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November 2008
WIVLA's mission: to provide an inspiring forum for women to explore and advance their creative development, to promote their work in the marketplace, and to infuse the community with their spirit of cooperation and invention.
November Membership Meeting
Tuesday, 18, 2008
Gathering Time: 6 PM • Meeting Time: 6:15 - 7:15 PM
Museum of Printing History, 1324 West Clay Street • Houston, TX 77019
Speaker:
Christine Jelson West joined the staff of Lawndale Art Center as Executive Director in January 2007. Lawndale Art Center is a non-profit alternative space for the exhibition of contemporary works in all media, unique in its focus on Houston area artists. West previously served as Executive Director of the Galveston Arts Center. A native Houstonian, Christine has a long history in non-profit arts administration working with organizations such as the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, Fresh Arts Coalition and Glasstire, Texas Visual Art Online. She currently serves on the Council of the Texas Association of Museums and is on the Board of Directors of the Houston Museum District Association and Glasstire: Texas Visual Art Online. Christine will tell us about how Lawndale differs from other arts organizations and how it serves the arts community.
Join us after the meeting for Dutch-treat dinner at Pronto Cucinino, 1401 Montrose Blvd.
Index of Articles, September 2008
President’s Message, “Altered Books”…………………………………… p. 2-3
Member News ……………………………………………………………. p. 4
Member Profile …………………………………………………………... p. 5
The Writing Life …………………………………………………………. p. 6
Announcements & Opportunities ………………………………………... p. 6-8
The WIVLA Board ………………………………………………………. p. 9
Calendar of Events ……………………………………………………….. p. 9
Submit your news at: for December newsletter: Deadline, November 28.
President’s Message:
“Altered Books”
by Kay Sarver
It is funny just how many different perspectives there are about the subject of altered books. Some artists have seen them, or have done one or more themselves, but many are not really sure what in the world this means when they say “altered books”.
Here is a fairly clear definition:
It is any book, old or new that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. They can be ... rebound, painted, cut, burned, folded, added to, collaged in, gold-leafed, rubber stamped, drilled or otherwise adorned ... and yes! It is legal! – International Society of Altered Book Artists
I don’t know where it all began, but it certainly is an interesting way to create a visual and/or written experience in some sort of 3-D form. Having said this, it isn’t necessarily in 3-D form after all. I have seen pages of a book pasted to a large sheet of paper and then painted upon. I have seen a canvas with a painting of a book that has been altered in some way, or even a photograph of a book that has been changed. There have been books hollowed out and made into a box with the front cover as the opening - or a peep hole with a light inside, so that the viewer could see the small world created by the artist. I’ve even seen pages sewn together and hung like a curtain, with words circled here and there to make a very carefully written story.
A couple of years ago I was in a client’s home and noticed a hallway wall with these small paintings lined up in rows along the entire surface. As I looked closer, I could see a page from some book behind each one. The client told me that he found them on Ebay, and that the artist did a painting each day on every page of this book... sort of a journal that the artist kept. He decided to buy them all! This was my first encounter with any form of an altered book, and I walked away with a charmed impression.
Here is another fun surprise - writers and artists can easily jump the fence in this kind of project. It sort of breaks the mold about visual art versus written material, as they can intermingle in this sort of creative folding of media. Or, it can be clearly marked who is writing something and who is painting, sketching, cutting and pasting, or any other medium that comes to the visual artist to change the chosen book.
Obviously this variation of how to alter a book is endless, which is kind of exciting when we members of WIVLA are facing what we may choose to do with our partners to create our version in this collaborative effort that will exhibit next April.
Members can grab a prospectus on our website on the Members Only page at: www.wivla.org.
Here are a few interesting websites to look over and further your ideas about the subject of altered books:
www.alteredbookartists.com
www.art-e-zine.co.uk/alteredbook.html
http://karenswhimsy.com/altered-books/
http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/
http://userslib.com/2008/09/07/more-altered-books/
http://www.homecompanionmag.com/hands_on/handmade/altered_books.asp
http://www.icpl.org/support/alteredbooks/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Hp7GlGRZQ
I could just keep listing them, and if you google “altered books”, you will find some of these I have listed above, as well as all the other thousands of sites to investigate. If you are like me, I can spend way too much time looking at the net, but it really is such a good tool for this kind of research.
Karen Smith & Dune Tencer, our Visual Events Co-Chairs are arranging various meetings (listed below in this newsletter) for members to attend in order to experiment with this theme and to meet other members in the process. Please contact Karen at 713-521-7775 for more information.
Hopefully this helps to ease any apprehension or questions members may have about what in the heck this dar n thing is anyway – altered what? This should prove to be one of the most exciting collaborations yet, as WIVLA members have always shown to be a very creative group of women, especially when they come together to make art with fellow members!
First and foremost... relax, be ready to play and most definitely have fun in the process!
MEMBER NEWS
Visual Arts
Christie Coker is the featured artist at the new Archway Gallery, 2305 Dunlavy. Her show, titled Forty Shades of Green, will be on display from November 1st through December 4. www.archwaygallery.com
Branched & Rooted, The Evolution of a Series by Orna Feinstein, is now showing in the Museum of Printing History, 1324 West Clay St. Her solo show will be up through February 17, 2009.
Sue Burke Harrington will teach Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe PhotoShop classes at the new Archway Gallery beginning January 2009. Email her at or call 281-651-5043 for more information.
Michelle O'Michael recently installed The Guardian, a public art sculpture for Fire Station 6 in the City of Frisco, Texas.
Michelle O’Michael, Donna Perkins, Kelly Sanford and Kay Sarver have been accepted into the DiverseWorks Development Workshop for 2008-09. They are among 27 visual artists, 3 writers and one performance artist chosen for the workshop that will continue for the next 6 months.
Becky Soria is the featured artist at Gallery 3 in the Winter Street Studios from November 1st through November 23rd . There will be a closing reception on November 23rd. from 1-5 p.m. Her solo show is titled Alchemy. Gallery3, 2101 Winter Street. www.gallery3.com
Madilyn Stein is showing in a two person show along with Andrea Wilkinson at Mossrock Gallery in the Woodlands this November. Her show titled Life’s Ethereal Creation opens on the first Friday, November 7 with an artist’s reception from 7-9 p.m. Her work will be up through November 30. Mossrock Studio & Fine Art Gallery, 26002 Oakridge Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77380, 281-684-4411. www.mossrockstudio.com
Literary Arts
All literary artists are invited to join in the Altered Books project. Take advantage of the artists’ get togethers to meet a partner or partners! See p. 7 for details on the schedule for artists’ gatherings. Books have words and images!
MEMBER PROFILE: Dodie Meeks
by Scotti Sween
TROUBLE Dodie was a precocious child. She didn’t see anything wrong at the age of eight drawing caricatures of her mother’s friends. After all that’s how they did it in the funny papers. So the emphasis was on big noses, big boobs or pointed chins. It was a mystery to her why she got in trouble for that. She played it a little safer by using lots of crayons to color all kinds of things.
STUMBLING IN Being a busy being a mom she still played around with paints until a son, who was obviously observant, gave her the push she need: a nice set of really good watercolors. That’s how I “stumbled in on painting.” Eventually she got serious enough about her talent to take classes at WASH. “That’s when I really learned how to paint. I took classes over and over again.” She still prefers to call her art playing around with. Including making pots. One day a friend of a friend saw one of her pots. “Did a basically sick friend do this?” She asked. Yes, and would she like to have lunch with her? This led to a job at NASA. But Dodie still found it “lovely to mess around with clay.
AND A POET APPEARS When her poetry was published by the Arts Alliance of Clear Lake City it was for her “a glorious moment.” This glorious moment lead to many more publications of her poetry.
WHO DONE IT Dodie’s real love these days is writing murder mysteries “ I wake up and hear characters talking to each other, and can’t wait to get to the computer.” She says it a subtle way to sneak in some advice. As a mother and grandmother, she has to stifle any valuable advice. But it works all right to have her characters speak their minds. “Writing,” she says, “ is a way to communicate.” Her latest mystery is called The NASA Gig.” It’s a funny murder mystery. Witty, she prefers.
NOT ONE TO RETIRE “It’s not enough to say perpendicular until you reach ninety.” So what next? Maybe some nonfiction. Such as conversations with WIVLA members. “That would make a good play.” Watch out, ladies.
I’M BLESSED No, she’s not referring to her talent as an artist. She means being a mother and a grandmother.
A BIRTHDAY COLLAGE One of Dodie’s daughter-in-laws said what she wanted most for her birthday was one of Dodie’s collage cards. So she’s busily working with all her bits of paper to make this very special gift for someone who knows a gift that’s truly valuable.
A COLLAGE “A technique of composing a work of art by pasting on single surface various materials not normally associated with associated with one another.” That’s Dodie. That’s her life. Mother, grandmother, artist.
THE WRITING LIFE
by SuzAnne C. Cole
All collaborative writers/artists: Grain short/grain long likes submissions from women; Southerners; unknown, unpublished, & under-represented artists; or anyone whose projects have been described as innovative, experimental, avant-garde, post-avant, eccentric, or just plain odd. Their next issue centers around "Collaboration / Stimulus/ Response," works that collaborate with, are stimulated by, &/or respond to other writers & artists. The vehicle—ekphrasis, tag-team writing, plain ol' inspiration, etc—is immaterial. Deadline: December 31, 2008. Specific guidelines available at website: http://sundress.net/grainshortgrainlong.
[Tip: Shouldn’t this be a natural for WIVLA collaborators?]
All writers: damselfly press, an online literary journal for women selected as Best of the Web 2008 by Dzanc Books, seeks electronic submissions of original fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by female writers slated for online publication in January 2009. Deadline is December 15th, 2008. Fiction to , poetry to , non fiction to . Website: http://damselflypress.net/submissions
[Tip: I haven’t had any acceptances here yet, but I keep trying. It’s a lovely magazine.]
All writers: Stone's Throw Magazine seeks fiction, poetry, and brief accounts of daily life from around the world for its inaugural issue. Paste submissions into an email message addressed to . Website: www.stonesthrowmagazine.com. No attachments. Multiple submissions okay.
[Tip: Brand-new magazine, no deadline, but I’d submit ASAP.]
Poets: Here’s an interesting challenge. By January 1, 2009, send a brief contributor's note and 1—5 poems, each using all of the following words, in the body of an e-mail to : pillow, tantrum, silver, roof, vacant, atlas, break
To see how other poets did with the first challenge, go to the website: http://www.freewebs.com/usethesewords/pdf/usethesewords1.pdf
[Tip: The next time I feel like playing computer solitaire, I’m going to try this instead.]
Poets: A new online poetry journal, Chickenpinata, wants accessible poetry—fresh, new and fun—from emerging writers, especially women. Send one to four unpublished poems as a .rtf or .doc file (or within the body of your e-mail) to . Include full contact information within your e-mail and a 100-word bio. Simultaneous submissions okay. Response by December 15, 2008.
[Tip: I really liked their “about us” state on the website, www.chickenpinata.com]
ANNOUNCEMENTS & OPPORTUNITES
Houston Woman Magazine is seeking submissions from local female artists for the cover design of the First Annual Houston Woman Business Directory. The winning artist will be featured in a full-page story in the directory, the magazine and our blog.
The cover design must be original and visually speak to women or say something about women.
The design to be used on the 2009 cover will be selected by the staff of Houston Woman Magazine.
Samples should be mailed to Houston Woman Magazine, 448 W. 19th Street, Box 315, Houston, TX 77008 or emailed as a TIFF, PDF or TIFF no later than November 21, 2008. Please feel free to call us at 713-780-2098 if you have any questions.
2008 Autumn Poetry Festival - Please join your fellow poets and fans of poetry for two nights of featured readings, book sales, a reception, and a panel discussion at the beautiful Jung Center. November 14 & 15, 2008, 5:30 pm to 8:30 p.m., The Jung Center, 5200 Montrose Blvd., Houston, TX 77006.
We are also hosting an open mic reading Saturday afternoon, November 15, 2008 at the Museum of Printing History. Please bring your best poetry – we will convene at 1:30 pm for sign-up. The reading begins at 2 p.m. sharp.
OPEN MIC READING, November 15, 2008, @00 pm to 4:00 pm, The Museum of Printing History, 1324 West Clay St., Houston, TX 77019
The Texas Federation of Fiber Artists invites all Texas artists working in the fiber media, or in fiber-related techniques, to submit up to three entries for the Celebrating Our Creative Spirit exhibition, to be hosted by the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, opening October 3, 2009, and extending through December 24. Juror will be Tim Harding, who is well known for his layered/slashed technique on wearables and wall hangings. Deadline is June 15, 2009. For further information/prospectus contact Cindy Hickok via SASE at 523 Briar Path, Houston 77079, or , or pick up a brochure at a WIVLA meeting or at the HCCC.