Some News and Something New

I'm very happy to say that Alicia Bailey of Abecedarian Gallery in Denver has selected one of my books for Photo Book Works, which opened there this Friday February 15th.

If you've been following here for some years you may remember the flag book I made called Like Weather. The book explored the inconstancy of emotions and compared this to the changability of weather. It was in fact the book that drew me in to making artist's books, because the structure expressed my idea so perfectly.

Like Weather (Amanda Watson-Will)

Like Weather has brought me success before, as it was acquired by Southern Cross University for their artist's book collection, and I am really thrilled that it is the second of my works to be selected for exhibition at Abecedarian Gallery. If you head over to the gallery's website, you'll be able to see all the selected work in the online catalogue.


Another piece of good news was the acquisition of my first zine, Looking for Wabi-Sabi in Tokyo, by University of Melbourne Library (Special Collections) . Among other work, I sent off some copies to BAZE which was held in December at Hand Held Gallery in Melbourne. I was fortunate that my zine was among those that Sue Millard selected for the Library.

Detail from Looking for Wabi-Sabi in Tokyo

I can also show you a photo of the first proof for A Day Just Like Any Other, my contribution for Edition 4 of Book*Art*Object.

Apologies for the poor photo, but I didn't want to reveal too much yet!

There are only a few minor tweaks to be made now and I'm ready to start assembling the edition. I've decided to make 15 this time, as last edition I only made 10 plus a proof, and although it fulfilled the requirements, there was only one copy spare.

Soon I'll be able to post more information about the research and process of making the book, but first I'll be heading over to Sarah Bryant's very useful post about assembling an edition. It has some great tips on how to make the process as easy, accurate and speedy as possible. 

And Something New

Finally, I wanted to share a recent acquisition of my own. You all know I love books, but you may not know that I also love jewelry, so what could be better than a book that is a necklace. Or is that a necklace that is a book? It doesn't really matter, it's beautiful whatever way you say it. 

This little treasure is the work of Barry Smith, a very talented sculptor and artist who works with metal. He lives not that far away from me, in Maleny, with his wife Fiona, a fellow BAO-member. 

I read about Barry's Peace Book pendants on Fiona's blog, Paper Ponderings and was immediately captivated. I love the fact this pendant is a little book, it mixes yellow and white metals that are  recycled, it has that superbly ornate second page, followed by the quote from Thich Nhat Hanh. As a person who experiences frequent bouts of anxiety, this reminder that the solution lies in mindfulness could not suit me better. So thank-you Barry, this necklace is already very special and I know it is set to become a favourite.

You can see more of Barry's work, including some Peace Book pendants at the moment, over on his blog Rustnstuff and in his online shop.

Where to find me: Recent Publishing

I’ve been lucky enough to have my have my work published twice recently. Doug Spowart re-worked his article from Imprint and it was accepted for the online journal, Bonefolder. The article is a review of the Southern Cross University exhibition last year, where my book Like Weather was selected for acquisition. It includes a lovely shot of my book, taken by Doug. It’s fantastic to have my work included in Bonefolder, as it’s part of the US Book Arts Web, and has an international readership.

The extra benefit of the article being in Bonefolder is that you can access it to read for free online, if you didn’t catch it in Imprint.

I’ve also had some of my ceramic work included in the recently published book by Jeffery B. Snyder, Ceramics Today.

They accepted five images, including the installation work, Wraith, and my porcelain book, Self (States of Change), which has just been in Mackay at the Libris Awards. Unfortunately I haven’t received my copy of the book yet, so I can’t be positive they all made the final cut, but I’m told it’s on page 240.

 

Finally, in case you haven’t noticed the widget in the side-bar, I’ve started Twittering.

I’ve thought a lot about whether or not to join in this silent cacophony, and despite initially despising the idea, in the end I decided that Twitter would be a useful tool for me.

I was convinced by the artists stories I read in The Unconventional Guide to Art and Money. It’s for artists who choose to conduct their careers primarily in the context of the internet, rather than going the traditional gallery route. It explains how to pull together all your online content, get your work out there and (for some, at least) make a living. It seems especially well-suited to the shy, the rebellious and the control-freak. And of course, by default, those who are too tired by 6pm to make it to all those openings in order to “network”.

So… I signed on to Twitter a couple of weeks ago, and began sharing stuff I thought might interest people. As well as providing another means of knowing within seconds when a new blog post hits the ether, I have found it’s a nice way to share the best of those links you come across in the course of your day but which don’t really qualify for a blog post.  I’ve mostly been posting links to inspiring art, art events or opportunities, as well as some about zen and de-stressing. If you’re interested in following you can sign up for Twitter here and find me as amandaw_w . Or not. I won’t offended at all.

In Print in IMPRINT

I am lucky that the Brisbane City Council library subscribes to Imprint, the quarterly journal of the Print Council of Australia. It saves me some money, but it does mean that I am often a month or so behind in getting my hands on the latest issue.

Over the week-end I picked up the summer 09 edition and was interested when I stumbled across an article by Doug Spowart on the SCU Acquisitive Artists' Book Award. You may remember my surprise and delight when I discovered that Like Weather had been acquired for the SCU collection. So, despite the mis-spelling of my name (dig!dig!) I was absolutely thrilled to see that a good-sized photo of my book appeared with the write-up. It was completely unexpected and the first time I can remember unexpectedly stumbling across my own work.

I found the discussion of the award and the acquisitions made most enlightening too. This is an area in which I am a complete novice, so the mention of the impact of the budget, the dreaded bottom-line, created somewhat of an "ah-ha" moment for me. In a pool of "name" book artists, I can now understand how my humble flag book made it past the post. Spowart points out that fine press and large scale books are necessarily overlooked, in order not to blow the whole budget on a single work.

I'm not saying my book should not have been acquired - clearly it had to meet certain criteria of conceptual integrity and craftsmanship to gain selection, but obviously "the price was right" too. As an artist submitting work for future awards, this is worth understanding. It's a wonderful forum in which to attain some recognition if your work falls in this category.

In addition, I don't think this will necessarily impact negatively on the SCU collection in the long term. The direction of the collection will reflect the budget certainly, but the acquisition of works by artists early in their careers, or artists who produce works by means other than fine press, can still result in the selection of high quality artist books.

I was not able to attend the announcement of the selections, so I was very interested in the reportage of the commentary made by the judge, Tara O'Brien. In particular, O'Brien had issue with the use of stab stitch, or perhaps more accurately, what she viewed as "over-use" of the binding. Practical difficulties in opening the book fully combine with the historical connection to Oriental book forms, leading O'Brien to conclude that the stab binding is often employed in Western bookmaking when another binding would be a better choice.

This comment has set me thinking ever since I read it. Yes, you guessed it - I've been planning to bind my next book using a stab stitch. I've thought about the "opening fully" issue quite a bit. The comment took me by surprise really, because I have been taught that only the coptic actually opens fully, but maybe I've got that wrong. [Certainly, a perfect binding with a soft cover does not open fully either (e.g. a paperback) not that this stops an awful lot of people from doing precisely that, but don't get me started on that!]

Being able to open a spread fully is often extremely important to a book. Certainly any sort of journal or workbook needs to open fully; also very often a book with a lot of imagery, and I think very small books and larger books can be difficult to handle and really "see", if the spread cannot be opened out flat.

While mulling this over, I came across this picture of an eighteenth century guide to Kyoto by Rito Akisato (you can pick this up for a mere US$38,500 if you feel inclined). On the right you see one of numerous open spreads depicted on the website where it is for sale. And yes, the spreads lie open beautifully. From looking at this picture, the trick seems mostly to lie in the soft thin oriental paper, which almost "drapes" over the mound of the spine. I think, also, looking at the picture of the outside of this lovely old book, that the stitching looks quite close to the spine, around only 1 cm in. From a quick look around the internet with google images, I noticed that more often the stitching is placed further in, probably around 1.5 - 2cms from the edge. This would create a much larger ridge, resulting in the book being more difficult to lie in the open position. A quick check with my Keith Smith reveals his direction that the "sewing stations are 3/8" from the spine edge"1, and 3/8" is almost exactly 1cm!

So I've decided to test this theory and go ahead and bind the first copy of my book with a stab binding. Most of the pages are vellum, and given the relationship of this book to the Japanese theme of seasons, I am hoping the binding will "work" in a practical sense. With a bit of luck, I may have this first binding ready to show you next week.

If you have thoughts about the use of stab stitch or some of the other points raised by Tara O'Brien last year, you might like to hop over to Book*Art*Object for some more discussion there.

1. Smith, Keith A. 1999. Vol1 Non-Adhesive Binding: Books Without Paste or Glue. New York: Keith Smith Books, p. 110.

Buddhists believe emotions are like clouds

And so do I....

If you've been reading this blog for more than a year or so, you may have followed the process as I put together my first artists book, Like Weather (above). It is a flag book, and explored the idea of "change" by tracking my emotions for a 24 hour period and suggesting that emotions are as changeable as the weather. (If you weren't around the first time through, you can find the first post in the archives for March 2007 and they run through to October 2007. If you'd just like to see some pics. follow this.)

Of course, we can't help what we feel, only what we choose to do with those feelings. In the past week I've seen my emotions fly high, and plummet to great depths in a very short space of time, and it's certainly confirmed for me the fragility of any situation. Our unrealistic desire for things to remain the same is constantly overturned, but it takes a long time for most of us to come to a genuine acceptance of this.

In my case, in the past week I've received the devastating news that my mother is gravely ill. Shortly after hearing this, I heard from the talented Joanna Kambourian who was "on location" at the opening of the SCU Acquisitive Artists Books Award. She had amazing news for me - the judge has selected Like Weather as one of this year's acquisitions! This is the first work I've had acquired by an institution, and as this is a career goal for me, the news is particularly significant and exciting. Later in the evening, a similar email from Sara Bowen gave me confidence that there was no mistake!

At the time, the situation felt quite unreal. I found I was able to "flip" from a sense of incredible joy and satisfaction to deep desolation, almost at will. It even seemed possible to hold these two wavering extremes within my chest at the same time. Looking back, it reminds me of the hope we feel when the clouds part briefly during cyclonic weather and we glimpse the blue sky. It reminds us that after the winds and rain subside, finer days will be waiting for us. This is exactly what I hoped Like Weather might say.

Using hair

For a few years now I've been fascinated by artworks that are made of or incorporate real hair. I remember the first time I saw a contemporary artwork made of hair. It was in 2005 in Melbourne and it was Helen Pynor's Shadowbreath (see above) I was quite bewitched by the work and found it hard to leave the gallery. The incredible human presence captivated me.
Ever since I have wanted to include hair in my own work. For the past year I've been collecting the clippings that fall to the floor every time I have my own haircut. Unfortunately, I wear my hair short, so there isn't a lot to collect and the pieces are only short. I wasn't really sure what I was going to use the hair for, I just knew that I would use it eventually.

A few weeks ago my mother had her long white hair which she wears in a French roll cut off. She is in her 80s now and for some time has been finding that brushing and washing her hair made her back ache. She always receives compliments for her hair and I think it was a tough decision for her to make, but in the end practicality won the day. When she told me she had finally done it, my first question was "what did you do with the hair?" Fortunately, her hairdresser (who visits her at home) had bundled it all up in newspaper before popping it into the bin. My mother was only too happy to rescue it and put it aside for me. She finds a lot of my work pretty mystifying, but she seems thrilled at the idea that she, in the form of her hair, will be making a powerful contribution to my work, and will "live on", as she says.

Access to some lovely long hair has set my mind spinning with ideas and I am trying to capture them in my diary lest they disappear into the black cavern that occupies the space formerly known as my memory. It seems to me that these works will form a more cohesive group with the ones I have already completed for my masters, than the book I mentioned here. So...despite the start I have made on it, that book is to be relegated to "future projects" for now.

It seems like an unfortunate disruption to the flow of my work, but I haven't had the luxury of a "flow" for a while...progress seems to be coming in fits and starts. I would have had to take a break from it for a while anyway, because I have to put together at least one more edition of "Like Weather" to send off to Mackay for the Libris Awards. I also have to prepare for an exhibition in Melbourne in February. I'll be showing an installation I exhibited here in Brisbane in 06 at the National Ceramics Conference. It's called "Wraith" and some of you may have seen the photos of the original over in my photostream on Flickr. There is also a little mention of it in the profile here. There will obviously be more as the date approaches.

Success!

Just a quick post to let you know that Like Weather has been shortlisted in the 2008 Libris Awards - the Australian Artists Book Prize. This award is part of the largest regular artists book event in Australia. Shortlisted books are exhibited in conjunction with Focus on Artists Books, an international conference with masterclasses held in Mackay, Queensland every two years. Woo!hoo!

Making sure work is archival

I thought I'd do a post about the steps I took to ensure that Like Weather is archival and as such, that I am producing the most durable work that I can. This is a new consideration for me, because I have worked with clay in the past, which if fired, especially high fired, is definitely durable (unless dropped!) and if unfired, well then it's really meant to be an ephemeral work.

The first step is paper selection. There are quite a lot of acid free papers specially developed for inkjet printing on the market now. My main source here in Australia is Image Science which is in Melbourne. They have lots of information about choosing papers on their website, as well as selling sample packs.

The tricky part for me in this project was that I needed double-sided paper for some parts of the book - the spine and the flags. There are a few available but it does seriously reduce your options. When I made the draft version I received feedback saying people really liked the texture of the watercolour paper I had used. I couldn't find a double-sided textured inkjet paper online, so I decided to go with the watercolour paper I used for the rough version. It was Canson 100, which is actually double sided. It is 300gsm 100% cotton rag paper, cold press one side and rough the other. I was amazed to find that I could buy 10 sheets from Dick Blick and have it posted to Australia for AU$60, when it costs AU$50 for 5 sheets from my local art store! I would dearly love to support Australian businesses more, but with that sort of price difference it just is not possible.

To achieve the best colour saturation I could, I coated the paper with InkAid. This does not actually affect archival qualities, but does reduce the penetration of the ink into the paper, ensuring a more vibrant look. I should mention that InkAid, while not terribly toxic, does recommend taking some precautions. I prefer not to spray things like this, so I use a foam brush and I wear gloves. I also work outside.

I've talked before about having some difficulty getting an even coat. This just takes a little practice and it is best to apply a couple of thin coats, letting each dry in between. If you keep working the surface after it has started to dry, you can get into a real mess - which of course I did! I also discovered that more coats does result in more saturated colours - which is good if this is what you want, but does mean you need to keep the number of coats on each page in one project constant, if keeping the colour saturation is important.

Inkjet printing has really come of age in the past decade, both with respect to colour reproduction and archival quality. If you have a printer that uses the right inks and you use the right paper, you are generally going to get a product that is far more enduring than a traditional photograph. When I discovered that fact, it really made printing with an inkjet seem like a viable option for my practice. My dear old Dad, who was a traditional photographer would be amazed!

Wilhelm Imaging Research is the organisation that "conducts research on the stability and preservation of traditional and digital color photographs and motion pictures. The company publishes brand name-specific permanence data for desktop and large-format inkjet printers and other digital printing devices."^ This is the website to visit if you want to learn about this area, and to check out a particular printer. As regular readers know, I was able to pick up a barely-used second-hand Epson 2100 a few months ago. This uses the archival Ultrachrome inks and can print up to A3 size. As long as I stick to genuine Epson inks and appropriate paper, my images will be as archival as is possible.

There are only a couple of other products I used in this project. When the pages were all printed, I sprayed them with couple of coats of Premier Art Print Shield. This is a lacquer based coating that provides additional UV protection and scuff resistance. Seeing the images were being used in a book which would be handled and not placed behind glass, I thought this was a worthwhile addition. This product might be useful for artists who include found paper in their work, just to provide a little protection from UV light.

Once I'd bought my can, I read the MSDS sheet and realized I needed to wear a mask while applying it. I do own a mask from glaze-mixing days, but of course the filters were the wrong sort. I'm actually amazed how inexpensive these filters are, given the level of protection they provide. If a product recommends you use one, I think it's a great investment.

The last item needed no such special safety equipment. It was X-press conservators acid-free double-sided tape to attach the flags. For the instructions on how to plan and assemble a flag book, I used this article from Bonefolder. I was surprised to be instructed to use tape, as I thought some "special" adhesive would be recommended, but if it's good enough for Karen Hamner, it's good enough for me. And voila! that's it.

^Downloaded from http://www.wilhelm-research.com/about_us.html 15/10/07