workshop

new book pages drying

workshop in action

The first of a series of small artist book workshops run by Redland Art Gallery has just finished. This workshop, held by myself at the Capalaba Art Space, focussed on the use of recycled and inexpensive materials to make simple artist books.The participants (many of who had not seen the exhibitions, or had much of an idea what artist books entailed) spent the first hour or so exploring and coming to terms with some of the works at the "Life's Journey" and "Mind Mapping" exhibitions at the Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland. After getting suitably excited by the wonderful artist books on show, it was only a short drive to Capalaba before we were able to get stuck into making our own little books.

Hopefully this short experience will give these enthusiastic workshoppers some insight into some of the many possibilities and lead them to explore further in the area of artist books. Thank you all, you friendly, artistic workshoppers, I hope we meet again in the pursuit of "making art", it was a real buzz for me to work with such a great bunch. We have promised to keep in touch to swap ideas and books and maybe further workshops to dig deeper into the bindings and printing aspects.

Little books at "Mind Mapping"

accordion book "text file"(hand made box on left)

accordion folds, "ID" laminated double-sided collaged pages and "Notes"

A stack of artist diaries and a background of pages from them

Here is a selection of some of the little books in "Mind Mapping". These are all one offs and were made a little while ago and are happy to be let out into the world of light and scrutiny. The pages in "Text File" are based on work by Tom Phillips in "The Heart of Humament".
Each page is in the form of a "found poem" which results in the selection of some of the words in a page of discarded print from an old book. By painting out or obscuring by other means, the words you don't want, you end up with  a sub-conscious selection that could be roughly called poetry.The unwanted space is them transformed by colour and can reflect the content of the poem if desired.
 I used this form as a starter activity of making some pages to bind using simple hand stitching at the little workshops that were held in conjunction with the exhibition. I will take some photos at the next workshop to show what beautiful work the participants make.

artist talk

Emma Bain introduction

Emma's talk in main gallery

"Bach'Coda" Artist book and bemused audience

interested booksters

Some photos from the artist 's talk on Wednesday 9th May 2012 at the Redland Art Gallery. Emma Bain gave an interesting trip through some of the works in the main gallery followed by a talk and exploration of Mind Mapping in the smaller galleries by myself. I have some initial photos of the work on my flickr link but will try to improve these as they are not clear.

mind mapping

Caitlin Sheedy's beautiful work

The main show "Life's Journey" was excellent with many outstanding books of all sorts. One of my favourites was Caitlin Sheedy's "The 199" on loan from the SLQ collection. Helen Cole has made a great selection from their vast collection (including two books by my new BAO friend Helen Malone) to which Noreen Grahame added work from Grahame Galleries + Editions. The range and display of the work was a credit to the curators Emma Bain from Redland Art Galleryand Anna Thurgood from Mackay Art Space.
 The "Mind Mapping" exhibition went well, lots of people showed interest in an aspect of my work hitherto kept hidden. I realise it's not necessarily everyone's cup of tea and I was a bit reticent to show at first, but now I'm glad I did. It was great catching up with lots of friends I hadn't seen for years but as usual didn't get much time to chat. There were  many expert bookmakers and printmakers who were all very supportive.But
it's always a relief when the "Opening" has passed and the show can hang  by itself  for us to visit and explore.
I promised some photos but haven't taken any yet much too crowded and not really possible or appropriate at the opening. I will go back and take some when it's quiet and make a little album in flickr. In the mean time, a friend contacted me and sent me some shots she took with her phone. She has given me permission to give you access to her blog at http://heyharriet.blogspot.com.au/ This might give you some little idea of the exhibition. The installation team under Emma Bain's expert direction have done an outstanding job. I feel so lucky to be part of it all.

covered

I've just started picking some of this year's pomegranates. Although they are beautiful inside, their waxy outside skin, complete with scratches and little scars is just gorgeous. I've tried to capture some of this quality in the cover of an artist book I'm making at the moment. (I hope you can see it in the photo -it's a bit subtle)

The little book "Transparent" is part of a great collaborative project run by Book Art Object, a great group all interested in the many types and forms of artist books. Involvement with this group through their blog has been incredibly rewarding and satisfying. Check out the link if you are interested in the nitty -gritty of making my cover.

waxing paper

before and after pomegranate treatment

prototype cover