SURROUNDED BY BOOKS by LYNNE PERRELLA

I am honoured to have well known author, artist and workshop instructor Lynne Perrella as my guest blogger on Art Propelled this week.

Thanks so much for being here Lynne. Over to you ........

I thoroughly enjoyed Robyn's recent posting, showing her well-loved, expansive library. It reminded me of many studios I visited when I was working on my latest book, "Art-Making & Studio Spaces" (Quarry). I thought the readers of Art Propelled might enjoy having a look at four of these studios that feature books as a vital part of the inspiration quotient. All photographs are by my good friend and travel mate, Sarah Blodgett.

The phrase "chock-a-block" was invented for my studio. Books are everywhere. I am totally unapologetic about my love of books, and more arrive every week. I love being surrounded by my library of art and reference books, and my studio also functions as a reading room. Shelf space is always an "issue", but never a hindrance. One way or another, everything fits. Books are wonderful companions, and provide the flashpoint for so many ideas. There is nothing to match the feeling of sitting in a comfortable chair in my studio, with the music on, and a big art book in my lap.
True happiness!

My good friend, Judi Riesch, has perfect radar for finding beautiful things and placing them together in wonderful tableaus. This polished antique secretary was the ideal staging area for Judi's collection of small antique volumes, one-of-a-kind artist books, a growing collection of gilded daguerreotype albums, fond family memorabilia, and a grouping of her own framed assemblages. Books have a starring role throughout her home and studio, plus Judi uses fragments of old books and manuscripts to great advantage in her mixed media collages and shadowboxes.

My friend and neighbor, RO Blechman, has entertained the world for decades with his noted "squiggly line"; and his illustrations appear in ads, book covers, animations, and more. An impressive wall of books, bibelots, and visual archives (complete with rolling library ladder) is arranged with an art director's eye for "what to leave in, what to leave out". The wall of books has the fascination of a thoughtful room-sized visual composition, gathered and refined over time....a totally personal reflection of the lifelong interests and passions of a humorous, well-read, prolific artist.

Meeting and getting to know Melissa Zink was one of the great honors of my life. Whenever I visited her studio, we would prowl around the various work tables looking at assemblages-in-progress, and we would always inevitably end up in this wonderful sitting room just outside the studio. She often described her long-and-varied art journey as "the book experience", and her love of books and reading was the driving inspiration behind her lifetime body of work. She gleefully described making a visit "somewhere down South" and unexpectedly coming across a large grouping of "16th century books" in a thrift shop. "Well, naturally, I had to have all of them" she remarked, tossing a fond look over her shoulder at the row of old delicate volumes. No regrets.

Every studio I visited was ultra-personal and distinctive; the result of a gradual, revealing, organic process. Most of all, I encountered work spaces that radiated with all the "necessary things" that each artist wanted to have within reach. Oftentimes that meant "books....and lots of them!".

Lynne has generously offered a personalized copy of ART MAKING & STUDIO SPACES for a lucky draw. If you would like to take part in the draw say so in a comment on this post and the winner will be announced on Friday the 22nd January.

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Visit Lynne's website, here . Glorious art and workshop information.

Order Art Making & Studio Spaces at Amazon, here.

And the winner is ...... Annie Kerr