I made this concertina book for the invitational exhibit,“Second Chances,” which will be at Ripple River Gallery in Deer River, MN from April 12th-May 14th. I had fun interpreting the theme “second chances” in a literal way, creating a story in pictures about how we got our dog, Ollie, a Basset mix rescue dog. His black and white spots seem to call attention to his playful nature, and inspired the (mostly) black, white, and gray palette.
The original art was done with gouache and colored pencil on toned gray mixed media paper (Strathmore Series 500). The final art consists of two 6” x 18” pieces. I scanned these, and reduced the art by 20% so that I could print it with my Canon TS6120 Inkjet printer. After running a few test on various papers, I chose to print it on on Awagami Bamboo Select printmaking paper, which has a velvety smooth surface and folds easily to make the book structure.
Finally, I constructed the concertina books (so far I have made three including one with the original art), following the process I learned in the Block to Book workshop I took with Karen Kunc at Grand Marais Art Colony in the fall of 2021. (See previous post.)
I look forward to seeing how the other artists respond to this theme!
silver minnow 