We are old, Father William...

Issue #13, a zine, "No One Tells You When to Shout", has finally begun shipping. Which is to say, put in envelopes, sent to subscribers.

“The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.”

 Hannah Arendt, quoted by Lyndsey Stonebridge

 

“Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one's nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one's robes.”

 James Baldwin, from The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction,

1948-1985

 

 

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

    When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

    But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,  

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—

I know why the caged bird sings!

from “Sympathy”, a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)

 

 

 

So, I say to you, as others have told to me, hold fast to what is good, and

seek to return no one evil for evil.

Strengthen the faint-hearted, support the weak, help the suffering.

Let each of us not be proud, but instead welcome help when

we are in need.

Let us always honor all people, tempering justice with mercy, as we

indeed desire for ourselves. Find something sacred in

the abstract nakedness of being human.

 

 

 

Lara Scott             metamer@protonmail.com

The Metamer Quarterly, Issue #13 “No One Tells You When To Shout”

https://themetamerquarterly.blogspot.com/

Buy stamps, send mail, be of good cheer

You are old, Father William...
The press is great fun, also for generating collage material.

If you were to receive a zine in the mail, randomly, without requesting it, how would you feel?

(Please support the post office. One of our few genuinely publicly accessible institutions.)

In bits and pieces

Well, it is the start of Year Four of The Metamer Quarterly. From inside the paused NY state, I am trying out the Vandercook Proof Press that we brought from Colorado, and trying to restart the Metamer. For now, I am circling. Making 6 x 6 squares as an exercise in discipline.

TMQ at Spring Writes Literary Festival in Ithaca, NY

The Metamer Quarterly is on the road again, headed to Ithaca, NY, on Sunday, May 5th, to lead a workshop with Kate Blackwood, frequent contributor and collaborator.

11:00am - 12:00pm @ Tompkins Center for History & Culture, 2nd Floor Conference Room **

Workshop: Book + Art: Make a book and write a poem to go inside

A workshop for those who love to write and make things. Write an original poem or flash story following an in-workshop prompt, or revise a piece of writing you've already started. Then make a book using one of three simple techniques. Formats will be appropriate for beginners, but interesting enough for pros! The final step is to place your writing in your book and take it with you: a new, complete piece of literary art. It's a done-in-a-day version of the artist's book project The Metamer Quarterly lead by the Metamer's founder, artist Lara Scott, and a frequent contributor, writer Kate Blackwood. All book-making materials will be provided. You just bring the words. (**For workshops in the 2nd floor conference room, we ask that you arrive a few minutes early to ensure we have enough seating for all participants!)


More information here:
http://artspartner.org/content/view/spring-writes

a note about our location:
Tompkins Center for History and Culture, 110 N. Tioga Street. This is on the Commons, to the left of M&T Bank. There will be signs as you enter the building pointing you to the Gallery/Program Room and the elevator to the 2nd Floor Conference Room. 

The Metamer Quarterly Has a Storefront on Zazzle

The Metamer Quarterly Store is now live. Cards, so you can send a bit of the Metamer to a friend. If you have suggestions for images, or items, please do let me know.

The Metamer Quarterly Store

Issue #8 of The Metamer Quarterly

Issue #8 ships soon. And Issue #9 will follow shortly after. For more information, please email Lara Scott at metamer@protonmail.com

or drop me a snail mail line -- send to

The Metamer Quarterly
PO Box 725
Sherburne NY 13460

summer

The Metamer Quarterly goes on tour

Well, The Metamer, as friends have taken to calling it, hopes to tour. This weekend I am heading to a fair sponsored by the Western New York Book Arts Center (WNYBAC) in Buffalo. It will be the first art book fair for the Quarterly, as I usually call it.

Here's the postcard I am taking with me.















And here is some of the information on the back. Yes, there will be a Year Three.

deadline extended!

Those who have ever made an appointment to meet up with me knows that I am almost always late. Even notoriously late folks become prompt in my presence, in deference to my superior tardiness. So who am I to stick to a deadline, or to rigidly enforce it?

So, there is still time to send in a submission -- a diagram of a soccer play, or a hockey play, or the batting list from your last best game, or a poem, or a shopping list, or a drawing, or a cartoon, a comic, anything that can be printed in b&w -- for Issue #6 of The Metamer Quarterly.

Send it to me, Lara Scott, at P.O. Box 725, Sherburne, NY, 13460, by Feb 10th.

Please do!

And here's a glamour shot of issue #5,

and a line from Carrie Newcomer:

"The curious promise of limited time."

No Subject

Issue #5, Time, has shipped.

Five issues complete, and three more to go. Whether The Metamer Quarterly will continue for a third year, I do not yet know.

I've been requesting submissions for Issue #6, No Subject. Anyone can send something in. I guarantee that I will put at least one of your works, whether a b&w drawing, or a piece of writing, in the issue. If you send more, I might include more, depending on the final portfolio of material.

Can you submit anonymously, in the event that you are worried about preserving your professional reputation in another area? Absolutely. Can you publish under your full name, because you would like to add to your publishing record? Again, yes!

Please send your submissions to the usual address (see below); handwritten is fine.

L Scott / The Metamer Quarterly
P.O. Box 725
Sherburne, NY, 13460

Please send by February 5th.

Need some prompts? See below:

1. Write an acrostic on any of the five previous subjects of The Metamer Quarterly. (Metamerism, Maps and Diagrams, the Book of Love, The Sea, or Time) An acrostic is a form "in which the first letter of each line makes a word or message that relates in some way to the poem's subject." (Michael Ann Courtney)

2. Three stanzas that can be sung to the tune of Amazing Grace. Or the theme to Gilligan's Island. Each stanza must contain one of the following words: fjord, platonic, tympanum, bower, telos, widdershins, buoy, loupe, quark, haver, soothe

3. A haiku containing at least two words from the list above.

4. Write a poem of 18 to 32 lines about a family member who meets a famous person. (this exercise stolen from MAC, who stole it from David Wojahn.)

5. An Then / Now poem. 4 to 8 lines, in pairs that begin:

"I used to......
But now I ....."

An alternate version:

"I used to be like....
But now I am...."

6. Draw a map of the dark side of the moon.

7. Diagram any sentence in this post.

8. Draw a picture illustrating or prompted by any three or more words from list above.

9. Submit a brief news report on anything that happened to you in 2017.

10. Draw a map of how to get from where you lived when you were seven, to where you live now.

11. Explain the theory of relativity.

12. List the five most important questions to ask when purchasing a mode of transport.

Little pies

At work on Issue  #5, Time. Baking little  π

Shibugami, star maps, continuous improvement

Earlier this year I purchased some shibugami, because it was described as the stencil paper used to make Katazome-shi, the beautiful stencil dyed papers:

http://www.japanesepaperplace.com/images/products/katazomeshi/bigkatazomeshi/124w.jpg

https://www.washiarts.com/katazome-shi/katazome-shi-152-hand-stenciled-japanese-paper

It is a stiff, slightly leathery paper, that the store in Toronto made sure to interleave with protective paper, to guard my other papers. I tucked it away, and just fantasized about the fabulous designs I would one day carve into it.

And then, contemplating the seven gold leaf star maps I needed to make, I remembered it. And putting it together with my Japanese hole punch...

https://www.hollanders.com/index.php/bookbinding-supplies/small-tools/hole-punches/japanese-hole-punch.html

...I realized I could stencil my gold leaf size right onto the metallic blue background! Combining three arduous steps into one easy step! I danced a little jig! I punched the air repeatedly, and did another little jig!

And here is the result:

I will be putting a couple versions into the Earlville Opera House sale in the next week. And, feel free to contact me if you would like to order one. 

Happy Holidays.

time it was and what a time it was it was

photograph by Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1925-1972), an optician and photographer, who lived and worked in Northern Kentucky.  He is a hero of mine.

Time has a deadline

October 16, 2017

Issue #5, Time, has a deadline.

The Metamer Quarterly's New Year has begun. Time is the first issue of Year #2, and will ship on Dec 22.

If you would like a copy, please send your check for $95 by October 30th.

For Year Two, if you would like 2 of the 4 issues, the cost is $ 170. For three issues, the cost is $ 255. For all four, it is $ 340. Please do tell me which issues you want!

Please send checks to PO Box 725, Sherburne, NY 13460

Perks are still shipping; I will just keep plugging away until everyone has gotten their items. Thank you again for your patience.

As I did in Year One, I will post images of the process, and of the final issues. I plan to make several extra copies of each issue, and those will be available, first come, first served, after the ship date of each issue.

casting a net

the pull of the moon

If you would like to add something to The Sea, it needs to be in multiples of 17, sent to the address below. Meaning, I will add it by literally adding it. 

TMQ
P.O. Box 725
Sherburne NY 13460

if you would like to order The Sea for yourself, please send a check to the same address. ($95) I am making 17; 15 are spoken for so there are two copies still available; first come, first served.

endless summer

string, shells, ribbon, and rocks

Except for a book that is going abroad, and a book who keeps crossing paths with its recipient, the Book of Love is now in the hands of all subscribers. 

And, for the next issue, if you would like to add something to The Sea, it needs to be in multiples of 15, sent to the address below. Meaning, I will add it by literally adding it. 

TMQ
P.O. Box 725
Sherburne NY 13460

I tell you, the relationship is its own reward

More pages from The Book of Love.

Various front and back covers, and first pages

I've capped the edition at 35. Fourteen are out in the world, either waiting patiently on the living room coffee table, or already winging their way to their proper owners. If you would like one of your own, there are 21 available. The cost is $110; international orders are $150. For a custom made box to store it in, add $45. Please write to me (Lara Scott) at The Metamer Quarterly, P.O. Box 725, Sherburne, NY, 13460.

Insert picture here