 In addition to running Green Chair Press, I’m the current editor of the Pacific Center for the Books Arts (PCBA) quarterly journal Ampersand. PCBA began as a regional (San Francisco-based) organization 25 years ago, to support professional development of book artists, but we’ve grown to have many members across the US and beyond. In the issue that came out this week, I’m excited to have three articles about artists from California to Florida using fabric and fiber in their bookworks. Mentioned in several articles is Santa Cruz-based Jody Alexander and her ghost books made out of mull (a stiff muslin open-weave fabric that is used by bookbinders to cover the spine of books). Deborah Kogan, who interviewed Jody for Ampersand, says “When I saw the books … they exploded my preconceived ideas about fabric books. I had been thinking of fabric books as fluffy and plump. Alexander’s books are exactly the opposite—they remind me of skeletal remains after every shred of flesh has been boiled away or removed after long exposure to the elements.”I got to see Jody’s ghost books this week in person as part of the current exhibition at the San Francisco Center for the Book (through the end of April). They are indeed quite ethereal and eerily beautiful! The photograph below is of Jody’s Signs of Life I,II, & III. You can see more of Jody’s one-of-a-kind bookworks on her website.
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Ghost books. Wow. I haven’t seen/heard this before…