The Paper Wasp Exhibition Schedule

September/October 2009 - The works of Doug Baulos, Janice Kluge and Wayne McNeil
November/December 2009 - Functional Art Show
January 2010 - The Chesser Family Reunion Show
February 2010- Works from The Paper Wasp Bindery and Friends

The Paper Wasp

Hey everyone...sorry for the long absence!
I have been busy lately with many projects, but plan to get back into the blog more actively.

I am pleased to announce that The Paper Wasp - studio-gallery-bindery will open in September 2009 at 306 Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile.

The space will feature Artwork by Local and Regional artist each month, with Openings being in conjunction with LODA Artwalk each Second Friday of the month. The Paper Wasp will offer many things to Mobile...Bookbinding Supplies, Small Workshops, Hand Marbled Papers, Hourly Studio rental for area bookbinders. At the heart of all of this will be Books, it has been a long time dream of mine to enrich the area I live in with a greater access to the world of Book Arts and Book Binding.

My team is on board and we are ready to get started with the retooling of the space.
Wayne McNeil - Gallery and Exhibition Director
Vikki Turner Finch- Assistant Director/Media Relations
Dee Carriglino- Business Manager/Graphic Design
Susan Wertelecki - Gallery Assistant

The Paper Wasp Resident Binders:
Wayne McNeil
Susan Wertelecki
Shawn Helton
Barbara Spafford

Visiting Artist at UAB

I am very excited about the upcoming trip to Birmingham in March!

Twined Binding

Here is my Twined Binding effort. It was quite a process oriented book full of peril at every corner...Actually it wasn't that bad...just required a new thought pattern. The instructions can be found in Bonefolder and are quite good. I would make the following suggestion... I preferred longer lengths of thread to work with in the twining/binding process. There is a really beautiful Twined Binding at My Handmade Books...you can follow the link on my blog...it is a wonderful blog. Cheers!

ps: For some reason I photographed this book upside down.

Books For Valentines Day

Here is a Book that I am producing in a limited edition....just in time for Valentines Day...although not too Valentinesy. They will be available at Ashland Gallery in Midtown Mobile, Monday - Friday 10:00am-5:30pm and at The Chesser Studio Project, Friday February 13 from 6:00pm - 9:00pm for LODA Artwalk. The cover image is based on an older collage which sold a year or so ago...this detail was used on the poster for a show...and hangs on the wall above my bench...the cover design was just staring me in the face. Enjoy!

Japanese Stab Binding

I have been working on various Japanese Stab Bindings with hard covers this past week in the studio. I will be teaching them soon in my classes at Space 301 and wanted to make sure I had my ducks in a row. Here is a couple of group shots for you guys to enjoy. I must say they were very pleasant to sew as I have been working with the Centipede Stitch and learning Twined Binding...it was nice to work with a book that is simple and direct. A true joy!

Flag Book

Happy New Year Everyone! Welcome to 2009!

In preparation for the Bookbinding Survey that I will be teaching starting next week at Space 301 in downtown Mobile, I have been furiously working away in the studio to learn a few new book forms to keep thing fresh for my students. One book I've been laboring over is the flag book form. Here is my second attempt, which turned out fairly well, all things considered. I hope that my students will enjoy this in week 2.

I used a photograph I took in New Orleans last spring of a sculpture which I love at the Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Art. I really thought that the augmentation that the flag book puts an image through would really suit this image. I was very pleased.