Norma Penchansky and Barbara Brown

Line Paper and Artists’ Books,

through April 28, 2018

Each time we mount a new exhibit at WSG, I do a brief interview with the artist.  This show is unusual, in that we have two of the WSG owners collaborating on a show.  The work isn’t necessarily collaborative, but the design of the exhibit is, and, certainly the two artists have had an influence on one another over the years.  Here’s what I found out:

Q: Norma and Barbara,  you have chosen to have your featured show collaboratively.  This is unusual for WSG gallery.  What drove your choice to put this show together as you did, rather than have a solo show?

BB: This started as Norma’s show, and she invited me to show with her last fall. Slowly the show became a collaborative endeavor for us, partly, I think, because Norma had decided to include artists’ books.

Q:  How was preparing for this show together different than prepping for a solo?   What were your joys and challenges?

BB:  I believe we did quite a bit of brainstorming about the work we would place in the show and how we would configure that.  I do know that Norma had more than a couple of sleepless nights thinking about how the show would get hung! It has been a joy and an honor to share this show with Norma, and it challenged me, in a huge way, to get work done at the same time I’m teaching a book arts class at U-M Penny Stamps School of Art & Design.

NPG:  In thinking about this exhibit and wanting to show my artists’ books along with my drawings, I  immediately thought Barbara Brown would be a delight and honor to collaborate with.

Q:  Norma, this one’s for you… you have a long, rich history of working in clay, making figurative sculpture and casting them in Bronze.   Recently,  you have been making large-scale figurative drawings, related to your sculptures.   Tell us a bit about your addition of artist books to your repertoire.

NPG:  My book making started about eight years ago when Barbara held a residency at Hollanders. I attended, never having constructed a book. Barbara’s skill and talent as a book artist and teacher opened the door to book making to me. Barbara has continued to be an inspiration as I journey down this fascinating  path.

Q:  Barbara, you are well-known in the area and the artist book world at large for your creative structures and interpretation of what ‘book’ means.  How did you first get in to making book-type structures? 

BB  At one point in my career, I made paper.  Making books is really a logical progression for papermakers (along with letterpress and printing).  My first books were quite traditional sewn books, but I slowly realized that alternative constructions were such a rich vehicle for artistic expression, and I began to explore that. I love all the options these BSO’s (book-shaped objects) bring to my world.

Q:  You both use a variety of materials and techniques when building your book structures.  What should we pay special attention to in this show, in terms of techniques that you make look effortless, but were actually quite labor intensive?

BB:  I’m not sure if any of my pieces look effortless; I’d be kind of surprised if they do.  The folded ones can be so labor intensive, partly because the folds need to be so precise.  The folded wall piece, “forty-seven”, consists of ten squares that have been printed and typed on and then embellished with collage and sewn elements before and after the folding.  It was the same with the standing folded structure. That one was folded from Mulberry paper, which is strong but delicate. It was printed, folded, and then stenciled with pastels after the folds so that I wouldn’t smudge the stenciling. The cover boards were painted with layers of acrylic and then rubbed to achieve a wood-like surface.

NPG:  In preparation for this exhibit, Barbara and I shared many ideas and challenges. Creating a book for me is an adventure, very time consuming, but interesting and meditative! I am in love with the process! It involves deciding what type of book to create, the story I want to convey, making mono prints from paste paper, using collage and mixed media to transform an idea into a three dimensional piece of art depicting a kinetic energy.

Q:  What are some of the challenges in mounting an exhibit of small precious items that people REALLY want to touch?

BB: I guess I need to put up some “do not touch “ signs… Generally people are respectful of that.

Q:  You both have several wall pieces in the show, too.  How did you decide on the final pieces for the show?

BB:  For my part, I followed Norma’s lead.  I did want to do at least one wall piece, but I thought that she wanted to have more than one, so that’s what I did.  BSO’s can make fun, marvelous wall pieces!

NPG:  The wall piece concept was  intriguing and stemmed from a book design Barbara brought to me during one of our delightful conversations.  Designing the WSG space with our finished pieces was  like making a piece of art! Creating a whole by composing  all the pieces so that they move through and  occupy the space.

Q:  If you had unlimited space, or could exhibit in the larger space of your choice, what space would that be, and how would that change the make -up of your show?  For instance, are there other specific artists who work on paper or with book structures you would invite to be a part?

BB: There are lots of wonderful book artists both near and far that I would love to pull into a book show.  In the fall I will be putting on a group show here at WSG, and I am putting together a line-up of some talented artists to show with.  If I had a bigger space, I would be able to include more artists and that would be wonderful! It would also enable me to have the room to include BSO’s as installation art.