"The Great Library" selected for "Books Beyond Words"

A new podcast in which Amanda shares some exhibition news and invites you to join her at Impressions7 on Monday afternoon.

listen to ‘"The Great Library" in Geelong’ on Audioboo

Take a look at the "The Great Library" below

                            


Check out Impressions 7 with me on Monday from 1-4pm. Closes Wednesday June 12th.

Exhibitions at Impact, Part 2

Things are rather chaotic here, with the fridge still out on the patio along with half the living room furniture. The good news is that today is the last day of early starts and tradesmen creating clouds of dust. The finishing touches to the new sustainable bamboo floor are happening as I type. The kitchen is in place and operational. There's just the mess to clear up, but first some rest.

 

For now, here's some more photos and links to work I saw at Impact7 in Melbourne.

Clare Humphries: Material Remains

This Melbourne artist was once an occupational therapist and her work relates to very similar interests to my own. I missed her paper, but hope to download it when the conference proceedings are available. Some info about Clare here.

 

Unfolding Projects: Afghan and Australian Artists' Books Collaborations

These beautiful collaborative artists books were in glass cabinets, just near the BAO display. Read & see  more here.

Melike Tascoglu: The H2O Series

 

These prints exploring the nature of water really spoke to me. I'm not sure if they can be read as well from a screen. Read & see more here.

 Janet Bellotto: Finding Juliet

I freely admit I am sucker for a good lenticular print. (You know, the postcards of your youth where the lady winks suggestively etc). This diptych is the largest format lenticular print that I have seen, and it is used to great effect to depict a wave crashing though this scene. I loved it!

The artist is from Toronto, living in Dubai. Her website where you can see more of her photographs, as well as video and installation work is here.

Exhibitions at Impact, Part 1

One of the best aspects of Impact was having so many printmaking exhibitions right there on the university campus where the conference was being held. I saw almost everything, I think, but all of it far too quickly. I could have spent at least twice as long!

As I raced around, I took as many photos as I could to share, although all with my iPhone. I know that some people who read this blog can't make it to many exhibitions, so I've chosen my favourites for you to see.

Gosia Wlodarczak: 

a Polish-born artist who lives in Australia. This was the only video work at the conference, as far as I am aware. I was drawn to both its subject matter, and the fact that the style has a clear connection to digital imagery. There were numerous papers about video (I didn't attend any) but it shows that working with moving images has appeal for printmakers.

The Train Trip

You can see a lot more about this work (including a 7 minute version) here.

Jan Hogan:

an Australian artist who I believe has recently completed her PhD. There is a little more about that work here. She also presented a paper at the conference - some details here.

Becoming



The sense of layering and networking in this work is beautiful.

Dylan Martorell & Mat Valdman

These works were enchanting! The top print filled the wall, while the lower two were viewed through a device reminiscent of the old "Viewmaster" (hence the blurry photos). There's an interview with Martorell here and this is his blog.

Hapmoniym (digital printed wallpaper)

Hinteridact (digitally altered screenprint, slide, slideviewer)

Sally Smart

I am pretty sure I've mentioned Sally Smart's work here before. Like many others, I find it captivating and inspiring. To be honest, this is the first opportunity I've had to see it in a gallery, so I was quite excited. This work was part of a group show entitled "The Devil had a Daughter". I've included Sara in the shot to give you an idea of scale. Smart's website is here.

Paul Liam Harrison, Scott Hudson & Andy Rice:

500 Years and the Complaint of the Black Knight 

I'm sorry to have to admit that this poem was unknown to me before seeing this work. Now I know that The Complaint of the Black Knight is the oldest surviving dated printed Scottish book (from 1508). Written in fact by John Lydgate, it was falsely attributed to Chaucer (all this according to Wikipedia, of course!)

I walked around and around the room, and loved the rolling Scottish tones, but was able to understand "nairy a wud"! I felt compelled to make a recording to share, but of course had to cut it short when a crowd entered the room talking at the tops of their voices. If you press play, maybe you'll get a tiny taste.

 

I have more photos of work to share next time, as well as my thoughts about some of the papers I attended. It's 9 days till work starts in our kitchen. Tearing up the floor tiles is first on the agenda ( dust and noise - my favourites!). I may be kidding myself, but I'm thinking there will be a lot of time sitting around, not being able to leave the house when I might be able to get online and catch up on my blogging. Am I crazy?

Art Exhibitions in Paris, May-June, 2011

I know the internet is brilliant for bringing us art from all over the globe, but nothing beats seeing it in person… Nevertheless, I wanted to show you some of the art that I enjoyed the most.

FIRST, THE BIG NAMES

Anish Kapoor, Monumenta 2011, Grand Palais

Indian-born Kapoor now lives in England. His beautiful and intriguing works play with perception and lead the viewer to question their own eyes. Experiencing Leviathan was one of the highlights of the holiday for me. There were supporting exhibitions of his work in other locations around Paris, some of which were equally or even more confounding. But just imagine having the chance to make work for the Grand Palais!

Inside views of Leviathan

And outside of Leviathan, inside the Grand Palais

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Anthony Gormley

The first work by Gormley that I saw in a photo was Field for the British Isles. Ever since I’ve wanted to see his work for myself. Although there was a show of related work in Melbourne earlier this year, this was my first viewing. It was in a gallery 5 minutes from our apartment.

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Monet

I wasn’t aware of this work at Musee de L’Orangerie until just before we left Australia. It made me think of Rothko’s Chapel, and I think it would be much more impressive if visitor numbers were limited at any one time. Apologies for the poor quality of this video. Despite signs forbidding photography, everyone (really!) was clicking away. Security did nothing, but I still felt uncomfortable, hence this poor effort. A longer and smooth view can be seen here

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AND THE LESS-BIG NAMES

This is just a few of my favourite exhibitions within 5 minutes of our apartment.

Elisabeth Brillet

 A French ceramic artist made these porcelain books!! I was entranced. They have psalms imprinted on them. If you click on her name above, you can see more photos of the exhibition.

Anita Dube

This text-based work by Indian artist Anita Dube at Galerie Dominique Fiat caught my eye. There is more images of the exhibition here.

 

Zarina Hashimil – Noor

A show of woodblock prints and paper works (including cast paper sculptures) at Galerie Jaeger Bucher. The whole exhibition is well-documented on the gallery site if you would like to see more.

 

Cherel

Finally, I really wanted to share this French painter’s work with you. He’s on show at Galerie Felli. We have a catalogue but we posted it back, so I’ve just used a screen shot from the gallery site.

The paintings are on paper, which is then mounted on canvas, I think. It’s beautifully finished with rough painterly edges and the works are very appealing. There are trees, houses and a few objects (a bottle, a bowl) which are all very atmospheric and meditative. I really wanted to buy one, and maybe I will in the future. You can see more on the gallery site. You need to click on “Artistes” and then choose “Cherel”, followed by “oeuvres” (works).

Openings: a confession

There were two openings on last night that I had hoped to attend.

I actually don’t really enjoy openings that much. For starters, it’s a terrible way to see the art because everyone is so crammed in. Secondly, there’s the speeches (yawn) and finally there’s the small talk. Even worse, if you don’t actually know anyone, you stand around, nursing your drink and trying to look comfortable, thoughtful, approachable or whatever!

I know this makes me sound like a terrible grouch, but hey! I’m an artist, and I spend long stretches of time on my own. We can’t all be so adaptable! (I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like this, am I???)

But it’s not just a matter of preference and avoiding situations that are a bit challenging. If it was, I would be firmer with myself and do the professional thing. The fact is that by evening I am usually pretty tired and the last thing I feel like doing is dressing up and going out. Preparing and eating dinner and then getting ready for bed is often challenging enough!

I’m gradually accepting that this is just the way I am, but I do try to make it to openings of friends, because I do understand how important these occasions are, and how much that type of support is appreciated.

All that being said, I did hope to get to these two openings last night. But I didn’t. It wasn’t completely slackness though. On Thursday I had to have a filling and although it all went smoothly, I was rather nervous because the dentist was new to me, plus having suffered TMJ syndrome, my neck was complaining about having to bear tipping back and holding my mouth open for half an hour. I had a vague headache and I was pretty tired – and I have promised myself that I would be a lot kinder to myself.

So, I didn’t go. But I will be going along to the shows in the next week and I’ll tell you all about them. Until then, in case you’re nearby, here’s the details.

Both shows are group shows and will include a variety of works. First off is 6 Degrees, with artist Sandra Pearce, friend and fellow Impress Printmakers member.

The second show is the Studio West End group show entitled Self Portrait. This will showcase the work of 24 artists, led by Adele Outteridge and Wim de Vos.

And despite what I’ve said about openings in general, I am really looking forward to seeing the shows.

Aug-Sept: artists book exhibitions springing up

Just a quick reminder about some shows that are on this week-end. Some of you, who are on the same lists as I am, may have this information, so I apologize for the redundancy.


Opening this week-end is the Southern Cross University Acquisitive Artists Book Award at Barrett Galleries, Alstonville. They have an online catalogue and after looking through the field of artists and the works displayed, I feel honoured just to show my work in this company. If you are in this area of the country between now and Sept 24, I recommend taking a look.


The new event on the artists books calendar is at East Gippsland Regional Gallery. Books…Beyond Words opened last week-end with the announcement of the competition winners as follows:

First Prize: Deanna Hitti for Simulated Symphony and
The Tantaro Design Innovation Award: Katren Wood for 76635 263 585438

There's more information about the winning books and others which received commendations, as well as some photos at the link above. If you're not familiar with Deanna Hitti's work I suggest you follow that link - it's beautiful and intriguing work.

The exhibition will be open until Sept 8^th and voting for The People’s Choice Award will continue until Sept 2^nd, so if you make it to the show be sure to put in your vote.

Wraith Detail Shots

More images in coming days.

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.