Spelling Words on Exhibit at the Book Club of California

Spelling Words 1 endpaper

I’m pleased that my first variant of Spelling Words will be on exhibit at three venues in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next several months. Opening today at the Book Club of California, a flourishing institute for bibliophiles in San Francisco since 1912, is the 39th annual members exhibit of the Hand Bookbinders of California. Above is a detail of one of the painted endpapers of my book in the show, bound tête-bêche in the drum-leaf style. The fine art of bookbinding will be on display here from July 11 through September 2. Guided tours at 11:00 am will be given on the following dates: July 21, August 4 and August 9. I quite look forward to seeing this exhibit and will try to attend one of the tours, where the books will be (I hope) be able to be handled and really looked at, as books should be. The reception this evening will no doubt be a jolly bookish affair; any of you in the San Francisco area are invited to visit the exhibit between 5 and 7 p.m. and meet some of the book artists.

Spelling Words 1 center detail

From a description in the announcement, it is said that there is “. . . a similarly inventive approach to structure: two books are bound back-to-back; one starts from both ends and meets in the middle [Note: that would be mine, shown above]; a third has pages which open like a set of doors [this I am very interested in seeing]. Some books are conceptual: cut and colored triangles of vellum are sewn together into a cat’s cradle [this too!]. 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.” Yes, and some of us even write our texts out by hand in calligraphy rather than using a printing press!

After closing at The Book Club the show will move in September to the Doyle Library in Santa Rosa through October, and then to the Mechanics Institute Library in San Francisco for November and December. Here’s another detail photo of the magical traveling book, and the details of The Book Club location and hours below. Do let me know if you’re able to attend and how you like the exhibit. I’m so pleased this book is being shown here in my neck of the woods. More about Spelling Words can be seen and read in my Gallery; the trackbacks at the bottom of the book’s gallery page will take you to the journal posts I have made about the process and conception of this unique book.

Spelling Words 1 Hexes detail

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{ 3 comments… add one }
  • Sherrie Lovler 07/11/2011, 8:01 am

    Beautiful! and Congratulations!

    • Cari 07/11/2011, 6:51 pm

      Thanks, Sherrie, and have a wonderful time at the Book Passage on Thursday with your new book, Two as One !

  • donnasuej 07/13/2011, 9:24 am

    Love your site here — which software product are you using for this? love the colors you used on the text. This is still new to me, so have lots to learn.

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