Regenerate: Impress Printmakers Launch

I'm pleased and proud to be a part of this inaugural exhibition at the new premises of Impress Printmakers. You're invited to the Opening, but please note that it is necessary to rsvp. 


If you can't make it on the 21st, I hope you'll check out the show and new premises soon. The gallery will be open Thursday - Sunday, 10am-4pm, and the show will be up until March 30th.

Taking part in Impressions 7

A month or so ago, I was invited to participate in Impress Printmakers' Annual Exhibition. Works are by members and can inlcude prints, drawings and artists' books. 

I decided that it would be a good opportunity to show a couple of my artists' books to a Brisbane audience. Although my books have traveled to a variety of venues in Australia, to the US and right now one is making its way to Sarah Bodman's next exhibition of Book*Art*Object in England,  they haven't been seen much locally.

I also had one digital print that was almost ready, but I felt that as a collection of work, another was needed. The two books I chose, Judy & the Jacaranda and The Great Library, while quite different aesthetically are linked by their BAO connection. I felt that one completely unrelated print created a disjointed body of work.

So I began to work on another print that I felt would sit well with my first, and after a week or so, I was satisfied and so have submitted the two prints together with the two artists' books for the show.

If you are in Brisbane or close by, it would be terrific to see you at the Opening next Friday night. If you can't make it, I'll share some images in my next post.

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.

Book arts news

I've been forced into taking things rather quietly lately. The winters in Brisbane are generally pretty mild, but this one has been quite cold. In fact, we've had a very bad flu season, much worse than in the colder cities of Sydney and Melbourne. And I can tell you it's not really a good idea to arrive back after three months away, right into the thick of it! But luckily there's been quite a bit going on in the realm of books without my doing anything much.

Self (States of Change) detail by Amanda Watson-Will

First up, I received word on Monday that my porcelain book Self (States of Change) has been selected for a book arts exhibition in my home town! Well almost. It's actually at Bribie Island Seaside Museum, about 80 kms north of Brisbane. Still, book arts opportunities around Brisbane are rare, and I haven't exhibited any work closer to home than Noosa since 2007. So I am really delighted to be selected for Cover to Cover in October. 

Then, I sold a copy of The Great Library of  Alexandria. Selling work obviously isn't a major reason that I make art. I don't make a huge amount of work, and in the past much of it was ephemeral, so exhibitions and competitions have been my focus. As a consequence, I don't have that much to sell. In truth, selling my work to individuals is something I've never found that comfortable. I worry they won't be happy with their purchase, and for some reason, I feel more confident when an instituion is the buyer. I suspect this is entirely illogical, but feelings often are. Anyway, this week I made a sale, to another book artist whose work I admire greatly. For privacy reasons, I won't say who, but you know who you are, and I say a heartfelt thank-you!

Finally, as if these little successes weren't enough, the letterbox has been supplying me with book art delights, day after day. 

First to arrive, this book, "arbre brume" (misty tree) with its beautiful, atmospheric black and white photos by friend and talented artist Renaud Allirand from France. Some of the photos were also available as prints in his studio/gallery in the Marais when we visited, but the book meant we didn't have to argue over which one to choose!

You may remember that I mentioned meeting Renaud in Paris last year and shared a little book by him here (scroll to the bottom of the post).  

This year I was looking forward to seeing what Renaud had been working on since our last visit. As well as photography, he has been working in ink and had work selected for a prestigious art competition. We were lucky that the exhibition opening was during our visit and Renaud invited us along. Below you can see me standing with him in front of his work. If you'd like to see more of Renaud's work, follow this link.

Renaud Allirand and I, in front of work by Renaud.

I'm participating in Edition 4 of Book*Art*Object (see more here) this year and two books by other artists have arrived already.

Detail from "Dust" by Bertie can der Meij [click on the photo to read the text]

First is Dust, a humorous, serious, clever and beautiful book by Bertie van der Meij. Letterpress printed on handmade paper, bound in a vacuum cleaner bag(!) Bertie deals with the detritus of life and death with great sensitivity and honesty. I love this book more and more every time I pick it up. You can see what Bertie wrote about the book on the BAO blog here and visit her website here.

Gail Stiffe's Pulp Fiction

Next to arrive was Gail Stiffe's Pulp Fiction. This book plays wonderfully with Sarah Bodman's title (Pulp Fiction) literally pulping some pulp fiction to create beautiful thin sheets of paper. A reknowned and talented papermaker, Gail's handmade paper is wonderfully tactile, with pages that are embossed, watermarked and overlaid with coloured pulps and then stitched back into the covers. I love it when craft and concept come together this well in an artwork. You can see more about Gail's work on her website.

Ce que j'ai fait pendant mes vacances by Jac Balmer

Finally, a real surprise! Jac Balmer (another BAO participant) in Lancashire received one of my Wabi Sabi zines earlier in the year and has kindly returned the favour by sending me a copy of her new zine. It's entitled Ce que j'ai fait pendant mes vacances (What I did on my holidays) and is pretty perfect for me, I think! It seems that Jac visited France for her holidays too, and the zine takes the reader on a wonderfully evocative walk through a very French garden. The front cover is a great reproduction of a spiral bound school book and the little book structure is filled with Jac's soft, romantic sketches in (I think) pen, coloured pencil and watercolour. It's quite beautiful, and even though they're not my sketches, it works as a lovely memento of my time in France too. You can see more about Jac's work on her blog.

What a lovely week!

Dandelion Daze

Thanks to everyone for your considered opinions on my prints last post. Your choices were varied, which was really good, because it gave me the freedom and confidence to select my own favourite.

Finished prints for "Regenerate" show in August
For a close up, see here

There is the edition pictured above, ready to be signed and numbered. For this particular exhibition it is a requirement that we all use the same paper, torn to the same size, which Impress Printmakers provides for us.

The paper is Magnani Incisioni, which is a beautiful off-white cotton rag paper. I was a bit concerned about using an unfamiliar paper, and one that doesn't have an inkjet coating. Fortunately, the prints do look lovely on the Magnani, although I suspect that there is a slight loss of textural detail. I'm going to check on this when I have a little more time.


At the moment, time isn't plentiful, as it is only 10 more sleeps till I head off overseas. If you were following my blog last year when I was in Paris, you may remember that I was excited to stumble upon a bookbinder's studio in the very street where we were staying.

Last time, I couldn't quite make myself turn up at the studio unannounced and try with my stilted French, to speak to the bookbinder Celia Malouvier. I am pleased to report that this time it is different! I have already been in touch and have organised to do some classes with her. On my first visit to the studio, we will decide what I would like to work on in the time that I have. You can rest assured that I will report back to you about this little adventure.

I'll try to post again before we fly out, but if I don't, I'll be back soon, reporting from locations plus exotique.

Working on Digital "Regeneration"

I've been having a lovely time in my studio since returning from Sydney. With all my friends away for Easter and no possibility of health-related appointments either, due to the holidays, a rare stretch of empty days opened up for me. I have an exhibition I am working towards too, so it could not have come at a better time.

In August, Impress Printmakers will move into their newly renovated premises in the old substation at Kelvin Grove. For such an active and professional group, it is sometimes hard to remember that for years they have been operating out of "temporary" premises under the home of one of the members. (The old "Queenslanders", perched above head-height on stumps, are great for this kind of purpose.)

At last the organization will have a permanent home, and will be celebrating with an exhibition titled " ReGenerate". I am delighted that the theme is one that relates to my work, as this seems like a significant occasion and I really wanted to participate and contribute.

Members have to contribute a small edition (at least six prints) and even though isn't many, I decided to play it safe and make mine digital. It is the area where I have the most experience and it is the least physically-demanding.

With four empty days at Easter, plus a pretty quiet week so far, I've been a bit obsessed! The beauty (and the danger) of digital is that you can try so many alternatives. Eventually, last night, I managed a "first cull", printed off the remainder and then put them away for 24 hours to clear my mind. I had been putting them up on the wall, and I find that is great when you want to keep developing things. Ideas just seem to l e a p into your mind with the work in front of you, but it doesn't seem to help the selection process.

So, because you are friends, and I know you will be kind, I thought I would post a few options here for some feedback. They are a mixed bag, some feel finished, some maybe not. I'd love to hear if you have a favourite, or if there is one you think is strongest. Or even if you think that part of one is working well, but needs some tweeking!

Visiting Redland Regional Gallery

I really want to thank everyone who has commented on my 300th post. A little give-away will soon be winging its way to you. I had hoped to get them all in their envelopes over the week-end, but today demanded to be a “sofa” day, so I am still working on them.

CC2.0 jinterwas

To preserve “the secret”, I’ll wait until my next post to write about the work I’m sending. In the mean time, I wanted to share a bit about my recent trip to the Redland Art Gallery.


The regional gallery closest to me is around a half hour drive away in the Redlands. The shire is known for the gorgeously fertile, rich, red soils and its strawberry production. It is skirted by Moreton Bay and includes some lightly-inhabited islands, including Stradbroke, Moreton and Russell. In the last 50 years the population of the area has exploded from around 10 000 to close to 150 000, and in 2003 the shire saw the opening of the Redland Artl Gallery (RAG).


As a gallery within a region, part of the intention is for the art shown and collected to enrich a sense of place and cultural heritage. The exhibitions often feature Queensland artists or collections, and frequently artists from the Shire. There are also touring exhibitions which are traveling around the national "regional gallery circuit”. There seems to be a concentration on 2D artwork, and the galleries collection emphasizes both painting and works on paper pretty equally. It is a stated aim to collect more photographic and new media works.


The focus on local talent doesn’t mean the quality suffers, although if it is highly conceptual works by bright young things you seek, then perhaps head for GOMA instead. I was drawn to the gallery a couple of week-ends ago to see Judy Watson’s Heron Island Suite of etchings. Below is a video from youtube about Watson's residency on Heron Island which resulted in these works.







I’ve posted about this artist here before, as I am a big fan, and not just because her name is so similar to my mother’s! This show included some lovely works like the one below from the invitation. If you click on the image you will go to the RAG site where there is more information on Watson and her work.

Judy Watson: Heron Island 4 (image from invitation)

 
Other examples displayed a distinct tension between the watery organic backgrounds and the graphic, scientific details shown in tables and graphs (see them here). Having had the privilege of handling some of Judy’s etchings in the form of an artist’s book at Grahame Galleries, I couldn’t help feeling that these works suffered a little from being behind glass.  




Also on show was a 30 year retrospective of now-local artist Carolyn Dodds. A printmaker working largely without the use of colour, these works just didn’t sing to me. The prints were mostly technically-excellent, intricate woodblocks or lino prints.  Unfortunately the density of detail simply overwhelmed me, but this is a purely personal preference. 


I did enjoy Dodd’s small collection of photogravure prints, which she traveled to the US to produce. These were moody works, where the light in the photograph and the graininess of the technique combined most effectively. There were a couple of artists books included in the show and my favourite was this one, The Heart of the City. The book featured photos of graffiti in a prescribed area of Sydney, which had been photocopied multiple times to achieve a grainy, urban effect. 


At the gallery I bought a copy of their recent publication, Redland Art Gallery Collection, 2003-2009, which I have really enjoyed studying. I really wanted to share a few page views from the book with you to give you some idea of the scope of the collection, but I don’t want to infringe any copyright laws. So instead I offer a couple of links to the RAG site here and here, as well as directing to you a couple of upcoming exhibitions of interest here and here. (Can you spot the Book*Art*Object member??)

BAO edition finished & other progress

I’m very happy to be able to report that this week I completed the edition of 10 books for Book*Art*Object inspired by an extract from “Art & Lies” by Jeanette Winterson.(Yes, they are curiously square in shape for books, aren’t they?)

Four are currently winging their way overseas to members of BAO in the UK and the US, so I’m holding off a full reveal here for a couple of weeks until they have arrived.

We’ve also been lucky enough to have the “Art & Lies” edition acquired by the State Library of Queensland. Helen Cole, from SLQ, saw the work exhibited at the Impact conference and that’s where the deal was done! There is also some discussion with Alicia Bailey from Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado about exhibiting “Art & Lies” there! This is a very exciting possibility and if it comes off, will be my first step onto the international stage.

I realized that I haven’t posted the text by Winterson here yet. So, in case you haven’t seen it over on the BAO blog, here it is.

300BC. The Ptolemies founded the great library at Alexandria.
400,000 volumes in vertiginous glory.
The Alexandrians employed climbing boys much in the same way as the Victorians employed sweeps. Unnamed bipeds, light as dust, gripping with swollen fingers and toes, the nooks and juts of sheer-faced walls.
To begin with, the shelves had been built around wide channels that easily allowed for a ladder, but, as the library expanded, the shelves contracted, until the ladders themselves splintered under the pressure of so much knowledge. Their rungs were driven into the sides of the shelves with such ferocity that all the end-books were speared in place for nine hundred years.
What was to be done? There were scribes and scholars, philosophers and kings, travellers and potentates, none of whom could now take down a book beyond the twentieth shelf. It soon became true that the only books of any interest were to be found above shelf twenty-one.
It was noticed that the marooned rungs still formed a crazy and precarious ascent between the dizzy miles of shelves. Who could climb them? Who would dare?
Every boy-slave in Alexandria was weighed. It was not enough to have limbs like threads, the unlucky few must have brains of vapour too. Each boy had to be a medium through which much must pass and yet nothing be retained.
At the start of the experiment, when a book was required, a boy would be sent up to get it. This could take as long as two weeks, and very often, the boy would fall down dead from hunger and exhaustion.
A cleverer system seemed to be to rack the boys at various levels around the library, so that they could form a human chain, and pass down any volume within a day or so.
Accordingly, the boys built themselves eyries in among the books, and were to be seen squatting and scowling at greater and greater heights around the library.
A contemporary of Pliny the Younger writes of them thus:
[here is a chunk of latin that is never translated. JW at her most scholarly & impenetrable... but would look great in calligraphy, Ronnie!]
There is no system that has not another system concealed within it. [my emphasis] Soon the boys had tunneled behind the huge shelves and thrown up a rookery of strange apartments where beds were books and chairs were books and dinner was eaten off books and all the stuffings, linings, sealings, floorings, openings and closings, were books. Books were put to every use to which a book can be put as long as it is never read.

Jeanette Winterson, Art & Lies (London: Jonathon Cape, 1994), pp. 4-6.



STUDIO

The other lovely news I received is that our wall bed will be installed on December 20th. You may recall this post from a couple of months ago, mentioning my plans for doing up my studio (at last!). 

Well, having a wall bed, instead of the current single, will allow me to have a lot more shelf space above the bed. Storage has been a problem in this little room ever since the air-conditioner was installed, which meant that small bookcase that sat on top of my desk had to go. Here’s where some of that stuff has been patiently waiting for a “real” home for some months.

I didn’t want to leave you with a photo of my mess, so here is the plan I’ve drawn up for the studio. I am hoping I might be able to squeeze in a small comfy chair for reading between the bookcase and the built-in, but time will tell. 

If you see any glaring problems, please do comment! Your thoughts, as always, are gratefully received.

A Quick Addendum

I have two things to share quickly.

First a bit of exciting news. I just heard by email that my book “Caterpillar is to butterfly as book is to?” has been selected for the East Gippsland Regional Art Gallery “Books Beyond…Words” Award exhibition (that is quite a mouthful!)

I’m really thrilled, as I pushed myself pretty hard working on this before we left Australia, so it is nice to be selected after all that. Great news is that Ronnie, another member of Book*Art*Object has also been selected. Double YAY!

Secondly, late yesterday I made it to the wonderful Relma, (3 rue des Poitevins, 75006) which I mentioned in my last post.

This photo shows less than half of the marbled papers on sale.It was a sight to behold! In the next room are the beautiful, soft skins of every colour (I know, it’s so sad, but nevertheless, they are beautiful and deserve to be revered.

 

Somehow I managed to arrive with only 10 minutes to closing, which was perhaps lucky or I don’t know how I would have been able to make a decision about which papers to choose. With such a brief visit, I didn’t buy anything, just walked around in a state of bliss and awe. Basically there are two large areas, one for skins, one for papers. Then there are smaller spaces for bookcloth and tools, and further on there are presses, board cutters and any other larger items.

As I was hustled from the shop at 5:59pm (most shops close at 7pm here, hence my mistake) I managed to ask for a catalogue, which turned out to be in both French and English. I’ll quote from the introduction:

“…In the small typical parisian streets of the latin quarter, Relma is a privileged spot for book lovers. For more than (a) hundred years we have been revering books and thinking with passion of everything which can protect it, and decorate it.

It is a magic place, you can discover there the most noble materials…”

Portrait of a Studio

On Sunday I went to see “Self Portrait”, the Studio West End group show that I mentioned a couple of posts ago.

In 1998 artists Adele Outteridge and Wim de Vos established Studio West End, from where they offer various workshops ranging through book arts, printmaking, painting and mixed media.

Wim has developed extensive skills working with perspex and the material has become somewhat of a signature material for both him and the studio. Adele and Wim create such a welcoming environment and have so much to offer, that many of those who come to study choose to stay and develop a lengthy relationship with the studio, and with Adele and Wim.

The works in the show demonstrated the wide and varied range of skills and talent nurtured at the studio. There were 25 artists represented and the photos posted here are simply the ones that appealed to me personally.

Studio West End recently launched a website, which you can find here. Wim told me that they will be documenting the show in full on the site soon. In the mean time, the gallery on the site has works by Adele and Wim, plus a number of photos of cute cats!!

Above: Adele Outteridge

 

Above: Bronwyn Estaban

Above: Fiona Medhurst

Above: Graham Bligh

Above: Philomena Drake

Above: Sharon Smith

Above: Sheryl Whimp

Hannah Bertram in Melbourne

If you’re in Melbourne before October 16th, be sure to get along and see Hannah’s latest works at Dianne Tanzer Gallery. The show is the culmination of her project for 2010, The Silence of Becoming and Disappearing. 

 

Work by Hannah Bertram

If you can’t make it to the gallery, you can see the photos of the sublime works Hannah made in private homes throughout the year on her website.

RMIT MFA Graduate Exhibition

For anyone in Melbourne, I'm posting this invite to the MFA Graduate Exhibition. The work of the 33 graduating candidates (including yours truly) will be on show across two gallery spaces. The variety and the standard is impressive, and it just might be you'll see early work by a future "name". In case the detail on the invite comes up a bit small, you can see times and dates here.

Craft Revolution

Marisa Molin: From the series Symbiosis

Last week-end I went to see "Craft Revolution" at QUT Art Museum. From the website:

"Craft Revolution explores the idea that craft is radical and revolutionary, through an exhibition and online discussion. Rejecting the dominant culture of consumption and the loss of community, craft is a means of creation and engagement that is slow, purposeful and often cooperative. It is this rejection of the dominant consumptive culture and the return to historic or traditional practices that makes craft revolutionary."

The show is only quite small, I found it disappointingly so. It includes some traditional craft works as well as more contemporary pieces. Personally, I'm not really sure they really added much, although the message was clear: your craft doesn't have to be highly conceptual in order to be radical. Still, it was works with a conceptual base that I found most inspiring.

Marisa Molin's works (above) were a case in point. Contemporary jewelry makers are currently among the most radical craftspersons, in my opinion. Working with the relationship of adornment to the body opens up so many avenues. I was especially pleased to see the actual works by Molin, in addition to the photos depicting them in relation to the body.

Another work that really appealed to me was a gorgeous dress by Tallulah Filloy which brought together aspects of traditional Maori costume with a skirt made from a beautiful red bathmat. Yes , I said bathmat. And yes, if it was in my size, I'd wear it!"Our Father Who Art in Heaven", 2008 by Ann-Maree Hanna

But my favourite work was this one by Ann-Maree Hanna. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of it as it is installed for this show. It is quite breathtaking in it's beauty and profound in it's message. The work is made from embroidery thread and is a scrolled version of the Lord's Prayer written in arabic. The calligraphic lines of the script rendered in gold are suspended from one end and gently fall to the floor, where the rest of the prayer remains on its giant bobbin. The lighting is used to great effect to cast the shadow of the words onto the wall. The bringing together of Christianity with the language of the troubled middle east is such a beautiful sight, I'd recommend this exhibition for this piece alone.

You can read and see more about this show on the QUT website (where I found the photos, and sorry, I don't have permission) and on the associated blog.

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.

Wraith Day 2

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!

"Like Weather" - a mock-up

Above: the book fully extended, showing (l to r) back cover, spine and front cover.

Below: the first opening, showing inside cover and the start of the flags.

Above: Showing the imagery inside.

Finally I have some photos to show you of the mock-up of my flag book, Like Weather. I am still not sure that I am happy with the way the main image (the one above) is working. I don't think there is really enough variation across the flags, but perhaps I am wrong. The top flag does seem to work quite well, but the lower two not so well. I have printed an alternative image and am planning to assemble it in the next few days to compare. Perhaps you could let me know what you think when you see the two options.

I had huge hassles getting the colours to print the way I wanted, and that was just with my old printer, not the new Epson 2100. By the time the Epson arrived, I had invested so much time getting the colours right on the Canon, I could not bear to start all over again, even though the final version of the book will be printed on the Epson.

I think that some of my colour problems are to do with the fact that I work on a laptop. (When I had to upgrade my computer last year, I splurged on a laptop, which I absolutely love because I can take it anywhere, and it is so compact and doesn't take up valuable space in the studio). Unfortunately, I have now discovered that the screens in laptops are not regarded highly for their colour accuracy. Maybe I will even have to buy another screen, I don't know. Fortunately I do have the money at the moment, but of course there are a hundred other things I need. Oh well! we will see.

This post is a little slower than I had hoped because the last week was a busy one, with three "health-related" appointments. Sometimes it feels like a full-time job being sick! The coming week looks a bit quieter appointment-wise, but I will have to do a lot of writing rather than making. This is however, good news, because I have been offered my first-ever paid writing job.

It seems that people who know about ceramics and are comfortable writing are quite rare, and consequently over the years, I have been called on to write a few articles about the work of artists in my area for the Australian Journal of Ceramics. This is always unpaid work, but I have been happy to do it because I always learn a lot from the process and enjoy the writing. (And it's also a good thing to put on your CV.)

This time though, I have been asked by a nearby regional gallery (Redlands Art Gallery) to write the catalogue essay for an exhibition of ceramics by Julie Shepherd, a local ceramic virtuoso. Julie makes the most exquisite egg-shell thin pierced porcelain works and yesterday I visited her and saw some of the literally hundreds of pieces she is making for this major solo showcase of her work. Just catching up with Julie who is a friend I studied with, and seeing her amazing work up close was a treat, but getting some $$$s too - well, I do feel lucky!