June Gallery Stroll: The Long Memory, Gypsy Wagons and Miniature Books
Friday, Jun 17, 2011
Location:
Ken Sanders Rare Books
As the son of Bruce "Utah” Phillips, Duncan Phillips began traveling on the road with his father in the winter of 2000. Utah referred to Duncan as his "road manager," but Duncan jokes that everyone knows his father couldn't be managed. Bruce always had the dream of playing on stage together with his son, but as a kid, Duncan could never reconcile that in learning to play the guitar, he would be learning one of the very things that kept him separated from his father for so many years. Duncan performed on stage just shortly after his dad's death in 2008. Along with Utah's old road-worn Guild guitar, Duncan inherited the songs and stories of the people and places that his father wrote about over his forty plus years of wandering the country. In Duncan's own words: "Well, even though he may be gone, every time I'm on the stage, he is there with me and this is my story, so far...”
Known locally as the
inspiration
behind Blue Sage, Mike Iverson is now known worldwide for his
contributions
advancing the art of clawhammer banjo. This unusual banjo technique is
now
going through a renaissance as players everywhere are starting to
realize it's
potential. Mike is one of the leading figures in this movement and has
received
worldwide accolades as an arranger, instructor, author, and as the
creator of
one of the world's most popular clawhammer banjo websites. Over the
years, Mike
has taught private lessons, recorded as a studio musician, competed in
(and
won) music competitions, been part owner in a music store, and has
performed
throughout the western states; his music has been featured in movies,
television series, and a PBS documentary.
Book
artists, papermakers and letterpress printers for more than 35 years,
Peter and
Donna Thomas of Santa Cruz are traveling around the country this spring
in
their new homemade Gypsy Wagon. They are visiting the libraries and
booksellers
who have collected their work and we will be sharing their book arts
experiences along the way. For many the gypsy wagon, caravan or
“vardo” is a
symbol of the freedom of the gypsy lifestyle. For Peter and Donna,
building and
using this Gypsy wagon will be like a return to the days of their
youth, when
as merchant craftspeople they had a Gypsy wagon built on a VW bus,
traveling to
crafts fairs around the west selling their handmade books and paper.
Peter and
Donna Thomas will be making one-of-a-kind and limited edition books as
they
travel, with subject matter inspired by what they see and learn while
on the
trip.
Since 1976 Peter and Donna Thomas
have worked collaboratively and individually, making paper, letterpress
printing and bookbinding, to create books. Under the previous imprint
of The
Good Book Press, and the current imprint, Peter and Donna Thomas: Santa
Cruz,
their books have been shown in individual and group exhibitions in the
USA and
abroad, and have been purchased for collections around the world.
Throughout
their career they have been active in the leadership of both national
and
international book arts and papermaking organizations. They have
lectured and
taught workshops to book arts students internationally and have
published
articles on papermaking and other aspects of the book arts. In 1998,
and again
in 1999, one of their books was chosen for the Distinguished Book Award
by the
Miniature Book Society and in 1997 the society presented them with the
Norman
Forgue Award for their work promoting the miniature book. In 2001 their
binding
of James Joyce's Ulysses was awarded the Judges’ Distinction
for Innovation in
The Helen DeGolyer Triennial for American Bookbinding and the Art
Museum of
Santa Cruz featured their work in a comprehensive show titled
Art Undercover.
Recently Donna has been working on
miniature one-of-a-kind books that have calligraphy text and watercolor
illustration. These books are leather bound with tiny picture leather
onlays.
Many are about nature, John Muir and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Peter
is
working to complete his history of papermaking in the Philippines. He
has also
been exploring the relationships between paper and fire and he is
making a
series of books out of instruments, modifying old ukuleles and
accordions into
various book formats and structures.
http://thelongmemory.com/
http://www.baymoon.com/~ukulelebooks/index.htm
http://wanderingbookartists.blogspot.com/