John Frame creates figurative wooden sculptures, each with individual character, motivations, and behaviors. He then constructs elaborate sets and uses his sculptures as actors in stop-action films inspired by classic Czech animators.
Frame is currently working on his final film, The Tale of the Crippled Boy. The project had its beginnings in a dream: Frame was jolted awake by what seemed like an unfolding story complete with cast and scenes. The film is now his next body of work and, he says, may carry him through the remainder of his lifetime.
Marquand Books produced this small book for the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, which showed the exhibition last spring. The book is edited by Kevin M. Murphy and Jessica Todd Smith, features an essay by David Pagel, and presents John Frame’s photography of his sets and sculptures.
Visit John Frame’s website for a rich preview of his astonishing work and be sure to attend the upcoming exhibition at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, OR, opening February 18.
Few art forms are as universally popular as Japanese samurai armor. Graphic, bold, refined, and theatrical, this exquisitely crafted material has inspired designers and artists for centuries. From Yoshitoshi, the father of modern Japanese manga style, to George Lucas’s iconic Star Wars costuming, its influence is thoroughly integrated into our cultural aesthetic.
Marquand Books produced English and French editions of Art of Armor: Samurai Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection. Published in association with Yale University Press, this 320-page book showcases more than 300 images. These illustrations allow readers to see the intricacies of samurai armor, and captions include the weight and measurements for each piece. Jeff Wincapaw of Marquand Books designed the book, and Brad Flowers photographed the work. Essays were written by John Anderson, Ian Bottomley, Sachiko Hori, Gregory Irvine, Eric Meulien, Morihiro Ogawa, John Stevenson, and Stephen Turnbull; Bernard Fournier-Bourdier authored the catalogue entries.
The Barbier-Mueller collection is currently on display at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris until the end of this month. The show then opens in April at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Quebec and will be on view until January 2013. In Dallas, the Barbier-Muellers renovated a former Catholic school into a handsome museum, where the collection will be permanently housed.
“Visit more museums.” That resolution is bound to be included on the 2012 lists of a lot of people. The experience of viewing art—especially in a culture of economic crisis and cultural change—can be engrossing, challenging, and even comforting. However, actually getting to some of the world’s best collections in Spain, Germany, or the Netherlands can be tricky.
Last year, Google developer Amid Soot introduced the Google Art Project, an 18-month undertaking that links a number of prestigious museums around the world in a central, web-based “museum of museums.” Work from institutions, including the Frick Collection in Manhattan, the National Gallery in London, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Palace of Versailles in France are featured at www.googleartproject.com.
Recently, Soot presented at a TED: Ideas Worth Spreading conference, to talk about the technology and logic behind the Google Art Project.
Seattle-based Pantone colorist Leatrice Eiseman recently led a team in choosing the optimistic “Tangerine Tango” as the 2012 color of the year. The hue is sure to reach racks of sweaters at H&M in the next few months, but will graphic designers follow the trend?
An exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum honoring the life and work of American illustrator and author Howard Pyle is on display now until March of next year. The Wilmington native garnered recognition for his work before his death in 1911 at the age of 58. In fact, the Delaware Art Museum was first established in the 1910s in order to house and display Pyle’s work.
Pyle’s classic 1883 book “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood” remains in print. His art was widely reproduced in periodicals, including Collier’s Weekly and Harper’s Monthly. In addition, Pyle illustrated the writing of classic authors, including works by Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain.
In case you missed it, there was an upbeat article in the New York Times yesterday reporting better-than-expected holiday sales this year at bookstores across the country:
Facing economic gloom and competition from cheap e-readers, brick-and-mortar booksellers entered this holiday season with the humblest of expectations. But the initial weeks of Christmas shopping, a boom time for the book business, have yielded surprisingly strong sales for many bookstores, which report that they have been lifted by an unusually vibrant selection…
Booksellers are noticing that photography and coffee table books are selling particularly well.
The staff of artisans at Paper Hammer in Tieton, WA, create personalized photo box albums perfect for storing and preserving family heirlooms and mementos. This Saturday, December 10, Ed Marquand will be taking custom orders at the Paper Hammer shop in downtown Seattle from 12:30 until 5 p.m. Customers can choose details, including paper and cloth color. Some examples of our personalized work are below. To secure an appointment this Saturday or next week, contact us at 206-682-3820.
Easel Books were originally designed for the Seattle Art Museum Store for SAM’s spectacular Luminous exhibition. These elegant, handmade objects allow you to curate, rotate, and admire single display items. We make them in a series of colorways without images, or they can be customized. Store and display up to three dozen postcards, snapshots, quotations, or mementos. Acid-free paper; constructed in our Tieton, WA bindery.
In addition, Paper Hammer offers handmade journals perfect for artists, writers, students, and professionals. Our online store and brick-and-mortar location near Pike Place Market are stocked with design objects including handmade jewelry, found antiques, and letterpress ephemera. Garland letters can make unique tree trimmings, gift tags, and holiday decorations. All domestic orders over $50 ship free.
Paper Hammer is located at 1400 Second Ave. at Union.
The New York Times named our book Expressions of Innocence and Eloquence: Selections from the Jane Katcher Collection of Americana, Volume II a recommended art gift book this year. The hearty and handsome collection is a great gift idea for folk art fans and history buffs. Both volumes I and II are available on the Yale University Press website.
The particular pleasure of holding a bound book is a timeless gift. And choosing to buy titles for the holidays from local booksellers tangibly strengthens communities, creating more local jobs and re-investing taxes in the community. According to Indiebound, $68 of each $100 spent at a local level stays in your city. To contrast, only $43 spent at national chains and big box stores remains in your area. Buying from local and independent stores promotes diverse shopping and robust commerce, and can even help reduce carbon footprint by decreasing the need for packaging and shipping.
In Seattle, shop for a wide range of titles at Elliott Bay Books in Capitol Hill. To discover rare and hard-to-find books, visit Pioneer Square’s Wessel and Lieberman. Peter Miller Books, near Pike Place Market, offers a well-curated selection of architecture and design books that are smartly displayed. And Book Larder, a new culinary-themed shop in Fremont, houses hand-picked cookbooks as well as readings, tastings, and cooking demonstrations.
If you choose to buy books online this holiday season, consider one of the hundreds of niche online booksellers. The New York Public Library recommends:
If you live in the Seattle area, make plans to visit Paper Hammer Gallery tomorrow night. Modern woodblock prints from Chen Qi are on display from 5-7 p.m. as a part of the December First Thursday Art Walk.
Also, Paper Hammer is hosting a not-to-miss holiday sale showcasing antique goods and a curated table of art books. The sale runs through Sunday.
Live outside of Seattle? The Paper Hammer website offers unique gifts for bookworms, artists, typographers, and fans of letterpress and design. Orders over $50 enjoy free domestic shipping.
Two important Claude-Joseph Vernet works are on view at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) now through December 11. The French painter’s work, A Mountain Landscape with an Approaching Storm, and its complimentary landscape, A Grand View of the Seashore, are on display on the second floor of the museum’s European galleries.
Both paintings were commissioned by well-known English collector Lord Lansdowne and were hung side-by-side at Lansdowne House in London until the owner’s death. The paintings were sold at auction in 1806 to different private collectors and are being reunited at the DMA for the first time in more than 200 years. One of the large-scale works portrays a peaceful seaport at sunset, the other a wild, rocky landscape with villagers fleeing from an imminent storm.
After several years of planning, the 201,000-square-foot, 102-acre Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened to the public last week. The museum is the brainchild of collector and Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, who addressed thousands of attendees at an opening ceremony on 11/11/11. Crystal Bridges was designed by noted architect Moshe Safdie, who incorporated glass and wood into an organic construction of pavilions set against ponds and trails.
Marquand Books is proud to produce the catalogue for the opening exhibition, Celebrating the American Spirit: Masterworks from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The book is designed by Zach Hooker and distributed by Hudson Hills Press. The 356-page catalogue features almost 200 full-color plates and an interview with Alice Walton in conversation with American art historian John Wilmerding.
Gift-givers take note. The Urban Craft Uprising Winter Show, featuring dozens of vendors including Constellation & Co., Little Otsu, and R+L Goods, will be held the weekend of Dec. 2 at the Seattle Center.
Across the Cascades in Tieton, the sixth annual Holiday Crafts & Antiques Bazaar takes place Dec. 2 to 4, offering antiques and handmade goods, including journals, albums, and gifts from Paper Hammer. Click here for complete details.
The Dallas, Texas-based Barbier-Mueller Museum has collected samurai armor for the past 25 years, currently housing about 300 masterful objects including horse armor, masks, and helmets crafted between the 12th and 19th centuries. Featuring the Barbier-Mueller Museum’s collection, the anticipated exhibition, Samouraï: armure du guerrier, opened November 8 at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. The exhibition runs through January 29, 2012 and showcases more than 140 objects.
Paper Hammer is now offering custom Memory Book Boxes for the holidays, hand-crafted using fine materials in Tieton, Washington. Each box features a personalized image and take two weeks from order to delivery. For more information and pricing, stop in Paper Hammer at 1400 Second Ave. in downtown Seattle or email dorothyc@paper-hammer.com.
Make plans to attend this week’s Chen Qi: Homage to Paper exhibition opening, a part of Seattle’s First Thursday artwalk.
Chen Qi has received numerous awards including the Golden Award of the 13th China Print Art Exhibition and the Lu Xun Printmaker Award by Chinese Artists Association. His prints have been collected in public institutions including the China National Art Museum, the British Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and the New York Public Library. Before Chen Qi travels to Seattle for the opening of Homage to Paper, he will present lectures at the University of Michigan and Stanford University.
Chen Qi, born in 1962, is a professor of printmaking at Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing and works primarily with woodblock and water-based inks. Early in his career, Qi’s intricate and realistic work was characterized by his remarkable precision in registering various cuts and colors. He has always chosen topics steeped in Chinese culture: 24 agricultural seasons, classical Ming furniture, ancient instruments, fans, worm-eaten paper, lotuses, and water. Qi spends several years developing each series—he devoted 10 years to his Lotus Series, which contains 20 different views of lotuses.
Beginning with his Water Series and continuing with his Worm-Eaten Paper Series, Chen Qi has astonished the world with his ability to create and control huge images. For many of Qi’s recent works, paper is made to his specifications in an ancient paper capital in Anhui Province, China.
Chen Qi: Homage to Paper opening reception is this Thursday, November 3, 2011, 5–7 p.m. Open Fridays, 2–6 p.m., Saturdays, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., and by appointment until December 23. Paper Hammer Gallery shares space with Marquand Books at 1400 Second Avenue in downtown Seattle.
Each year, El Día de los Muertos celebrations are planned throughout Mexico and abroad as a means of remembering and honoring deceased loved ones. In many parts of the world, including Eastern Europe, Japan, Nepal, and the Philippines, families commemorate loved ones in similar celebratory festivals. El Día de los Muertos is thought to have originated 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, and the festivities developed from the traditions of Olmec, Aztec, Maya, Zapotec, and other pre-Hispanic civilizations in Mexico and Mesoamerica.
This Sunday, Oct. 30, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., prominent Oaxacan artist Fulgencio Lazo will travel to Central Washington to craft a 25-by-30-foot sandpainting at the Mighty Tieton Warehouse Gallery for Mighty Tieton’s second annual Day of the Dead Celebration. Combining his original vision with customary Oaxacan techniques, Lazo is producing a unique sandpainting for the event using hundreds of pounds of sand.
From sketching to color application, building the sandpainting necessitates a group of 15 volunteers and takes two days to complete. Through a Kickstarter campaign, Mighty Tieton has raised enough financial support to purchase basic supplies for the installation, including material costs and compensation. In addition to sugar skull building and pan de muerto (dead bread) baking, other family festivities scheduled throughout the day feature food, music, crafts, and storytelling. A giant Guatemalan kite crafted by Maya kite-makers will also be on display.
For details about supporting the project on Kickstarter and information about incentives offered to financial backers, including a handcrafted sugar skull and print from Fulgencio Lazo, click here.
The festival, exhibition, and craft activities are open to the public with a suggested donation of $3. A video of last year’s sandpainting event in Tieton is below.
The exhibition will be on display from Oct. 30 to Nov. 13, Friday through Sunday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment.
(Brew Books)
