Last spring, in the "trough of sorrow", when I doubted absolutely everything I was doing, I got an email from Janine Vangool, editor of UPPERCASE Magazine. She was including my collections in her new Compendium of Craft and Creativity.
Janine's email stated that The UPPERCASE Compendium of Craft & Creativity would collect the most inspiring work of the past few years into a beautiful print publication. Rich with stories of the makers, it would include interviews, studio tours and delve into the creative process. She also noted:
"When it comes to craft and the independent maker movement, however, there is no annual to celebrate and document all the amazing talent and beautiful products being made each year. Across the Internet, there are blog posts, websites, and Etsy listings, but these are scattered and fleeting. Items are sold, sites are updated, and blog posts quickly get buried by the latest thing. We're so busy looking for what's new that there isn't time to appreciate what we've already done."
The book arrived this week and opening it took me back to the first day of my advanced chemistry class in high school. I was, like, wait, these are my classmates? I'm in a class with these people? How in heaven's name will I keep up?
I love this book, and not just because I'm in it. (Okay, yeah, a lot because I'm in it. Pages 309-313.) Janine can manipulate paper and her Compendium features a unique dust jacket that can be reconfigured in four different ways. Each volume is tied up with colorful yarn. Inside, the contents blew me away. So many talented folk making incredible things. Is this handmade goodness a response to the mass-production age?
Anyway, if you know of a budding artist, a closet craftsman, a passionate crafter, this book would make an inspiring gift. I gifted this to myself with the result that the nervous ninny in my head has been silenced. Tonight, I'm sleeping with the book under my pillow. You think I'm kidding but I'm not.
