Artists’ Books News, February 2017
Exhibitions
‘ABLE – Artists Books Limerick Exhibition’ at Limerick School of Art & Design, Ireland. From 20th February 2017
This second annual exhibition of artists’ books made by staff and students, past and present, will run for two weeks from 20th February at the Limerick School of Art & Design, Ireland.
This was a very exciting exhibition last year and it is expected to be even more so this year. We anticipate a wide range of formats and materials including paper, wood, wax and clay. A number of talks and workshops on book art, bookbinding and paper folding will run in conjunction with the exhibition. The Dublin Zine Archive will be showcasing some of their vast collection of zines and Tom Maher, zine archivist, will be giving a talk on the importance of zines and how their collection developed.
Admission to the public is free. Find us on Facebook under Able Lsad. Limerick School of Art & Design, Clare Street, Limerick V94 KX22, Ireland. http://www.lit.ie/lsad/
‘Future Legacies: Collections, Collecting and Artists’ Books’
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds.
11th February -10th June 2017
Curated by Rhiannon Francis-Lawrence, John McDowall and Chris Taylor. An exhibition of artists’ books from Special Collections which explores thematic, visual and other formal relationships between books produced over time.
In 2007 artists and academics John McDowall and Chris Taylor curated an extensive exhibition of artists’ books within the original University of Leeds Gallery, bringing together historical material, selected contemporary artists’ books and commissioned works. Loaned from major collections throughout the UK the display examined collections of books as gathered together in libraries, and artists’ books which are in themselves a collection, comprising of inventories, accumulations and typologies.
Since then, the Brotherton Library has purchased and received donations of a substantial number of artists’ books, together with significant examples retrieved from the general shelves such as Ed Ruscha’s Thirty-four Parking Lots in Los Angeles. Many of these works have been acquired from artists participating in the International Contemporary Artists’ Book Fair, an event also curated by McDowall and Taylor, held annually in the Parkinson Court from 2007-2013 before relocating to The Tetley, a centre for contemporary art and learning in Leeds.
The selection of works exhibited here explores thematic, visual and other formal relationships between books produced centuries ago and some of the contemporary artists’ books. These juxtapositions illustrate how artists and writers over the years have employed the book in their quest to record and present their experiences, connecting subject areas through format, image and text. This display is just a very small sample of the extraordinary collection of books and artists’ books available to view in Special Collections for our pleasure or research.
Curated in collaboration with Rhiannon Lawrence-Francis, Collections & Engagement Manager, Rare Books & Maps, in the Brotherton Library, this exhibition is one of a number of projects across the city as part of PAGES: Future Potentials / Future Legacies, 2nd February -11th June 2017. http://www.leedsartbookfair.com
The 20th International Contemporary Artists’ Book Fair will take place at The Tetley, 4-5 March 2017.
A symposium, ‘Future Legacies: collections and collecting artists’ books’, will be held in the Sheppard Room on Thursday 27 April 2017.
https://library.leeds.ac.uk/features/415/article/142/future_legacies_collections_collecting_and_artists_books
Migrations, Eagle Gallery, London
2nd February – 3rd March 2017
Migrations explores themes of location, migration, and diaspora through an installation of mixed-media works that include drawing, book art and collage. The migratory aspect of ideas and material is expressed in images and artists’ books that re-purpose data from various found sources in order to construct new visual and metaphorical narratives.
Artists: Tracey Bush, Rachael Clewlow, Julie Cockburn, Déirdre Kelly, Hormazd Narielwalla. The exhibition will launch two new limited edition artists’ books: Dusk by Tracey Bush, and Lost Gardens by Hormazd Narielwalla.
Déirdre Kelly, Wonder Atlas
Eagle Gallery, 159 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3AL. The gallery is open Wednesday to Friday: 11am – 6pm, Saturday: 11am to 4pm during exhibitions. http://www.emmahilleagle.com
News from Anton Hecht, UK: The fore-edge project in books on the shelves of Gateshead Central Library from February.
One of the fore-edge project books at Gateshead library. Photo: Anton Hecht.
Visitors to the library can search the bookshelves to find these artworks on the fore-edges of books which will be intermingled with library stock. Eight new fore-edge books have been created with gilt edging and other media, and three augmented reality books. The books are at the library for two months, so catch them while you can.
Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Rd, Gateshead NE8 4LN. http://www.gatesheadlibraries.com/your-local-library/the-central-library
https://antonhecht.wordpress.com
The ‘Urban Moth’: an entomological field guide. Angela Tait and Ian Clegg installation on display at Manchester Museum.
The Urban Moth is the fictional construct of artists Angela Tait and Ian Clegg.
The artists have recently completed a residency with the department of Entomology at Manchester Museum. The resulting project reimagines the moth as a rapidly evolving creature which lives within and amongst the collection, architecture and surroundings of this glorious museum.
The ‘Urban Moth’: an entomological field guide. Angela Tait and Ian Clegg.
The field guide is an artist’s book which documents the fictitious lives of these fascinating creatures. Habitats, feeding and observations are portrayed in the style of a Victorian volume along with images of the males, females, juveniles and adolescents.
Along with the full collection of porcelain moths, this artwork gently explores the politics of the Anthropocene and man’s effect upon the earth. The field guide to the Urban Moth is currently on show at Manchester Museum alongside the full collection of this gorgeous and thought-provoking collection.
Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL. Free entry, open daily: 10am-5pm. http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk | http://www.aticstudios.com
Two artists’ book exhibitions at The Tetley, Leeds, UK:
Dora García – These books were alive; they spoke to me!
3rd February – 23rd April 2017
An exhibition of printed matter and performance works by Barcelona-based artist Dora García. Her first institutional solo show in the UK, the exhibition coincides with the 20th PAGES International Contemporary Artists’ Book Fair in March.
García’s show will provide a retrospective look at her career-long production of book editions and book sculptures, and the ongoing connection within her practice to popular literature, theatre and film. For These books were alive; they spoke to me! García will stage a new iteration of several performance works, some of which have never been performed in English or outside of Spain before. ‘These books were alive; they spoke to me,’ is a quote from François Truffaut’s 1966 dystopian cult film Fahrenheit 451 (based on Ray Bradbury’s novel of the same name). This literary reference opens up a framework for the exhibition and expanded programme, which features books about performance and performances about books. http://thetetley.org/dora-garcia-books-alive-spoke/
PAGES: FUTURE PRESENT. 3rd February – 23rd April 2017
Curated by John McDowall & Chris Taylor
Publications, ephemera and photographic documentation from the past 20 years of PAGES International Contemporary Artists’ Book Fairs. From the first Fair held at Dean Clough, Halifax in 1998 to its current location at The Tetley, PAGES has supported the research and development of the book as primary medium in art practice.
Wednesday Lates: Curators Talk – Wednesday 22 February 6-8pm. Free, all welcome. Join The Tetley’s curator and co-curators of the PAGES Anniversary archive show to discuss the current exhibition.
Wednesday Lates: Book/Zine Making, Wednesday 15 March, 6-8pm. Free, all welcome. Learn the basic techniques of hand binding to create and individual sketchbook. http://thetetley.org/pages-future-present/
A satellite programme of exhibitions and projects celebrating the 20th anniversary, takes place throughout the city in March and April. For more information on PAGES visit: www.leedsartbookfair.com
The Tetley, Hunslet Road, Leeds LS10 1JQ. Gallery Hours: Daily 10am – 5pm. Open late every Wednesday until 8pm. http://thetetley.org
Barrie Tullett – The Typographic Dante at the National Print Museum, Dublin, Ireland. Until 31st March 2017
The Divine Comedy is a poem by Dante Alighieri. Written between 1308 and 1320, it describes Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, and, at a deeper level, represents the soul’s journey towards God. The Typographic Dante is a series of typographic illustrations created as a response to this unfolding narrative. Each Canto being illustrated typographically, and each book of the Divine Comedy having a different typographic style.
This is an ongoing project by Barrie Tullett, Programme Leader for Graphic Design at the University of Lincoln, that will eventually illustrate each of the 100 Cantos of Dante’s Divine Comedy using a different ‘obsolete’ technology. The 34 Cantos of The Inferno are realised using the wood and metal type of letterpress printing, the 33 Cantos of Purgatory are created on the typewriter, and the 33 Cantos of Paradise will be visualised with Letraset.
Detail: Dante XXIX, Barrie Tullett.
The seed of the project was planted many years ago, but it did not begin to come together as a coherent body of work until Tullett’s final year as a Visual Communication student at the Chelsea School of Art. Ever since, he has returned to the project whenever he has the time, and has slowly added to the illustrations. This is the first time that all the completed images will be exhibited as a single body of work.
Barrie Tullett, Senior Lecturer / Programme Leader, University of Lincoln, is the author of Typewriter Art: A Modern anthology (Laurence King Publishing, 2014) and along with Philippa Wood, co-founder of The Caseroom Press. http://www.the-case.co.uk
National Print Museum, Garrison Chapel, Beggars Bush Barracks, Haddington Road, Dublin 4, Ireland. Admission free of charge. https://www.nationalprintmuseum.ie/the-typographic-dante/
The Ministry of Books – ‘Anything but ordinary’ at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, Until 2nd April 2017.
Presenting the second of a two-part Ministry of Books exhibition celebrating artists’ books from local and international artists.
The collection has been loaned from the University of Portsmouth’s Illustration Department, the location of ‘The Ministry of Books’. The artworks have been created by both by students from the University’s creative faculty, as well as artists from across the globe. Following on from Part I ‘Miniatures’, this exhibition runs until 2nd April at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK.
‘The Ministry of Books’ was created in 2007 by Dr. Maureen O’Neill, alongside staff and students of the Illustration Department. http://theministryofbooks.blogspot.co.uk
Aspex Gallery, The Vulcan Building, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth PO1 3BF.
https://www.aspex.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/the-ministry-of-books/
Artists’ Book Fairs
Artists’ BookMarket at The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 25th–26th February 2017
Described as ‘the major Scottish artists’ books fair’ Artists’ BookMarket is held at the Fruitmarket Gallery across two busy weekend days. Forty stalls are spread across two floors of gallery, with a busy events and workshops programme. More than two thousand visitors come from across Scotland and the north of England to make this date with artists’ books and artist-led publishing.
Previous participants include a range from the likes of long-term experimental publishers Book Works, through artists’ book pioneers such as Helen Douglas to some of the most interesting new talent from courses at Edinburgh College of Art with its strong teaching traditions in book making and illustration. There’s much local talent on show alongside representation of those who travel to take part in this increasingly prominent fair in the year’s artist’s book calendar.
The Fruitmarket Gallery, 45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF. http://www.fruitmarket.co.uk/event/artists-bookmarket/
PAGES Leeds | International Contemporary Artists’ Book Fair, The Tetley, Leeds, 4th-5th March 2017
The longest running artist’s book fair outside of London celebrates its 20th anniversary. Throughout its history the Fair has attracted national and international participation and welcomed thousands of visitors from across the UK. Held at The Tetley since 2014 co-curated with PAGES, the Fair is set to be the biggest yet and coincides with The Hepworth Wakefield’s Print Fair on the same weekend.
The Tetley, Hunslet Road, Leeds LS10 1JQ.
Bristol Artists’ Book Event (BABE) at Arnolfini, Bristol. Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd April 2017
It’s back! The sixth biennial festival of artist book making, featuring the work of bookmakers and small presses from around the world. Since 2007, BABE has established a great reputation as a relaxed and friendly event to meet and chat to book artists about their work and buy works of art. With more than 90 makers taking part, and prices start from just a few pounds, there will be something for everyone.
Organised with Sarah Bodman (Centre for Fine Print Research, University of the West of England) and Tom Sowden (Bath School of Art and Design, Bath Spa University) BABE 2017 Features artists from all over the UK, The Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden and South Korea.
Expect performances, exhibitions, interventions, talks and workshops across the weekend too, including: Collective Investigations, Stephen Fowler’s BABE passport project, Nancy Campbell’s Polar Tombola, and live printing with Double Dagger. Come along and celebrate our tenth anniversary with us!
Sat 1st April 11-6, Sunday 2nd April 11-5. Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA. http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/babe-2017-bristol-artists-book-event
New Artists’ Books/Publications
The Yes of the No, Emma Cocker. Published by Site Gallery.
The Yes of the No is the first collection of works by writer-artist Emma Cocker published by Site Gallery, 2016. Existing in the space between imaginative proposition and a call to action, The Yes of the No is an assemblage of provocations, proposals and potential ways of operating – ranging from navigating the city and inhabiting the margins to errant acts of reading; from preparing for the unexpected to learning how to ‘not know’, from minor acts of singular sedition to collective expressions of an insurgent ‘we’.
The Yes of the No by Emma Cocker. Published by Site Gallery, UK
Emma Cocker is a writer-artist based in Sheffield and Reader in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University. Cocker’s work often addresses the endeavour of creative labour, focusing on models of (art) practice and subjectivity that resist the pressure of a single, stable position by remaining wilfully unresolved. Her recent writing has been published in Failure (2010); Stillness in a Mobile World (2011); Drawing a Hypothesis: Figures of Thought (2011); Hyperdrawing: Beyond the Lines of Contemporary Art (2012); On Not Knowing: How Artists Think (2013); Reading/ Feeling (2013) and Choreo-graphic Figures: Deviations from the Line (2017).
The Yes of the No is available to buy from Site Gallery, with wider distribution following soon. Contact: reception@sitegallery.org or visit: http://www.sitegallery.org
The Royal Hunt – Selected Historical Observations. Dmitry Sayenko
A new artist’s book by Dmitry Sayenko. 245 x 345 x 25 mm. Text & linocuts: Dmitry Sayenko.
The Royal Hunt – Selected Historical Observations by Dmitry Sayenko
Handmade paper by the artist (cotton 100%). Printing and binding by author. Typeface: Franklin Gothic 24pt, Baskerville’36. Special slipcase. Total edition: 15 copies numbered & signed. Text adaptation: Sarah Bodman. More details email: nikodim-book@yandex.ru or visit www.nikodimpress.blogspot.ru
Rise with your class not from it – Working Press: books by and about working class artists 1986 –1996. Stefan Szczelkun & Rebekah Taylor. Edited and introduced by Emmanuelle Waeckerlé.
Rise with your class not from it, Stefan Szczelkun & Rebekah Taylor. Edited and introduced by Emmanuelle Waeckerlé
Rise with your class not from it is the fruit of collaboration with artist/activist/creator of the Working Press archive Stefan Szczelkun and keeper archivist Rebekah Taylor. Rise with your class not from it represents a lasting trace of and a vehicle for the Working Press project whose archive is now housed in UCA library special collections in Farnham. It highlights some important works by working-class artists while providing a valuable resource for anybody interested in working with archive material.
Rise contains a brief history and annotated catalogue of the Working Press: books by and about working class artists 1986 –1996 imprint alongside a wealth of references and links to the related issues of class, identity and art activism. As such Rise becomes one more node in an existing network of people, projects and archives concerned with art activism and identity politics, while providing a successful model of how archives can be used for artistic, research and educational purposes.
Rise is edited and introduced by Emmanuelle Waeckerlé, designed by Mason Terrill, published by bookRoom press (Sept. 2016). ISBN 9780957682870 – 82 pages, 20.5 x13 cm, rubber band binding.
Working Press is a collective publishing imprint, which had the subtitle books by and about Working Class Artists, 1986-1996. Working Press includes the first computer-generated comic (Harwood), the first book by Micheline Mason (disability and inclusion artist), and the first book about Greenham Common, Yellowgate (Beth Junor). RRP £6. Order at: http://www.thebookroom.net/collection/item/rise-from-your-class/
Free ebook version from: https://payhip.com/b/1XZv
bookRoom is a research venture based in the School of Fine Art and Photography at University for the Creative Arts in Farnham since 2004. BookRoom supports artists and researchers to engage with critical production, debate and the dissemination of page- and screen-based works, and disseminates resultant knowledge through publication, conferences and exhibitions. www.thebookroom.net
Uniformagazine No.8, Winter 2016–2017
Self-build Brian Lewis | stick with it Stuart Mugridge | Starbucks Joy Drury Cox | A Box of Disquiet Tim Hopkins | Portraits of John Mordaunt… Tony Hayward | Weighed John Aubrey / Josef Albers | Remembering ‘Dawn Chorus’ John Bevis | Subway Joy Drury Cox | between something and nothing Éilis Kirby | Bunched Watercress labels
It has been five years since we published our first title, Anticipatory history, the result of an invitation to participate in a research network about accounts of environmental change, and the request to “make a book”, as a residue of what was explored. It took the form of a glossary, with individual contributors writing up their interpretations of the varied topics and terms that had been prominent in the discussions. Unwittingly, this book became the model for an approach, both in terms of a physical format, and also as an editorial strategy, combining ‘research’—be it scholarly or artistic—with a determinedly flexible and collaborative engagement with ‘the book’…
Uniformagazine continues to gather and include material directly related to our book publishing programme, as well as a variety of expansive subjects, not intendedly urban or rural in theme, but as a regular vehicle to enable us to continue looking in all directions, waiting to see what might be coming along next.
Winter 2016–2017. ISSN 2056-6301. 32pp, 215 x 145mm. £4.00. Available at:
http://www.colinsackett.co.uk/uniformagazine.php
Condensations, Nathan Walker. Published by Uniformbooks.
In The First Tigers: The Early History of Rock Climbing in the Lake District (1972) Alan Hankinson describes how it came to be that in 1881 the “father of rock climbing” Walter Parry Haskett Smith first decided to go to the English Lake District; “he plumped for the point on the map where the contour lines lay thickest together”.
Condensations, Nathan Walker. Published by Uniformbooks.
“In June 2016 I was writer in residence at the Armitt Museum and Library in Ambleside, Cumbria. The writing I encountered and completed there forms the following ‘condensations’.
The texts are constructed by erasing material from pages of books and manuscripts from the Armitt library and archives and superimposing these partially erased pages. These treatments arrange writing on the following subjects: the history of rock climbing in the Lake District; Cumbrian (Cumberland and Westmorland) dialect; the industrial heritage of Cumbria; Westmorland mythology and rituals; and texts by and about cultural figures in Cumbrian history including exiled German artist Kurt Schwitters, mountaineer and magician Aleister Crowley and the historian T. W. Thompson.
These texts have been collaged and written through with my own original writing, West Cumbrian place-names and transcribed conversations with my paternal grandfather (‘Wuky’) on his life on the mountains and specifically his experience of building a cairn on Knock Murton and a wall in his kitchen in West Cumbria.” These slow-collage-word-terrains range language, and are to be read and performed.
ISBN 978 1 910010 14 3, 88pp, 234 x 142, paperback with flaps, 2017, £9.00. Published by Uniformbooks, available at: http://www.colinsackett.co.uk/condensations.php