A Class with Miriam Schaer

Do you know Miriam Schaer's elegant installation and bookwork? I've followed her for some years now and so was thrilled when, in conjunction with Raw Beauty at the Princeton Art Center, she offered a class called Wearable Books.

Thrilling, really. We played with paint and paper and the concept of creating small books as pieces to be worn. Size, in this case, doesn't matter - some of us worked very large!).

One of my fellow students stack of scrolls. To be worn as a necklace.

I like working small so was content with that.

Today, I worked (played, really) with the small books I'd started and an idea began to emerge from this "sketching." Stacking, sewing and rolling one bead-like book and then another (and another), I found myself pulling out silky ribbon and tying the scroll-beads closed

neatly with a bow. And then: how easy that is to do to women. We say of small girls: she's a sweetheart - even though she may not be. And so, what is wrong with saying "She's a corker, that one!" I'd rather she was a corker, a character, a tough cookie. She'll go far.

And so sketches grow into thoughts and thoughts, well we should let them continue to move.

I'll be posting more about the idea of using sketches in different media over at The Sketchbook Challenge in the next couple of days. Will add the links back here.