Alisa Banks

Studio News

Fall/Winter 2019

Greetings!

This has been a year of starts, such as this first issue of a twice-yearly studio newsletter and a regular website news feature. The past few months have brought about the unexpected, including new projects, meeting new friends, and travel. I’d like to share a few with you.

New Projects

 

Wrongful Termination

Wrongful Termination addresses race-based discriminatory practices. Starting in the 1980’s, multiple suits have been filed against employers, schools, and other agencies by people of color (primarily women) who were fired, passed over for promotion or hiring, or sent home for wearing their natural hair. Wrongful is a unique altered book featuring two original poems and texts from newspaper editorials.

In 2019, California and New York became the first and second states respectively, to pass the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair or CROWN Act, to end race-based hair discrimination. According to a study sponsored by Dove:

  • A Black woman is 80% more likely to change her natural hair to meet social norms or expectations at work.

  • Black women are 50% more likely to be sent home or know of a black woman sent home from the workplace because of her hair.

More information about the CROWN Act can be found here. The CROWN Act is not about feeling good about oneself or one’s body, but about fighting discriminatory practices based on race.

A special thanks to Annie Howe, for the warm welcome she extended to her Baltimore studio earlier this year. Annie introduced me to a new knife and insisted that I bring home the samples that were used to carve out the book. I had so much fun at our visit that I didn’t think to take photos!

Interwoven Alphabet

I had the pleasure of working on a collaborative book project with Diane Jacobs of Portland, OR. Diane and I created 2 editions of Interwoven Alphabet over an 8-month period. Each edition consists of 26 wool pages - one for each letter of the alphabet. Themes include: relationships, nature, the senses, time, politics, and the environment.

Diane and I mailed the books back and forth until all the squares were completed. Then we had a marathon week finishing out the project which I enjoyed immensely! It was my first time visiting Portland and Diane and her family were very gracious.

When is Now

When is Now is an edition of 4 unique books that address objectification and otherness. I feel this book was a long time coming as it helped to put into perspective a feeling of being “un-moored” after the unexpected loss of my mother, which also coincided with troubling current events.

The idea for When… began with an essay begun about 2 years ago which served as the inspiration for the work - part elegy, part uncovering - titled as both a question and a statement.

Happenings

 

Social Justice & Social Practice in Book Arts

Earlier this year, I was invited to be interviewed by students in Tia Blassengame’s Social Justice and Social Practice in Book Arts seminar at Scripts College. Each semester, the students conduct interviews with art practitioners who address social issues using the book form. Class participants create a collaborative print portfolio and publish their interviews.

Read the interviews or learn more about the Social Justice and Social Practice in Book Arts seminar here. To purchase a copy of the student’s portfolio or to become a standing order patron, click here.

Surface Design Association Journal

When Is Now (Updo) is featured in the Exposure section of the Summer 2019 Fringe issue of the Surface Design Journal.

 

Hair + Book: Body Politics in Book Arts

I will be participating in a talk with Diane Jacobs titled Hair + Book: Body Politics in Book Arts, at the College Book Arts Association (CBAA) conference in New Orleans, January 2020. If you plan to attend, please drop me a line - I’d love to meet you!

On View

 

Exploding the Codex

Poule Aye is featured in Exploding the Codex: Book Arts at Special Collections at LSU Libraries Special Collections in Baton Rouge until December 13, 2019 at Hill Memorial Library. Celebrated artist Julie Chen of Flying Fish Press will present a talk at 5pm, Thursday, October 24 at the LSU School of the Arts. The exhibition and lecture are free and open to the public.

Art in Embassies

Conjuring Home will be exhibited at the US Ambassador’s residence in Vientiane, Laos until the end of the year as part of the Art In Embassies (AIE) program. A copy of the exhibition catalog can be viewed here.

 

Travel Chicago

Food for the mind and eyes in the Chicago area: If you happen to be there between now and February 2020, the SAIC Museum has a fabulous exhibit Weaving Beyond the Bauhaus. Furthermore, Memorializing is the Humanities Dialog topic this year at Northwestern University and the lineup is stellar! Note: That’s my daughter walking into one of the exhibit spaces featuring Lenore Tawney’s work. Breathtaking!

 

You are receiving this message because you signed a guest notification list from a show, lecture, or workshop, requested to be added to the mailing list, signed up on my website, or have collected my work. I hope you want to continue receiving these twice yearly updates, but if you prefer not to, please click the unsubscribe link below. Best Always ~alisa