DESIGNER'S BOOKPLATES OPEN PAGE ON WORLD.Byline: VICTORIA GIRAUD People and Places Artist Reva Kern Kern, river, 155 mi (249 km) long, rising in the S Sierra Nevada Mts., E Calif., and flowing south, then southwest to a reservoir in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin valley. The river has Isabella Dam as its chief facility. has become a citizen of the world by designing bookplates. Her bookplate bookplate, label pasted in a book to indicate ownership, also called ex libris [Lat.,=from the books of]. The bookplate is usually of paper on which heraldic or other designs are engraved or printed. The earliest printed bookplates date from c.1480 in Germany. designs have been published in the special publications of Ex Libris (Latin for ``from the library of'') societies all over the world, from China and Italy to Sweden and the Czech Republic Czech Republic, Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. . Growing up, Reva said, ``I was going to be a translator for the U.N. I was always interested in international relations international relations, study of the relations among states and other political and economic units in the international system. Particular areas of study within the field of international relations include diplomacy and diplomatic history, international law, and public affairs Those public information, command information, and community relations activities directed toward both the external and internal publics with interest in the Department of Defense. Also called PA. See also command information; community relations; public information. . It's come full circle. I wanted to be part of the international community, and now I am.'' Reva regularly submits her designs to international bookplate competitions, and is currently working on submittals to Spain, Poland, Belgium, Argentina and Russia. ``In honor of the 275th anniversary of the establishment of that city, I'm working on one for Yekaterinburg, Russia,'' Reva explained. With Jan. 1 the deadline, she's ``doing the water tower in the historic square.'' When she first started designing bookplates, Reva used the spare technique of sumi, Oriental brush painting The art of brush painting using brush and ink is of Chinese origin, but has developed extensively throughout the region. This article outlines the basic foundation, history, and techniques of this art, and then directs the reader to national schools: Chinese brush painting, Korean . She later learned an American woodcutting wood·cut·ting n. 1. The act, activity, or job of cutting wood. 2. The art or process of making woodcuts. technique, called the Provincetown Method, which uses a carved pine wood block and watercolors. ``I'm more interested in form as opposed to line, how the form makes up the whole,'' she explained. ``My first vision is a silhouette. I see in blocks of black and white, simplified forms.'' Reva's interest in bookplates grew out of a desire to ``get pen friends.'' Seeing a magazine ad in 1990 for the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers, she responded and found that she needed to submit a bookplate design to join. A self-taught artist who had determinedly used and mastered the book ``Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain'' years before, Reva decided to create her own first bookplate. Using the sumi brush stroke technique, she drew an open book with a horse (she owns an Appaloosa named Daisy Duster) on one cover and a flying crane on the other. When she got her membership directory, Reva began corresponding with international members and began trading bookplates with her newfound new·found adj. Recently discovered: a newfound pastime. Adj. 1. newfound - newly discovered; "his newfound aggressiveness"; "Hudson pointed his ship down the coast of the newfound sea" friends. Her Society newsletter announced a bookplate competition in Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , and she decided to enter it. Reva submitted her first bookplate design but heard nothing about the results until a year later when a surprise package arrived in the mail. When she opened it, she found an elegantly published book, ``The Cream of International Ex Libris,'' with her bookplate on one of the pages. Out of 1,000 entries, she was one of the 290 selected, and one of only five American bookplate designers selected. Since then this ``armchair traveler'' has been published in eight international Ex Libris special publications, was chosen to have her work displayed on the world tour of the Ex Libris Exhibition of Belgrade, and has her complete works displayed as part of the Ex Libris collection at the Monclair, N.J., art museum, and at the Frederikshavn Museum of Art in Denmark. Born in Illinois, Reva grew up in San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. . ``I was not artistic growing up,'' she says, but admits to playing piano and violin and being a serious student of history and Spanish. Reva met Harvey, her husband of over 33 years, at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX , and they raised their two daughters in Oak Park. The daughters are now married and live close by, and Reva is the grandmother of 11-month-old Sophie. Bookplates are an important pursuit for Reva, but she says, ``I'm somebody who, for whatever reason, needs a lot of things to keep me interested.'' To that end, she is a serious photographer, using her nature photos to create unique cards. She's written and illustrated three children's books which she hopes some day to have published, and she is an avid gardener. The Kern's drought-tolerant garden was part of the Westlake Garden Tour this past summer. Now that bookplates are considered a graphic art, Reva looks forward to future designing. ``There's a lot of change and growth in Ex Libris, and I'm not tired of it,'' she said.` CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Reva Kern of Oak Park has won international recognition for her bookplate designs. Tom Mendoza/Daily News |
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