Category: Meeting records

For next week:

Tony – will focus on Tens book for PAGES (maybe also spiral text for book).

Kit – work on Tangram title text and also either the map of the Severn or more fish drawings

Jane – Will take the palm book forward exploring format, light sensitivity etc

Frances – Work on Tens book for PAGES and explore paper options for Water book

Antoinette – start to assemble final pop-op section for Matisse Birds book

It was agreed that by next week, those wishing to contribute to the Tens book would have ideas in progress and be working towards a book, not necessarily with a cover, to test out how it fits in the cigar box during our physical get-together on 10 September.

Present: Kit, Tony, Antoinette, Tricia, Frances

Actions for next week:

Tony – continue working on spiral structure and 

Kit – Closure for 10s book and cyan experiments on Rivers cover

Tricia – Continue work on Shoe and Hare printing

Antoinette – complete base and shadows

Frances – Complete structure in order to consider additional content

Deadline for Tens Books: we agreed to finalise our own contribution concepts and structure by 27 August meeting, and to have a version without a cover ready to test in the cigar box at Kit’s on 10 September.

Zoom meetings: The subscription for the full version of Zoom will expire after the Sue Doggett workshop. Please could all Bandits check to see if they have or can install Skype (which may include needing to set up a Microsoft or Skype account).  From September meetings will be via Skype, which is very similar to Zoom, but it allows 100 hours free per month, with a maximum of 4 hours per meeting.

Apologies: Zoe and Caroline

Commitments for next week:

Frances – experiment with pop-op, structure, text and closure

Tony – Imagery and text re-working

Tricia – Start editing next story and more work on Hares book

Antoinette – Re-do first layer of birds in style of the second

Kit: Organising and magnets

Further discussion:

Should Bernard be asked to join the Book Band? Kit had conversation with him that led her to believe he could be a valuable new addition.

Photography of work: Frances is concerned about quality of presentation – we will consider options.

Apologies:  Kit, Zoe and Caroline

Personal Project actions undertaken for next week:

Jane:  Go back to computer research (and possibly start work on artist profile).

Tricia:  Finish and bind Shadows shoe book

Antoinette:  Create next pop-up layer

Tony: Work on swivel opening and text for spiral.

Frances: Investigate printing options and resolve triangle drawing issue.

Suggestion from Frances – should we document work in progress where appropriate for these meeting note update? 

We have just welcomed Antoinette and Jane as new members of The Book Band.  There are several ongoing projects, specifically ‘Ten Ways of Seeing’ for Turn the Page, ‘Random’, an extensible flexible set of books, ‘Tangram’ which is almost completed and ‘Pillow Book’.

A new departure is that each member is pursuing a personal project, collaborating with the group by seeking and giving constructive criticism, providing ideas and suggestions, discussing possible techniques and tools,  with the intention of encouraging individual growth of individual artists.

Please post any work-in-progress images if you feel they will add to our ability to publicise work for potential exhibitions and competition, as well as completed work as high quality images (use the Upload Pictures) option to add to our private Image Gallery.

Current state of play:

Tricia: a book on shoes – for next week Tricial will test out methods of printing

Tony: the Neckinger river – for next week, make a box to put the book into

Jane: a toolbox that will contain boxes/books on the use and beauty of tools – for next week, bind the first book and consider display possibilities. Also think about writing an artist’s profile.

Caroline: a work based on stitch, amulets and personally important objects. For next week, keep experimenting with making and asking others for input. Consider paper versus fabric.

Zoe: Folded works using text about isolation, personal and in nature. Next week, concentrate on the favourite brochure structure and consider content.

Frances: No Thing So Ordinary, a continuation of the Sue Doggett project, part I is on Water.  Next week, concentrate on content, but also extend maquettes for basic triangular pyramid.

Record of meeting 20/22/20

Present: Kit, Tony, Frances

Projects report:

Twelves – Almost complete

Do Not Bend – Complete

Random (dos-a-dos) – Kit will put together the books received so far and we will assess whether we need more, and if different sizes or formats would improve it or not.

Theatre Boxes – 5 boxes complete. This is an ongoing project as several people have expressed an interest in doing additional boxes. Can be regarded as complete, but fluid.

Stitch in Time – in progress, first round of exchanges mostly complete.

Tangram – Tony now has almost all the books and is ready to make the box.

Cigar Box – No contributions yet. Have all compartments been assigned?

Discussion:

We discussed ways to improve our overall standard, and concluded we should share individual strengths to enable work to be completed to a satisfactorily similar standard. A sort of clinic approach where we can handover work at the point we are weakest, to someone who has more skill at that element of bookmaking.

Photographs: Frances has most of the completed work and will photograph as much as possible and share the images to check they are representative and of sufficient quality. They will then be placed on the public area of the website in a gallery.

Website:

• We discussed the purpose and usage of the website, which we felt should be used to promote ourselves specifically as book artists and to raise awareness of book arts. Kit suggested that we could offer editions of books that are components of collaborative projects as spin-offs that are reasonably priced. We could also offer to provide high quality editions to commission. This would need to be taken into account when creating contributions.
  

• We could also offer finished projects for exhibition, for example the theatre boxes could be offered to be shown in a theatre foyer (under glass).
  

• We thought that the website should include a gallery for each individual artist’s work, as well as links to individual artists websites, Instagram etc. We could promote book arts specifically in the Book Band website, and link to other work: prints, collage, textiles through external links.
  

• We need a short summary of our purpose for the website “About Us” page – Kit has suggested the following:
  “Our purpose is to promote our work, collaborative and individual, and book art more widely whilst sharing skills, ideas and encouragement within the group. If we sell some work along the way, that will justify our existence.”

BB Stamps: Kit has these in hand.

Online exhibition: Frances to investigate further. We could set up an “event” online that could act as a focal point for highlighting our presence.