Mar Goman - Installation Day

We are very excited to present a second solo show, titled INTROspective, for local artist Mar Goman. This talented multiple-media artist will present a series of unique artist books as well as other work related to books and text. The show will include drawings, paintings, and collages using pages from found books as a surface as well as three-dimensional pieces using book pages and other text. Much of the work focuses on psycho-spiritual issues such as loneliness, existential angst, love, death, and relationships. Mar tells us, “I tend to work from the dark side of my soul and my work is often about the interior journey, our invisible wounds, and the process of becoming authentic spiritual human beings.” A self-proclaimed obsessive, Goman often uses the same image many times and tends to produce a large series of whatever kind of object she is working on.

Mythos by Mar Goman

A special feature of this new show: a chance to peek inside the artist’s inner world. Mar has been keeping personal art notebooks for nearly forty years, and she will have a selection of these in the show for viewers to look through. These notebooks contain drawings and collages, ideas and sketches for pieces and projects, photos of work the artist has found inspirational over the years, travel notes and drawings from museums and archeological sites, class notes, writings about the meaning of art and success and failure as an artist, and other materials that provide a glimpse into the artist’s creative process. Viewers who peruse the notebooks will be able to see the relationship between the images and ideas they contain and some of the pieces included in the show. Visitors to the gallery are encouraged to allow plenty of time to look through the many books and journals included in the show.

The Art of Free Association by Mar Goman

Mar Goman typically works in a wide variety of media and materials, including drawing and painting, sculpture and assemblage, collage, book arts, embroidery and fiber constructions. She make use of sticks and stones, buttons,  rusty metal, old bottles, vintage fabrics and photographs, old books, and whatever else she can scavenge; cutting, pasting, stitching, printing, painting, assembling, and carving.

You can preview Mar’s work on her online catalog here.

Mark your calendar for an artist reception for Mar on First Friday, June 1, from 5:00-8:00 p.m. And, yes, Laura will wear that amazing dress!

One of my favorite VSW summer camp photos.

Some terrific workshops for photographers interested in making books in Rochester this summer at Visual Studies Workshop. I took a week-long social documentary photography workshop there a few years ago and it was one my favorite experiences ever. I worked from 6 am to midnight every day, made some terrific friends and took some of the best photos ever in my 33 years of shooting. It was like summer camp! Since I meet so many photographers interested in books I thought I’d post some of the most interesting workshops for photographers. Go take one!

Ingrid Hess Artists’ Books: Basic Bookbinding
Tate Shaw Photographic Sequence
Scott McCarney Bookbinding in the Age of Digital Production
John DeMerritt Photography and the Book Form
Judy Natal Image-Text-Context

More info here.

The clamshell box is one of the most essential, but intimidating skills for book artists. But, really, it’s not as bad as it sounds. If you can make a clamshell box—and you understand the geometry underlying it—you can make just about anything with a little book board, PVA and covering materials. This is a terrific article on the Center for Book Arts Blog. I’m very sad to hear that Christina Squitieri, the writer behind the blog’s Monday Methods, Tuesday Typefaces and other terrific topics, is leaving for grad school. I will miss her inspiring posts very much and hope the center can find someone to fill her role half as well. If you want to make a clamshell box download the PDF mentioned at the end of the blog post. I learned box making from that very same PDF.

Read the blog post here.