My friend, artist and educator, Marianne Petit has just completed a series of illustrated books based on the German children book Der Struwwelpeter (1845) by Heinrich Hoffmann. Each of her books tells a single mortality story that has an extreme disastrous ending resulted from a child’s misbehavior. Each book utilizes a different book form: tunnel, flag, accordion and pop-up.

Marianne told me that she wanted to work with paper. “I find cutting paper to be extremely satisfying and there is something just really lovely about holding something in your hand and having it do something before your eyes,” she explains.


Augustus Who Would Not Eat His Soup, Marianne Petit (2010)

As you may already know from my Facebook and Twitter updates, I have two pieces accepted into Everson Museum of Art for the coming Fit to Be Bound, part of Everson's Biennial alternative, The Edge of Art: New York State Artist Series.

First of all, there is Rapunzel. I couldn't be more proud and honored that it is featured on Everson's website:


Then, there is Duotone. I simply love this piece. Need I say more? I am simply overjoyed to have both of them in the show.

Fit to Be Bound will open next month, from April 17 to July 11 at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY. Hope to see you there!

Hello non-Twits! Here are some links that I've tweeted in the last 2 months since I regurgitated tweets last time:

• International Dunhuang Project Database has some amazing ancient bindings for the Diamond Sutra.
• Amazing codex by Sergio Giovannoni that is beyond words.
• Between the Folds (documentary about paper folding) airs nationally on PBS in December; the original score is also available on Amazon and iTunes.
• NY Art Book Fair look back on ArtForum
• Book of Space, by Johan Hybschmann
• Monica Langwe's Limp Bindings from Tallin
• MIT rethinks popup books with potentiometers and sensors with electronic popables.
• And finally, a flickr set for a selection of my books.

Susan Mills brought a bunch of her felt cover books to the NY Art Book Fair last weekend. Among them, there were two very interesting ones that I haven't seen earlier this year at Codex.

The most eye-catching one was a super-sized ledger with thick felt covers and a long-stitched wooden board spine.

The dimension of this phenomenal ledger is well over 1 foot on each side. She says one can put it spine-down and use it like an accordion folder.

I stopped by P.S.1 on a beautiful Sunday morning for the the last day of the NY Art Book Fair. Honestly, I think there was just way too much to look at. It's not a bad thing, but I simply got overwhelmed and a bit tired out walking around. So, I just walked by most the tables. I didn't even take any picture.

The Fair was scattered around P.S.1, which was really unique and interesting. I thought it was a great use of P.S.1's amazing space. Instead of being in a giant hall at most fairs, you get to walk around different rooms on different floors to see the exhibitors. There are also themed rooms around for classes, talks, performances and screenings.

It was definitely a fair for "art books" (not necessarily "book art"): most of the exhibitors were art book publishers. There were quite a lot of independent artist book publishers, and they were the most intriguing. Bookbinders were quite a rare-find, although I did run into Susan Mills again. She had a table at the fair and we had a nice chat over some of her new work.

I did spot 2 editions that were particular interesting:
Your House by Olafur Eliasson (Carolina Nitsch, New York)
One Billion Colored Dots (PDF of press release) by Robert Berry (mfc-michèle didier, Brussels)

For those of you who are not following me on Twitter, these are what you've been missing for the last few months:

Resources & Inspirations

• OnAir's new DVD: The Art of Block Printing is out. Loved their DVD on bookbinding.
• Interesting historic binding on a Diamond Sutra from Dunhuang.
• Susan Mill's upcoming bookbinding classes in NYC.
• Great for inspirations: "beyondWords: BookFest 2009"
• Tip: Jig your cutting mat for efficient cutting
• Fun read that I couldn't put down: A Degree of Mastery by Annie Wilcox.

I recently wrote a few reviews on Yelp for some bookart-related places. Check them out:

Center for Book Arts, New York
"I have taken a few courses at the bindery throughout the years and they were all extremely worthy."

Talas, New York
"As a bookbinder, Talas is the place to get all sorts of supplies and materials."

Kozo Arts, San Francisco
"As a book artist, they have a store that I'd want to to own one day: a store at the street level where I can work on my books and display them (and to sell, of course), and oh, maybe, to hold classes for you. That's my dream."

This year's NY Art Book Fair will be held at P.S.1 in Long Island City, Queens between October 2nd to 4th. I live practically a few subway stops from P.S.1 so there is no excuse not to go. Plus, the admission is free. You can find out about the exhibitors and buy tickets for the Contemporary Artists Books Conference which will coincide with the Fair on nyartbookfair.com.