mind mapping

Caitlin Sheedy's beautiful work

The main show "Life's Journey" was excellent with many outstanding books of all sorts. One of my favourites was Caitlin Sheedy's "The 199" on loan from the SLQ collection. Helen Cole has made a great selection from their vast collection (including two books by my new BAO friend Helen Malone) to which Noreen Grahame added work from Grahame Galleries + Editions. The range and display of the work was a credit to the curators Emma Bain from Redland Art Galleryand Anna Thurgood from Mackay Art Space.
 The "Mind Mapping" exhibition went well, lots of people showed interest in an aspect of my work hitherto kept hidden. I realise it's not necessarily everyone's cup of tea and I was a bit reticent to show at first, but now I'm glad I did. It was great catching up with lots of friends I hadn't seen for years but as usual didn't get much time to chat. There were  many expert bookmakers and printmakers who were all very supportive.But
it's always a relief when the "Opening" has passed and the show can hang  by itself  for us to visit and explore.
I promised some photos but haven't taken any yet much too crowded and not really possible or appropriate at the opening. I will go back and take some when it's quiet and make a little album in flickr. In the mean time, a friend contacted me and sent me some shots she took with her phone. She has given me permission to give you access to her blog at http://heyharriet.blogspot.com.au/ This might give you some little idea of the exhibition. The installation team under Emma Bain's expert direction have done an outstanding job. I feel so lucky to be part of it all.

finally

Wow! After a long delay caused by the 2011 Queensland floods and other events, an exhibition planned several years ago will finally face the glare of public scrutiny. My little diaries and artist books in "Mind Mapping" will open on May 6 at the Redland Art Gallery. It will accompany the main exhibition "Life's Journey" - Artist books from Queensland collections curated by Emma Bain and Anna Thurgood in partnership with Artspace Mackay , the State Library of QLD and Grahame Galleries + editions.

Redland Art Gallery is a small regional non-commercial gallery which hosts a very diverse range of shows every year and I'm very excited about being included in a show around artist books, an area not often encountered by the general public. This makes it a little nervous for me as I will be showing aspects of my work hitherto only shared with other artists.

Some of the  works in the exhibition were first shown on this blog when I first started blogging in 2009 and no idea of an exhibition existed. They are all works in progress, like me, my wife tells me. As my old blog followers will know, my first blog showed some work from "Tokyo Diary".and some of these now see the light of day. Other work on my blog that may also appear includes: "No Thanks" and "Next Station" and "Margins".
Artist books are always difficult to show in galleries and I hope this show works out well. After the exhibition opens I will take some photos to share with you.