Blog Archive

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

beginnings




















We've just had three days of incredibly heavy rain, lovely for my tank and garden but also a lovely start to my new artist book project with Book Object Art. When it's fine I have trouble chasing distractions like my garden, swimming, children and grandchildren before I settle down to some art practice. Naturally this doesn't always leave me much time to sink my teeth in. I've been jotting down my thoughts and exploring media possibilities and probably found more things that maybe won't work than actual solutions. But since I want to make something I haven't tried before I expect to find a lot of blind alleys and dead ends. I'll make these the starting points for my next assignment so the circle keeps going as I find solutions to old problems in new ways.My theme is "Transparency" and I've been playing with some of my old X-rays - can't think of a nicer thing than chopping them up a bit, scratching into them and making new images, now that they've outlived their usefulness.

I have been inspired attending my friend  Robyn Foster's exhibition of altered books here in Cleveland. The exhibition opened last week-end and runs for a while. Check out Rob's blog for a taste of her stunningly creative books and details of her exhibition. The sheer volume of beautiful creative books makes me feel very lazy and unfocussed. The precious little works were mostly housed in museum display cases at the Cleveland Museum, an ideal venue for the difficult task of displaying artist books. So thanks Rob, I'm finally off the ground and a lot more focussed. (Having a deadline probably helps a bit too.)

I don't usually document my creative processes or keep details of materials of my artist books but have decided to keep a notebook with all sorts of useful information this time round. I'm sure it will be helpful for future projects as my memory is becoming increasingly unreliable. Also, I'm finding that reading the way other artists work is interesting and helpful and keeping records very important in collaborations.

4 comments:

rObfOs said...

Wow Jack-san, thanks for the massive compliment! After all the years of inspiration you have provided for me, I'm glad the weather and I have been able to give you a push start for this little BAO project. Really like your moody "deep sea diver" men. PS: I'm attending a Glen Skein workshop at Logan Art Gallery on Friday 3rd Feb if you want to come along with me. You just have to ring the gallery and see if there are any places left.

Jacobus (Jack) Oudyn said...

Thanks Rob, I haven't been keeping up with what's on. Will be in touch about the workshop. Glen is a favourite of mine. See you there.

Shelbyville said...

Have you heard about the 'Recycled Library' exhibition on at Logan Art Gallery at the moment (until 18th Feb)...? It's about artist books and their history up to this point. I haven't seen it as yet, but plan to visit when I'm next out Logan way to see my parents.

Jacobus (Jack) Oudyn said...

Yes Shebyville, Robfos and I were doing a workshop with Glen Skein at Logan (really good)and checked out the altered book exhibition. Apparently the same as recently toured in Beaudesert.Worth a visit but we both felt it was rather sparse. Robfos is also having an altered book show at the Redland museum at the moment. Definitely worth a look!!