a few of my favourite things .....

I have been making artist's books since 1998 on and off and collecting them since then too.  I only have collected about twenty in that time and am going to make the collecting of these treasures my vice over the next few years.

Here are some of my favourites - just a quick glimpse.

a few from my 'Fiona'  collection

love this photo of Fiona's 'Subversive Stitch'

and this one ....

This is the first artist's book I ever owned.  It was given to me by Wim de Vos and Adele Outteridge for my birthday in 1999 and it is a collaborative piece they made with Madonna Staunton.

The book photographs well on my hot plate.

This piece is by Deslie Wain and below is a detail.

a couple more of Fiona's and a book by Alice Fox.

many of you will already be familiar with Alice's sublime work.

a couple of recent purchases on the left, a concertina book by Sandra Pearce and a quaint little book by Linda Douglas with snippets of maps and birds, sewn threads and marks.  On the right are a couple of the single folded page books by Patti at Missouri Bend.

Of course there are more but I will save those for another time.

fungi and friends .....

A lovely walk this morning after incredibly hot weather.  Everything brittle and crunchy after months and months of drought.  Some very beautiful fungi to photograph.  Again, the images speak for themselves.  I think they may make lovely images for drawing one day.

love these deep shadow shots - image not altered in any way

Del - up close and personal.  She had some amazing shots.

Interesting in black and white

They look a little like concertina paper lanterns

Wim sketching while Del and I walked and photographed

artist's book exhibition and bookplates unbound .....

Yesterday I spent a wonderful afternoon down in Brisbane - a double exhibition.  Book Plates Unbound and a marvellous Artist's Book Exhibition.  You will see the invitation that was sent out by Wim and Adele at the end of this post and if you have the chance to visit this exhibition in the next week, take it.  There is some really amazing work there - very beautiful, very varied, often surprising and definitely worth a visit.

I have the privilege of knowing a number of the artists represented in the exhibition but there were some I did not not know and wow, I will certainly be watching for their work down the track.  More of that later.

Firstly, Book Plates Unbound.  This was a project conceived by Gael Phillips and Wim de Vos in which 31 Queensland artists took part.  We were each asked to produce a book plate, print 40 of them and submit them with an Artist's Statement.  These book plates were then tipped on mount paper and boxed with separate statements and translucent paper interleaves.  The resulting boxed set is stunning - beautiful to handle and presented very professionally in Solander boxes which have been stamp printed.  I will actually post on my copy of this edition during the week.

Below you can see the book plates hanging so we could all have a good look.  A lovely variety of images and each image very indicative of the type of work each artist makes.  I am honoured to have contributed to the project and will always cherish my edition.  

This is a display of the plates which were used to print the book plates and they are very beautiful in their own right.

The entertainment was marvellous - pity their was no room to dance!

Here is a glimpse of just some of the work in the exhibition - I didn't photograph many details of pieces because  I don't think it is my right to do so, but just to whet your appetite and hopefully send you scurrying along to see the work in detail - here are a few peeks.

books by Adele Outerridge

book by Grahame Bligh

tunnel books by Wim de Vos

books to be opened and enjoyed

Fiona Medhurst - Silhouettes 

two books by Glenda Orr

a couple of my books and others

two photos with details of Philomena Drakes'  Old Stuff and New Stuff

Wim's Chrysler Building book

another of Philomena's books

There were so very many books here that completely captured my imagination.  I am only going to mention a few and one of those must be about my absolute favourite book - Silhouettes by Fiona Medhurst. I often talk about keeping it simple - not over working images.  Not that I manage this all the time and I am sure some of my work looks quite laboured.  This book by Fiona is the very essence of simplicity.  Linocut images in black and white printed on a page of semi transparent printing paper, the same forms used again in a different arrangement on the page below and so on.  Some of the pages have one form picked out in red and in varying degrees, images from the pages below show through forming a gorgeous poetic dance of fluid form.  To me it is the essence of simplicity and beauty combined.

Another work which captured my imagination was Mena's (Philomena Drake) work Old Stuff  New Stuff  is another such simple book - simple in concept I would say but very intricate in the binding which she said  Adele helped her work out  - a  very old fashioned form of coptic binding which was necessary to get through the pieces of cedar wood.  I guess I was drawn to this piece initially because of the rusty bolts and wood, but the more time I spent with it, the more I noticed.

An artist whose work I did not know and now will watch out for is that of Glenda Orr.  Initially I was drawn to her folded book Log Forest - a very strong piece folded down from a single print. However, next to that was her boxed, unbound book the title of which I am ashamed to say I don't remember.  I remember her prints and embossings within however and these just need to be seen.  Exquisite, detailed use of aquatint and such perfect embossing that I am completely envious. I would dearly loved to have photographed some of these to share with you but as I said earlier, I didn't  feel I have the right.

Though I have on written about a few, there were many, many wonderful pieces both in the artist's book exhibition and in the Book Plates Unbound.

A few of the books were chosen to be bought for the State Library Collection of Artist's Book by Helen Cole, and I feel honoured that one of my books was amongst those chosen.  A good day for me all in all.

________________________________________________________________________________

Hello Everyone,

You are invited to our exhibition opening at 2.00pm, Saturday 24^th November 2012 (see attachment for details).

Bookplates Unbound, a project initiated by Gael Phillips and Wim de Vos will be opened by Anne Jolly from Novel Lines bookshop, Paddington

Artists’ Books, work from the Studio West End ‘family’ will be opened by Helen Cole, Senior Librarian, Coordinator, Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland

Both exhibitions will be open daily for viewing daily 10.00am to 4.00pm until Sunday 2^nd December

Also attached is the brochure for our 2013 Summer Workshop in Printmaking, Book arts, Drawing and Painting which starts on Monday 7^th January.

You may enrol for one, two or three weeks starting whichever week suits.

It will be an exciting three weeks of learning and creativity...............and fun too............

Enrolments are open now. We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Adele and Wim

If you wish to unsubscribe please let me know.

Adele Outteridge Wim de Vos

Studio West End

35 Mollison St, West End, Qld, 4101, Australia.

Phone/fax 07 3844 8469 (+61 7 3844 8469)

The Studio - brisbane ....

Yesterday I had the chance to slip down to Brisbane and catch up with dear friends Adele and Wim.  It should have been last Friday - we usually go out and celebrate their birthdays in May as they are two weeks apart, but mum ended up in emergency ..... and thus plans change!  We all know about that.

This is Wim de Vos, the man who taught me to be a printmaker way back in 1998 in The Studio , and I still spend time there occasionally for masterclasses.  Adele Outteridge shares this studio space and teaches book arts.  It was Del who started my passion for bookmaking and artist's books.  Quite a change from the drawing and painting that had previously been my focus.

Wim has just come back from months travelling overseas and with a mind and heart full of incredible experiences and visual memories and he is now bringing some of those into a creative reality in the form of books. The one seen here is a tunnel book of the Ghetto in Venice.  I took a number of photos but decided that when Wim is ready, he will be showing off his marvellous book and I did not want to preempt that unveiling.  Suffice to say, it is quite brilliant, as his work is - please take time out to see some of their work in The Studio link provided above.

This colourful array is the beginning of another book of Wim's to do with the Red Light District in Amsterdam.  Can't wait to see it finished.  Once he is exhibiting these works I am sure he will be happy for me to photograph and post the images.

In previous posts I have talked about the DaD project initiated by Adele in 1998 - and I am pretty sure that as a comparison to my poor attempts to draw each day of the year since then, I mentioned Wim and 

Del and their dedication to the project.  Here is a photo of the bookcase holding the many, many volumes of Wim's drawing a day journals. Oh, I am so envious of his discipline.  His journals are not only a reflection of what is happening in his life each day, but a reflection on what is happening currently in the world of politics and shenanigans in public life.  He often draws from things that are happening globally or locally for his daily drawings.  Many of the bits and pieces in front of his drawings were brought back from his last trip.

Now I could have taken hundreds of photos of Adele and here beautiful books, but would not do so without her being present, or without her permission.  She was off during the day doing a book binding week at the State Library with Keith Smith and Scott McCarney who are out here from America.  I did ask her for permission to use a few photos I took of 'stuff' in the studio.  These books are just some of the 'stuff' piled into cubicles - certainly not Del's masterpieces which are beautifully displayed and housed around The Studio.  Not mine to show you though .... maybe one day.  You will have a glimpse of her talent looking at their website.

And this is for Jennifer who reads my blog whenever I post and is usually the very first to comment - this is their  'stuff' wall.  Wim and Del are masters of 'stuff' and ever since I have known them, have been collecting and filling perspex boxes (which Wim makes) and creating this wall between their personal space and the teaching area.  Each box would make a photo in its own right - full of the comical and the whimsical, the interesting and the memory collections.  Talk about lust and envy.

Just everywhere in The Studio is something to look at ......... and enjoy.

And here, up on the shelf, is one of my books that Wim bought from one of my Open Studio Days.  The black and white book on the left, in its perspex box.  The book is titled 'Road Trip' and as I had shamefully not done so before its sale, I took the opportunity to photograph it yesterday while in The Studio.  I will write about it at a later date.

 Well, some days lately have been sad or stressed, but yesterday was a day full of colour, fun and friendship.  We dined last night on a Japanese Banquet which was delicious and then though I drove back up to Montville (an hour and a half north of Brisbane) - it felt as if I rolled!