Book Bombs

Every Day Work

2012-01-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

Some shots of "Every Day Work," the exhibition of Impractical Laborers at St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, IN, featuring Book Bombs! Copies of "The Ethics of Wheatpaste" (downloadable here) and "Horizontalidad," are free for the taking.AS MANY HOURS AS IT TAKES

Horizontalidad! Book Bombs Issue 6

2011-10-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

Horizontalidad: Book Bombs Issue 6 was released this past week in conjunction with Occupy Together and the Friends of Dard Hunter Regional Meetings (a gathering devoted to handmade paper).

This zine addresses the Occupy movement, the economic situation, and the term horizontalidad.

In Argentina, they call actions like the Occupation horizontalidad – “horizontalness” in English. A word that arose from autonomous movements, indicating a lack of hierarchy and a level playing field, Horizontalidad goes beyond revolution to the idea of ongoing evolution without entrenched ideology.

Covers are printed via letterpress on handmade paper incorporating scraps from other papermakers. The zines invite readers to add their own stories to the narrative of the zine, and to distribute the zines in public spaces (and to send us documentation!). Zines were distributed in Pittsfield and Dalton, Massachusetts, including gallery and hotel spaces. Look for coming news of wider distribution, including a pdf download, on the blog.

Interiors were printed at the Crane Museum of Papermaking, thanks to Peter Hopkins, with binding help from Allison Roscoe.

Thanks to Melanie Mowinski, proprietor of Press: Letterpress as Public Art, for letterpress printing support!

The covers, hot off the Universal.

Book Bombs Zine #3 Available for Download

2011-04-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

The Ethics of Wheatpaste, #3 in the series of Book Bombs zines, is now available for download as a .pdf file at www.bookbombs.net. Print out the 8.5 x 11 single-sided sheet and follow the instructions in the corner of the page to fold your own book.

The Ethics of Wheatpaste was released as part of Amze Emmons's Refugee Reading Room at Space1026 in February 2011.

Hydrologies - Zines & Snow Stenciling in the Twin Cities

2011-03-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

It was a busy weekend in Minneapolis for Book Bombs activities. After the opening of Urban/Urbane at Susan Hensel Gallery, there were still zines to be folded down:

Thanks to Micah Ludeke and Rachel Wandrei for folding help (and to Micah for the amazing chocolate chip cookie fuel).

And snow stencils:

Reader's Art Opening

2011-03-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Book Bombs had a blast as part of the Reader's Art 11 show at Susan Hensel Gallery on Friday night. Thanks to everyone who came out to chat about the project and about water, in conjunction with Book Bombs Zine #4: Hydrologies. Mary folded down zines on site and passed them along to visitors, who were invited to take the zines home and love them, pass them along to someone else, and/or leave them someplace for another person to find. Please contact us with any photos of the zines on site, and keep an eye out here in the coming days to see documentation of the Book Bombing of Minneapolis.

Note photo documentation of prior Book Bombs projects in the background, and thanks to Suzanne Fischer for taking and sharing these photos of the opening!

Book Bombs in Minneapolis!

2011-03-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

Book Bombs is will be part of the upcoming exhibition, Readers' Art 11, Urban/Urbane, at Susan Hensel Gallery, in Minneapolis, MN. The exhibition runs from March 4-April 30, 2011, and features 29 artists exploring issues of urban living in artist book form.

Join us for the opening reception on First Friday, March 4, from 7-10 PM, where we will be distributing copies of Book Bombs #4. The weekend following will involve a public print bombing of Minneapolis, taking a quite a new form from some of our bombings past....

Mobility in the Bay Area

2010-12-15T19:49:00.001-08:00

Any readers in the Bay Area? Keep your eyes peeled for this print! We enjoyed book bombing in such balmy winter weather, after print drops in Philadelphia blizzards earlier in the year.

San Francisco Print in Progress

2010-12-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

The prints that Michelle started arrived in Philadelphia just before Mary left for the West Coast, thanks to the machinations of the postal service -- so Mary worked on them in flight.

Tonight is Book Bombs Retreat night -- preliminary planning for the coming year and preparing for our first West Coast print drop tomorrow. More images to follow soon!

West Coast Prepping for print bombing

2010-12-01T20:49:00.001-08:00

For our next print bombing - this time in SAN FRANCISCO - Book Bombs is trying something a little different. The paper and print began on the West Coast by Michelle, and then traveled to the East Coast to be completed by Mary. Here are some images of what Michelle started.

The print is on paper made from Andean Pampas grass seed hair (see posts here and here about using the stalks and leaves of that plant). Above, a close up of a corner of a wet sheet.

A plane image was stenciled onto the wet sheets in paper pulp, made from leftover scraps of paper from our Axis Alley installation.

When dry, a woodblock of pampas grass seed hair was printed.

The prints have now been shipped off to Mary - keep your eyes peeled for how this print evolves.

A new print bombing is coming....

2010-11-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

A new print bombing is in the works....stay tuned.

Look What Dardos Can Do!

2010-10-27T14:25:00.001-07:00

This post is a slightly off topic, but we just had to pay tribute to the amazing beater and the team that built it at the recent Friends of Dard Hunter Conference at the Arrowmont School of Art and Crafts in Gaitlinburg, TN. Led by David Reina, over the course of three days, 200 people hours, with architectural-grade plywood and the Arrowmont woodshop, they put together a working wooden beater. The intention is that the plans will eventually be on the Friends website, for others who might like to take on the challenge.

Above, friend of Book Bombs, Nicole Donnelly makes some cuts on the design with assistance from Brian Queen. Below are some of the images in-progress.

And by Saturday evening, she was ready and working!

Book Bombs and the Friends of Dard Hunter

2010-10-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

Book Bombs recently were presenters at the Friends of Dard Hunter Conference at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gaitlinburg, TN. We discussed the projects we've completed over the past year, and released Book Bombs Issue #2 , We Walk Asking Questions. We met and made many new friends at the conference, and for those of you who are on Facebook, we invite you to become a fan of Book Bombs!

We Walk Asking Questions was printed in an edition of 200, and is wrapped in a half-cover made of paulownia and pampas grass, invasive plants from the two coasts on which Book Bombs resides. The binding was done during the conference, and help was received from Nicole Donnelly, Katharina Siedler, and (not pictured) Lindsay Beal. To Nicole, Katharina, and Lindsay - thanks! We couldn't have done it without you!

Of course, the conference had many other highlights. Below are just a few.

Catherine Nash demonstrates her techniques of combining encaustic with handmade paper.

Some of Randy Arnold's amazing handbuilt bookbinding tools.

Examples of arborglyphs by Earle Swope.

An amazing, ginormous handmade sheet of paper from China, presented by Sidney Korestsky. A video of making an even larger sheet is available from Carriage House Paper.

Above and below, images of pulp spraying and its results in a workshop with Betsy Dollar.

Paulownia-Pampas Paper

2010-10-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Previous posts (here and here) have described the fiber preparation of both Princess Tree bark (Paulownia tomentosa) and Andean pampas grass (Cortaderia jubata). As a reflection of the two coasts were the Book Bombers now reside, the two fibers were beaten together at an undisclosed California location and formed into sheets that will be a part of Book Bombs Issue #2.

Above, you can see a shot of the paper being pressed. After pressing, the paper was resist dried on the studio walls.

Below, details of the wet sheets resist drying.

On another note, Book Bombs will be presenting at the upcoming Friends of Dard Hunter Conference at the Arrowmont School of Crafts. Come join us and hear about our adventures!

Princess Tree Bark Cooking

2010-10-12T09:31:00.001-07:00

Last summer, Book Bombs had harvested both leaves and bark from Paulownia tomentosa, also known as the Princess Tree. The leaves were made into paper for our February Print Bombing. The bark (above) was dried and put aside for another project.

And now, for part of the upcoming Book Bombs Issue #2, this bark was pulled out of storage. For its preparation, the bark was soaked overnight. The resulting dark plant liquor (below) was then poured onto the garden as fertilizer.

The fiber was cooked in washing soda, and then rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed to remove traces of the washing soda and the black gunk from the fibers.

The resulting fibers were a rusty color, however here you can see them prior to rinsing the black gunk. Book Bombs discovered that if the fibers were again soaked overnight, most of the gunk fell off the fibers to the bottom of the bucket and the fibers then could be scooped off the top. However, we made the mistake of dumping the bucket entirely into the strainer and having to rinse it all by hand. Live and learn!

Still more to come on processing. Stay tuned...

Book Bombs in Toronto

2010-10-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

We are overdue in sharing the link to the Toronto Advertising Takeover, organized by Public Ad Campaign in August. Sixty artists contributed works for the takeover of over 90 street-level ads, reclaiming this public space from the corporate advertising agenda.
Visit the site for extensive documentation of the project. Does the handmade paper pictured above look familiar?

Cooking Andean Pampas Grass

2010-10-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Andean pampas grass, (Cortaderia jubata), is a native of South America. In California, it was introduced and is still grown as an ornamental plant, however, it is highly invasive, especially on fragile coastal dunes.

Pampas grass was recently harvested to be made into a part of Book Bombs' upcoming zine (more information on that to come). The image above was a tussock that grew alongside railroad tracks in Richmond, California. It has razor sharp leaves, and we recommend gloves for any harvesting that our readers might attempt.

The light, fluffy blond seed-hair was collected and saved for future projects - see below:

The stalks and leaves were cut down and soaked overnight . . .

. . .and then cooked in washing soda prior to beating. Interestingly, pampas grass turns a rusty orange when cooked.

More to come on the processing this into paper. Stay tuned...

Book Bombs at the Soapbox

2010-07-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

In contrast to our January bombings in subzero temperatures, Book Bombs recently got together as heat advisories climbed Philadelphia's thermostats. As the inaugural project at the Soapbox we created what will be our first international guerrilla street intervention.

With a few molds, a large empty basement and some DIY gusto, we created Collision Course, a large sheet of denim paper stenciled with pulp paint, exploring the space where nature and commerce intersect. More information will be posted shortly as this project evolves. For larger images, please click on the pictures.

Sign Language at the Whole Gallery

2010-07-20T10:37:00.001-07:00

The images here show the current exhibition at The Whole Gallery in Baltimore - featuring work by Book Bombs! To see more images of the exhibition, please visit this page on Flickr.

Book Bombs is also currently part of ongoing exhibitions at Lost Coast Culture Machine at the Guild of Papermakers exhibition at the Perkins Center in Collingswood, NJ. The Guild will be holding a closing reception at Perkins on August 14. Book Bombs hopes you get a chance to see the show before it closes!

Belated HomeSkooled Images

2010-06-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

With all the craziness of these past few months, there wasn't time to upload our pictures from Acting Out, the exhibition that featured Book Bombs last April at HomeSkooled Gallery. So, with all due respect to all the organizers for our tardiness, here they are!

Along with zines and photographs of our work in situ, we also featured a print rescued from the street. This print - on handmade Pawlonia tomentosa paper - had survived a month of blizzard, freezing temperatures, winds, and who knows what else. Check out the detail below. For larger images, click on the pictures.

Opening Today on the West Coast:

2010-06-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

Paper! at Lost Coast Culture Machine, 190 East Elm Street, Fort Bragg, CA opens this evening (5-9pm) and runs through August 1. Book Bombs work includes prints and documentation of our winter print bombings, as well as cut handmade paper bench and endangered plant species.

Axis Alley opening this Sunday

2010-05-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Please join us in Baltimore this Sunday, May 23, from 2-6 pm, on the alley behind 2000-2212 N. Calvert Street for a barbecue and alley walk to celebrate the transformation of space created by 24 artists. Pictures of the Book Bombs installation Fibrile are in the previous two blog entries. Hope for good weather! The rain date is Saturday, May 28. Tune in for updates.

More Axis Alley pictures

2010-05-11T06:47:00.001-07:00

Axis Alley Images

2010-05-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Book Bombs spent the day in Axis Alley, transforming the rear of 2212 N. Calvert Street in Baltimore. Michelle sweeps the stairs, above, in preparation for wheatpasting.

Our cut denim paper, made from donated old jeans, was installed amongst a couple of paintings from the Fall 2009 Axis Alley installations.

The paper was cut into the shapes of endangered plant species native to the Baltimore area, such as Virginia mallow and Striped gentian.

Nearby properties will be transformed by other artists in the coming weeks. If you are within hailing distance of Baltimore, please consider coming by for the opening alley walk on May 23, late afternoon. And hope for good weather!

Axis Alley Install This Weekend

2010-04-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Book Bombs has been busy cutting denim paper for our Axis Alley installation this weekend.

Artist Sarah Doherty has coordinated with the Baltimore Housing Authority and the Mayors City Council to utilize vacant properties in the Old Goucher neighborhood of Baltimore for site specific artworks. From the Axis Alley site: “Axis Alley seeks through creative engagement to utilize the backyards of vacant properties and vacant lots as a canvas for creative works that transform, activate and revitalize the overlooked, under-attended areas of Baltimore’s back alleys."

Book Bombs will be wheatpasting handmade denim paper cut into the shapes of endangered native plant species at the rear of 2212 N. Calvert:

The opening celebration for this and other installations at the rear of the 20xx-22xx blocks of N. Calvert St. will be on May 23, with a rain date of May 22, from 3pm to 6pm. (Check our blog, or the Axis Alley site, for updates.)

And look for some installation shots cropping up here next week!

Impractical Labor

2010-04-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Denim paper production is underway for an installation in a few weeks in Baltimore as part of the Axis Alley project. It's been a few months since Book Bombs has engaged in the pulpy side of production, and I was oh-so-ready to get my hands wet. While I got the vat set up, I was thinking of the absurd elements of the task we are undertaking: cutting up old jeans, pulling sheets of handmade paper, cutting this paper down by hand into the shapes of endangered native plant species, and wheat pasting all of this to the back of a building that will ultimately be demolished in a few months. The absurdity is heightened by the use of tools that were not designed for me: clumsily cutting rags using Michelle's large right-handed shears with my small left hand since I'd forgotten my own scissors, leaning into a too-tall vat to form sheets large enough to test the production limits of my five-foot frame. The labor is ultimately satisfying, but I couldn't help but think about the time in one's life of newly learning fine motor skills and constantly climbing up into kitchen chairs designed for humans twice one's size.

Look for more updates on the Axis Alley project soon, but this seems an appropriate time to share a link to Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts (ILSSA). ILSSA, instigated by our friends-in-labor Bridget Elmer and Emily Larned, serves as a point of solidarity for those of us who engage in obsolete technologies as a labor of love and perhaps compulsion.
ILSSA operates a listserv for communications amongst members. Union members also receive printed matter on a periodic basis from the ILSSA Research Institute (pictured above!). Their motto: "as long as it takes!" That sounds about right. Thanks for the solidarity, folks! Sometimes it really helps us get through the task at hand....

[posted by Local 215 Shop MT]

Book Bombs Exhibits and Artist Talks

2010-04-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

Book Bombs is pleased to announce two one-night only events in Philadelphia in the coming days.

Saturday, April 10, from 7-11pm, we will be participating in Acting Out, the first 2010 exhibition of the roving Homeskooled Gallery. The exhibit will feature documentation of recent Book Bombs print drops, alongside Michelle and Mary's independent zine work, alongside other artists. Acting Out will be held at “Mr. Mom,” 131 S. 50th Street in West Philadelphia. The exhibit signifies both HomeSkooled’s new, unconventional exhibition spaces and also themes of political and social “disobedience.” A local DJ and some drinks will enhance your artistic appreciation. Other artists include: Anonymous, Maisaloon Dias, Emily Smith Satis, Leslie Stickler. We hope you will come by and say hi!

Monday, April 12, Book Bombs will participate in the Plays & Players On Stage Philadelphia event. The complete suite of Book Bombs prints will be on display--again, for one night only--and we will give a brief artist talk as part of the evening's lineup of theatrical, dance, and other short performances. The program begins at 7pm at 1714 Delancey Place.

Final Zine Drops

2010-03-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

Zinebombstravaganza March 2010 wraps up this weekend.
Michelle ties one of the last zines to a bench in Logan Circle.

Mary hits Clark Park:

Rain Date!

2010-03-26T08:13:00.001-07:00

Hey, folks, Philadelphia is wet and the satellite still shows some more rain coming. Logan Circle zines are accordingly delayed until the rain stops and things dry out a bit. Take a look for them tomorrow, but in the meanwhile, come and get a dry copy at the Zine Release party at Nexus Gallery at the Crane Building tonight between 6 & 9!

Reading in the Park

2010-03-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

They're out.
The zine pictured here lives on a bench in Rittenhouse Square.

We found one of the early March mugwort prints still hanging from a bench, after all the rain of the past several weekends.

Making a Deal with the Weather

2010-03-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Book Bombs Zine #1 is ready for distribution...but we're not so sure about the park benches! Just a heads up that you may not see zines first thing Wednesday am, because we want those benches to dry off a bit for the zines make their way to them. They're not quite as tenacious as the paulownia and mugwort papers! But start looking for them in their scheduled locations by tomorrow evening....

Zine Bindathon!

2010-03-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

Following our evening of Print Bombing last First Friday (see post), Book Bombs has been copying, cutting, folding, and binding our first zine, Rooted Within, Book Bombs Issue #1. Zines will be bombed in various parks throughout Philadelphia, as well as distributed at our Zine Release Party at Nexus Foundation for Today's Art on March 26, from 6-9 PM. Join us for food, wine, and your own free copy of Rooted Within. The event is free and open to the public.

And thanks to Emily Currier of the Philadelphia City Paper, who joined us for both printing and bombing. Check our her coverage of our project here.

Nexus is located in the Crane Arts Building, located at 1400 North American Street in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia - diagonally across from an empty lot that Book Bombs harvested some of the plants used in our paper!

March Print Bombing

2010-03-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

This past First Friday, Book Bombs struck out on our third print bombing, striking in and around Rittenhouse Square, Louis Kahn Park, Christ Church Park, and various points in between. We were excited to see that despite time, over a foot of snowfall, and rain, that some of our February prints are still out there (see above). For larger images, click on the images.

And thanks to Emily Currier for the Philadelphia City Paper shout out - check it out here.

Finally, don't forget to march your calendars and join Book Bombs on March 26 from 6-9 at Nexus for our Zine Release Party!

Third Print Bombing and Upcoming Zine Release

2010-03-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

In another visit to that undisclosed West Philly location, Book Bombs printed the third print in our series this past weekend. Watch for us this First Friday as we once again bomb the city. This time, we will target areas in and around Rittenhouse Square, Louis Kahn Park, and Christ Church Park.

A preview of the print, printed on paper made from mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris).

In addition, stay tuned for the Book Bombs culmination - the zine bombings towards the end of this month! And join us at Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, located in the Crane Arts building at 1400 North American Street, from 6-9 PM on March 26 for our zine release party! While there, you can also check out numerous other Philagrafika exhibitions and events.

Thanks to Rebecca Gilbert and Nexus for this opportunity for Book Bombs.

The Tract House Comes to Philly

2010-02-18T11:52:00.001-08:00

Lisa Anne Auerbach's Tract House has come to Philly as part of the Out Of Print series for Philagrafika. Check it out at 231 North 3rd Street in Old City or visit it online here - and make sure to pick up a copy or download Book Bomber's Mary Tasillo's tract Slow Down.

Brooklyn Street Art Interviews Fauxreel - More Wheatpaste Art about the Homeless

2010-02-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn Street Art recently interviewed paste artist Fauxreel about his project "The Unaddressed," which focused on finding a way for the homeless community in Toronto to have a voice. For this project, he interviewed members of the homeless community, and created images of them holding signs that depict, "...messages that were counter to what is usually seen on panhandling signage today."

Fauxreel goes on to discuss the environment of the street, and how it naturally is a community space, and how street art affects the audience of the pedestrian. To read the interview and see more images by Fauxreel, visit here.

In Book Bombs news, our third print bombing is just around the corner! And mark your calendars for March 26, when we will be having our zine release party at Nexus during their Extra Dimensional Printmaking Exhibition!

Book Bombs and Mary Tasillo in Democratic Multiples

2010-02-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

Book Bombs and Bomber Mary Tasillo were recently part of the exhibition, Democratic Multiples, curated by Mandy Dunn and Lara Henderson. The exhibition, located in Gallery 224 at the University of the Arts, came down February 12, but here you can check out some of the artwork that was on display. Thanks to Mandy and Lara for including our project in their exhibition.

February Print Bombing

2010-02-06T18:56:00.001-08:00

During this country's infancy, Washington Square was a burial ground for Revolutionary soldiers, inmates from the Walnut Street Prison (no longer standing), and victims of the 1793 Yellow Fever outbreak. In 2010, as snow buried the city, Book Bombs struck out for our second First Friday print bombing. In addition to in and around Washington Square, we also hit Christ Church Park and various parts of Old City. Be on the lookout for these prints!

Printed on paper made from Paulownia tomentosa, an invasive plant originally from China, this print is a tribute to tenacity, both of individuals and of the city itself.

Due to weather conditions, a second print bombing may occur. More to watch for...

On Facebook? Become a fan of Book Bombs here.

February Bombing

2010-02-05T10:19:00.001-08:00

Book Bombs will be out tonight in Christ Church Park and Washington Square, as scheduled, in the snow distributing Print #2. Since we're expecting inches upon inches of snow in the coming hours, we'll save some for after the storm. Stay tuned for the date of more print drops...and maybe you'll find some prints in some more sheltered locations.

Also consider dropping by the Democratic Multiples show in Gallery 224 at the University of the Arts, 321 South Broad, opening 5:30-7:30 tonight, for a Book Bombs handout, and take a peek at our installation in the Window on Broad at street level. Mary has additional work in the Democratic Multiples exhibit, and Michelle has work in We and Stories, same time, same address, 6th floor Print gallery.

More photos coming soon.....

Print #2 Previewed

2010-02-01T20:35:00.001-08:00

Book Bombs sets up to print at an undisclosed shop in West Philadelphia.
Showing off the first pass, featuring Paulownia tomentosa on Paulownia tomentosa paper.
And pass number 2....
The prints await a layer of text...and distribution at the end of the coming week!

Book Bombs at Moore and the Window on Broad

2010-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

Book Bombs had a crazy and sleep-deprived start to their week yesterday with bombing installations at both the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery's Window on Broad and the Moore Art Shop.

For any of you who will be attending the Gala Opening of PHILAGRAFIKA 2010, please check out our bombing of the Moore Art Shop. And keep your eyes peeled for our second print drop coming the first week of February!

The Window on Broad is located at 333 South Broad Street, near the intersection of South Broad and Pine in Center City. The Moore Art Shop is located at 20th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near the intersection of 20th and Race.

Gaining Momentum

2010-01-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

Book Bombs continues to gain momentum. This week, watch for our installation in the Window on Broad, our bombing of the Moore Art Shop (thanks to Katie Van Vliet) and our upcoming second print drop.

The following weekend is the opening of PHILAGRAFIKA 2010, the international festival celebrating print in contemporary art of which Book Bombs is a part. To learn about other events, activities, and the opening weekend festivities, please visit here.

Book Bombs in the news

2010-01-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

Book Bombs has been honored this week with features in a number of news sources. They include Amze Emmons' post to the amazing blog Printeresting, a mention by Peter Crimmins on WHYY, and a short space in A.D. Amorosi's Icepack in the Philadelphia City Paper. Thanks to everyone who has helped us promote our project!

BIGA$$ PAPER!!!

2010-01-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, at an undisclosed Philadelphia location, Book Bombs poured the approximately 8' x 3' sheet of paper for our upcoming installation in Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery's Window on Broad. Below are examples of the fibers when wet and dry.

We will be installing in the Window next week -- check back here for images. The Window is located at 333 South Broad Street in Center City, Philadelphia, at the University of the Arts. And don't forget to keep your eyes peeled the first week of February for the next installment in our series of public prints!

As a final note, Book Bombs extends its thanks and appreciation to the magnificent Lori Spencer, who invited us to exhibit in the Window. Thanks so much for thinking of us.

The Brothers

2010-01-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

This portrait comes to us from Marianne Bernstein, who was responsible for the Welcome House in Love Park (see October posts).

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008
Day one with THE BROTHERS
Lunchtime, Independence Hall Park, Philly

Beckett’s Estragon and Vladimir, Brothers Karamazov, Cain and Abel, Tom and Dick Smothers, the Marx Brothers all come to mind, but these two brothers prefer to be anonymous.

For the past three years, they’ve been sharing the same bench under the same tree in Independence Park. I sat on their bench last weekend to grasp the view. One hundred year old trees, an expanse of well kept grass and planted beds, plenty of pigeons and squirrels to feed, and a steam vent that keeps them warm when the weather drops suddenly.
Like it did yesterday.

They said you can come talk to us but we don’t want our picture taken.

The brothers have been sleeping outside the past few nights. It’s been so cold that the shelters are over-flooded. Hundreds of people in line waiting for a cot and a meal last night and they wanted none of that.
Bernard morphs into Marlon Brando, quoting lines from On the Waterfront. Were you ever an actor, I asked him? He’s got the Brando voice down perfectly. I wonder if he’s Italian?

Bernard’s Sony radio is working again. A few days ago he told me he had dropped it and it was only playing the Spanish station. His older brother, Bill turned the dial to 134.0 am (Bernard winked and said that number was his brother’s IQ.) Sinatra started crooning. Bill sang along and held my gaze as he sang. But he wasn’t flirting. He’s a Scorpio (I asked him) and I’m married to one. I know those eyes, they burn right through you.
Bernard (the Libra) is the sweet one. He told me people think he looks like Willie Nelson and he does a little. Actually Bill said, I’m the one who looks like Willie Nelson and I thought, yeah, you do too. Of course you both do, you’re brothers. Opposite sides of the same coin.

Hasta la vista baby, sayonara, get the hint—Bill said a few times and it actually hurt my feelings, but I laughed it off. I think he was just trying to test me and didn’t like that I came just to ask about taking their photo.
Bill also told me not to whine, when I said pleeeeezzz.
I apologized. He’s right.

Bill says Bernard is the smart one. B didn’t do well in school and plays dumb, but he’s funny as all get out and likes to play mind games. At one point he answered my question in an odd fashion, and as I was trying to figure out if he was a little crazy.
Bernard said don’t do that, I hate when he does that. He’s just saying the words to a song.

We talked about the squirrels. B said that they come by and beg with their little paws in the air, for scraps of food. Every morning the brothers watch the same squirrel cross Walnut Street and the brothers cover their eyes, wincing, bracing themselves in fear of a car running over him.
Bernard loves animals. There was a cat who came daily and hung out with them and they thought she was a stray until one day her owner came and said her cat doesn’t like to come home anymore because she prefers their company. I asked Bill if he gave her milk. He said, she just eats whatever we’re eating. Which seems to be plenty. Bags of sandwiches that don’t need to be refrigerated because it’s winter.

Bill found a 100 dollar bill last week. He broke it up into 20’s. When I left he said, don’t tell any of the other homeless people that I have money on me.

Bill told me the guy who runs the shelter they stayed at for three months loves to give everyone nicknames. Last year, there was Buddha, Moses, and Jesus. He said Jesus looked just like his namesake, used to be a professor and now spends all his time reading at the Public Library. The brothers have nicknames for passerbyes. Two park rangers who work and walk the beat together, one skinny and one fat- they call number #10. So what’s my nickname going to be? I asked them.

Dorothy, the older one said- and laughed. And Buddy (my dog) is Toto. The two of them laughed hard. You dropped in and transported us somewhere magical. I said I think it’s the other way around.

More Bombs

2010-01-12T08:25:00.001-08:00

Book Bombs - Our First Bombing

2010-01-08T07:39:00.001-08:00

Under the cover of darkness, Book Bombs donned our thermal underwear and struck out for the first print bombing, striking in and around Love Park, Logan Circle, and Christ Church Park. As you happen on these locations, keep your eyes peeled for our prints. More images to come. . . .

This week's printing

2010-01-05T22:07:00.000-08:00

Here they come. On Friday look for Book Bombs prints in Christ Church Park at 2nd and Market, Love Park, and Logan Circle...and possibly popping up in a few other locations as well.

First Print Drop Approaches

2009-12-31T07:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from Book Bombs! 2010's arrival means it is time for the bombing of the prints to begin.... Friday, January 8 will be the first installment. Check back next week for more details on where to look for them.

In the meanwhile, in that last end-of-year rush of donation requests, I'd like to recommend throwing some fiscal support in the direction of Project H.O.M.E. to support their comprehensive services towards empowering those who find themselves without a home.

This Paper is a Shirt

2009-12-16T19:43:00.001-08:00

Finally Book Bombs is nearing the first printing. In preparation for this first print, we cut up old shirts and pants:

and then paper pulped them:

Keep an eye peeled for more on the printing, and at long last, the distribution....

What are your interactions with and as the homeless?

2009-12-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

Book Bombs wants to know, what are your interactions or non-interactions with the homeless, or as the homeless? What stories, opinions, thoughts, experiences (good or bad), are you willing to share?

Post a comment here or email us at bookbombing (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks!

Craft Night Invasion

2009-11-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

This past week, Book Bombs invaded Craft Night at Katie's - Katie Baldwin's weekly studio gathering for arts and crafts. Our invasion focused on cutting up clothing to later be pulped for papermaking purposes. Our first print bombings will be printed on paper made from clothing and blankets, items that can alternately represent luxury or survival, allowing the actual fibers of our paper to embody the printed content. Some of our cuttings can be seen above.

In other news, the website for Mark/Remarque, the 2010 Southern Graphics Conference in Philadelphia is now live. Check out the upcoming demos and panels, particularly those featuring Book Bomber Mary Tasillo. Book Bombs will also be hosting a zine release party during the event, all are welcome to come get a free copy of the zine we will be producing as part of this project!

Philly Program to Prevent Foreclosures

2009-11-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia's government is typically described as corrupt and disorganized, and that's when people are being polite. However, once in a while, Philly gets it right. Philadelphia's primary civil court has now adopted rules that state that no home may be foreclosed on and sold by the Sheriff's office with out a "conciliation conference," in which homeowners and lenders - such as Bank of America representatives - sit down face-to-face and create a workable compromise. Every homeowner facing foreclosure is provide counseling, and in some cases, a volunteer lawyer.

The plan has its critics, mostly that say the city is just prolonging the inevitable, but cities across the US are considering adopting the Philadelphia plan.

The New York Times covered this issue, providing a history of the plan's development, implementation, and criticism. To read the article, visit here.

Urban Invasives are Hot!

2009-11-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

Watch out folks; paper from invasives is the next in thing. Reports are that Duke Riley's engraving in the New Prints 2009/Autumn show at the International Print Center New York is printed on paper made from phragmites. Incidentally phragmites were one of the first invasives to come to my attention after my sister came back from marine biology camp in high school. She was obsessed with them, and pointed them out everywhere. We were both obsessed with saying the word "phrag-mit-e." Evidently these invasives are found throughout Central Park in New York City. Thanks to Printeresting for the tip, and for the following visual aids:

Gearing up for January Print Bombings

2009-11-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Carving began this week on the first print of the Book Bombs project. The first print bombings will appear in Love Park and Christ Church Park on First Friday, January 8. As we gear up for Philagrafika 2010, check out Book Bombs and other upcoming independent projects here.

A Different Sort of Book Bomb

2009-11-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

Check out Gregory Green's Book Bomb #8.

Thanks to Suzanne Fischer for the tip on the write up on the Hilobrow site.

Greetings from the Welcome House (part 2)

2009-11-09T08:55:00.001-08:00

Book Bombs is featured in the video "Greetings from the Welcome House," currently on view till December 30 in the Cafe Gallery at the Painted Bride Art Center. The Painted Bride is located at 230 Vine Street in Old City, Philadelphia. Hope you can stop by!

Greetings from the Welcome House

2009-11-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

Join Book Bombs this Friday, November 6, from 5-7 PM at the Painted Bride for screenings of Greetings from the Welcome House, the documentation of the October Welcome House event in Love Park. Book Bombs is much obliged to Ricardo Rivera for capturing our day of public paper art so beautifully.

The video will be on display through the end of December in the Cafe Gallery. The Welcome House structure itself will be on view in the exhibition Shelter, also on view through the end of the year at the Painted Bride. The Bride is located at 230 Vine Street in Old City, Philadelphia.

Happy Halloween: Love Pumpkin

2009-11-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

Mary imagined that this pumpkin just a block up the street from her house had been carved expressly for her--or maybe for the folks in Love Park.

Exhibition Advocating for the Homeless

2009-10-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

The Brossman Miller Gallery and the Cora Miller Gallery in Wolf Hall at York College currently have the exhibitions, "Give and Take," and "Nowhere to Lay His Head" on display. The first is a group exhibition, an interactive, living exhibition about cooperation and reciprocity in which a group of artists have created works dealing with ideas such as meeting the needs of others and having one’s own needs met, ridding oneself of excess, and addressing problems communally and individually. The artists are free to interpret these themes or introduce new ones, and visitors will be asked to participate in the life of the project as well. Exhibitors include Jane Craven, Alex Gartelmann, Melody Martin, Joanna Platt, Melanie Rodgers, JoAnne Schiavone and Katie VanVliet.

"Nowhere to Lay His Head," is a solo exhibition by Matthew Works. Works is an artist, writer and activist for the homeless who has lived in Boston for 30 years, the last 13 of which have been spent “on the streets.” When security tightened after the Sept. 11 attacks and the Boston police began to crack down on the homeless population more than usual, Works began responding to an increasing number of invitations to speak and exhibit his artwork around the country. Since beginning his “Cross Country Speaking Tours” and “Traveling Art Shows,” he has built a following at many colleges, universities and churches as an artist and “theologian in residence.”

To read the entire press release, or find out more about the exhibitions, please visit here.

Collecting Clothing

2009-10-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia Friends,
If anyone has any large coats, blankets, sweatpants, hoodies, or knit caps they don't need anymore, Marianne Bernstein is trying to gather 20 of everything for the friends we made in Love Park during the Welcome House residency who need them for the winter. She is collecting them at the Painted Bride, or if you pass them to Book Bombs and we will get them there. Contact us at bookbombing(at)gmail(dot)com if are interested in donating.

Thanks,
Book Bombs

Book Bombs heads south!

2009-10-22T09:18:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, Book Bombs flew the city to Atlanta, GA, to join other papermakers at the Friends of Dard Hunter Conference. At the event, Book Bomber Mary Tasillo gave the talk,"Slow Papermaking," as part of the Papermaking and Sustainable Art Practices panel, where she discussed the Book Bombs project. Also on the panel were Patterson Clark and Zina Castanuela.

The countdown to Philagrafika 2010 has begun -- check out our page on their site here. And keep your eyes peeled come January as Book Bombs makes appearances around Philadelphia...

The Welcome House at Night

2009-10-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

After dark, the Welcome House has been transforming into a glowing video cube, documenting the daytime events. Here are some still images of the video about Book Bombs Shelter by the amazing Ricardo Rivera of klip collective.

Thanks once again to everyone who came out and participated. And a special thanks to Marianne Bernstein and Angela Jerardi who made the Welcome House happen!

Book Bombs Shelter

2009-10-12T14:07:00.001-07:00

We would like to thank everyone who came on out to Love Park to participate in Book Bombs Shelter at the Welcome House last week! Above, you can see the final installation. Below are some images of the participants and the work they produced.

For more images of the day, please visit here.

In November, the pieces produced as part of Book Bombs Shelter will travel to the Cafe Gallery at the Painted Bride Art Center to be part of an exhibition documenting the works produced at the Welcome House. The Painted Bride is located at 230 Vine Street in Old City, Philadelphia. All are welcome - and we hope to see you there!

Come on out on Friday

2009-10-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Welcome House project is now underway, with residencies each day in Love Park and an opening party tonight from 7-10.

Please come by on Friday between 10 and 6 (or so) to make your own print in handmade paper pulp and contribute to an amazing community installation.

THE WELCOME HOUSE PROJECT

2009-09-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Philadelphia’s First Person Arts Festival is proud to host BOOK BOMBS as part of the Welcome House Project. BOOK BOMBS is a collaboration between artists Mary Tasillo and Michelle Wilson. The Welcome House is a 10 foot by 10 foot transparent cube installed in Philadelphia’s own Love Park, featuring artist projects by day and video of the day’s activities by night. On October 9, 2009, as part of their daylong residency, BOOK BOMBS will utilize handmade paper and community participation to create a site-specific one-night installation called Book Bombs Shelter. This event is free and open to the public.

BOOK BOMBS is a collaborative, site-based zine project examining Philadelphia parks and benches as social spaces, shelters, and art galleries, and will culminate next year as a component of PHILAGRAFIKA 2010. As part of Book Bombs Shelter, Tasillo and Wilson invite the population of Love Park, including office workers, skateboarders, protesters, passers-by, and the homeless, to create works in handmade paper about Love Park. The resulting papers will be attached while still wet to the interior of the Welcome House, creating an evolving visual conversation about the nature of urban public space in general and Love Park in particular. In addition, the pieces will be documented on the project blog, and used as material for the upcoming zine publication about shelter, homelessness, and urban space during PHILAGRAFIKA 2010.

The Welcome House is a project conceived and curated by artist Marianne Bernstein and presented by First Person Arts in collaboration with InLiquid.com. Designed to re-imagine art spaces, art practice, and community engagement, artists were invited to propose one-day residencies using the space as a nexus for public interaction. All daytime events will be filmed by klip collective videographer Ricardo Rivera and projected onto the cube at night for public viewing. Following the project will be an exhibition of the works created in the Welcome House at the Painted Bride Art Center, located at 230 Vine Street in Philadelphia, in November 2009. The exhibition will remain on display during the First Person Arts Festival and through the end of 2009.

SUGGESTED LISTING;

October 9, 2009: Book Bombs Shelter, collaborative public art project by Mary Tasillo and Michelle Wilson, part of the Welcome House Project. Love Park, 15^th and JFK Boulevard, Philadelphia. Free and open to the public.

How Does a City Close Its Parks?

2009-09-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Readers in Philadelphia are all too aware of the precarious state of the City at this moment. Without the State's approval of a budget for the current year, and of a temporary sales tax hike for the City of Philadelphia, we are due to go to Budget Plan C in a scant few weeks, with lay-off notices going out tomorrow. This budget calls for the closing of park services and libraries, and social service agencies receiving City funding have been affected for months - shuttering the spaces that provide safe havens and support for those without a safety net. And editorial on Philly.com today asks: How exactly do parks close? Does it mean we can't sit on a bench? This editorial, "Plan C: Who's Going to Kill the Rats?" goes on to point out the lack of a plan involved in Budget Plan C, which calls for cuttings and closings, but doesn't tell citizens anything about how life will function without its courts or timed traffic lights or its park services.

Coming out of this legislative disaster, we need a movement to hold our legislators, who just got back from a paid vacation while small businesses and non-profits have gone unpaid, accountable. They should not be getting paid while other citizens are not.

Mugwort Paper (Part 2)

2009-08-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

To make mugwort paper, we first cooked the stems in soda ash (see above). While they were cooking, a load of abaca was beaten. At the end of the beating, the cooked fibers were well rinsed and then added to the load. Below, Mary forms a sheet.

Below, the results of the paper when dried:

Mugwort Paper

2009-08-18T20:49:00.001-07:00

Mugwort-abaca paper.

Michelle lets a freshly made sheet drain.

"Tramps Sleeping on Park Bench"

2009-08-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection, no date

The YARNBOMBERS, a tribute

2009-08-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

Book Bombs was inspired in part by a group of yarn/graffiti artists from the UK who call themselves the Yarnbombers. This brief post is just an acknowledgment to them and their amazing work.

The Wall Street Journal: Tolerating the Tent Cities

2009-08-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Levitz has just published an article in The Wall Street Journal discussing the new wave of "Hoovervilles" -- tent cities that are not only increasing in many cities, but even being tolerated by them. They are not universally accepted, however, many cities are now recognizing that their homeless shelters are at their maximum capacity -- Levitz refers to one in California that turns away 350 people a night. Some cities are even going so far as to provide PortaPotties and showers. The article includes a slideshow of one of the tent cities in the Nashville, TN area.

To read the article, visit here.

Princess Tree Harvest

2009-08-10T14:53:00.001-07:00

Princess tree (paulownia tomentosa) is a native plant of western and central China. First introduced to the United States around 1840 as an ornamental plant, it is still sold as such today, as well as being grown in plantations and harvested for export to Japan.

However, the plant is an aggressive invasive that thrives in disturbed areas, and has spread along the East Coast and in some areas of the West. It spreads by both seeds and root. Root sprouts can grow more than 15 feet in a single season.

Like Mugwort, Princess tree has a number of uses. And like mugwort, we are harvesting it from empty lots in order to make paper. Below, Mary sits with our harvest.

Despite small quarters, we managed to spread out the leaves and stems to dry before being made into paper -- see below. On the right is my new beater. It has been suggested to us that Princess tree may need to be de-barked before cooking and processing. As our research progresses, we will have to decide how we plan to process it.

All of our Princess tree was harvested from a large empty lot that sits between Thompson and Master and American and North 2nd Streets -- across from what is now the Crane Arts Building. This lot formerly was the home of a bar and a junkyard that had been labeled a Superfund site. Now a sign proclaims, "Luxury Townhomes Coming Soon!"

Right now the lot sits empty and overgrown. It reminds me how quickly and dramatically Philadelphia can change. Depending on what direction I walk from my home, I encounter public sculpture, empty lots, murals, drug dealers, art galleries, community gardens, graffiti, night clubs, liter, churches, mosques, all within a few blocks. Philadelphia literally changes from block to block, crossing one street can take you into a completely different situation. However, these various worlds can live side by side and never interact.

NY Times: Homelessness is a Crime

2009-08-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Barbara Ehrenreich recently published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times about a growing trend: in many cities, it is a crime to be poor. For instance, sleeping on the sidewalk or a park bench is against the law in many cities, yet those same cities are closing homeless shelters due to the budget crisis. She reveals the continous circles that entrap many of our poor and leave them no way out or up.

To read her article, visit here.

Mugwort Harvest

2009-08-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

Mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris) is a common invasive weed that is found alongside roads and in abandoned lots. It is one of the most prolific weeds found in unmaintained spaces in North Philadelphia.

Mugwort has a number of uses, including Chinese medicine. However, most notably for Book Bombs, its stems can be made into paper. This plant was harvested in order to make the paper for some of the prints that will be part of the Book Bombs series. Through this, imagery and the paper itself will combine to tell a narrative of the cityscape, both its manicured and neglected spaces.

The stems will be stripped of leaves and roots, and all materials that cannot be made into paper will be composted.

A (brief) project overview

2009-07-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

Book Bombs is a site-based zine project to be held in conjunction with Philagrafika 2010, an international festival of contemporary art taking place in Philadelphia January through April of 2010.

Michelle Wilson of Rocinante Press and Mary Tasillo of Citizen Hydra Projects join forces to pepper public spaces of Philadelphia with a series of prints and zines examining the park bench as social space, home, and art gallery. Locations will include Christ Church Park, Washington Square Park, Logan Circle, and more. Keep your eyes peeled for more information in the coming months, or subscribe to our RSS feed to be certain not to miss anything!