Castellers practice!
13 May 2013
09 May 2013
More lettering on signs
These almost all have a 1930s vibe.
In Porto:
"Dr. Ricardo Jorge" that part is so great.
In Barcelona:
Check out the 'A'.
Arts Libris
This international book art fair is held annually in Barcelona and I got two days off of school to go to it! (Bookbinding school rocks).
Here is some of the work I saw there:
Kollektiv Tod Verlag makes large scale wood cuts that get plastered around Berlin and Barcelona. Whatever prints don't become street art are bound into really sweet screen- and woodblock printed books. They are bound with a simple Japanese stab binding but then the pages all fold out.
I loved the everything that Editions Collodion had at the fair, but especially a book called Fable. They tear down the paper by hand (deckles and fake deckles galore!). I envy all their wood type.
Francois Righi prints engraved plastic plates on Japanese paper to make images with rich, deep black fields of color and delicate linework.
Eva Mengual, of La Seis Cuatro, has editioned some lovely artists' books. She is inspired by the work of Emilio Sdun.
Javiera's work was the coolest thing ever.
And, of course, Maria was there, too, with her latest books.
Also I want to buy the whole contents of El Astillero, a bookshop in Barcelona that specializes in works on paper by latin american modernists. Stuff like this:
I felt like the selection of work was wasn't representative of the Spanish letterpress printing scene: no Spanish presses showed up, although La Seis Cuatro does have a letterpress in their shop. However, overall, Spanish fine printmakers were well represented.
There was also a lot of independent, small-scale publishing on display, not necessarily remarkable for the quality of their paper product (simple pamphlets, etc) but still cool. Most my favorite stuff along those lines was done by Bside Books.
Here is some of the work I saw there:
Kollektiv Tod Verlag makes large scale wood cuts that get plastered around Berlin and Barcelona. Whatever prints don't become street art are bound into really sweet screen- and woodblock printed books. They are bound with a simple Japanese stab binding but then the pages all fold out.
I loved the everything that Editions Collodion had at the fair, but especially a book called Fable. They tear down the paper by hand (deckles and fake deckles galore!). I envy all their wood type.
Francois Righi prints engraved plastic plates on Japanese paper to make images with rich, deep black fields of color and delicate linework.
Eva Mengual, of La Seis Cuatro, has editioned some lovely artists' books. She is inspired by the work of Emilio Sdun.
Javiera's work was the coolest thing ever.
And, of course, Maria was there, too, with her latest books.
Also I want to buy the whole contents of El Astillero, a bookshop in Barcelona that specializes in works on paper by latin american modernists. Stuff like this:
I felt like the selection of work was wasn't representative of the Spanish letterpress printing scene: no Spanish presses showed up, although La Seis Cuatro does have a letterpress in their shop. However, overall, Spanish fine printmakers were well represented.
There was also a lot of independent, small-scale publishing on display, not necessarily remarkable for the quality of their paper product (simple pamphlets, etc) but still cool. Most my favorite stuff along those lines was done by Bside Books.
08 May 2013
PORTO
In Porto ...
I saw the sun!
I remembered that the small city is a beautiful thing ... goodbye, endless hours on the metro.
Students dressed up (finals week tradition):
I ate a giant meat-stuffed sandwich (chorizo, ham, a fried egg, tomato sauce, roast beef, and fries). Yup.
I climbed to the top:
I swam in this!!
There were a lot of things about Portugal that were charming but slow.
I got my fill of printing museums:
The colors were all so intense ... such orange rooftops in the rain. Porto in the rain made me thing of what Margarit said about another place: "una ciutat grisa amb un gran port."
The city isn't all clean and shiny, but does it sound terrible to say that it's pretty clean for the Iberian Peninsula?
I went to an antique book dealer
All the shops had old fashioned facades and antique furniture (counters, cabinets). It was like stepping back in time.
There were traditional bookbinding, leatherworking, and woodworking shops. (I dig this).
They apparently don't have rules like in Barcelona about where you can hang your laundry. (In the part of the city where I live we can't hang it outside). I guess sometimes I feel like rules in BCN are made more for tourists than locals, but Porto felt pretty lived in.
I really liked seeing some baroque churches; Portuguese baroque is over the top (I mean that in the best of ways). The guide I had referred to this one as "Golden Cave #2."
I remembered that the small city is a beautiful thing ... goodbye, endless hours on the metro.
Students dressed up (finals week tradition):
I ate a giant meat-stuffed sandwich (chorizo, ham, a fried egg, tomato sauce, roast beef, and fries). Yup.
I climbed to the top:
I swam in this!!
There were a lot of things about Portugal that were charming but slow.
I got my fill of printing museums:
The colors were all so intense ... such orange rooftops in the rain. Porto in the rain made me thing of what Margarit said about another place: "una ciutat grisa amb un gran port."
The city isn't all clean and shiny, but does it sound terrible to say that it's pretty clean for the Iberian Peninsula?
I went to an antique book dealer
And they let me go look at their basement stash. People there were friendly, patient. A little old man forced a pastel de nata on me while I waited for the bus to the airport home.
All the shops had old fashioned facades and antique furniture (counters, cabinets). It was like stepping back in time.
The market was full of olives, seafood, sausage, fruit, and homemade jam.
There were traditional bookbinding, leatherworking, and woodworking shops. (I dig this).
They apparently don't have rules like in Barcelona about where you can hang your laundry. (In the part of the city where I live we can't hang it outside). I guess sometimes I feel like rules in BCN are made more for tourists than locals, but Porto felt pretty lived in.
I really liked seeing some baroque churches; Portuguese baroque is over the top (I mean that in the best of ways). The guide I had referred to this one as "Golden Cave #2."
I saw a fellow Minnesotan (how was it that we didn't take any photos together???). But it was SO GREAT. MINNESOOOOOTA. So soon!
More than anything I loved how being there felt like being in another time, not just another place. I seriously googled "expat in Portugal" when I got home. But you know what? MINNESOTA. That is all.
21 April 2013
I really love Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. Recently I've been reading Joan Margarit's Noves cartes a un jove poeta (New Letters to a Young Poet). In the introduction Margarit claims:
"Vull dir que no m'interessa el poema que no contribueixi a fer-me una persona millor, a procurar-me un major equilibri interior, a consolar-me, a deixar-me una mica més a prop de la felicitat ..."
Here's a rough translation:
"I am not interested in poetry that does not better me, console me, or bring me a little closer to happiness."
Margarit will be at Poetry Week in May.
18 April 2013
Parallel Lives
I hung out at the Picasso Museum today. Guess what? Picasso and I have parallel lives.
The museum, whose collection is mostly Picasso's early drawings and works on paper, arranges all the pieces chronologically.
So you can see Picasso coming to Barcelona, studying at my school, carrying around a sketchbook, making little paintings of the sea and the city ... discovering Madrid and Paris ...
What does this all boil down to? I'm probably about to make it big as a Cubist painter. Basically I'm waiting for that to happen any minute now.
Here were some of my favorites:
Sant Pau del Camp, with its distinctive mozarab cloister.
La Barceloneta
Near the Prado in Madrid
A café in Barcelona
Barcelona cityscape
The beach at Barceloneta
Images pulled from the Museum's online catalog.
Read what they have to say about Picasso's relationship with Barcelona ... the modernization of the city and the construction of the Eixample began while he lived here.
Although Picasso spent far more time in Paris, Barcelona is "where it all began ... where I understood how far I could go."
The museum, whose collection is mostly Picasso's early drawings and works on paper, arranges all the pieces chronologically.
So you can see Picasso coming to Barcelona, studying at my school, carrying around a sketchbook, making little paintings of the sea and the city ... discovering Madrid and Paris ...
What does this all boil down to? I'm probably about to make it big as a Cubist painter. Basically I'm waiting for that to happen any minute now.
Here were some of my favorites:
Sant Pau del Camp, with its distinctive mozarab cloister.
The Liceu
La Barceloneta
Near the Prado in Madrid
A café in Barcelona
Barcelona cityscape
The beach at Barceloneta
Images pulled from the Museum's online catalog.
Read what they have to say about Picasso's relationship with Barcelona ... the modernization of the city and the construction of the Eixample began while he lived here.
Although Picasso spent far more time in Paris, Barcelona is "where it all began ... where I understood how far I could go."
13 April 2013
10 photos of Paris
Holy week in Spain is wonderful and not to be missed. But this year I spent the week of vacation with my MOM in PARIS.
Yep, doesn't get better than that. Besides seeing her, here were some of my favorite things from our trip:
The river.
The Rodin museum.
Free admission to it. (!!!) Not paying for museums as a student is wonderful, I recommend never getting older than 26.
I think the Louvre is maybe my idea of paradise. I knew it was an art capital, but after visiting I'm blown away by the amount of art making, patronage and appreciation that goes on in Paris. It's so great to see museums packed full of people looking at art.
Paris is also full of architecture from the middle ages.
Like the conciergerie.
And in case you're wondering where all the old printing/flying equipment is, check out the museum of Arts et Metiers.
I didn't expect to be blown away by the Eiffel Tower. I was blown away. I also really loved the architecture at the train stations, which reminded me of it.
So many public gardens. All this beauty is good for the soul, don't you think?
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