ISSN 1754-9078 (PRINT) School of Creative Arts, Department of Art & Design ISSN 1754-9086 (ONLINE) BOOK ARTS NEWSLETTER No. 53 November 2009 IN THIS ISSUE: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS’ BOOKS EXHIBITIONS PAGES 1 - 12 ANNOUNCEMENTS PAGES 12 - 13 COURSES, LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS PAGES 13 - 15 ARTIST’S BOOK FAIRS & EVENTS PAGES 15 - 16 OPPORTUNITIES PAGES 16 - 18 INTERNET NEWS PAGES 18 - 19 NEW ARTISTS’ PUBLICATIONS PAGES 19 - 24 REPORTS & REVIEWS PAGE 24 Artists’ Books Exhibitions at the School of these photocopy books bring ideas and images straight from Creative Arts, Department of Art and Design the artist to the viewer, but also create in themselves an art University of the West of England, Bristol, UK object. These photocopy books are one offs, or at least small editions or multiples, this makes them an intimate space for The Photocopy vs. the Bound - Abigail Thomas the artist to communicate to the viewer without the need for Special Collections Room, Bower Ashton Library a 3D galley; a home to home service from artist studio to a 3rd - 30th November 2009 viewers coffee table or cosy library corner. The presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity - Walter Benjamin, 1936 When Benjamin wrote this he was talking about the way in which new technologies at the turn of the century were enabling people to reproduce works of art on mass scale. What I find interesting about this statement is him saying that a work of arts’ authenticity can only come from the original. What happens when that ‘original’ is then taken away? What is the ‘original’? When the photocopies are made, the studio experiments, the drawings that appear in sketchbooks and the documentation of previous works of art are arranged onto the bed of the photocopier in a new composition, this is The Photocopy vs. the Bound then copied creating another ‘original’. Photocopies can cause something to happen. Photocopy My artists’ books practice feeds off all other areas of my works can take on the accessible book form as well as creative life. My practice centres on the everyday, ranging the discardable advertising leaflet. Books tend to feel from sculptures and artists’ books to interventions and precious, but at what point can an artists’ book made from installations. I catalogue the documentation of my own photocopies change from the throw-away booklet to the work, sometimes obsessively, sometimes intermittently, item that becomes so precious? recording the pieces in any media possible or suitable; this in turn is used as part of future pieces of work. This A photocopy has an ephemeral quality which can somehow referencing within my own practice is something that brings make it prized, more so than a mass produced bound book. different aspects of my thinking together and lets them feed Quickly, cheaply made in comparison with the bound book off each other. PAGE 1 WWW.BOOKARTS.UWE.AC.UK P.T.O. FOR MORE BOOK ARTS NEWS… Recently my practice has been influenced by my day job in From Stroud to Bristol a library. Stamping, shelving, archiving, microfilm reading 3rd November - 6th December & photocopying are but a few processes that occur in the Special Collections Room, UWE Bristol Bower library from day to day. These processes are seeping into Ashton Library my practice, most noticeably in my book works. Collecting processes and skills as if they were items and putting them This exhibition has been assembled from works by staff on display like treasure. and students at Stroud College. Over the last few years there has been a growing interest in the production and To find out more about my work please visit my website: exhibiting of Artists Books at the college. One person in www.abigailthomas.co.uk particular, Helen Smith, has been very influential in the promotion of ideas around the subject. Micro-Pages is another book arts project which I have organised and curated. It will be showing at UWE Bower Ashton Library, Bristol from 3rd - 30th November 2009 Micro-Pages is a conversation about the issues surrounding the display of artists’ books. A series of selected artists’ have been turned into a reel of microfilm for a touring exhibition. The work will be accessed through microfilm readers in participating libraries and archive centres. The books selected relate to the history of artists’ books, archives and libraries, or challenge the preconceptions of 37 pins by 37 librarians by David Chamberlain the future of document preservation. All the books are shown one after the other on one 35mm reel of microfilm. Artists include: Lucy Harrison, Dorothy Smallman, Kim Pilgrim, Lynne Williams, Pilar Cortes, Borbonesa & Emitron, Esther Yarnold, Sarah Bodman, Annabel Ralphs, Kate Gallon, Csaba Pal, Laura Guy, Kit Merritt, Hanne Matthiesen, Ann Willmott, Abigail Thomas and Kerri Cushman. Dates & Venues Stratty Park by Gypsy 3rd - 30th November 2009 UWE Bristol, Bower Ashton Library For most of the students this is a first opportunity to exhibit Nov-2009 London South Bank University Library work. The work is not themed. The criterion is membership 1st November - 11th December 2009 Goldsmiths Library of the staff or student body at Stroud. In this way we have 1st - 7th December 2009 Paul Hamlyn Library, British been able to show a diversity of ideas that have come from Museum small beginnings. 4th - 31st January 2010 Bristol Central Library 1st - 5th February 2010 Glasgow School of Art Archives We have on view altered books, books that tell a story or Spring 2010 Hackney Archives describe a journey, collaborative books and concept-based work. Co-ordinated by Valerie Elliott, Stroud College For more information see: www.abigailthomas.co.uk UWE, Bristol, School of Creative Arts http://micropages.ning.com Kennel Lodge Road, Bristol, BS3 2JT Library desk: 0117 328 4750 PAGE 2 THIS NEWSLETTER CAN BE DOWNLOADED IN COLOUR FROM WWW.BOOKARTS.UWE.AC.UK/BANLISTS.HTM EXHIBITIONS The Bookbinders Collective is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition by kind permission of Robert Frew Ltd. It will be a selling exhibition of some of the most exciting contemporary bookbinders working today. Those exhibiting are: Kathy Abbott, Jo Bird, Mark Cockram, Benjamin Elbel, Eri Funazaki, Tatjana Gretschmann, Kate Holland, Kaori Maki. Robert Frew Ltd is a renowned antiquarian booksellers based at 8 Thurloe Place, London SW7 2RX, just opposite the Victoria and Albert Museum. Their opening hours are: Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm, Saturday 11am - 5pm. You can find them at www.robertfrew.com The exhibition runs from Thursday 3rd December until Saturday 12th December. For further information or for an invitation to the private view please email Kate Holland at [email protected] See www.bookbinderscollective.co.uk for more about us. Selections from the Athenaeum’s Erika and Fred Torri Artists’ Books Collection: Sol LeWitt Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, CA, USA November 14th – December 31st One of the earliest artists who worked on books, Sol LeWitt ‘Creative Communities’ reaches a conclusion in November passed away in 2007. LeWitt was a conceptual artist who and Andrew’s book ‘Toolbox’ will be on display in gained notice in the 1960s along with Ed Ruscha, Dan Haslemere Museum alongside some working drawings from Flavin, and Carl Andre. He was a founder of Printed the 4th to the 16th of November. Matter bookstore in New York, the leading specialist center for artists’ books in the world. All are welcome to the opening evening on 3rd November North Reading Room 6 – 8pm when Andrew will introduce the book and briefly 1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, CA, USA describe its development, there will also be a video of some www.ljathenaeum.org of the Haslemere traders in practice. Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am – 5.30 pm Wednesdays until 8.30 pm. Admission is free For further details please contact Charlotte Gardiner, Waverley’s Arts Officer on 01483 523390. Haslemere Museum, 78 High St, Haslemere, GU27 2LA Toolbox haslemeremuseum.co.uk Haslemere Museum 4th - 16th of November The Story of Things Andrew Morrison has been working as Artist-in-Residence An exhibition of works curated by Carson & Miller in the town of Haslemere, Surrey for the past eighteen MMU Special Collections, Manchester months as part of the ‘Creative Communities’ project. Nine Until Friday 29th January 2010 boroughs have hosted visual and performance artists funded In a museum ‘things’ sit beside one another in sometimes by Arts Partnership Surrey and the Arts Council. unlikely combinations. They tell something of their own story but also produce new narratives, just by being The Haslemere project documents the rich tradition of together. craft workers and independent traders in the town through prints made in response to their collections of tools. Twenty Working with MMU Special Collections, including the prints record the breadth of the town’s occupations from North West Film Archive, artists Carson & Miller have fishmongery to fence making to rug restoring. Andrew has curated an exhibition that explores ideas of narrative, held regular workshops in the town to develop the project memory and collections. MMU academic Dr. Patricia and ‘Toolbox’ includes contributions from local residents Allmer explores the activities of Carson & Miller in an and schoolchildren. essay written to accompany the exhibition: On Being Touched. PAGE 3 WWW.BOOKARTS.UWE.AC.UK P.T.O. FOR MORE BOOK ARTS NEWS… Closure books by, from left: Kendall Wright, Melody Yates, Hanne Matthiesen Rhiannon Jones and Batool Showghi. Open until Thursday 19th Nov, university opening hours. The University of Northampton Avenue Campus, St George’s Avenue Northampton NN2 6JD For further details see: www.weloveyourbooks.com All Closure books in the touring show curated by weloveyourbooks can be viewed on flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rejectamenta/ sets/72157621190021949/ Entries to the Designer Bookbinders’ Bookbinding Competition 2009 will be exhibited at the John Rylands University Library in Manchester from December 2009 - January 2010.