BOOK ARTS NEWSLETTER ISSN 1754-9086 No. 70 December 2011 - January 2012 Published by Impact Press at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE Bristol, UK ARTIST’S COVER PAGE: KATIE HERZOG IN TH I S I SSUE : NAT I ONAL AND INTERNAT I ONAL ART I STS ’ BOOKS EXH I B I T I ONS PAGES 1 - 8 ANNOUNCEMENTS PAGES 8 - 9 COURSES , LECTURES , CONFERENCES & WORKSHO P S PAGES 9 - 12 Opp ORTUN I T I ES PAGES 12 - 15 INTERNET NEWS PAGES 15 - 16 NEW ART I STS ’ PUBL I C AT I ONS PAGES 16 - 21 RE P ORTS & REV I EWS PAGES 21 - 22 STO P PRESS ! PAGE 22 PLUS : PR I VATE P RESSES AND F I NE P R I NT I NG I N AUSTRAL I A AND NEW ZEALAND : A B I BL I OGRA P H I CAL EXTRACT , 2010 COM pi LED BY JÜRGEN WEGNER , LI BRAR I AN , BRANDYW I NE ARCH I VE , SYDNEY , App END I X PAGES 1 - 3 Artists’ Books Exhibitions University of the West of England, Bristol, UK Tom Trusky Exhibition Cases Special Collections Room, Bower Ashton Library Bob Cobbing and the Book 2nd December 2011 – 31st January 2012 Curated by Lawrence Upton In Hendon, in the early 1950s, Bob Cobbing (1920 – 2002) was Organising Secretary to a number of local artistic groups including writing, painting and drama under the title Hendon Experimental Arts Society. of Cobbing’s own work. Those who would have more background are referred to the unparalleled 1970s essays by Eric Mottram listed below. Writers Forum eventually separated itself; and, in 1963, started to become a major small press which, by 2002, had Cobbing was a painter initially and then a poet. As Lawrence published over 1000, perhaps as many as 1300 titles. Upton said of the exhibition he curated at Space Studios, March – May 2011: “I can state my overriding thesis very In this collaborative enterprise, Cobbing was first among simply: Bob Cobbing, the painter, was poetic; Bob Cobbing, equals, as recognised by the title of the 1974 Ceolfrith Arts the poet, was painterly.” Centre exhibition Bob Cobbing and Writers Forum. Cobbing resisted the notion that his books were “artists’ Others came and went; but Cobbing persisted until, in books”, which might seem strange; but his policy was, in 2002, a day before he died, he handed the running of the Mottram’s words, “enabling most people who wanted to buy WF workshop and WF publishing to Adrian Clarke and poetry not to be drastically out of pocket”. Lawrence Upton, the product of several years consultation with the two. To that end, he often published at below cost price; and, often, he used the simplest production methods, including Clarke resigned in 2010; but Upton continues, assisted by ink duplicating and, later, office photocopying. Binding was Tina Bass. by office stapler. Upton has written extensively of Cobbing’s use of the book Alternatively, he printed on cards and “bound” them in as a medium for visual poetry in Bob Cobbing and the envelopes and later, when they became commonplace, in book as medium; but this exhibition concentrates upon plastic document wallets. introducing some of the publications themselves, especially PAGE 1 WWW .BOOKARTS .UWE .AC .UK Participating artists include: Mary Bennett, Allison Bruns, Chandra Cerrito, David Chelsea, Sue Collard, Anna and Leo Daedalus with Samuel Miller, Kerry Davis, Tamara English, Adrianne Feldstein, Linda Hutchins, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Laura LeHew, David Meeker, Bonnie Meltzer, Jim Neidhardt, Cynthia Nawalinski, Jane Schiffhauer, Joanna Thomas, Robert Tomlinson, Renee Zangara. 23 Sandy Gallery is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Noon to 6pm. plus late on First Friday. We are also very generous with appointments outside of gallery hours. Please contact Laura Russell to schedule a visit. We are located at 623 NE 23rd Avenue, just three doors north of Sandy Boulevard in Central Eastside Portland. http://www.23sandy.com Tel: 503-927-4409 Nicola Dale - Kindle John Rylands Library, Manchester, UK Until 29 April 2012 Kindle: v. light (a flame); set on fire v. arouse (with reference to an emotion) n. portable e-reader When it was possible to use other printing methods, he did so; and the 500th and 750th Writers Forum publications were perfect bound litho-printed books, thanks to grant aid. Using appropriate materials, Cobbing published a wide range of artist-writers in a wide array of formats, sometimes rather large, which made them difficult to display but formally reflected their content. He took great care in the making of the books, literally by hand in the majority of cases: “The standard of production, however inexpensive, began well and improved over the years, but never exceeded the price the majority could pay.” said Mottram. A prosthetics of poetry: the art of Bob Cobbing by Eric Mottram is available as a pamphlet from Writers Forum Bob Cobbing and the book as medium by Lawrence Upton is web-published by Readings magazine at http://www.bbk. Nicola Dale’s new artwork Kindle is inspired by the ac.uk/readings/issues/issue4/upton_on_cobbing changing format of knowledge and its current journey out of libraries and books and into circuit boards and light. WRITERS FORUM: A Successful Campaign by Eric Within The Old Map Room of the historic John Rylands Mottram is to be found in Bob Cobbing & Writers Forum Library, the artist has installed thousands of hand-made edited by Peter Mayer, 1974, now reprinted by Writers “candles” made from the pages of unwanted books. In Forum honour of the artwork’s surroundings, these are ordered using a system unique to the work. In addition to Kindle, http://www.lawrenceupton.org the Library is also hosting a retrospective of the artist’s work http://www.wfuk.org.uk/blog within the Crawford Room. Kindle is present in association with Untitled Gallery. It Welcome to My World: Artists Interpret the Globe has been funded by Arts Council England. Kindle runs 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, USA until 29 April 2012 at John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Until 31st December 2011 Manchester M3 3EH, UK An invitational show co-curated by Robert Tomlinson and 23 Sandy. A stellar list of area artists are creating a piece of The John Rylands Library is open Monday 12:00 - 5:00 | art out of a world globe. Each artist will find a globe and Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 5:00 | Sunday 12:00 - 5:00. alter it, paint on it, collage on it, cut it apart or even electrify The Library will be closed for Christmas and New Year: it to create a totally new piece of art. 23 December 2011 - 2 January 2012. PAGE 2 THIS NEWSLETTER CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM WWW .BOOKARTS .UWE .AC .UK /BANLISTS .HTM Les Coleman - Diagrams Fine Impressions Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam Printmaking and artists’ books in Melbourne 1999-2010 Until 17th December 2011 Cowen Gallery, State Library of Victoria Melbourne, Australia Until 16th February 2012 Fine impressions: printmaking and artists’ books in Melbourne 1999-2010 showcases beautiful limited-edition books by 20 Melbourne artists and printmakers. In the digital era the future of the printed book seems uncertain, yet the handmade artist’s book is a flourishing artform. Each of these works is unique in its use of design, typography, paper and binding, both drawing upon and extending the history and tradition of the book. The artists featured include: Angela Cavalieri, Daniel Moynihan, Bruno Leti, Inge King, Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison. Cowen Gallery, Level 2a, Main entrance: Swanston St Admission Free. www.slv.vic.gov.au/event/fine-impressions Edgardo-Antonio Vigo An exhibition of Drawings from Afterthunks and other The Research Centre for Artists’ Publications, Study Room books by Les Coleman is on show at Boekie Woekie, Weserburg | Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, Germany Berenstraat 16, Amsterdam until 17th December. Until 29th January 2012 www.boekiewoekie.com Conceptualism, Visual Poetry and Mail Art characterize the comprehensive oeuvre of the Argentinean artist Edgardo- Antonio Vigo (1928-1997). In the context of the military ABOT “Artists’ Books on Tour” dictatorship in Argentina, his art constituted a political Until 8 January 2012 – in Vienna; 16 January – 18 March gesture. Through his rubber stamps, artists’ postage 2012 – in Prague; 26 March – 31 May 2012 – in Ljubljana. stamps, text works and his statements, which participated On Monday, 27 June 2011 at the MAK in Vienna, an in a network of international artistic exchanges, he called international jury announced the winners of the Europe- attention to the situation in his native land as well as to the wide artist’s book competition Artists’ Books on Tour: fate of his son – who “disappeared” in 1976 – and of the among 158 projects from 26 European countries, works thousands of other victims of the military dictatorship. by five artists were chosen as winners and recognized with Weserburg | Museum of Modern Art prizes of € 2,000 each; 45 further works received honourable Teerhof 20 28199, Bremen, Germany. mentions. http://weserburg.de A major aim of the competition was to gain an overview of Europe-wide creative work in the artist’s book genre. A total From 5 - 11 December Annette C. Disslin’s Bleikloetzle of 925 projects from all over Europe were submitted to the is running an Open Studio - Buchdruckatelier bleikloetzle, artist’s book competition Artists’ Books on Tour. Of these, Im Gewerbegebiet 10, D-73116 Waeschenbeuren 158 projects entered the final round following three days of Germany preliminary deliberations by the jury. As a further central element of the project, the MAK is updating and expanding On show is a new series of Lyricards - large sized cards with its database of illustrated books.