Manly Library Artist Book Award - The List of Acquisitions Announced

"Chance" a collaborative artist book by Helen Malone and 

myself has been chosen as one of the nine acquired at the

 Manly Library Artist Book Award. The full list is below, 

congratulations everyone!


Check out an earlier post for more images and information.

Manly Library Artist Book Award

24th March to 12th April

Manly Library

Market Place

Manly NSW 2095

The 2015 judges Helen Cole and Steven Miller opened the exhibition and announced the acquisitions; nine works were selected for purchase and inclusion in our permanent collection.

·         'Chance' by Helen Malone and Jack Oudyn | 2014 

·         'According to Plan' by Rob Kovitz | 2014

·         'The One Who Stopped' by Caren Florance | 2014 

·         'Country' by Bronwyn Rees | 2014 

·         'The Book of Asylum' by Bernard Appassamy | 2013 

·         'Collected Dead Letters, Volume 2 by Elizabeth Banfield |             2014 

·         'A Journey from One Reality to Another' by Mark Wingrave         | 2014 

·         'Living Water: the river hid, logbook, codex' by Annique                Goldenberg | 2014 

·         'Assimilated Museum' by Deanna Hitti | 2015 

"cut"

cover

I have been working on a little book "cut" for a "Personal Histories" exhibition at the Redland Art Gallery for some time since early last year. I was interested in using a rather awful experience (surgery for melanomas) and  transform it into something more positive and perhaps even beautiful. 

The pages were all waxed and scratched with pigment added to give the very tactile feeling of raw skin and open wounds. The cut semi-translucent paper allows you to see through several layers at once to give the impression of change and healing.
This was my second attempt, an earlier attempt was even more gorey and powerful but made a much appreciated gift to a good friend. 
I have included this book "cut" to show how an idea can change and develop by making several versions each with different emphasis.
However, I still found the result a little too strong and organic so I explored an even softer, more delicate option for my next book "blindspots" which I think worked better in the end.  

This third and final book, "blindspots", will be the one that has made the "Personal Histories" exhibition which opens in a few weeks time so I'll post it later for those of you that can't make it to the exhibition.

"The Presence and Absence of the light" a collaboration for Al-Mutanabbi Street

a joint effort

Today is the 8th Anniversary of a terrible assault against the freedom of speech, culture and democracy that happened in Baghdad.  Helen Malone had made an artist book  "Absence" for a project which mushroomed all over the world in response to the  Al-Mutanabbi Street bombing in Baghdad on 5th March 2007. This is the historic centre of the city's intellectual and literary community, where books have been sold for centuries.  Helen Malone approached me earlier this year about working on a print with her. Check out her blog for a more detailed and informative account of how the print works.
As neither of us are printmakers, I thought this would be an interesting little journey.We felt that if we collaborated on this
 print, we would be making a small contribution to the support and
solidarity between artists around the world and more particularly 
those in Iraq .

"The Presence and Absence of the Light"

The print is a combination of two prints, the first is a linocut of an Islamic screen which has openings to let in the light of the world, culture and literature, and others that are blocked by an aggressive arrow pointed shape moving across the screen.

The second digital print of abstract asemic writing underlies the first print.  It also contains the jumbled letters of the words Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, but only fragments of the print are visible through the openings in the screen, and these letters do not appear in their entirety.

The composite print has a three dimensional element in that the openings in part of the screen have shutters (or perhaps book covers) that need to be opened when the print is on display.

Helen and I, both felt that we  have achieved making a print which works much better than anything we would have made on our own.

post holidays

Even though I've been retired from regular employment for many years, it seems impossible to get any work done in the Christmas break like in the rest of the year. Art work I mean, there's plenty of grandchildren and domestic work to wear me out. So with Australia Day approaching, and the school hols almost over, it feels good to get back to more regular creative work.

I promised to give a few details about this little series of drawings so here goes. I made the little book from an old cover of a cancelled library book and sewed in some kraft paper (again). The drawings are little design exercises and don't have any real meaning although some of the found text seems appropriate.

They all use pretty much the same or related mixed media and collage material. Bits of this years Christmas card, old notes and pianola rolls combine to give a feeling of travel and movement. I used two new things I had never tried before. The photo packing tape transfers and drawing with a nib with gouache instead of ink.

I still have another dozen or so little pages waiting for more work and I'll pick up the book again when I have an hour or so to spend waiting for my legs to settle. I always seem to have a few little books or zines on the go at the same time. My more serious artist books generally need a block of several hours to make any headway. I have to keep reminding myself that this year - No procrastination! 

restless legs

cover of the tiny drawing book

I'm sure there are literally hundreds of different reasons why we draw or create stuff but this was a first for me. 

For some as yet unexplained reason my restless leg syndrome has become more active than ever before and has now also become a problem when sitting in confined spaces like the movies, theatre or flying in a plane. 

On our last journey to Vietnam I took with me small handmade books for drawing in on the aircraft. I got a window seat and when my legs got restless, I started drawing and the concentration required delayed the onset of this uncomfortable affliction for as long as I could draw. I started making drawings of the details of joins, rivets and markings on the aircraft wing with the idea of working back into the initial drawings later. I thought it might be interesting to share some of the drawings which I have now completed at home. They have absorbed other home activities and influences but all started in the plane.

As you can see they are quite different to other drawings I have done and are much more design based. I have a few more in progress and can add them if viewers are interested (particularly other restless leg patients) 

I actually twigged the drawing might work because that's what I do at home . When my legs play up when I try to relax watching television, I take off to my studio and draw which pushes the restless legs into the background. Strangely, working on the computer doesn't work the same way. There must be a brain function connection there somewhere which the drawing uses but other thinking activities don't.
When I finish some more of the drawings started on the plane, I might try to explain how the drawings were finished at home using other mixed media.

"nam man"

'nam/man" is one of the  little books of travel collaged images I made on trains and hotel rooms while on holiday in Vietnam recently. I made several blank books before leaving home and worked on pages every day, often finishing the images back at home. I like the way the title is the word for man in Vietnamese but in reverse it becomes the english word for the same thing. I used my favourite Kraft paper again as my main paper for this book but also made books of rice paper.

The personal images and words were triggered by this trip but are not necessarily in sequence or realistic. They are based on the process of memory and link in unpredictable ways, sometimes even with other trips or memories ofthings from years ago. 
Therefore it is not the meaning you will need to look for (that's only relevant to myself, but I hope you can still enjoy the composition and play of the component bits.

The collaged bits include airline tickets, laundry bills, hotels letterheads and any paper becomes grist for the mill. The photo film type bits were made at home and refer to war althought he photos are not from the Vietnamese war. Design elements come from airports  and mapping symbols.

The images are meant to give a feeling of bustling towns and cities, traffic, a sense of people constantly  moving and the excitement of being in strange surroundings. 

summer rain

Looks like I've got a good crop of 2l milk bottles ready to pick but they are shielding some small seedlings from the scorching sun. Since coming back from Vietnam, I've changed my growing plans to include our summer. The gardens are so productive and having such fresh veges is just so lovely  I've been inspired to have another summer planting.
I usually find it's just too hot for most veges, need too much water and the insect pests are at their peak. 

So I don't need to spray or worry about birds eating my fruit, I've had to cover my lemons and figs . It's been so dry though and my rain water tank has been empty for months that hand watering with town waterhas been unavoidable. Tonight is looking like it may rain but so far it has managed to surround us close by and we're still missing out. I'll try a little rain dance but have my doubts.

My sweet peppers were an early success but to avoid the nematodes I had to grow them in a pot. Maybe I might ytry some capsicums again but they too are very prone to nematode attack despite a garden full of marigolds. It just so nice to get your hands dirty for a couple of hours before breakfast. Not sure what any of this has to do with my art stuff apart from sharing great chunks of my time with it but I have blogged about my vege patch before. I think the green peppers could inspire a zine or book, who knows.

positive and negative space books

Helen Malone and I have just finished our latest collaborative project "MINUS PLUS EQUAL"  (- + = ). Once again we were inspired by two visiting German book artists , Ulrike Stolz and Uta Schneider who were here as guests of the State Library of Qld. 
Despite our collaborations taking longer than working alone but we both seem to get more out of each other and explore areas we would not when we work alone.

Helen Malone has also blogged about this little project and has outlined our thinking very well so I won't repeat the process. As this is our third collaboration (our last was "Chance"), we are getting to know each other aesthetically and trust each other more than at first. That should make it possible to move more quickly but we seem quite happy working at a mutually comfortable speed.

The optical illusions that happen when working with positive and negative space were amazing and it is easy to see why this intrigues so many artists and designers.
We are both looking forward to continuing our collaborative projects as well as working individually in 2015.

new "traces"

Last year I bought a little handmade book from Trace Willans. I have posted some of her work before particularly the collaborative pieces we have done together. It was "empty" except for traces of marks, stains and wax. These previous presences from another artist became the source of my drawings. It is bound using coptic binding and stained strips of  calico. 

I have had this book I've called "Traces", for many months without doing anything with it until recently. Most of the staining which Trace uses is xanthorhea resin which leaves a lovely warm brown, earthy mark. I have stained some paper for bookmaking with it recently and discovered that it keeps getting a bit darker as it is exposed to light. Since these marks are all inside the book on nice thick 200gsm stonehenge paper, they make a great start to focus my drawings around. I used a variety of mixed media including pencil, ink, wax, gouache, pastel, water soluble crayons, charcoal and collage. I was on holidays in Lennox Heads, northern NSW and think the drawings were influenced by the harsh, dry feel of the native scrub in the area. 

As there are many more drawings to "Traces" I will put them up on my website when I get a chance if you are interested.