“We were inspired by food trucks,” explained Creativity Caravan co-founder Maya Stein when I asked her how she and her partner had had the idea to drive around the country in their vintage camper 
with the Tiny Book Show. Maya further explained they were looking for ways to engage communities in exercising their creativity when they landed upon the idea of traveling and teaching the art of the tiny book.
Now circling the nation, Creativity Caravan founders Amy Tingle and Maya Stein have stacks of mini handmade books on display in vintage travel cases 
surrounding their workshop table, at which attendees get hands on experience binding their own handcrafted pieces. Or as their website explains, “Our vintage caravan, Maude, will become a bookmobile of Lilliputian proportions, stopping in select locations around the country to display a collection of tiny books hand made by artists and writers from around the world.”
Coming from New Jersey, the Creative Caravan is half way though its journey. I was fortunate to catch Amy Tingle and Maya Stein’s 
Creativity Caravan as it came through California at Sacramento’s Brickhouse, a vibrant gallery and studio space in the Oak Park neighborhood of the city.
Amid the stacks of tiny books one could paw through, I spotted a delightful accordion book inserted into an old match box, relaying a story of world travels. It was a small piece tucked away as a traveler tucks away stories and memories collected from long trips abroad. The compact nature of the mini book concentrates and condenses its message to at times feel more potent, evoking more emotion, and eliciting different types of 
understanding from the reader. The experience of holding a tiny book such as the world traveler’s match book accordion seems to magnify details as a viewer searches for meaning.
Some of the tiny books had no print words at all, but alternatively told their story in images or compilations of textures and colors. One mini book maker and textile artist had made an exquisite collection of life’s odds and ends, ticket stubs and tags, postal stamps and vintage photos. The book 
maker lead the reader on a curious journey drawing connections though which a wide ranging potential of narratives emerge, each unique to the viewer.
The Creativity Caravan is on its way to the Bay Area tomorrow, but I look forward to watching what artistic and community endeavors Tingle and Stein take up in the future.
For a comprehensive take on Book Arts, see the Book Arts Web, which includes resources, tutorials, exhibitions, suppliers and more.
