Artist Date and a Book Report

Untitled by Leslie Avon Miller

Paint was flung, dripped, sprayed with alcohol, spattered, transferred and sanded. We painted flat and upright, and we collaged. The floor of the studio was covered with transfers drying on every available surface. When we were tired we looked at art books and always liked the same things. I had a great holiday weekend in the studio with an artist friend. It was all art from morning to night. What a lot of fun! I have several pieces nearing completion, and am really enthused to keep working. That’s what artist dates are all about!

I also want to let you know about a new art book that just jumped off the bookstore shelf into my hands and came home with me. It is titled Book + Art, Handcrafting Artists’ Books by talented artist, Dorothy Simpson Krause. I love artists’ books, and have several books on the subject. This one however, is rich with images, art technique and goes beyond other books I have in my library on the subject. Dorothy is a painter, collage artist and printmaker who incorporates digital mixed media into her art. She is a professor emeritus at Massachusetts College of Art, where she founded the Computer Arts Center. And she is a fantastic artist.

Under the topic of Inspiration and Perspiration Dorothy writes “Do whatever you can to give yourself the time to work. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. Start looking for visual or narrative components that relate to an issue of importance to you. Think about the message you want your work to communicate and how you can communicate it simply and effectively…What makes a book interesting is the relationship between content and form, and how it functions to entice and engage.”