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.

Afraid to Fail?

A couple of months ago, a lovely and well-meaning friend commented to me that I could get a job as a curator of a gallery when I finished my masters. At the time I responded by flippantly agreeing that I could, if they were happy for me to do the job from my bed. The suggestion was so obviously well-intended, that I did not even consider trying to explain how far from my true capacity a full-time job was.


Last week, over on velo-gubbed legs I read this extract from NMJ's soon to be published novel which stars as its main character, a young woman with CFS/ME.
Extract from 'The State of Me' (Ch 34) (Main character, Helen Fleet, talking): "I’m always measuring out my energy behind the scenes, but people don’t see it. They see you at a party and think you’re fine, they don’t see you resting all day to be able to go, and being wrecked all next day because you went."


And I realized that is the problem - they don't see how our life is, day by day. Hopefully, books like NMJ's will help with this problem. I think it is our responsibility to let PWOCFS (people without CFS) in to our lives so they can see what it is really like, because it comes back to people's expectations about a person who is ill, or a person who is disabled.


At present, the understanding seems to be black and white, an all or nothing condition. So if I can apply to do a masters, and be admitted to do it, then I must, basically, be normal. Even if I am currently in my fourth year of a three semester (full-time) course. I'm not sure what this means they believe - do they think I am faking? Or do they think I am recovered? I'm not sure. It's been a long time since anyone really suggested to my face that I wasn't ill, although I still occasionally sense someone eyeing me suspiciously, as if, perhaps, I am exaggerating wildly about the level of difficulty I have to live with.


There is another thing I think people who don't live with a chronic condition find it difficult to grasp. It is the fact that just attempting something when you have a chronic illness, is actually succeeding. If I sat at home and did not try to do things, then sure, I wouldn't fail at them. However, I think I might be failing at living my life, because setting goals and working for them, is as much a part of who I am, as being female is.


My husband commented to me the other day, that the chances of me actually completing this masters have never been better than 50:50. It made me stop and think, and I realized he is right, and I remembered that in the beginning, I was very clear about that in my own head (of course I didn't tell anyone at uni that!)


The thing is, I love to learn, and you don't need to complete a masters to still learn a lot from participating in the programme. If I don't manage to graduate, I will still have vastly increased my understanding of art, and my own practice. It's about the journey, as "they" are always saying. But I think "they" might also believe that I have failed if I don't finish. And maybe I will have, but that's okay, because you can't fail if you don't try...and I'm definitely going to keep trying.

Self Portraits - finally in progress

I have been wanting to get to my blog for days now, but things just seem to be getting in the way. This is just a brief update to post some photos of my Self Portrait piece as it is in-progress.

I started on this work months ago and this is my first attempt at putting all the pieces together in a studio space and assessing how they are working.

Day 1

These pictures show the first stages of the work, which is one which involves allowing a particular process to occur in the gallery (if it gets that far). Above is the first day: a self portrait made from wet clay and an inkjet print.

Day 2

This image shows day 2, with the clay cracking and the print fading.

The work will be followed day by day to document the process it undergoes. Originally I intended to simply contrast the active process of the clay portrait with the stable, preservation of the waxed portrait (see here). Now I can see that documenting the entire process and perhaps binding it into a book would be a better option.

I have also done some digital photos of the clay process as you saw here.