virtual Workshop: Building a Book art reference /  by Alisa Banks

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Join me Tuesdays, October 12, 19, 26 from 7–9pm CT (convert your time zone) for a virtual workshop sponsored by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) to build a book that serve as a personal library for adding text and imagery to your book work. Learn low-tech methods for adding text to book pages, creative ways to attach images,, and how to assemble samples into an album.

Each session will feature demonstrations, discussion, and brainstorming. Participants may follow along or work on their own between sessions. Together, we’ll create a tool that can be used to enhance or inspire your next project!

Additional details and registration here.

TEXTILETALK: Talking about books /  by Alisa Banks

Textile Talk conversation with Annie Lopez and R. Skye Tafoya

TEXTILE TALK: TALKING ABOUT BOOKS

On Wednesday, August 18, at 2pm EST (convert to your time zone), I joined artists Annie Lopez and Rhiannon Skye Tafoya in a conversation about book arts:

Three artists discussed their use of fiber-based techniques to create work in non-traditional book and book inspired formats that addresses familial, communal, and cultural narratives. Annie Lopez uses cyanotype and stitching to create dimensional works that feature social commentary and family histories. Rhiannon Skye Tafoya translates the traditional weaving techniques learned from her grandmother to forge dialogs within and outside community. Alisa Banks uses needlework to consider the performative and sensorial potential of the book through narratives that explore multiple identities.

Click on the image to view the conversation.

Every Day & Special Days /  by Alisa Banks

Interwoven Alphabet, open

Interwoven Alphabet, open

Interwoven Alphabet, a collaborative abcedary created with Diane Jacobs, featuring various themes including relationships, nature, the senses, time, and the environment, is on view in Every Day & Special Days at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Bainbridge Island, WA..

Co-curators: Cynthia Sears and Catherine Alice Michaelis present Every Day & Special Days taking viewers on a journey from daily delights and mundane activities to once-in-a-lifetime events.

Between birth and death, we string together memories of dailiness: the view from a window, the route we travel to school or work, the rhythm of mealtimes and seasons, or cultural messages that inform our interactions, to name just a few.

Special days lift us from the mundane and predictable. They might include a trip to the ocean, birthdays, a marriage, or immigrating to a new country. A special day may signal a change in our life or even our world, and become the new every day."

Interwoven Alphabet , and edition of 2, consists of 26 half-inch thick square felt pages. Each page features imagery on the larger sides and words are stitched along each narrow edge. Imagery and words correspond to the letter of the alphabet assigned to the page. New messages are revealed as the blocks are turned.

Fiber Stories - Craft Boston /  by Alisa Banks

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I’m pleased to announce that I am showing a variety of mixed media textile collages at Fiber Stories, a virtual showcase sponsored by The Society of Crafts, Boston from July 16 through August 29. Fiber Stories is an online celebration of fiber arts, fiber-inspired techniques, and storytelling featuring more than 45 contemporary craft artists. The event will feature artist interviews and demonstrations, conversations with experts in the field, and the chance to shop for one-of-a-kind fiber-based art.

I am scheduled for a virtual interview Thursday, July 22 @ 2pm CT. The event is free, but registration is required, Click here for the link to register.

Art in Embassies - chocot /  by Alisa Banks

Chocot

Chocot

Chocot is currently on exhibition at the US Embassy at Dili, Timor-Leste as part of the US State Department’s Art in Embassies program. Chocot s a paper collage quilt structure consisting of reclaimed monoprints, watercolor paintings, fabric and stitching, and is a nod to the traditional practice of reclaiming used clothing for the creation of new quilts. The process of destroying, tearing and re-arranging the pieces parallel those of observation, deconstruction and analysis - steps required for growth and renewal.

Art in Embassies - Spring's Promise /  by Alisa Banks

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Spring’s Promise is currently on exhibition at the Ambassador’s residence at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as part of the US State Department’s Art in Embassies program. Spring’s Promise features plants from my garden hand sewn into a medallion format surrounded by pieced and appliquéd silks, and text.

Water Is... /  by Alisa Banks

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Water, my book from the Elemental series is featured in Water Is… an exhibition at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art through June 27, 2021.

Water can move from solid to liquid to gas and exists on, in, and over the earth in these three states. In religion and mythology, water symbolism relate to creation, passages, wisdom, and purification. It not only has the potential to heal and to quench, but also to cause devastation. Water features stories about passages, purification, knowledge, and wisdom.

in Water, each accordion page features a story and together they unfold to give a waterfall effect. The first story is an account of a swimming lesson. The second story features a story of the transformative power of touch in the form of hair washing. The final story is an abstract account of passages.

Water is an edition of 4.

Read more about the exhibition here.

Artist Book Conversation at Tulane University /  by Alisa Banks

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I am thrilled to participate in a virtual panel discussion with Kadin Henningsen and Sara White at Tulane, Thursday, April 8 at 2:00pm CT. We will introduce and discuss our artist books that are housed in the permanent collections at the Howard Tilton Memorial Library.

The event is free and open to the public, however registration is required.

Quarantine Public Library /  by Alisa Banks

2020 - Free Artist Book

2020 - Free Artist Book

2020 is a tribute and an offering to individuals whose lives were lost as a result of racially motivated police violence - deaths that galvanized anti-racist action across the globe and helped to bring clarity not only to the ways that racist systems are life-threatening, but also the connectedness in the ways that these systems work against indigenous and communities of color. Many of the names listed in 2020 were not mentioned in the national news cycles. They are more than a group of names, more than a number; their deaths contribute to the conversation. The image featured in 2020 is a composite of flowers grown throughout the year in my garden, my daily refuge after listening to the morning news.

I created 2020 for a special submission to the Quarantine Public Library (QPL) with the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color collective, which brings scholars of book history and print culture into conversation and collaboration with Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) book artists, papermakers, curators, letterpress printers, and printmakers to build community and support systems.

About the Quarantine Public Library

Quarantine Public Library is a repository of books made by artists. The works published here are for anyone to freely download, print and assemble—to keep or give away.

This collaborative project was dreamed up by Katie Garth and Tracy Honn in May 2020. We love artists’ books, zines, and libraries; art and poetry; words and pictures. We wanted to make something to share as many of us are staying at home, disconnected from art, books, and one another. The project is not about COVID-19, but is explicitly of its time.

QPL books can be printed individually for free or the entire library can be downloaded in one file for a small fee. All proceeds will be donated to @everyoneon a nonprofit that connects low-income families to affordable internet service and computers. Folding instructions are on the QPL website.