Season's Greetings

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has dropped by my blog this year. Your visits mean so much to me, and it has been such a source of delight to connect and chat with you.

If you are holidaying or celebrating at this time, I wish you safe and happy times.

We'll be celebrating Christmas tomorrow, with both my family and my husband's. Below you can see the traditional tree which my wonderful mother-in-law decorates for us, with a little help from her grandsons.





At times, the "run-up" to the festivities can seem stressful and overwhelming, and it seems that each year, most of the responsibilities fall on the same old shoulders. I'd like to thank those people in my family who make Christmas "happen" year after year. You are creating our memories, which are a treasure.

Book Art and Zine Exhibition, Melbourne

A very short post to let you know that while it may seem I've been ignoring you, I have been thinking of you all. I've been beavering away, preparing work and submissions for shows, this year and next.

First up is BAZE at Hand Held Gallery in Paramount Arcade, Bourke St, Melbourne. The opening is this Thursday - so if you are in Melbourne, I hope you can make it along.



As well as a copy of the Special Edition of Judy and the Jacaranda hand bound by Monica Oppen, I'm sending copies of my first zine, Looking for Wabi Sabi in Tokyo. I've also made two new wabi sabi zines based on photos I took in Paris. A few sneak peaks follow.

Tokyo

Paris

Paris2

The rest of my time is spent wrestling with my Book*Art*Object contribution, A Day Just Like Any Other , due to be posted off before New Year! Yikes! My main difficulty: too many ideas and not enough time to sit with them so that the best can percolate to the top.

Visiting The Studio West End

On Tuesday I met up with three other Brisbane members of Book*Art*Object for a bit of a pre-Christmas get-together. Robin Foster, Helen Malone, Jack Oudyn and I decided to check out the end of year exhibition at The Studio West End, before lunch.

The Studio is the domain of Adele Outteridge and Wim de Vos, and is where I learned to do coptic, celtic and other bindings in 2009. Adele and Wim offer classes and on-going support to their students, including opportunities like the exhibition we went to see, Bookplates Unbound and Artists Books.

Adele and Wim welcomed us warmly and Del was kind enough to allow me to take some photos of the show to share with you.

The bookplates showed great variety and there were some beautiful prints amongst them.

The artists books explored a range of media and structures. I recognized some Impress Printmakers' members names amongst the participants, including the very talented Glenda Orr.

This work by Susan Bowers, Standing Stories 4,5 (Bush women) is a lovely example of pushing the definition of a book.

Wim de Vos showed his current obsession, perspex tunnel books. This one is inspired by the Chrysler Building, and offers an interior view that I had not seen before.

Adele shared examples of book bindings that students can make in her classes. These lovely ones in the lower left which combine coptic, celtic, the icicle and the caterpillar are exemplars completed in a single workshop, to allow students to try all these different bindings in one go. What a great idea! Reminds me of something......

We all enjoyed the exhibition and our visit to the studio, and I enjoyed the chance to see Del and Wim again. If you'd like to see more of the Studio West End exhibition, Del tells me there will be more photos going up on their website soon.