Porter Flea summer market 2014 – a huge success

Porter Flea just keeps on getting bigger and better. The summer market included the art show's best ever Friday night preview market, with great art, music, and beer. Saturday began with a delightful breakfast for all the artists. And the big, blowout show on Saturday brought so many friendly shoppers and close friends.

Here are a few of my favorite photos, pulled from Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #pfsummer. I recommend you click to see them fullscreen!

TODAY: Shop for mom, and support a great cause

I'll be selling my handmade books today at the Thistle Stop Marketplace in Nashville. This handmade marketplace will be a fundraiser for Thistle Farms, a social enterprise that is run by women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, or addiction. 

There will be about 20 other crafty vendors there (all of whom are either Thistle Farms volunteers or employees) selling their creations, and 50% of all sales will go towards supporting their papermaking, bookbinding, and sewing studios.

This will be a great place to do some Mother's Day shopping, grab a tasty treat in the Thistle Stop Cafe, and support a wonderful organization all at the same time. Get a sneak peek at some of the handmade goods you'll find at the event here, and then come to Thistle Farms today between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. 

West Elm Maker Market returns Saturday, Dec. 21

If you are still looking for last-minute gifts — especially handmade goods — then the West Elm Holiday Maker Market has arrived just in time.

Conveniently scheduled for Saturday the 21st, just a few days before Christmas, this Maker Market will welcome independent artists into the West Elm furniture and home goods store at the H.G. Hill Center in Green Hills for the fourth time.

This cool partnership allows artists to display their work on, in, and around West Elm's hip furnishings. You can count on seeing handmade jewelry, custom furniture, printmaking, and artisanal foods.

I showcased my work inside the store for the first time this fall. My husband and I already own quite a few pieces from West Elm, so it was a cool opportunity to arrange my books on one of their chic desks. All of the artists find ways to play off the store's design sensibilities, making for a unique event.

West Elm Maker Market

When: Saturday, Dec. 21, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Where: West Elm, 4019 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville

Porter Flea is back with Holiday Market

Just look at that poster. You know you can't wait for Nashville's best holiday market, Porter Flea! If you recall from a year ago, just about everyone seemed to show up for the last holiday market. I tried to capture the excitement in a write-up at the time.

The show is on the move again this season, setting up at Track 1, just south of downtown at the corner of Chestnut and 4th Avenue South.

This Porter Flea begins with a ticketed preview party on Friday, Dec. 6. Limited tickets are still available at Grimey's on 8th Ave and Hey Rooster General Store in East Nashville, so if you want to get first dibs on the handmade goods and beat the crowds, pick up your tickets soon. On Saturday, Dec. 7, the market is free and open to all ages from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  I hope to see you there! 

The Sketchbook Collective at Watkins College

Nashville's one and only festival for the book arts keeps on evolving. In its third year, I was proud to participate in the Handmade & Bound artists' market, and to take part in a bigger way in its annual gallery show.

The gallery show went in a fresh direction this year, showcasing the sketchbooks of local artists, architects, fashion designers, puppeteers, and children. I was also among local book artists who created interactive sketchbooks that attendees responded to, filling in with writings and drawings. Here's a look at some of the dozens of sketchbooks in the show, and you can see another 200 photos in an event photo album here.

The show, The Sketchbook Collective, actually got underway a few months in advance of its opening, with a series of art workshops all across Nashville.

With a mission of bringing art to underserved communities, myself and other book artists led classes teaching simple book structures and encouraging participants to fill them as sketchbooks and memory books. We taught children, senior citizens, and recent immigrants to Nashville. Our goal was to bring art to those who don't have access to art materials or the chance to explore the arts in their daily lives.

I taught several classes, including for children in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and at the Looby Center in North Nashville.

In another class, at Casa Azafran, we got to know a few mostly Spanish-speaking families from the center's parenting and English classes. (My husband got to test out his Spanish, including creating a cheat sheet of bookbinding terms.) Together, we bound simple, two-signature pamphlet stitch books. The covers of the books were made with watercolor paper, and students got to personalize their books, inside and out. The families took them home to fill them with personal stories, photographs, and other clippings that I think really helped them to stand out in the gallery.

On the night of the opening, I loved the chance to see workshop participants standing proudly near their books. One senior citizen set up shop in a chair near hers and spoke with most every passer-by.

Hundreds came through the gallery during the weekend, including quite a few who invested real time and effort into the interactive sketchbooks that called for their participation. Those four books, arranged on pedestals, called for all sorts of expressions.

In my book, "A Collection of Lines," I encouraged people to experiment with line drawings and patterns, as well as trying blind contour drawings of their friends. Another book asked them to share childhood memories, another invited collage work with provided magazine and newspaper clippings. I noticed one couple dedicate more than 20 minutes to doodling in the book I had bound!

I'm in! Artclectic 2013 art show at University School of Nashville, Oct. 24-27

Good news! I've recently learned that I've been accepted into the Artclectic art show, Oct. 24 - 27, at the University School of Nashville. This unique four-day show begins with preview parties the first two nights, and then general admission showings over a weekend.

I participated last year for the first time, and I found every aspect of the experience rewarding. Because the show is hosted at a K-12 school, organizers emphasize art education. Last fall, I taught a bookbinding workshop to a class. And then I answered many questions from inquisitive students when they got their advanced showing of the entire show.

As you can see below, the show has an interesting look and feel. Every artist gets assistance from carpenters to build hanging displays. I'd never shown my work in quite this way.

I'll share more information about Artclectic as the show approaches. In the meantime, you can learn about the show at these two sites: on the web and on Facebook.

And I want to share photos from last fall. I was just too busy to get them posted at the time, but three favorites follow below, and you can find dozens more at this Facebook album: Artclectic 2012 Photos

Genie Maples | website

Melodie Grace | website

Lesley Patterson-Marx | website

A video glimpse of my latest books

Vimeo video: linenlaid&felt at Porter Flea AirCraft in Nashville

One of the best parts of attending art shows is having a reason to reflect on all the work that goes into each one, and to get to see all of my newest books in one place. Inevitably, I stay busy in the weeks before a show, and the recent Porter Flea was no different.

What was unique, as captured in the brief behind-the-scenes video above, was how many completely new styles of books I got to debut at the show. I'll be sharing more about those in the coming days here on the blog, as well as posting more books in my Etsy shop.

Until then, please let me know, in the comments, what you think about this video. It's a little different for the blog, I know, but my husband and I couldn't resist capturing some images at the show!

Porter Flea AirCraft in review

I have always loved the Porter Flea show in Nashville, even before I took part. In fact, the first ever Porter Flea took place on the first weekend we moved to the city. Since I have been participating, the show has gotten bigger and better, and this time around I was especially excited to debut a lot of fresh work. Most of what I showed was new, and after a very busy week, I got to display everything in a completely new booth setup, with new signage, shelving and tablecloths.

 

In my latest work, I've been incorporating screenprinting, including for my "Up, Up, and Away" line of travel journals. The idea for these little journals was jumpstarted by the show's organizers, who asked that each returning artist create an "exclusive" product for the show. A few of us chose aviation themes because the event was hosted in our neighborhood's former airport. My travel journals (above) were screenprinted with an original illustration of a Beechcraft airplane.

I also finished a few Coptic bound books with screenprinted covers. For these (see the magenta patterned book below), I began with sketches from a trip to the Frist Center, which inspired the repeating patterns that I screenprinted onto a variety of handmade lokta papers, and used to wrap the book covers. I'll share more about this process soon.

And I can't forget to mention my new Instagram photo albums. These square format leather books are perfect for Instagram and Polaroid prints. I've bound one for my husband's photos and one for mine, and I proudly displayed those as examples, garnering many excited responses. I was also happy to meet show-goers who also believe in printing out their digital photos, which really does make the images more special.

I've mentioned that the show took place at Cornelia Fort Airpark, a place with a very interesting history. I think the venue worked really well. Lots of space, wide aisles, and a playful setup allowed people to enjoy the art and have a chance to visit one of the most unusual, little-known places in the neighborhood. 

We did get some rain — two short downpours and a third lengthy one — but the hangars held up well, and people were able to flock indoors with plenty of space.

I enjoyed seeing some of my Porter Flea friends, including Simon & Ruby, 400 Moons, and Monday Mint, as well as a new art show friend, Allison, of Shutters and Shuttles, with whom I've been recently collaborating.

It was also great to see Dolan Geiman at the Flea for the first time. Lucky for us, we were positioned within sight of his work, including some of his latest monumental collages.

 

Finally, as always, there are tons of other great photos from the event. I've shared only a few of my own here, but you can see more at these links:

:: Facebook photo album
:: Porter Flea photo album
:: Photo booth video by Claudia Kay

Porter Flea AirCraft launches in East Nashville

Porter Flea AirCraft 2013, featuring 80 artists, began with a Friday night preview party, yielding tons of amazing photos. I'll post more about the show soon — I've still got the main show on Saturday to come — but for now, I've pulled together my favorite images by crowdsourcing from Instagram and Twitter in this Storify gallery. Enjoy!

Update: Saturday was a big success, with thousands of festival-goers descending on East Nashville for the market. I've enjoyed looking through the two most-used hashtags, #aircraft2013 and #porterflea, and have pulled together my absolute favorite photos from Instagram. Click through the slideshow below to see the best of the best from AirCraft 2013.

How to print Instagrams to display in a photo album

I'll be debuting leather Instagram photo albums this weekend at Porter Flea AirCraft here in Nashville, and I want to share with you my guide on how to print Instagrams — everyone's favorite square format photos.

The first Instagram album that I made was an anniversary gift for my husband, who uses Instagram often while reporting for the newspaper and to capture odd things around Nashville. Once the book was finished, it was exciting to see the images printed out and so much larger than we typically see them on an iPhone screen. The book that I handbound for him worked out so well that I decided to make more. Each of my albums has leather covers and 48 pages, made of thick watercolor paper. I have since been making two sizes, each designed to hold the most common square-format photo sizes available.

My large books are 7 x 7, which holds square images as large as 6 x 6, and standard 4 x 6 photos. The smaller books are 4 x 4 and hold 2.5 x 2.5 square photos.

There are many printing options out there, so I think it will help for me to share what I've learned about Instagram printing. Some services are user-friendly and simple, while others may require you to do more of the work in exchange for saving some money on each print.

Read along for my guide to printing Instagrams.

Printstagram — Easy to use, web-based

Sizes: 4 x 4 (perfect for large album) and 2.5 x 2.5 (fits small album)

Cost: $12 for 24 large images or 48 small

PostalPix — Order prints directly from iPhone

Sizes: 5 x 5, 4 x 4, 2 x 2

Cost: 29 cents to 89 cents per print (details)

RitzPix — Many options, prompt delivery

Sizes: 6 x 6, 5 x 5, 2.5 x 2.5

Cost: 49 cents per print

Note: For 2.5 x 2.5 images, you'll need to use photo editing software to set up a 5 x 5 document with 4 photos in a grid. Once printed, you'll need to trim them.

I've found other options as well, but these seem to be the easiest to use and most affordable. Another option would be placing your square images on 4 x 6 prints and then trimming them. For more information, check out this tutorial. If you go this route, you could print one 4 x 4 or six 2 x 2 images per 4 x 6 print, but you'll need photo editing software to set up the files.

I know that my husband and I have found it extremely satisfying to finally print our photos — somewhat of a lost art, these days. And I hope my new square-format leather photo albums can be another encouragement that will save more photos from collecting digital dust.