"Change transform II"

 

In 2020,  Jonathon Oxlade and I made a varied edition of two books "Change  Transform" . One of these was entered in the Manly Artist Book Award 2021 and now 2 years later we have both revisited the remaining book to make "Change Transform II". The book will be entered in HARD design show curated by Calum Hurley in Melbourne Design Week 18 -21 May.

This book follows the same condition that in making any change, nothing must be subtracted or cut off the original.  However, in addition to folding, cutting and changing the shape of pages, we have made small additions to the pages by responding with thread or pigment to make marks that effect the change and transform the pages and provide a way of linking or seperating the pages. 

The book also makes use of colour and form to focus and link different pages in a gentle, suggestive manner. The collaboration produced new, exploratory results that excited both of us. 

"wrinkles"

"Wrinkles" is a smallish book around A5 in size. The wrinkled pages of various types of black and white paper ask to be altered but not reduced. The viewer can alter, tear, fold or change a page without taking any paper away from the book. A few years ago, I encountered a large book by Tim Mosley of beautiful woodblock prints that uses this most interactive of processes. It seems to combine well by extending the processes into my other black works which also use apertures and hinged openings to reveal other textures and colours of paper.

Most of the papers have been waxed prior to wrinkling. Following on a few books about skin, this seems quite a logical direction to follow. Like my aging old skin, the pages are so fragile and easy to peel back. The many thicknesses and textures each with its series of "injuries" mimic the journey through life as we get older.

This book will get more and more complex as the audience reacts to the pages and make changes. These layers of change are a metaphor for life and aging. Different textures and weights of paper reflect the passing of time in the rich collage of life.
I have started the process of making changes to each page and have decided that for this book I will have some damage control and limit the audience to personal book artists I know and not let a gallery audience participate in the change process. I must be more of a control freak than I thought but maybe I can be less precious about the books once I have made a few more. 

The tactile qualities of the papers are of course impossible to convey other than by touch. Making the alterations to the pages forces the viewer to physically interact with the paper and experience the crunchy, silky, soft, and whisper thin tactility first hand. BUT yes, at this stage, it would be terrible to go too far and destroy the book in the process.

Manly Library Artists' Book Award selection

Last year Helen Malone and I  finished our collaborative book "The Future of an Illusion". (For details and images of this book please click the link.) Since we haven't had a chance to show our book , we were both delighted to be selected by 

the judges Michael Hedger and Ben Rak for exhibition in the 2017  Manly Library Artists' Book Award.

In addition I also had a little book I had made by myself accepted - "Redacted in Limbo".

“[Redacted] in Limbo is informed by my concerns for refugees who to come looking for freedom from persecution and a new life as migrants in Australia. The triangular is a metaphor for the tents they live in or the boats they use to make their journey.

The title of the book refers to source of the text which is from the “Nauru Files” published by the Guardian Newspaper in November, 2016. Most information of conditions in the camps and treatment of the refugees has been kept secret from the public by the Australian Government.

The book has felt covers from old Army blankets which have been waxed to make them still like sails and the book has been designed to stand up so that pages can be viewed and turned. Bitumen and canvas have also been used to suit the rugged outdoor feeling of the book and make it waterproof.. 

 The design uses some of the text from the “Nauru Files” and image repetitions of cut-out stencil people who are confused, damaged and mixed up as shown by the random crumpling of the paper, to a more ordered, peaceful one. 

The individual waxed pages of the book involve crumpling, and layering and repetition of images and text as metaphors for the mental health and physical damage caused by the harsh process used to settle our new citizens that came by boat. 

Although the crumpled marks can be smoothed they can never be removed.

"keer weer -turn again"

I am very excited that "Keer Weer" has been selected to be part of this years books for the Libris Awards at the Mackay Artspace and to be included with  such an esteemed company of book artists. As many of you may not be able to make it to Mackay to see all the books, I thought a blog of my entry may be good before the show opens and a possible site for all the participants work is established.

I like to use stylised imagery and text to  make artist books that examine our social and political anxieties. “Keer Weer – turn again” is informed by my concerns with the Australian Government’s treatment of asylum seekers who use boats to come to our island continent looking for freedom from persecution and a new life as migrants in Australia. 

The title of the book comes from the name of the spot in north Queensland where the first European landed in Australia. Capt Willem Janszoon from Holland arrived in his tiny vessel the Duyfken in 1606. He “turned back” of his own volition because he found the place unfriendly. The current, recent “turn backs” are more sinister and shameful.

The design is driven by layered word and image repetitions that change in tone as the book progresses from a darker to brighter more optimistic one. The individual pages of the book involve intense manual labour. This manual stressing and layering of the materials give the paper its special tactile quality.

The images of simple boats and the treatment of the Vietnamese paper with basic materials such as wax, turmeric and bitumen reference the cultural and hazardous conditions of the journeys. The resulting surface texture of the waterproof paper is soft and skin-like, pliable, despite its stressed treatment.

I have posted more pages and details on my Weebly site for those interested in detail and will add a few more here.

I made a wooden keel for the book so that it can be read and displayed in a wave like position. 

"sleeping with a princess"

"sleeping with a princess"

A spare couple of hours and a  new little collection of mixed media drawings, when I should have been working on more "serious" projects. 

"according to custom"

But I can't help myself. Like food for my head.

"like anger"

"moving shadows"

 These roughly A5 sized drawings use mainly a range of collage, linseed oil, wax, turmeric, china graph, graphite, ink and gesso. Some tasty ingredients that smell good too.

"peace for me"

"woman on the platform"

cover for loose drawings

Just a neat little cover to keep them together. You can see it was quite a restless night as usual. 
Enough for a little snack. Enjoy!

Re- Written

One of the most difficult decisions we make as artists is knowing when enough is enough or what would have happened if...? Recently I "finished" "Written" and blogged about it here. I'm working on another boat book and wanted to try out some images and revisited my earlier book to make the changes. Now that I've completely redone the original, I'm still not sure which works better. I think they both work but in different ways. One, the more spare economical mark maker and the other more worked and forceful. I had scanned the original for editioning if necessary so still have that copy as well.
I'll pop up a few more images and would be very interested in hearing your views. To revisit or leave alone??

And a few more....

So what do you think? The exercise was worthwhile because it freed me up to take more risks and make new discoveries. My new book is related but nothing like this,  I've used a lot of wax and bitumen this time to make the paper seriously waterproof.

100 BOOK

100book: A personal histories international artists' book exhibition highlights the dynamic world of contemporary artists' book practice, with contributing artists from over 16 countries. 
The exhibition has just opened at the Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland and runs until 10th May.
I have been lucky enough to have two books chosen for this wonderful exhibition curated by Robyn Foster - "blind spots" and "Yesterday"

"blind spots" is a small book that  tries to make some of the the everyday, awful medical procedures into something beautiful. It refers to surgery and the treatment of melanomas and skin cancers which can occur anywhere on our body often catching us unaware.

Images are incised, waxed and scratched and filled with pigment to create layered translucent pages. Marks, scratches and symbols become codes associated with medical charts and personal experiences.

It is a 16 page single signature book of 90gsm waxed pastel paper in a 180gsm Fabriano, Tiziano embossed  cover which in turn is wrapped in waxed Japanese paper . Overall size - 210 mm x 145 mm.

The book is a bit like a surgeon's notebook with a record of  sketches and plans of work that has been completed. The waxed paper has a soft feel like skin. For a more detailed look at the images, we'd love to see you at the exhibition but if that's not possible you will find the book on my website in the artist book folder.

My other artists' book in the exhibition is "Yesterday". It is a collection of imaginary postcards housed in an oysterclam box. Since they are small, two-sided cards that need to be handled to view, I have put the images onto a digital slide show for the exhibition as well so that each card can be viewed without touching. A little less personal but not so much since the postcards don't have a special "feel" anyway.

 images referring to the passing of time line the inside of the box.

These 20 imaginary cards are based on actual events but the names and addresses have been changed. For the complete set of images please check out my website.