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)

sugar lift and ex libris .....

I have had a break from etching for a while and last week, after working in a studio in Brisbane for a couple of days, I remembered why it is that I love printmaking so very much.  I came home from there and re organised my studio so that one side of it is a printmaking studio, one corner is my office and the rest is there for book making etc.

One of my absolute favourite techniques with etching is the sugar lift - or the  'lift ground' process.  In order for this to be effective your copper has to be really clean and free of grease.  The whole process is time consuming and laborious but the marks made are worth the effort.  You then draw your lines on with a sugar or lift compound, wait for it to dry before applying a hard ground and then immerse the plate in boiling water.  The sugar compound dissolves leaving the copper plate exposed and then this can be covered in rosin, heated and baked onto the plate, before the whole thing is 'bitten' in acid.

These photos show what the plate looks like before it is immersed in boiling water  ....... all the speckled lines then dissolve and those areas become your marks. I actually love the photographs with the fluorescent light reflecting on the plate.

The heavy textured lines are those made with sugar lift and then toned by using rosin before placing in the acid.  The finer lines were made by re-grounding the plate and using etching needles.

I love the varying lines in combination.  This plate is the first of many that I am making that will then be printed together in differing arrangements.  I am hoping the next couple of days will see me having time in the studio to work on some more.  Some of the plates will be embossed, some bold with sugar lift marks and others very delicate.

I actually went down to The Studio in Brisbane to work on my ex libris project.  I am one of thirty printmakers who have been asked to produce and print 40 book plates.  These will all then be tipped onto larger sheets of paper and collated into solander boxes.  Each artist then will receive a boxed set and the other 10 boxes will be sold to libraries or other collections.  A fun project and I am looking forward to receiving my box of ex libris designs later this year.

Having ummed and ahhed over a number of different designs, I decided to go with a contemporary look in my design - a small plate using sugar lift technique once again.  At first I thought I would print the plates on Japanese washi paper but have since decided to use a lightweight Magnani paper - Velato Avorio 120gsm which is at the upper limit of the allowed weight of paper for this project.  My book plate will be on the smaller side of our allowance which will compensate for the slightly heavier paper.

These proofs are done on the washi paper but the Magnani will be whiter and more crisp.  The finished plate, though having this design, will look quite different when complete.  I am ordering a professional embossing stamp with my initials which will then be added to the design ........ watch this space and I will post a copy of the book plate once I have printed them.  I must do some other work before I can allow the couple of days I will need to set aside to do the printing.  Yet it must all happen before the middle of October.