When planning a tour for Open Studio Weekend, visitors approach it in diverse ways:
- Visit studios near where you live.
- Visit studios in a specific loop.
- Visit studios that just sound cool.
- Visit studios that feature artists working in a specific medium.
- And there are others we can’t think of right now, but we’d love to hear your ideas!
Today we’re going to go super-niche – let’s look at artists on the tour who work in the book arts.
We’re referring to studios by both name and number – the number refers to a listing in the tour guide (get yours here).
We’ll start with studio #1, Meta Strick (Fairfield, VT). Meta does wonderful mixed media work, including dolls that have a book component. She has a great philosophy that you can make anything into a book.
Next stop on the tour is studio #50 is Carolyn Shattuck (Rutland, VT). Carolyn is a printmaker and bookmaker who often uses scrap print pieces in her handmade books. Many of her books include pop-up elements to set the scene for her personal storytelling.
Stop number three is studio #109 – Kelly McMahon of May Day Studio (Montpelier, VT). Kelly is both a letterpress printer and a bookbinder. She carves designs in linoleum and combines them with type to add imagery to her prints.
The fourth stop is studio #110 – Elissa Campbell of Blue Roof Designs (Montpelier, VT). Elissa started making books while in graduate school for Art Therapy and loves knowing that people use her journals and photo albums to tell their personal stories.
The last studio is #116, Ken Leslie (Hardwick, VT). Ken often creates books in a circular format – a practice that developed out of his dissatisfaction with rectangular painting shapes. His themes frequently focus on natural cycles, such as day/night and the seasons.
We created a Google map that includes all of these studios to help you plan your travels.
We hope to see you on the tour!
Images: Carolyn Shattuck in her studio, handbound journal by Elissa Campbell, Ken Leslie in the middle of a circular book.