Madison Courier, Madison, Indiana (9–26-2015)
45th Madison Chautauqua Festival of Art
Artist Profile: Alice Jane Smith
By Brett Eppley
Looking around her home studio and the works that fill it, it’s clear that Alice Jane Smith finds inspiration in lots of things.
It’s a colorful space with all of the papers and fabrics dyed with different techniques from across the globe. Stacks of paper that will eventually become covers for her handmade books read like a traveler’s journal.
Or maybe a birdwatcher.
Smith’s Birdsong Book Arts already supplies a few downtown Madison stores with her pieces, but 2015 will be her first time showing at the Chautauqua. Smith said she first started making books in 2009 after attending workshops on the subject, but things really started to take off in 2011 when she retired.
“I just got hooked,” she said. “I love the whole process of doing it.”
Of course, it’s not just one process.
Smith’s books come in just about any color you might imagine made with dying processes such as Japanese suminigashi, batik and marbling. Some book covers have also been folded to create pattern and texture.
Adding to each book’s uniqueness, the type of binding. Some are closed in a more traditional style, and some are open giving a more rustic appearance.
Smith said she’s always been a reader and kept a journal, so books just came naturally. More recently, she’s added fabrics including scarves and banners to her collection.
The former therapist also has been working on a number of prints using leaves, dye and salt. Just last year, one of her prints won the award for best mixed media at the regional art fair sponsored by the Madison Art Club.
“I’ve been learning more, and I just love it,” she said.
Smith, who is a member of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen and an Indiana Artisan, said she is excited to exhibit her work at the Chautauqua and other arts festivals this fall. She will have scarves, nature inspired prints and, of course, her books.
For more information, visit www.birdsongbookarts.org.
From the website of Indiana Artisan (2016)
“Indiana Artisan defines ‘art’ broadly, and the store defines the best in art and fine craft coming from Indiana today. A handmade Adirondack-style willow bench from Willow by Greg Adams and a stunning five-shelf, four-wood display unit by Darin Caldwell Designs complement a Shaker-style rocker by Pete Baxter Woodworks that is home to one of several leather pillows by Anita Hopper’s ReFind Originals. Megan Winn’s leather-bound journals, photo albums and notebooks and more are alongside the beautiful handmade paper journals by Alice Jane Smith’s Birdsong Book Arts.”
RoundAbout Madison, Madison, Indiana, 9/26/15
Madison Chautauqua Guide
Ageless Art Form
Madison’s Smith to feature books and decorative paper
By Helen E. McKinney
Book artist Alice Jane Smith of Madison, Ind., has created a distinctive business from a combination of her love of books, music and birds. Her one-of-a-kind journals honor the centuries old tradition of crafting fine books by hand.
“I’ve always loved books,” said Smith, a former therapist and newspaper writer. When she retired in 2011 as a therapist at a mental health center, she decided the time was right to embark upon her dream of running her own small business.
A native of Franklin, Ind., Smith attended the first of several bookmaking workshops in 2009 at Larkspur Press in Monterey, Ky. From instructors Gray Zeitz and Carolyn Whitesel, Smith learned to make books and decorate paper.
In addition to learning from workshops given at Larkspur Press, Smith also attended workshops at Pygmalion Arts Supplies in Bloomington, Ind., and the John C. Campbell Folk Art School in Brasstown, N.C. At the latter school, instructor Arianne King Comer inspired smith to branch out into batik, fabric and Yoruba Nigerian design.
Smith will be participating as an exhibitor in her first Madison Chautauqua Festival of Art this year with her business, Birdsong Book Art. Located in Booth 516 on Elm Street, she will be selling her hand-crafted journals.
Smith makes her handsewn books using papers decorated with eastern and western techniques.
Included are marbling, suminigashi, katazome, paste papers, nature-dye-salt printing, batik and stamping. She uses decorative papers from other countries as well.
Suminigashi is the oldest form of marbling, originating in China more than 2,000 years ago before becoming known in Japan. The technique of marbling has been practiced since the 15th Century.
In the technique of katazome, the paper is folded and dipped into various dyes. When unfolded, repetitive patterns are created on the page.
Smith is fond of batik, an ancient art form dating in some form to the Phoenicians, China, Egypt, India, Greece, Peru, the Roman Empire and early Christians.
Some of the processes used to decorate her paper are also used to make paintings that can be framed and hung of the wall. These mixed media are known as dye and salt nature printing.
These creations draw on the work of artist L. K. Ludwig. Natural items such as leaves, fruits, feathers, grasses and flowers can be cut and pressed into cold dyes painted onto paper and highlighted with salt.
Smith said her business grew from her love of books, music and birds. She wanted to preserve the tradition of journal writing, something that has been part of her family for many years. She crafts several different styles of journals.
Each book is bound by hand, using a variety of techniques, including Japanese stab-binding, Coptic binding, long-stitch and cross-bound techniques.
Traditional Japanese bindings use a stab stitch to bind the pages and cover together. These journals are stitched on the outside and open “like a photo album. They are very elegant,” Smith said.
The Coptic stitch is made with a curved needle, giving the book a flexible spine that is unsupported by paper or boards, only by threads. “The book opens flat. It’s nice for journal writing,” Smith said.
She is very pleased to have been juried into Indiana Artisan this spring. “It’s comparable to Kentucky’s Kentucky Crafted: The Market.” Last summer, she juried into the Kentucky Guild for Artists and Craftsmen.
Smith sells her work at three local businesses in Madison: Cultivate at 108 E. Main St., Ditto’s at 135 E. Main St., and Village Lights Bookstore at 110 E. Main St. Kelly Misamore, owner of Cultivate, has carried Smith’s journals for about one year.
“They are well received by customers,” said Misamore. “They appreciate the fine craftsmanship.”
Misamore said she has known Smith for some time, and once she realized Smith produced a hand-crafted trade, she thought the journals were “a good match” for her nature-themed store. “She has a fine skill and has taken time to learn it,” she said of Smith’s work.
Each journal is “personal and intimate. It is a special journal for someone to carry with them for a lifetime. It’s like they carry a little piece of Alice with them.”
All of Smith’s work is “functional. I try to make it elegant. I put end papers between the cover and first pages. These are good quality papers that are acid free.”
Along her creative journey, Smith also attended Indiana University, where she studied photography with Henry Holmes Smith and C. J. Pressma. She earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, studying with William Wilson. She has kept a journal since the mid-1960’s.
Smith plans to also exhibit in the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen 2015 Fall Fair on Oct. 10-11 in Berea, Ky.