The Hand Bookbinders of California, 39th Annual Exhibit
July 11- September 2, 2011.
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Every year the Hand Bookbinders of California present an exhibition of members' recent work. The emphasis of the non-juried show changes from year to year according to current interests in the binding world, but always there is a solid core of design binding. This year's show presents a range of fine binding styles, from an historical replica in the style of "Queen's Binder B" to an exquisite full French design binding of Macbeth in miniature. There are several examples of finely-tooled books, as well as a variety of other decorative techniques: leather is crumpled, carved, sanded, onlaid, inlaid, painted, and embedded with agate. Members show a similarly inventive approach to structure: two books are bound back-to-back; one starts from both ends and meets in the middle; a third has pages which open like a set of doors. Some books are conceptual: cut and colored triangles of vellum are sewn together into a cat's cradle. Others are very personal: a mother/daughter collaboration; a mother's poem to her son; a box gifted to a boy at his Bar Mitzvah. The Hand Bookbinders are not only binders; they write, illustrate, and even print their work. The variety of the 39th annual exhibition shows that book binding continues to flourish in California.
To learn more about the Hand Bookbinders of California, please visit www.handbookbinders.org.
For more information, call The Book Club of California, (415) 781-7532 or contact info@bccbooks.org. |