Loose Leaf Notes

Gibby Waitzkin’s studio filled with the smell of lavender and rose when the homemade paper bookmarks, imbedded with homegrown flowers, came out of the press, sort of like when you pinch an herb to release its scent.  She placed the bookmarks between pieces of paper and cardboard for us to take home, saying, “I’d like you to open these and change the paper tomorrow.”

“You sound like a doctor!” I joked.

I was at Gibby’s Sarvisberry Gallery & Studio covering some local studios during the recent Floyd Artisan Trail Tour and bumped into my friends Maria and Miriam, also on the tour. Gibby proceeded to give us all an upbeat, impromptu demonstration.   We couldn’t have set it up any better if we had planned it.

Her multi-media show Inside Out, which I missed when it opened, was still up with spaces where pieces had sold.   I was really impressed with her work in an Alice in Wonderland sort of way, where classic nudes of past centuries met the 1970’s in a series of old photographs (one of which was a nude dinner party) taken by Gibby during her college days when she was studying photography and printmaking.  The pieces were impressed with botanicals grown on her Floyd property, printed on her handmade paper and framed in distressed doors and salvaged window frames, some of which had lace curtains incorporated into them.   I didn’t know whether I wanted to open a door or window and enter a scene or let the long-haired frozen-in-time subjects out.

You can watch a video of our bookmark demo below.  Read a story I wrote about Gibby for All About Her and see photos of her past work HERE and visit Gibby’s website at sarvisberry.com.