book arts

“Today Is…”, an artist’s book by Tom Virgin and Michael Hettich

Today Is        3 in x 9 in x .5 in               2011

This book was a collaboration between Tom Virgin and Michael Hettich for Arthur Jaffe’s 90th Birthday. Hettich and Virgin related years of teaching experience to a school of fish. This book is one of several collaborations by the two that revolve around teaching and learning.Arches 88 is the paper used for  the accordion fold body of the work, and Unryu wrapped book boards provide the covers.

This book is an editon of 5. Evan Robarts and Fifty-Five have also collaborated on the faux Priority labels that are collaged into the book.

Leila Thirteen Times, an artist’s book

Leila Thirteen Times        9 in x 9 in x 3 in (closed)           2005

This book was the result of several collaborations and a profound respect for another artist. The book consists of 13 pop up prints, seven to the right and six to the left. The book is an edition of 13. Covers are book board with Thai Unryu Newsprint that open in both directions from the dos a dos/accordion book block.

Escape 3: Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll, an artist’s book

Escape 3: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll         11 inches x 15 inches x .5 inc           2008

In this third and final volume of the Escape Series, the artist lands on Duval Street in Key West during a charming festival called Fantasy Fest. It is a cautionary tale with seven maps, seven pop ups, seven prints and accompanying stories from the Key West Citizen’s Police Briefs. Hard to believe, but I assure you, it is all true. I have seen it.

Book block is sewn with a kettle stitch using plywood covers wrapped in white denim with a plain brown wrapper. The endsheets are katazome paper. The edition size is 20.

This book is dedicated to a long time friend, Rick Reasin.

Escape 2, an artist’s book

Escape 2          11 inches x 15 inches x .5 inc           2004

Escape 2 picks up where “escape*… restrictions apply” left off, from the 7 Mile Bridge, headed west,  geographically, and from my status as a solo traveler to becoming  an honored guest of the native Florida Keys’ residents on my escape. Here I take the highway to places only a native would know, and join friends on, in, or under the waters of the Florida Keys.

The book has seven woodcut prints colorized from the original prints, unryu overleafs, altered charts, and a 1,500 word essay by the artist that speaks to the mysteries of the Keys and their residents. I am joined by a hunter/killer and earth mother in my travels from the 7 Mile Bridge to Key West and the waters off shore.

escape*… restrictions apply (Escape 1)

“escape*… restrictions apply,”         11 inches x 15 inches x .5 inc           2003

This is Tom Virgin’s first artist’s book. It is the first of three books examining the concept of “escape” in the context of a trip from Miami to the Florida Keys. During the course of this journey (escape* part one)  the artist views various landmarks that break up the miles between Card Sound Road and the 7-mile Bridge. Also addressed along the way are more metaphorical walls, bridges, and escapes of another nature.

“escape*… restrictions apply” is printed on Arches 88, containing 17 pages. The book block is sewn with a kettle stitch, and glued into blue denim covered wood covers, with Japanese Katazome paper end sheets. The book is 11 inches x 15 inches x .5 inch. Fonts used are arial and Scott Ulrich’s Cheap Signage. Content includes an essay by the artist, seven digitally colored original woodcut prints by the artist, and maps showing the location of the images in the prints by Mile Marker in the Florida Keys. Facts and figures about the Keys follow the essay and prints.

Your School, an artist’s book (glass/copper)

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Your School
8 in x 45 in x 3 in (open)        artist’s book    2012
“Your School” is an accordion structure book created from fused glass and cut copper drawings, bound with multiple ply waxed linen thread, and text printed on bands of Hahnemühle Ingres with a Vandercook 3 Proof Press. The book employs the metaphor of keeping a low maintenance pet (a fish) to examine multiple challenges that schools, and especially young people, are currently facing in Florida and Miami. This book is an edition of two with the second book being sewn with a codex binding.

This book came from my admiration of a friend’s creative use of non-book-like media to create a book. The glass process was enhanced by the advice and guidance of Gail Dahlberg at the Anderson Center at Tower View. The color and glass inclusions fused into window glass created a transparent structure for a very opaque situation, the state of schools. The fish metaphor came from a continuing collaboration with Michael Hettich, a “gringo Magical Realist” poet from Miami.

Books without content, various bindings

Books using Long Stitch bindings (workshop with Rory Golden, Center for Book Arts, NYC), Books using quire bindings, simple and complex (workshop with Julie Miller, Oregon College of Art and Craft), Books using Coptic bindings (workshop with Marion Lavery, Holter Museum, Helena, Montana)

Mujo-Mujeni, Phase I and II, artists’ books by Leila Leder Kremer and Tom Virgin

These books are collaborations with Leila Leder Kremer, studying the dismantling of aging Downtown Miami’s down at the heels former icons: the Burdine Quartermine Building (the Pink Building), Dupont Plaza, and the Everglades Hotel. All were fashionable in their day, but as times changed and profit displaced value in the housing markets, the buildings were leveled and replaced. Mujo-Mujeni Phase I and Phase II have two parts each, one by Leder Kremer and one by Virgin, each taking a distinctive view of the process of destruction…and what remains.

Mujo-Mujeni, Phase I    artist’s book    6” x  9” x 1”    2005
This is a two sided artist’s book (dos a dos) with photographs and haiku on one side by Virgin,  and the same on the other side by Leder Kremer. Both sides depict a short period of time in Downtown Miami in which major physical changes occurred. The book is printed on a HP DesignJet500 using Rives BFK and Arches 88 in an edition of twenty.

Mujo-Mujeni, Phase II   artist’s book    6” x  9” x 2”    2006.

Two separate books are bound together in interlocking covers in this volume, printed on a HP DesignJet500 using Rives BFK and Arches 88 in an edition of twenty. The books uses a serpentine structure to show digital imaging, collage, relief printing and haiku by Leder Kremer and Virgin.

 

 

Right There, an artist’s book

Thirty years of Florida living did not dim the memory of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Actually when I was a kid it was just plain Sleeping Bear Dunes, complete with Dune Rides in great big American Car dune buggies. A residency at Glen Arbor Art Association in 2005 gave me an opportunity to visit the area and recreate the the park and my childhood memories in  this book. “Right There” was the Florida Artist Book Prize winner in 2006 and is now part of the collection at the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book.

Colophon

This book is a tour through time and space, bouncing around the artist’s head, Glen Arbor/ Glen Haven, Michigan, and the early 1960’s. Much of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has remained unchanged. Memories however may have become better with the passage of time. The book’s covers are basswood, planed, sanded and tied together with leather thongs. The cover art is laser etched into the wood, front and back covers of each chapter. The papers used are Thai Unryu and Arches Cold Press Watercolor 300 and 140 lbs. The book was created in Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Pagemaker 7.0. The font used is Americana. “Right There” has seven chapters, and when closed creates a block approximately 10 inches wide, 12.5 inches tall, and 10 inches deep. A custom denim bag is included for transportation. Each chapter contains one woodcut print, one C-print, one digital scan, and one essay by the artist. The book is an edition of five. The photographs were taken at a residency at Glen Arbor Art Association/ Sleeping Bear Dunes in summer 2004. The toy images, woodcut prints, and book itself were produced in 2006. The essays are semi-accurate memories of the artist’s childhood growing up in Michigan during the 1960’s.

Every Pot Has a Lid, an artist’s book

Every Pot Has a Lid           8 inches x  9 inches  x 1/4 inch            2003

This book is a fable using simple household objects to express the complexity of relationships. The artist borrows quotations from notable historic figures to unravel and examine the permutations of love. Haiku written by the artist further iluminate this mystery.
A Japanese stab binding encloses inkjet prints of the artist’s original drawings that have been digitally colored. Printed on Unryu paper. Covers are book board covered with brown bark paper. This book is an edition of 20.