‘Handmade & Bound, Vol. 2’ Returns Oct 4–6 at Watkins

Debut community book sculpture project kicks off activities at Second edition of Free festival;

vendor tables still available for book arts bazaar

Handmade & Bound Nashville, a book arts festival for the entire family, will welcome dozens of vendors and feature a variety of demos and hands-on activities during its second edition of the free community celebration, set for Thursday, Oct. 4, through Saturday, Oct. 6, at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film.

All events are free and open to the public. Handmade & Bound begins on Thursday, Oct. 4, with a day-long community art project to create a sculpture out of books. Friday night, Oct. 5, features the opening gallery reception for the festival’s juried exhibition, Familiar Relics.

Handmade & Bound Nashville, Vol. 2 is presented by the Watkins College of Art, Design & Film Library, the Watkins Community Education department, and local librarians and book artists, and supported in part by a grant from the William N. Rollins Fund for the Arts of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. 

Joining as partners this year are the Nashville Public Library, whose Wilson Limited Editions Collection contains more than 800 limited edition books (library.nashville.org), and Turnip Green Creative Reuse, a nonprofit designed to divert useable material from landfills for creative endeavors through innovative programming (turnipgreencreativereuse.org).

The festival is an official, registered event of Artober Nashville, a broadly collaborative promotional initiative designed to highlight, inform and inspire the community’s participation in the wide range of arts activities offered in the Nashville area during the month of October. Visit NowPlayingNashville.com or ArtoberNashville.com.

The Handmade & Bound Nashville, Vol. 2 schedule follows:

• Community book sculpture, Oct. 4

The festival launches Thursday, Oct. 4, with a new offering of a community book sculpture, to be created by book artists and book enthusiasts at Watkins. Jennifer Knowles-McQuistion of Brown Dog Bindery will lead the effort, and volunteers of all skill levels are invited to come by during the day, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., to sort books and participate in the construction of a sculpture (power tool tutorial available).  The goal is to incorporate at least 500 books into the artwork, which will remain on display throughout October. The inspiration for this H&BN sculpture is Richard Hutten’s original book armchair and will be a functional work of art.  

Donations of hardcover books of varying sizes are still being accepted; contact Watkins Library at 615.277.7427 or [email protected], or Turnip Green Creative Reuse at 615.438.5538 or [email protected] for delivery arrangements.

(At left:  Richard Hutten, Book Chair, 2008)

• Gallery exhibition opening, Oct. 5

On Friday, Oct. 5, the festival’s juried book arts and zine exhibition, Familiar Relics, will open in the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr. Gallery on campus with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  Music will be provided by the jump and swinging blues quartet Eight O’ Five Jive.

Familiar Relics will feature more than 30 works that speak to the familiarity and evolution of the book:

In questioning the very concept of the book—its form, its intention—artists’ books have the power to mediate the relationship between reader and vessel, content and form. Books are no longer bound by paper substrate; digital books, downloadable print, and electronic media have all permeated our cultural landscape, altering the delivery of images and written words.

Exhibition juror is Tony White, director of the Decker Library at the Maryland Institute College of Art and field editor for artist’s books and books for artists for the College Art Association’s online reviews journal caareviews.org.  A founding board member of the College Book Art Association and a founder of the Contemporary Artist’s Book Conference in New York, White has been making artist’s books for over 20 years.  He holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MLS from Indiana University. 

Regional book artists and instructors Annie Herlocker (Paper Revival Press) and Jennifer Knowles-McQuistion (Brown Dog Bindery) are curators of Familiar Relics, which will run through Oct. 20 in the Currey Gallery. 

• Book Arts Bazaar with Demos & Activities, Oct. 6

Centerpiece of the festival is the book arts bazaar on Saturday, Oct. 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with many vendors offering demos and hands-on activities.  Among those partcipating are*:

• Cynthia Marsh, Goldsmith Press & Rare Type Collection at Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, TN) – handmade book objects, with proof press printing demos
• Claudia Lee, Liberty Paper (Liberty, TN) — artists’ books, handmade paper
• Amelia Garretson-Persans — artists’ books, zines, prints
• Jennifer Knowles-McQuistion, Brown Dog Bindery (Smyrna, TN) — artists’ books, handmade book objects, with bookbinding demos
• Katie Gonzalez, Linenlaid&felt — artists’ books, handmade book objects
• June Leffler (Louisville, KY) – zines, comics [author of the youth arts Louisville zine GWZ and her own perzine Logic Honesty]
• East Side Story bookstore
• John Porcellino, Spit and a Half distro (South Beloit, IL) — King-Cat Comics, zines, graphic novels from around the globe
• Kale Edmiston and Brian Thompson, Nervous Nelly Records — zines, comics, other small press
• Joe Lachut (Fort Myers, FL) — zines
• Laura Matthews, the Book Cellar – handmade miniature-book jewelry and other book items and accessories
• Thistle Farms — greeting cards, journals, bookmarks, gift tags, note tablets and Christmas ornaments of handcrafted, recycled paper
• Caleb Sylvest – prints, illustrations, with book binding demos (stitching and perfect bound)
• Susan Hulme – limited edition press specializing in mixed medium printing, custom and fine binding
• Merritt Ireland, Petrillo Press, and Wayne Hogan (Cookeville, TN) – miniature books, with demos of Concertina Landscape Books
• Regin Igloria, North Branch Projects (Chicago) – demos of simple pamphlets and other “5 minute” stitching [North Branch Projects is a community bookbinding space that teaches people how to make books as part of an ongoing “Neighborhood ARchive”]
• Sarah McDonald – handmade blank books
• Deborah Wilbrink, Perfect Memoirs – personal historian
• Platetone Press – community printmaking studio, which accommodates relief, intaglio, collagraph, photopolymer, monoprint, polyester plate lithography, marbling, and book arts
• Zone 3 – literary journal of the Center for the Creative Arts at Austin Peay State University
• Adán De La Garza – zines [Adán is Visiting Faculty in the Watkins photography department]
• The Nashville Origami Club – demos of Japanese paperfolding.  Members meet monthly to fold paper, learn new models, share books, and otherwise share the gift and practice of origami
• Friedrich Kerksieck, Small Fires Press (Memphis) – blank books and journals, plus literary journal Matchbook
• Lisa Logue, Lisa Logue Books – independent publishing “Legacy of Secrets” series)
• The Owl Farm – zines, from the DIY music venue’s store
• Erica Williams — independent publishing (“Love Lifted Me” novel)
• Nashville Public Library – selections from the Wilson Limited Editions Collection of more than 800 limited edition books
• Turnip Green Creative Reuse – a nonprofit designed to divert useable material from landfills for creative endeavors through innovative programming

Saturday will also feature music from indie pop duo Kristy West (Guilty Pleasures alumna) and Nick Perreault and a food truck convoy with several of Nashville’s most popular rolling restaurants, including the Grilled Cheeserie.

For updates to the schedule and vendor list, or to inquire about participating as a vendor, visit handmadeboundnashville.com. 

For more information, contact the Watkins Library at 615.277.7427 or visit watkins.edu.

Watkins is located at 2298 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard in Metro Center; free parking is available in the campus lot.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                * vendor list as of 9/25/12

FAQ

·       What’s an artist’s book? An artist’s book is a work of art realized in a book-like format. They are usually one-of-a-kind creations or published in small editions, and can employ a form other than bound printed sheet.

·       What’s a zine?  A zine (pronounced “zeen,” as in “magazine”) is a self-published, small circulation, non-commercial booklet or magazine, usually produced by one person or a few individuals. Zines range from small photocopied booklets, to handwritten or handmade booklets, to magazine-like publications.

William N. Rollins Fund for the Arts of

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee