious small New England college town, this line stood out among the many noteworthy passages:

 “With the help of the janitor, he (Pnin) screwed on the side of a desk (in his new office) a pencil sharpener – that highly satisfying, highly philosophical implement that goes ticonderoga-ticonderoga, feeding on the yellow finish and sweet wood, and ends up in a kind of a soundlessly spinning ethereal void as we all must.”

This reference to the Ticonderoga pencils and those old pencil sharpeners brought back memories of the classrooms of my high school (built in 1912) that mounted similar sharpeners in the back of each room near the “cloudy blackboards.” Also, my father had a similar one mounted in our garage where I could grind a pencil to the finest point of procrastination before tackling my Algebra homework.

Museum Trips

Nabokov’s evocative prose provided additional respite, as I visited the online Made-in-Chicago Museum of Manufacturing to look for pictures of pencil sharpeners. (Thanks to the curator Andrew Clayman for granting me the permission to use the photo of the Giant sharpener made by the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company.)

The MICM took me back to a trip  I made last year to Berlin, where my older daughter Cynthia took my longtime partner Denise and me to the Museum of Things (Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge), which is dedicated to 20th and 21st century product culture.  We spent considerable time there on chilly wet day, soaking in the archive of the German industrial design association Deutscher Werkbund, founded in 1907. Items ranged from tape recorders and furniture to toy soldiers.

 

Book Shopping Novelty

While at the Museum of Things I purchased  the miniature book The Shadow on the Wall (Schottenspiele) (2014), which has illustrations of how to make shadow animals, which is a new game I like to play with my three-year old grandson Myrick.

Moreover, it is skill I can practice in the spinning ethereal void of 2020.

Something For Late-Night Readers

Do you like to stay up late at night reading, but get tired of holding the book long before you get sleepy? Then check out the revolutionary Buchor Model C, a device that allows you to lie in perfect repose and read your book without having to hold it.

Der Buchor Model C*was invented by a German sound engineer-artist for his scholarly night owl partner who likes to read well past midnight. By attaching a music holder to a microphone stand via a strong and adjustable grip head, der Buchor Model C allows for hand-free, gravity defying reading. Your book attaches to the stand, and thin clips keep the pages flat for easier reading. A small lamp with an environmentally-friendly LED bulb clips onto the stand, much healthier than the blue light from a laptop or a phone.

Der Buchor Model C   is not available at any store or online. It’s free! You just have to put it together from materials you have lying around the house (if you are a resourceful artist or innovative sound engineer). Reading late at night has never been easier. Accept no IKEA-like knockoffs and you can throw that disgusting Pillow Pad away.

* known originally as die Bucheule 5000 

Bookmark Findings

Are you one of those people can’t seem to get rid of a bookmark – as if it were some significant memento of a reading or bookstore experience? Maybe the only time you get rid of a bookmark is when you lose it. For those who may have lost their bookmark during a visit to the Decatur Library, do not despair. Your bookmark has been repurposed as art by Joanna Young of Decatur who made this installation (with help from the Decatur Library Staff) from bookmarks found in the stacks. Closer examination of the tree reveals that people are a loosey-goosey when it comes to what qualifies as a bookmark. It can be simply, anything capable of marking your place in a book – whether that be a playing card, a bookstore advertisement or a bookmark promoting reading. Anything is better than dog-earring a page to mark your reading spot.

I too, have trouble tossing a nice bookmark though I am at a loss to try to come up with something creative  (a bookmark wreath?) like Ms. Young. Check out these rarities from my collection of bookmarks that clutter my desk. *

Over the past few years, I have changed my bookmark habits by enlisting postcards to use as bookmarks. I like using the back of postcards to make notes or pulling quotes as I read instead of making pen marks or worse, using  yellow highlighter. I usually add the page number too.  After I finish the book, I stick the postcard inside the book and leave it as a short index for future reference. Later, if I am listing the book for sale at my Destination: Books Alibris Site or donating it to the Decatur Friends of the Library (Next book sale at the Library is February 8th) I remove the postcard at put it in index card sized box.

Besides as a good excuse to buy an additional postcard or two while traveling or putting one of those postcards from a trendy restaurants to good use, the postcard makes a good bookmark because it is made from more durable card stock that holds your reading progress firmly between the pages. If I am really on my game, I will select a postcard that thematically fits with the book that is has been paired with.

Postcards for Viet Thanh Nguyen

A recent example is the large sized postcard (a gift from younger daughter Bonnie when she visited Southeast Asia) I use with the works of Viet Thanh Nguyen. I recently finished The Refugees (2017), a collection of eight short stories. The stories are linked because the main characters have some connection to Vietnam – most of whom came by boat to the United States after the Fall of Saigon in 1975 (as did Nguyen and his parents). Whether it’s a former military commander who insists taking charge of his son’s marital life, a Vietnam war vet visiting his daughter who teaches in the Vietnamese countryside, or a woman dealing with the dementia of her older husband of an arranged marriage, Nguyen’s refugees not only struggle with daily problems but their lives are further complicated with their conflicted feelings about their homeland. The poignancy and matter-of-fact clarity in which Nguyen tells these tales adds my admiration of his work.

To capture these notes, I enlisted the aid of a large postcard just as I had done when I read Nguyen’s excellent novel The Sympathizer (2016). The Sympathizer has many of the same themes of The Refugees except the narrator has a sense of satirical humor (including a takedown of Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now) deftly mixed with intense graphic passages that will terrify you. I can’t remember who I gave my copy of The Sympathizer to, but at least I still have my notes or should I say a bookmark to remember it by.

* Bookmarks Annotated. The Borges quote comes from the American Book Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (circa 2014), The Watermark Bookstore in Wichita, Kansas (circa early 1980s), which included quotes like "You know how it is in the kid's book world. It's just bunny eat bunny. " and Raven Used Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts (circa early 21st century).

Barely Maps: A Cyclist's Sojourn

On my companion blog Down & Outbound, I posted a note last fall about my contribution to a Kickstarter project entitled Barely Maps. The project is a personal account of cyclist and graphic designer Peter Gorman's 11,000 mile bike trip across the United States and southern Canada. A signed copy of Barely Maps 100 Minimalist Maps arrived at my door after Christmas including a personal thank you note for being an investor.

The book is gorgeously printed like an artbook with dozens of illustrations including a set of Intersections, where Gorman outlines the quirky, weird intersections of select U.S. cities.  Even though Intersections is a popular aspect of Gorman's work (single city posters are available at barelymaps.com) the book is much more. Writes Gorman, "It seemed important to make sense of the trip and what it was all about. I thought it would help to create something, so I opened a blank white page on my computer and started drawing." The result is a series of illustrated memoir-vignettes about his travels and his life before and after the trip.

All images courtesy of Peter Gorman

Gorman's transcontinental  bike trip dominates the first section of the book (Maps numbering #1 to #25) . Gorman writes only briefly about the places he visits, preferring to  rely on "maps" or more illustrative representations of places (The Great Lakes, Savannah, the Pacific Coast Highway). Some of  his efforts work better for me than others. but I will admit, I was hoping  something similar to Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983).  My misguided expectation that everything should match Charles Joseph Minard's "Napoleon's March to Moscow" falls on me. Once I put that aside, I could appreciate Gorman's creativity much more.

Part 2 is Intersections which covers 25 maps of intersections of major cities (Maps #26 to #50 although you have to figure that out for yourself). But based on his depiction of Atlanta I appreciate that all metropolises have street oddities that we view with both pride and loathing. One possible shortcoming is whether the reader will care about the petroglyph-like intersections from other cities.

The final two sections of the book Part 3 After (maps #51 to #75)  and Part 4 Before (maps #76 to #100) Gorman concentrates on the aftermath of his trip where he spent considerable time in Seattle (#51 to #64). About 80% of the maps in the Before section are dedicated to Gorman's childhood in upstate New York ---  his early memories of spinning globes in the classroom and riding his bike on his paper route in Syracuse. Included with these illustrations are short paragraphs explaining the significance of how maps have always been an integral part of his life. 

Because the last two sections are heavily Seattle and Syracuse centric, they don't work as well as the first section (unless you hail from those two cities). Nonetheless as one who designed and wrote his own book out of an obsession (Down & Outbound: A Mass Transit Satire ) I understand Gorman's need to create and illustrate the book his way.

I will enjoy showing this interesting, quirky book to people at my next Destination: Books popup and I know Gorman is planning another creative endeavor in March of 2020 called Blue Atlas.  Long may he ride.

 

Book Shopping Bulletin

Scandinavian X-stitch #1900 by https://www.instagram.com/stories/bonnybeedesigns/

Yes, ‘tis the season to book shop, but this posting is more than a shopping guide – it is a partial shout out to those booksellers that have supported the blog and related ventures in the past. All three are having holiday sales. Two are brick and mortar stores in Atlanta and the third is a small independent publisher out of Philadelphia.

The Carlos Museum Bookshop

Located on the campus Emory University, this quaint shop is packed full of books for its holiday sale Friday, December 6, 10-4 and Saturday, December 7, 10-5. Over the years, I have read and wrote about books that came from this place. This year alone some of my favorite reads -- Jessym Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017), W.B. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn (1995), Giorgio Van Stratton’s In Search of Lost Books (2016) and Eric Villard’s The Order of the Day (2017) -- came from the Carlos Museum Bookshop. This dependency of mine is a little scary. 

On Saturday, you can park free at the Visitor’s Parking Deck near the Museum.

Fall Line Press

The Fall Line Press Moving Sale is Saturday, December 7 Noon to 8 p.m. In addition to Fall Line publications, the sale includes art books, photography books, vintage books, zines, duplicates (maybe a lonely copy of my own 2016 book Down & Outbound) t-shirts, koozies, totes, and posters. And in addition to all of that, Nexus Founder Michael Goodman will be giving a book arts demonstration at 3 p.m. and includes a conversation with Fall Line publisher Bill Boling.

Fall Line is officially moving from its 675 Drewry Street location in Midtown Atlanta by the end of this year.

And now for those who live outside of Atlanta --

Paul Dry Books

Paul Dry Books is a publisher out of Philadelphia who published my The Book Shopper: A Life in Review (2009), but recently partnered with my book popup venture Destination: Books at the Decatur Book Festival. PDB offers a lot of books ranging from travel to fiction, as well as classics and philosophy and they are all at 35% off until December 10th. I especially like some of the work of  PDB stalwart Eva Brann who has written to fine books,  Open Secrets / Inward Prospects: Reflections on World and Soul (2004) and Doublethink/Doubletalk: Naturalizing Second Thoughts and Two-Fold Speech (2016) which I have written about and sent copies to friends.

Blog Alumni

From Where I Stand, Jerushia Graham

If you blog long enough sometimes the people and things you write about reappear. Such has been the case recently where I have reacquainted myself with the works of writers and artists with whom I have crossed paths before.

Cut & Paste: Works of Paper

Since paper has a deep connection to books, it partially explains my sense of comfort whenever I have visited the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking on the campus of Georgia Tech. The last time I was there I walked through their current exhibit, Cut & Paste: Works of Paper (ending November 14th). It is a traveling exhibit* and part of the Highlighting Contemporary Art in Georgia Series featuring the work of eleven Georgia artists who work with paper cutting, folding, and coloring to create unique works. I recognized one of the artists-- Jerushia Graham who exhibited a series of delicately cut paper pieces called "From Where I Stand." Shown at the left is one of those pieces, but the digital version on this blog does not reflect the rich details of the work properly.

I first met Ms. Graham back in 2012. She was one of the curators of an exhibit called WallBound, hosted by the Art Institute of Atlanta-Decatur, which has since morphed into an annual event at the Decatur Book Festival called Book As Art.

Book as Art - Flight Edition

While heading out on a flight at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport a couple of months ago, my eye caught the work of Brian Dettmer whose work has appeared earlier in the blog as well. Shown here is his work, "Webster Withdrawn", which was part of the Book As Art - Flight Edition and a subset of the previously mentioned Book Art which was on display at the Decatur Public Library during the Decatur Book Festival. 

I recognized Dettmer’s work from when he was at the Saltworks Gallery here in Atlanta in 2011 and later at Atlanta Museum of Contemporary Art in Georgia at the end 2012. As I recall, Dettmer went on to be featured on network television for his unusual work and I occasionally get an email announcing his exhibits in Chicago and more recently in San Francisco.

Thomas Chatterton Williams

Williams’s new book Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race (2019) recently made the front page of the New York Times Book Review, but he is also the subject of one most popular Book Shopper blog postings dating back to June 6, 2010, “Thomas Chatterton Williams Meets Killer Mike.” If you ask Williams, I bet he remembers his stop at the Decatur Public Library while on tour of his first book Losing My Cool (2011): How A Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip Hop Culture. The rapper Killer Mike (on the right), emerged from the audience, got into a discussion with Williams (at the left) as they defined Hip-Hop culture.  I was impressed that it was lively but, remained amicable. The man in the middle of the photo (referee?) is Joe Davich, who now is the Executive Director of the Georgia Center for the Book and was one of the brick and mortar administrators of the recent Book as Art 7.0. Small world. One other note of interest: Williams' 2011 book has since be retitled Losing My Cool: Love, Literature and a Black Man’s Escape from the Crowd.

* Future venues in 2019 and 2020: Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, Albany Museum of Art, Albany and Telfair Museum of Art's Jepson Center, Savannah, Georgia.

Book Art Exhibit in Atlanta

No, this isn’t a picture of a bookish me relaxing in my living room, rather I am volunteering at the Book as Art 7.0 exhibit at Decatur Public Library’s Periodical Room. Most of the time, I just walk through exhibits such as this, but this time I spent the whole afternoon there so I had plenty of time to pick favorites. The piece behind me is known as Book by Rosalyn Driscoll of Haydenville, Massachusetts. Good thing it was bolted on the wall otherwise, I would have been tempted to ask the library for a loan.

Here are a few other notables with some minor descriptions:

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Blue Horizon

by Peggy Johnston 

Des Moines, Iowa

"Inspired by a bundle of aeronautical maps" Note the little plane flying over the book made of maps.

 

 

 

 

Take Me I'm Yours

by Laura Russell

Portland, Oregon

"In a bit of whimsey, image and text playoff each other to create irrelevant parking of singles pickup lines with intimate portraits (Polaroids) of abandoned furniture that can be cast aside like a bad romance on city streets everywhere."

 

 

 

 

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Chance Operation

by Andrew Huot

Norcross, Georgia 

Huot is the owner of Big River Bindery in Norcross.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bird Windows

by Lynn S. Kordal

Conner, Washington

"old style cut and paste collage"

 

 

 

 

 

The Gallery Hours for Book as Art 7.0 are from 2 to 6 p.m. daily in the Periodicals Room of the Decatur Library with the final showing at 7 p.m. Friday, September 27th which includes an opportunity for attendees to put on the white gloves and actually touch the pieces. They are for sale (not for loan).

 

Books As Art Sampler

Here's just a few of the pieces from the Books as Art exhibit at the Decatur (GA) Public Library. About the only thing these pieces have in common is that they are books. The month-long exhibit runs through September 29th:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Sconce by Dawn Peterson, of Tybee Island, Georgia

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goode's School Atlas by Lynn Skordal of Mercer Island, Washington.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Internet Knowledge by Megan Mattax of Richmond Virginia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Taxonomy of Shapes by Radha Pandey of Iowa City, Iowa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sacred Geometry - Reliquary by Daniel Essig of Asheville, North Carolina.

 

A list of all the works with artist commentary can be found the exhibit home page.

 

 

At Fall Line Books - Saturday

I will be going to the Fall Line Press 50 Artist Talks on Saturday, June 3rd beginning at 3 p.m. My book Down & Outbound: A Mass Satire falls into the gray area of something related to an artist book because of its unusual format and numerous illustrations. Fall Line Press has been supportive of the book.

It's also a great opportunity to visit the Fall Line Book Shop and Gallery, which has shelves full of photography books and art books. Currently they are featuring 50 world-class self-published photobooks from across the globe.  I attended their open house earlier this spring and this collection is worth seeing. People who appreciate what I call "Books as Art as Books" will enjoy seeing the collection and chatting with those who share the same interest. See you there.  

Fall Line Press is located at 675 Drewery Lane, Suite #6 in Atlanta near the Beltline and on the border of Midtown and Virginia Highlands.