About ME : work in progress

As today is International ME/CFS Awareness Day, it seemed the right day to share where I'm up to with my artist's book "About ME".

Below is the text I am using in the book.

"Patients with ME/CFS experience abnormal fatigue that is both more intense and qualitatively different from normal tiredness. The fatigue in ME/CFS may take several different forms: post-exertional fatigue (abnormal exhaustion or muscle weakness following minor physical activity), persistent flu-like feelings, brain fog (mental exhaustion from everyday cognitive effort) and wired fatigue (feeling over-stimulated when very tired).

The type of fatigue that is a core feature of ME/CFS is post-exertional malaise (PEM). PEM is the exacerbation of fatigue and other symptoms (e.g. cognitive difficulties, sore throat, insomnia) following minimal physical or mental activity that can persist for hours, days or even weeks. PEM may be related to abnormal energy metabolism." *

*Quoted with permission from the IACFS/ME Primer for Clinical Practitioners (2014)

When I read this excerpt from the International Association for CFS/ME's "A Primer for Clinical Practitioners", it struck me as the clearest, brief description of ME that I have ever read. A sort of Goldilocks explanation. Not too much, not too little, just right. I use the text as a tonal element to create a self portrait, but despite being partially obscured, the text I select is an important aspect of the work.


In earlier posts you've seen some of the stencils I've been preparing. Last week I finished a first trial using the stencils to position the text on the translucent pages of the book.


Here's a photo of the trial, just snapped with my iPhone so please excuse the quality. 

Bear in mind this is a work in progress, a way to test whether the technique would do what I hoped. The text is written on eight pages and the book will be a simple pamphlet binding. There's tweeking and refining to be done, a little more detail in certain important areas, but it is a pleasing start.

When the book is finished, I hope it will contribute in a small way to raising awareness of ME. This is the first artwork I've made in over a decade that deals directly with my illness.

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A small space is all you need....

....cleared, amongst the mess...

...to finish the stencil cutting....

.....and start to test out the text.

Progress!

 

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Not waving, drowning....in mess

It seems that the more I try to focus my attention on a single art project, the more projects I end up starting.

 I have, as you know, wide-ranging interests and limited energy. As a result, I often find myself working on one thing while I'm longing to be making something else. So I thought that as a strategy to manage this, I would try focussing on one work for a month at a time. This would allow me to make some progress wih one thing, work on something else for a while, and then return to the earlier project before so much time has passed that I've totally lost my train of thought.


Before we went on holiday to Melbourne, I was working on a book using photographs that I took in Paris. The stairway in the building where we stayed in the Marais is very atmospheric and a great example of "wabi sabi". As well as the more elaborate staircase leading up to the apartments, there is a smaller, darker set of stairs leading from the entry down to the cellar.
My idea for the book, tentatively titled "ascendre/descendre", is to use the photos going up and going down in such a way that it's not always clear which is which and where we are heading. I see it as a metaphor for our times, and even the human race.

Here's one of the photos I'm considering using. The first step is converting them to black and white and making any other digital processing changes.

When I returned from Melbourne I was scheduled to start a three week online course Drawing for Textiles with Dionne Swift. I actually met Dionne in Brighton last year at the Art Fair, and after an inspiring chat with her and seeing her work there, I had enrolled in this course immediately. I've been waiting for March to roll around with great anticipation ever since.


But inspiration doesn't necessarily strike when it's convenient, does it? I've been tossing ideas around in my head for the upcoming Personal Histories exhibition for months and months. Nothing had really felt quite right to me. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't be able find any inspiration to suit the theme.


And then, out of nowhere really (but of course from somewhere) I knew what I wanted to do. And I wanted to make a start. Straight away. So over a week-end, just before I got cracking on Dionne's first drawing exercises, I got to work.


This book is tentatively called "About ME" and I'm going to use translucent pages and text. It sounds horribly narcissistic, I realize, but I'm reasonably confident that it isn't. The text is information about M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) the now-accepted "proper" name for chronic fatigue syndrome. I'm really delighted to say that I've been granted permission by the IACFSME to use their text in the book.
There isn't much to show you yet, as I am just cutting stencils, but here's a peek.

Next, I dragged out my lovely chunky drawing supplies and roll of cartridge paper and made a start on the tasks set by Dionne.

After a week or so of drawing it was time to try out some of the ways she showed us to translate those marks into textiles. It was all new information to me, and the results are wonderfully textural and exciting.

But you should see the state of my studio now!

(no photos, It isn't for public consumption)

With all these different projects on the go, it has just become layer upon layer of art materials and media, and quite honestly, there is not a bit of surface clear to work. I am forced to take my lap-top tray to the sofa in the living room to do anything. Of course, that's exactly what I'm doing - I can't stop now, can I?

But April really has to be the month of culling and tidying, or else by May I might not be able to get past the door.

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A Return to Podcasting

listen to ‘A return to podcasting’ on Audioboo

More thoughts on collaborating in the book arts

 

When I last wrote about collaboration in the book arts here, the subject seemed to interest quite a few of you. Since then, I’ve thought a little more on the subject and I’ve put together two related posts.

In the first (which you are reading now) I’ll (very) briefly talk about the history of collaboration, both in art in general and specifically in the book arts. Then I have an recent example to show you, as well as highlighting the potential benefits of collaborating with others.

The second post appears on Book*Art*Object and follows on from this post by suggesting some ways that the artists in that group might like to organise to collaborate on books in the future.

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Collaboration in the 20th Century

It’s rather arbitrary where you start with the art history of collaboration. Certainly major artists had assistants and employees, and it’s likely some of these may have collaborated in some sense of the word. However, early in the 20th century, artists associated with Dada and the Avant-Garde worked together with the specific aim of exploring collaboration.

The 1960s and ‘70s saw collaboration in art extend from movements like Fluxus and Art & Language to long-term duos like Gilbert & George and Christo & Jeanne-Claude. Today it’s an accepted, though not prevalent way of working.

Collaboration in the Book Arts

I think its interesting that collaboration was a part of the book arts from very early. In part this is due to the central role that artists books played in the art movements named above, already strongly incorporating collaboration.

Traditionally there are probably three pairings that are often seen in the production of artists books. These are:

• artist and master printmaker
• writer and visual artist
• artist and bookbinder

Additionally, there are collaborations between artists and publishers, where the aim is to move beyond the handmade to achieve increased distribution of the artists book.

Exquisite Corpse

Recently a lovely book was published which based its concept on a variant of the Surrealist game of Exquisite Corpse. There are a number of variants of the game, but in the one I’m most familiar with one person starts by drawing the top part of a person, then folds the paper so that only the end of the drawing is visible. The paper is passed to the next person, who adds the next section before folding the paper again and passing it on. The third person completes the drawing which is then unfolded to be seen in its entirety.

The recent book is called “The Exquisite Book” and it has 100 artists who collaborated to create 10 fold-out double-sided accordions within the one book. Each accordion has a theme along the lines of “In the clouds”, “in the jungle”, “in the city” etc. and within each accordion there is a continuous horizon line. During making, the artists saw only the work that preceded theirs, but no others.

Here are a couple of photos of spreads from my copy of the book. Please excuse the rubbish photography (still grappling with a new camera).

Above: L-R Jen Corace, Pablo Amargo, Mel Kadel

Below:: L-R Sophia Martineck, Joseph Hart

I love this book and have spent more time than I’m prepared to admit admiring it and delighting in the detail and beauty of so many of the drawings it contains. I think the book is an excellent example of why collaboration is so worthwhile.

Benefits of Collaboration

These are numerous, and to an extent personal. Each person will have a slightly different take on the experience, and benefits will also differ according to the way the collaboration is organised. Some of the major points for me are:

1. The whole is greater than the sum: or the work created will be something quite unique and different from the creations of the individuals.
2. Collaboration enables more complex works than an individual could manage.
3. A number of artists will possess a greater variety of skills and approaches which can be used to create the work.
4. Learning from others – need I say more? I love learning.
5. For artists concerned by issues like “self” vs. “the collective”, collaborating with other artists can be a solution.

Book*Art*Object

BAO is already a collaborative project in some ways. When its time to choose our source material, every member is encouraged to make suggestions. The group selects the texts to be used as inspiration by voting. We make our books or objects individually, although the process is blogged – the level of detail is up to the individual artist. Finally, the works come together as a group when they are exhibited and so the final impression on the viewer is cumulative.

There are many other forms and directions that collaboration within BAO could explore. I have some thoughts, which I’ve offered up over on the BAO blog. I’m sure other group members will have ideas of their own. If you’re interested in following the discussion, you will find it here.

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What’s your experience collaborating?

Before I finish, I’m wondering how many of you have experience collaborating with others on an art project? I would say that I only have a little myself, including my recent experience with Monica Oppen, which I wrote about in the previous post about collaborating. I would be very interested to hear how collaborating worked for you. What were the benefits? Are there any pitfalls? Would you try it again?

And what about group exhibitions? Aren’t they collaborations too? I think in a loose sort of way they are, more so if there is a theme and the works undergo selection. In this case, it’s up to the curator/s to make sure the show has unity, and I would argue that by the lack of interaction between participants while they are working, a lot of the benefit of collaboration is lost. But definitely not all in terms of the cumulative impact of different works by a variety of artists, which have the potential to play off one another for the viewer.

Still, my point is that collaboration is about regular interaction, and a dedication to communicating with your co-collaborators is the best way to ensure success.

How to Sell Art Online Pt 3

 

This is the final in this series of posts looking at and comparing a few of the ways to sell art online.

I want to say a big thank-you to those people who wrote in after last weeks post and shared valuable “tidbits” from their own experience using Etsy. If you’re thinking of trying Etsy for yourself, I urge you to take a look at the comments as well as last weeks post. There are actually two points that were raised about Etsy where my info was out of date or incomplete, so I’ll be posting an addendum on last week’s post to correct these.

This week I’m writing about RedBubble and the option of adding PayPal to your own blog or website. So here it is!

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RedBubble.com

What is it?

RedBubble works in a very different way to Etsy and BigCartel. It is a print-on-demand site where your artwork is made into a product eg matted or framed print, card, t-shirt, calendar, stickers. It is also the actual shopfront where the item is sold.

So you upload your images onto their site, write up your profile which accompanies the work and they do the rest.

Fees

• Free to join and you don’t actually ever pay them anything
• Before you get too excited – they are paid by your purchasers. Items have a “base price”, all of which goes to RedBubble for their manufacturing and other costs.
• You set your prices as a percentage on top of the base price and you receive all of this monthly.

 

 Art 4 XMVR

 

Advantages

• Low work load: you focus on the artwork, but don't have to produce the actual product or post it off
• No financial outlay
• Australian-based
• Buyers can search by tag word/s, medium, time and popularity.
• Has a community feel, with groups and challenges etc. I am still to get into this aspect so I can’t comment much further on that, except to say that I have received welcome emails and invitations to introduce myself to the groups I joined.
• In my experience, manufacture and delivery is fast – about a week from order to arrival at my door. It would of course be slower for items ordered from overseas.
• For readers of this blog, RedBubble is not a venue for selling artists books. However, it is highly appropriate for selling photos, prints and drawings, which many of you also produce.  Even gorgeous photos of your artists books could look good on cards, calendars or whatever.

For a tiny investment of time and no investment of money, it’s a great avenue to get your images out there, and via your profile you can always entice art lovers to your blog or website, where they might just buy a book.

 

Disadvantages

• Not as well known as etsy, in my opinion
• Earnings must reach $20 before they will transfer them to you.
• You have to drive people to your work within the site from your other web “presences”. Your products are competing with everybody else’s and there is a lot on there to distract them.
• Lack of control over finished product.

This is obviously the “biggie” in using RedBubble. I know this will bother some of you more than others. Of course, it is the other side of the coin which makes this such a low effort approach. The two are in direct relationship to one another, and only you can decide whether the equation balances for you.

I suggest that you order something to do your own quality assurance. I ordered some greeting cards, which was not a huge outlay and put my fears to rest. If you are really worried, you could also order a small matted or laminated print for a moderate outlay. You do of course get your own items for the base price.

 

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4. PayPal on your own site

What is it?

Paypal is a service which allows you to pay and receive payments from people without setting up a credit card facility. Basically, you join up, link a bank account or debit/credit card to PayPal and off you go. It is considered very safe, with strategies and procedures in place for both Buyer and Seller Protection.

There are three types of accounts. As a sole trader you can use either a Personal or a Premier account. If you already have a Personal account, it’s easy to upgrade to seller status.

From this point on, I will just be discussing the use of PayPal as a mechanism for selling items from your website or blog.

 

Fees

• No joining fee & no fees until a sale is made.
• Charges are 2.4% plus AUD 0.30c for each transaction. If your sales total AUD$5000+ in a month, you can apply for the merchant rate, which is 1.1%
• When items are purchased by an international buyer, the rate increases to 3.4% (less if sales are AUD$5000+)

 

Advantages

• You can be in complete control of the process, from the making of the artwork, the packaging, and the postage.
• You have your shop on your own space (blog or website) and you won't lose people easily to other sellers.
• Low fees, especially in comparison to gallery commissions etc.
• Can be added to your existing blog or website &
  whether or not you use Paypal to pay for items already, its easy to get set up.

 

• Features which allow you to easily customize your buyer’s view, as well as assist with processing orders, keeping accounts etc.

Disadvantages

• You have to attract people to your website/blog in order to sell, but presumably that is what you are  trying to do with or without a PayPal facility. You still need to be active in some other online forums so that people will see your work and your name when you comment, and decide to click on that link and check you out.
• It seems to me that, if you make work and you would like to sell it, even if you sell in shops “in the real world”, I can’t see any disadvantage to using this PayPal facility on your site.
• Despite the customization options, this facility won’t have the slick finished appearance of “your own online shop” unless you have HTML skills at your fingertips.

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Well, that’s all that I have to say on this subject for the time being. During the course of publishing these posts, I discovered yet more options for selling art online. I’ll list them here with links, but I haven’t checked them out myself.

1. Artfire.com
2. DaWanda.com
3. Folksy.com

I really hope that these posts have provided you with some valuable information and I encourage you to get in touch via the comments. Your thoughts and experiences with selling art online would be most appreciated.

Bibliotheca Part II

A few weeks have passed since I wrote about my visit to the Bibliotheca Librorum apud Artificem. That was intended to be the first of two posts about that afternoon, so here at last is the second.

If you know about the history of artists books, you will probably know about Ed Ruscha. He was a key artist working in the modern movement in the mid-sixties, which led to the development of the book arts as we know it today.

The Bibliotheca holds four books by Ruscha, who works primarily as a photographer. I’ve seen what I believe was his first artists book, a concertina entitled Every Building on Sunset Strip and also the famous Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations in other collections.

Click on image for larger view

However, it was a pleasure to handle these unassuming photographic collections, which radically influenced so much of today’s photography. For me, as a child of the sixties, there was also a guilty nostalgic pleasure in the imagery, especially Nine Swimming Pools.

The use of such everyday descriptions as titles fits perfectly with Ruscha’s goal that these be multiples, readily available and draws a powerful distinction between his books and expensive, glossy fine art photography books. There’s something very approachable about these books.

Sarah Plimpton’s For Now is a very different style of book. Abstract, organic, earthy and quite sensual, a book for a lover of texture and etchings.

This is the sort of book that makes you want to linger. Plimpton comes from New York, and now divides her time between that city and Paris (sounds good to me!) She also paints and writes poetry. You can see two more of her books at Bibliotheca  Librorum and more of her work on her website.

Finally I come to one of Monica Oppen’s own books, Rebecca's Diary. (You will remember from Part 1 that Bibliotheca Librorum… is Monica’s collection.) Monica is a talented artist and bookbinder in her own right, and I mention her book last only because I know that for her, the Bibliotheca is not a way to publicize her own work, but to share the beautiful objects she has collected over the years.  

Rebecca’s Diary starts from the original Grimm’s version of Cinderella and investigates the girl who becomes Cinderella. This book is the young girl’s imagined diary, and allows us to delve into one of the most loved characters of children’s literature, accompanied by Monica’s beautiful hand-coloured etchings.

My afternoon exploring a small part of the Bibliotheca Librorum apud Artificem passed too quickly, but I’m already looking forward to my next visit.

Bibliotheca Librorum apud Artificem I

Possibly the highlight of my holiday was my visit to Monica Oppen’s Bibliotheca Librorum apud Artificem, a private collection of artists books. I have Sara from BAO to thank for reminding me that it is possible to make an appointment to see the collection.

Monica is a printmaker and bookbinder, also making artists books herself and in collaboration. She delights in sharing her personal collection of artists books, acquired over 20 years or more. Generous and knowledgeable,  I had a wonderful time discussing and sharing with another like-minded book art lover.

Although I spent some hours there, I know I only scratched the surface of the collection. Its not possible for me to give you an accurate idea of the beautiful works I saw, so I thought I would just name some names, with a little descriptive commentary and  links to the listing in the online catalogue for the Bibliotheca. I hope this might help you decide whether it is an artist whose work might be of interest to you.

As this is an Australian collection, I really have to start with a luminary of Australian book arts. The collection holds over 30 works by Peter Lyssiotis, a writer, photographer and photomonteur.

Peter creates imagery using old fashioned techniques of photomontage, by which I mean nothing, even his latest works, is computer-assisted! I had seen A Gardener at Midnight and 1316  elsewhere but had not realized the imagery was not digital.

To give you an idea of the sort of books he produces, I’ll share this quote I found on the IMCA website, briefly:

Whenever in doubt, Lyssiotis returns to John Heartfield’s dictum: “Use photography as a weapon”.

Despite being less beautiful than Peter’s recent books, I was also captivated by a couple of his early small press books, particularly Journey of a Wise Electron & other stories. 

Searching around online for some images of Peter’s work, I came across this video of a lecture he gave at the Ural University. I’ve only had a chance to watch the first 5 minutes and the sounds not great, but the text does seem to be included in his powerpoint presentation.

Peter Lyssiotis: I Make Books from NeMe on Vimeo.

 

I spotted Laura Wait’s name on the spine of a book, which turned out to be The Goddess in the Garden. I was interested to see the covers were wooden, stained green and I had a good look at the binding (wrapped cords) to see whether it would work for ceramic covers too.

In the catalogue , Monica explains that the  "book has a handwritten manuscript comprising an alphabet of symbols related to gardening and plants, along with early goddess and fefmale symbols."

The book pages are painted and relief printed on a variety of papers, some translucent. (Another of my loves, as you all know). I think my introduction to Laura Wait was as an artist working in encaustics, and some of her recent books use this medium. You can see more of her work on her website. For those interested in calligraphy, this is another feature of her work.

Detail shots

With the heat we've been experiencing here this past week, I haven't been too well, so progress on my book has been slow. I have started printing the first digital pages, but that involves a lot of colour checking and testing, and I haven't really progressed since last Monday.

However, I am finding how beneficial Photoshop is for this type of project. Combining the layers function and with adjustments to the opacities allows me to move imagery backwards and forwards, and experiment with potential page orders. This satisfies some of my urge to keep up the momentum, but of course I'd rather be working with the actual pages.

Below are some detail shots of different orderings of pages. These are just tests - it may be that none of these are in the final book, in just this way. In case you haven't guessed, quite a number of the pages will be vellum, and therefore transparent. In my next post I'll write a bit about why I made this choice.

Adding the decals

Thought you might be interested to see what the decals look like before they are fired...don't worry, they won't be yellow afterwards.


I fired them yesterday and now have to wait for the kiln to cool down. I have to admit I'm sending up frequent invocations to the kiln goddess - I'm feeling really quite stressed about it as this is my first decal firing. The application has to be done with great care to make sure that any air or water bubbles are removed. When I did the test firing I didn't manage it, so this time I took a lot more care but I still don't know how they'll turn out. I would usually do another test, but I'm running a bit short of time. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Progress: Mould Making

A few photos to show you how the mould-making is going. I finished the clay accordian form and here I'm building the surrounds, ready to pour the plaster. There's clay on the outside if the boards to stop leaks, and also between the form and the boards on the inside so the edges will be neat. That's the worst part in my opinion, as it's so fiddly to make it really smooth.




Here the form is fully surrounded. You'll notice I stuffed up slightly - I didn't put the boards together properly, so the last "wall" was too small for my boards. Never mind, I just used clay. In retrospect that might have worked better for all four sides because it was much easier to push the wall onto the form and make a neat join. I have seen clay walls collapse mid-pour....resulting in rapidly setting plaster all over the floor...so I usually go for the boards. I'll have to give this more thought if I end up doing more of these.

Below: the plaster setting....no leaks, YAY!

And the mould fresh out of the surrounds. You can see the end where the clay wall was - it's a bit wonky and has sharp edges, but they can be smoothed out. You can probably also see how untidy the sides are - that's where I used extra clay to join onto the boards. Tomorrow I'll do some cleaning up and take another picture. Hopefully it'll be a lot smoother and ready to go!

Certain Trees

This is the second exhibition of artists books that is currently on at the V&A Museum. It focuses on a group of British book artists and includes multiple works by each published by their small presses. These included Tarasque Press, Coracle Press and Wild Hawthorn Press. It’s interesting to see works by artists who specialize in a medium, and compare their works with those in Blood on Paper. These works seemed very “English” to me. By this, I mean that they were thoughtful, understated and exhibited a very particular sense of humour.

The artists shown here have all made a number of artists books, and as such, the works were part of each artist’s body of work exploring the book form. There was a lot to be learnt from examining these books and having the time to absorb what they were saying, but unfortunately they were all displayed in cabinets. This meant that you could often only see a single spread, and while what you could read was often amusing, or quite lovely, I felt I was missing a lot. Standing in front of a glass cabinet really doesn't encourage you to spend time with a work. I'm always disappointed when I don't get to handle artists books, but especially so in this case, where the content was quite crucial. Nevertheless, there was still enough to see to make the visit worthwhile. There’s some more information on the V&A website.

Blood on Paper

The V&A currently has two artists books exhibitions, Blood on Paper and Certain Trees. The two shows are a great foil for one another, presenting two very different aspects of the book arts. Unfortunately I have posted my brochures home, so I’ll have to write from memory. I guess this is an interesting exercise in itself, as it will show what really made an impression.

When you enter the exhibition the first work you encounter is Anselm Kiefer’s book which was commissioned for the exhibition. Unfortunately I can’t remember its title, although I know it was something about “nature”. It is taller than me and a codex form, with a speckled grey surface which I thought evoked galaxies. It’s the first time I’ve seen a book of human scale and it was intriguing to stand beside it. As a book, it was massive, as are the galaxies, but really I longed for some human-scale content on the pages with which I could interact.

Blood on Paper includes books by some of the big names of contemporary art – Picasso, Matisse, Robert Motherwell, Anish Kapoor to name just a few. It is interesting to see what artists of this calibre do with a medium that is not their primary form of expression. In some cases, the works represent earliest examples of artists books as a modern genre and I did enjoy seeing some of these iconic works. An example is Ed Ruscha’s 26 Gasoline Stations, a photographic essay in concertina form, which is an early example that is often cited.

The most surprising work was a digital one, which turned the two walls of the gallery into the open pages of a book. I never did quite work out who the artist was, but if anyone reading knows, I’d love to hear from you. There were white and red words projected high onto the walls, and they slowly moved around the “page”. I sat for a while and observed their movement, and realized that they were in fact layered, and therefore perhaps represented multiple pages. Occasionally the words would form sensible two or three word phrases, other times they would bounce off each other like a toy car rebounding from an obstacle. Mostly, it was not possible to make any sense from the words and I thought the work operated as a very effective metaphor for the virtual online world, which contains so much information, but arguably contributes relatively little that is understandable.

I also enjoyed 'Danger Book' by Cai Guo-Qiang. His work often includes fireworks and I’m familiar with it from the Asia Pacific Triennials in Brisbane. This work included a video of the book being formed, as well as its charred remains. Fireworks were set across the pages and once ignited, it did appear possible the whole thing could be destroyed. I did really enjoy the smells associated with the book and the allusions to the burning of books throughout history, while obvious, remain with me and are still disturbing.

I love an exhibition which introduces me to a new artist that I end up loving, and this one did that. The artist was Eduardo Chillida and maybe I should know him, but I didn’t. His books were examples of beautiful bindings and I was really pleased to see this type of book included in the exhibition. From my google search I see Chillida is a sculptor, and I guess I should have realized I would love books made by a sculptor.

In the final space in the gallery, music by Brian Eno was playing, creating a quiet, meditative space well-suited to the books here. There were works by Anish Kapoor, Caro and another one by Kiefer. This one was three large open books laid flat. The pages were created with paint and medium, but the effect was highly textural and initially I thought they may be clay. I could have stood and soaked up these pages for ages.

The V&A website has some good information on this exhibition, including quite a few pictures. You can find it here and here.

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.

Some new toys, but otherwise not much progress

Yes, that's right, that's my new wacom intuos3 - a graphics tablet. And it is a BIG ONE! (A4 size - the active part in the centre). In case you don't know what these are for, it's like a cross between a mouse and an etch-a-sketch...you draw with the pen on the right and your little marks will appear magically on your screen. I've been wanting one for about 18 months, but fully expected it to be a 6 x 8 in, until I had a wonderful windfall a couple of weeks ago. (I own a very few shares in Coles Myer which I inherited from my great-aunt. Coles was taken over a few weeks ago and hey presto, as well as shares in the new company, $$$s appeared in my bank account....don't worry, I've told Centrelink.)

Anyway, this little beauty arrived yesterday and I am still working it out. I've got the software uploaded etc, but the pen operates very differently from a mouse and I'm not finding the adjustment is automatic. I suspect the proprioception in my arms (that's the position sense) has been affected by CFS, but hopefully with time I will get the hang of it. I'm not prepared to give you a demo just yet, but when I produce something I'm happy with you'll be the first to know.

The other piece of equipment/tool/toy I've bought myself (well Christmas is coming up!) is a Print Gocco. I don't know if you are familiar with this, but it is basically a unit that allows you to make your own (smallish) screens for screen printing. They're made in Japan and there are inks for paper, fabric and clay (he!he!). I've been wanting one of these for about 5 years, ever since a friend lent me hers to play with. They aren't cheap, so I've always hesitated, especially when I heard they may cease production. Then I heard there is an Australian supplier and at least out here, there's no problem with continuing supply, so I bit the bullet. So far I've only opened the box and looked at all the bits, but hopefully I'll get a chance to give it a whirl soon. If you'd like to see a little of what you can do with a gocco, check out Shu-Ju Wang's artists books.

Otherwise the week has been slow. It kicked off with a migraine, interrupting my plans for a get-together with feffakookan, and it really stayed in the slow lane. Also, I've had some news about my masters that has left me rather up in the air. Since I first enrolled, the course has been upgraded and an extra subject added. This means I now have to enrol in both semesters in 2008, but I don't know what I actually have to do work-wise....or how I'll do it from Brisbane. I'm waiting for the course coordinator to get back to me...

5th artists’ books+ multiples fair

Yesterday I headed off to this event, which is held at irregular intervals (whenever the organisers have the energy, I suspect!) When I first heard about the fair in April, I was sure I would have at least one book ready to contribute. And probably if I had made it a priority I would have, so I guess that maybe it pays to put your entry in and have a goal to work towards. Like Weather is so close to finished, I am sure it could have been ready. Artists books are still a very new area to me though, and I hesitated, just wanting to know a bit more about the fair and the whole deal.

Organised by Grahame Galleries and Editions who have established the Centre for the Artists Book here in Brisbane, the fair was not huge, but wide ranging. The multiples included some big names, and I mean BIG: Louise Bourgeois, Dieter Roth, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Holzer and a felt postcard by Joseph Beuys.

Jenny Holzer: wooden postcards

Plus the works by the major Ausralian names in artists books: Peter Lyssiotis, Bruno Leti, Ron McBurnie, Milan Milojevic, Judy Watson, Angela Cavalieri, GW Bot, Anne-Marie Hunter and Tim Moseley - the latter two both "manning" their stands.

Nevertheless, I have to say that some of my favourites were books submitted by individual artists who, certainly to me, were less well-known. As is often the case, some of the most interesting work seemed to be done by the students from QCA (Qld College of Art). I often find that students are unafraid to experiment and are not so constrained by convention - often they have to "make do" with cheaper materials, so this probably forces them to be particularly creative.

Following are some images I have taken from the Graham Galleries website (without permission, but with only good intentions) and for lots more, I recommend you visit there. Hopefully next time this event is held, I'll have some works to enter.

As a great lover of folded books, this one by Helen Malone (above), entitled The Battle Within, took my eye.

As did this beautiful one below, by Clyde McGill titled the list (the coda). The textures of the paper and the ink, together with the layering effect from the semi-translucency of the pages really appealed to me.

This was one of very few altered books, using the old World Book Encyclopedia. Anyone of my era will surely remember them. By Anne-Marie Hunter.

This was really one of my favourites - a series of 10 ink and gouache images unbound in a box. By Peter Crocker.

"Like Weather" - more images and text

This is the back cover of "Like Weather", my flag book. It is the image I was originally thinking of using for the flags, but I have chosen one which I think works better. Throughout the book there are photos of clouds together with digital alterations. I hope this implies something of a tension between the real and the virtual, the reality of a situation and our emotional response to it.

I have also used completely different text from the first version I posted here. I decided to take a more conceptual approach, with which I feel more comfortable. I am not at all experienced at writing narrative and I know it is not something you can just "whip up".

Below is the new text:

Between 11pm May 14th and 11pm May 15th, 2007, for every hour that I was awake, I recorded my predominant emotion.

11pm optimistic

12am peaceful

9am confused

10am anxious

11am tense but sleepy

12pm rushed

1pm tired

2pm relaxed

3pm down

4pm peaceful

5pm excited

6pm doubtful

7pm rushed

8pm thoughtful

9pm emotional

10pm thoughtful

11pm satisfied

No Art-Making This Week...

Despite the best laid plans I have not been able to get to work this week. I have simply been too tired and had a migraine on Friday and Saturday after trying to push myself. Today my head feels better, but I just don't have the energy or the concentration to make anything.

I am finding this terribly frustrating and difficult to accept after feeling so well while I was in Melbourne - I guess I was on a high and simply emptied the fuel tank.

In an effort to try to see that I have achieved something this week, I am going to be completely indulgent and list what I have done that is art-related:

1. made a full-sized transfer of self portrait image onto kozo paper - this did not turn out perfectly, but it is the largest transfer I have done, and may be usable.


2. decided to test my MIL's Epson printer for a comparison transfer - made original on sandwich wrap and collected some Epson Photo Quality Inkjet paper (recommended for transfers on the Yahoo inkjet transfer group)


3. researched a source (Paperboys) for paper for my flag book after going to an exhibition of artists books (more later) and seeing the beautiful Mohawk Superfine paper. I don't know how to explain it, but it is soft to touch! Irresistable! It isn't inkjet paper, but I should be able to use InkAid on it to ensure full colour reproduction, if I'm not happy with the result. The lovely people at Paperboys are sending me a sample to test.


4. I also found out about some opportunities to get my work "out there" later in the year - if I can just get any work made, that is! Grahame Galleries + Editions here in Brisbane is again organising the Artists Books Fair in September. So any book that I make in multiples (maybe the flag book?) I could enter there. Also Fusions, the Australian Network of Clay and Glass Artists, recently called for Expressions of Interest for their newly constructed gallery space, which should be ready by late 2007. I am planning to put in a proposal for the Self Portrait work as soon as it is finished and I can take some images.


5. Finally, something I did before I went to Melbourne came to fruition this week. I was asked to write a profile on my work for the Fusions newsletter and this has been published.

I guess I can see that even in a week where I can't get to make much, some progress does still happen now that I have the ball rolling. Hopefully this will let me relax into resting and help the energy build up again.

Incidentally I noticed that Alyson B. Stanfield over on the Art Biz Blog was recently talking about writing bios and profiles. She has some advice over there, including her own bio.... what I can see from all this is that it is one of the hardest things we do, and that everyone needs to develop their own in a style that represents them. I am going to post the profile I wrote for the Fusions newsletter on this blog in the next day or so, and while I don't necessarily think it is an example of the best, hopefully it might help clarify what you do and don't like in a profile.

Finally, because a post with no picture can never be as good as one with a picture: This image shows some pages from an artists book by Australian indigenous artist Judy Watson entitled: "a preponderance of aboriginal blood". At Grahame Galleries I was able to hold this in my hands. This is what I love about artists books.

Unfortunately the image doesn't show the wonderful graininess of the red ink - it really looks like blood. The book explores the incredible situation that went on prior to granting indigenous people in Australia the vote in the 1960s. The exhibition is entitled Lessons in History Vol 1 and comprises about 35 artists books exploring both personal and political history in book form. I spent about one and a half hours there, pouring over the books, and talking to Noreen, and would love to go back for a second visit if I get the chance.

Exhibitions in Melbourne

While I was in Melbourne I managed to get to a few exhibitions. I was surprised and pleased to see the number of people I studied with who had shows while I was visiting - there is so much going on in Melbourne in the way of art. I made it to two shows by dear friends and I wanted to show you images of their work, but as I didn't take any photos in the gallery, I'll have to rely on their invite images. The posting order of images relates only to the order in which I saw the shows...


First I went to the State Library of Victoria to see the ANU Edition + Artist Book Studio exhibition titled "How I entered there I cannot truly say". This gorgeous triangle book on the left was my pick - triangle books are my favourite and with that succulent red section, well who could resist this beautiful piece.
There were some wonderful etchings but I was hugely disappointed that the books were displayed in cabinets. Where were the white gloves? A book is made to be held in your hands and the pages turned...and I told them so in my feedback sheet.



This invite is for an exhibition of beautiful works by Hannah Bertram, a talented artist who I met at RMIT. Hannah's work concerns the decorative, is often ephemeral, and frequently surprises. This installation consisted of a trail of everyday paper ephemera beautifully pierced with intricate patterns. The works extended along the wall, filling the entire length of the gallery like a chain of buddhist prayer flags. The contrast between the labour-intensive decoration and the incredibly mundane substrate is at times quite amusing.



In the same gallery as Hannah's work (Dianne Tanzer Gallery) I stumbled on a wonderful group show with quite a few Australian "name" artists including two of my favourites, Kris Coad (her work left) and Sebastian di Mauro (below). I know I saw this show advertised somewhere but I can't find any images of it online to show you so I have used some older works by these artists which are particular favourites of mine. Kris Coad works with the translucency of porcelain to create works with almost-hidden symbols that rely on light to be exposed.

Sebastian di Mauro is a wonderful artist from my home state, Queensland and this image shows the first work of his I ever saw. It was called Floccus and as you can see he created these wonderfully ambiguous huge sculptures of some soft material that looks like fluff from a clothes dryer or something. The forms really took on the feeling of being creatures that you just wanted to hug or stroke, but by the same token, in the semi-dark space, you couldn't be sure they might not turn on you suddenly! It is one of my all time favourite installations. The work in Melbourne continued to explore similar forms but in bronze and less than 30 cms in length.

The last show I saw was by another talented artist from the MFA program, Katie Roberts. Katie's work has focussed on the Yarra River, which twists and turns its way through Melbourne. She has used video previously and in this exhibition presents her second series of mixed media drawings which functions as documentation of the social and natural history of the river. With moody depictions of the city in the background, Katie has manipulated her materials to create what looks like a record of the very soil on the river banks. Indigenous imprints are overlaid by the European ways of thinking about and interacting with the river, creating a visually "sedimentary" historical record.