My books are going to be busy for the next few months. Lucky for them, they will be hanging out in air-conditioned galleries.

Starting next Friday at Denver's Abecedarian Gallery, Rapunzel #2 will participate in Artists' Book Corncupia III from April 20 to June 2. The "Cornucopia" is an international juried exhibition of artists' books.

Abecedarian Gallery is one of the only three commercial galleries in the US that specialize in book and paper arts, so I am sure she will be in great company with other book artists' work.

Then in May, Hokusai's Ghost will participate in Crafts National 2012 at Kansas's Mulvane Art Museum in Topeka. This juried show by Gail M. Brown will feature works in in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, beads, basketry, handmade paper & mixed media. The exhibition will run from May 5 to August 19. It will undoubtedly be hot and humid during those months in Kansas but the Ghost will be chilling in the cool gallery at Mulvane waiting for Dorothy to come back...


San Diego Book Arts is one of the few book arts venue for classes and exhibitions. I am proud that Rapunzel has been accepted to its Fourth National Juried Show this year. The show, juried by Carolee Campbell, will begin on May 26 at the Geisel Library at University of California, San Diego. This show will close on July 8.

Correction (May 2, 2012): Hokusai No Yūrei (Hokusai's Ghost) (2010) is showing at Abecedarian Gallery and Rapunzel #2 (2010) is showing at Mulvane Art Museum. I had them reversed.

Over the weekend I had my first attempt at the caterpillar stitch, something that I’ve wanted to do for a while, but simply felt intimidated. For years, I’ve flipped through and stared at the instructions of the caterpillar stitch in Keith Smith’s book but never just gone ahead and tried it out.

So, to make things easier, I took Susan Mill’s caterpillar stitch class on Sunday. We first practiced a few stitching patterns on a sample card, which will definitely become handy for future reference, and then I made my first model. Now the intimidation is gone and like Susan said, “happy caterpillar-ing”!

(Continued from part one and two)

Happy New Year! Okay, now where was I? It's about time to wrap up this series of posts. Last time, I talked about using custom jigs and securing the pages onto the cords. There is still a small piece of quick tip that I'd like to share.

Little signatures
It so happened that I was in the process of making a batch of little signatures, and apparently they were perfect to prop up the pages as well. When these little signatures are packed together, they allow me to quickly insert and pull out photos to check and see if they align right. They also have a spring-like flexibility so that they don't stress out the photographs.

This piece relies on a slight offset of each of the images and it's important to double check if they are in the right order before gluing.

(Continued from part one)

Using the jigs
Before all the "pages" are securely attached to the four cords, they need to be propped up. The jigs keep each of the pages in place, while they also provide a relatively sturdy structure when the cords are pulled taut.

Securing pages onto cords
Once the cotton cords were pulled taut through the pages, I applied a tiny drop of PVA glue onto each of the joints. A squeeze bottle with a tiny tip worked great for this.

When dried, the PVA prevents the pages from shifting on the cords, so as to maintain even spacings between them. Supports at the front and back of the train worked with the jigs to keep the structure upright. Once the PVA dried, the structure became pretty sturdy and can now stand on itself.

By the way, that's my trusted HP-22S scientific calculator in the second picture. I had it since high school, it's been 20+ years and it's still working great.

(To be continued.)

Pages took me about a little bit over a month to create. It was quite a cautiously-made piece: for every step, I had to be extra diligent and careful, as mistakes couldn't be covered up easily.

Pages is constructed from images of eight of my earlier volumes, which are held onto 4 cord cords with PVA glue.

Model
Before working with the photographs, I made a model to see if PVA would be strong enough to keep the card stock on the cotton cords (I had a lot of old name cards to spare.) I also wanted to see if I could avoid using grommets, which would add unnecessary bulk. I wanted the piece to be as minimalistic as possible, so extra hardware just doesn't sound like a good idea.

Arranging the photos
The photos were then printed and trimmed, stacked and ordered. Each photo in a group offsets slightly to create a staggering effect. By looking at the edges, I double checked to make sure the order was correct. I placed a card stock in front of the first photo to protect the print surface from accidental scratches and finger prints.

Spacers/jigs
After piercing each of the photos, they were ready to be threaded with cotton cords, a few photos at a time. The challenge then was to keep them at equidistant from each other, while the cords are pulled taut when I applied PVA at the joints.

I made eight jigs of equal thickness from scrap boards. The center of the jigs is hollow to reduce waste and for the ease of handling. I could move the jigs around without touching the photos on each side of the jigs.

(To be continued.)

A little over a year ago, Rapzunel left home and traveled from New York to Delaware then to Maryland. Now she's back with me.

When the package was dropped off by the art handler, I couldn't wait to open it, as if it were a present. I opened the box excitedly, then felt a little bit emotional. I truly missed her!

Last Thursday I had an awesome opening at Phoenix Gallery. I was lucky enough to have my solo show alongside with four other talented artists: David Bogus, John Breiner, Heechan Kim and Rebecca Rose.


Here is a list of the work that are showing until July 16:

Hokusai's Yurei (Hokusai's Ghost) (2010)


The Ugly Duckling (2010)


Duotone #2 (2010) and Duotone (2009)

Friends know that I have a detest for the summer in New York. While I am still enjoying the last leg of spring, I am already dreading for the heat waves coming in the next few months. I am not kidding.

However, with two upcoming shows in the city this Summer, that would possibly make New York City Summer a more bearable for me! Hot!

Phoenix Gallery (June 22 - July 16, 2011)

Opening next week is my solo at Phoenix Gallery. The show will feature a number of pieces, including Hokusai's Yurei (2011) and Rapunzel #2 (2011). (To go along with the show, I will be writing about the process behind these two pieces in the coming weeks.)

From the press release:

No. 19 is Phoenix Gallery’s 19th Annual Juried Competition and is curated and juried by Renée Vara. The show, taking its cue from Bauhaus philosophy, suggests that the impulse to create an aesthetic that unifies fine art, design, and fashion, has come to full completion. Dennis Yuen was awarded the solo show. The exhibition will also feature 4 finalists – David Bogus, John Breiner, Heechan Kim, and Rebecca Rose.

The Center for Book Arts (July 6, 2011 - September 10, 2011)
Then throughout the rest of summer, Pages (2011) will be hung in the air-conditioned Center for Book Arts while I sweat like crazy on the streets. The show is entitled The Un(framed) Photograph, curated by Alexander Campos and Doug Beube.

This exhibition, featuring current members of CBA's artistic community and other invited artists whose work will further the discourse, will focus on how the art of photography, the photographic process, and related media such as video stills are used to convey content, form, text, and image within a broader context of book arts practices. Artworks featured in this exhibition will represent a broad range of book and related arts, including but not limited to books, prints, sculpture, mixed-media installation, new media, and performance art.