Thursday 25 December 2008

+ Beata Wehr + Palo Pallas + Book Artists + +




Another artist from the pages I featured in the "Conceptually Bound" post. Beata Wehr uses all sorts of materials to make artist books and she has mixed media works as well as paintings. I have to say that, for me, her bookart work is her strongest. Such delicacy and subtlety!.

On the Vamp and Tramp website
which seems to specialize in artists books Beata has a page which displays very well all of her bookart work. Worth a visit.

Incidentally and coincidentally the image here of Beata's which I have included was created for the Fourth International Artist's Book Triennial Vilnius - the theme for this was "Rabbit and House." , which I was invited to submit for by the organizer
Kestutis Vasiliunas, I did do research and even made some prints but ultimately didn't feel that the creative outcomes which I had arrived at were sufficiently enough successful to make an artists book that would be up to the standard I imagined necessary for this caliber of exhibition.
Incidentally I met Kestutis in Falun, Sweden where we were both invited to exhibit as a consequence of being in the book "Printmaking at the Edge" by Richard Noyce.

See also an album on Flickr about the exhibition/event in Falun

Whilst on the Tramps and Vamps website I came across Palo Pallas' "chair - books" oh they are just wonderful. The website is well worth a visit especially for the series of books made in this way.





http://www.palopallas.com/

Cheryl Coon



I just thought that i would check out the artists works in relation to those whose bookart works I posted in the previous post and found this beautiful image on Cheryls website - it's well worth a visit.

Bookart Exhibition and CATALOGUE worth having



PLEASE CLICK ON THE HEADING OF THIS POST TO CONNECT TO CONCEPTUALLY BOUND DOT ORGS WEBSITE

ALSO CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE THE PAGES FROM THE CATALOGUE

I noticed last year that this book art exhibition was forthcoming and considered making a piece to submit BUT it was one of those projects that piqued my interest which however never came to fruition. With these projects however I do like to have a look and see how they have developed in the end AND most importantly what works were selected and shown in the final production or exhibition.


Conceptually Bound was curated by Nanette Wylde (USA). Her idea being to explore the responses that artists make to any given subject when they create an "artists book" also referred to as "book art".

The way the paper is held together ( concertina - hinged - or exposed spine) OR e.g., the shape of the pages (circular - long and thin - torn edged with tears in the paper) OR the nature of the substrate or surface ( painted or printed on acetate velvet or paper) can all relate to the subject of the book art piece.




I decided to buy the catalogue of the exhibition and at the same time I would be checking out the "quality"of the LULU dot coms 'print on demand' publishing service because it is something that I have considered (a) as a means of producing a catalogue of my own work, (b) as a means of making a catalog for an exhibition whether it be group or 2 person/solo etc and (c) as a means of making an artist book. With the latter I have had ideas about creating interventions in the form of e.g., adding fold out pages or a wallet with another smaller book in - really the possibilities are endless.


There is a very interesting discussion going on regarding this at the moment on Artists Books 3.0 Ning dot com at the moment. UWE's centre for Fine Print Research are researching this area and will be publishing their findings in the future.


I have included scans from pages of the catalogue which I found to be perfectcly acceptable in terms of quality which is good as I had heard of people having difficulties with LULU dot com.

Wednesday 24 December 2008

Christmas ...the year coming to an end and so on....


I have received post from several people I haven't heard from in a while in the past week which has been great. This might be because quite a lot of those people had no idea what my home address is now (given that I moved twice in the past twp years (never never again - I hope)yep so that might account for it.

I made some cards which was pretty hard work BUT coundn't have done it without the help of B.M. at F.D.P.W. I am now running a blog for FDPW as a means of keeping a newsletter going on a kind of "live" basis. I am actually responsible also for creating the physical printed newsletter in any event so this is just an extension of that. I don't think that all of our membership are on the internet so until such time I guess the printed one will have to be maintained.

Getting back to cards and communication - I like sending cards especially if I have made them myself. I have wanted to print my own cards for years and years and ironically it has been this year, the one in which I have become fully "disabled" that I got it together (ha ha!!)

To me it matters to be personal and an aspect of this is that, it is, for example, extremely difficult for me to send a Christmas card where I have not written a little message on the blank inside page of the card. I can not just say "from A." or "from A. and C."

There are some people that I would have loved to have been able to send one of my bear cards but I don't have their postal addresses and if I asked them then that would spoil the surprise - you see that's another thing --- I like for it to be a surprise.


I received a beautiful card today my absolute favorite this year. It was from Elisabeth in Norway. Where the Christmas trees come from, at least that's what I was told when I was a little kid!!

Heres the 'card - its not quite as good a photo as I thought it was but I will add it for now as its way past my bedtime AND I will replace it with a better quality one soon. It certainly deserves it. Thank you Elisabeth - I will treasure it.!!!

Anne Forte (printmaker) exhibiting at Edinburgh Printmakers Gallery





Anne Forte/ Joyce Gunn Cairns/ Leena Nammari at Edinburgh Printmakers
17 January to 07 March 2009
Opening Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 6pm


Anne Forte, ‘Feels Like Forever’: An exhibition exploring the cognitive processing of memories and the unconscious re-writing of personal histories.

Joyce Gunn Cairns
, ‘Bodily Traces’: An exhibition of etchings and drawings reflecting the artist's fascination with all sentient life, whether it be literary figures or crows.



Leena Nammari
, ‘Space to Breathe’: An exhibition of photography, printmaking and film reflecting her constant search for what she considers as home in all its manifestations.

Location: 23 Union Street, Edinburgh Call: 0131 557 2479
For more information visit: www.edinburgh-printmakers.co.uk

Tuesday 23 December 2008

Visual Arts Scotland Open Exhibition 2009 - Call for Entries





Visual Arts Scotland’s next Annual Open Exhibition will be held in The City Art Centre, Edinburgh, from Saturday 31 January – Thursday 19 March 2009.

Submissions are sought from contemporary artists and makers in all fine art, applied art and craft disciplines.

Hand in: Saturday 9 January 11am–4 pm & Sunday 10 January 2009 10am–7pm

NOTE: IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN ORGANIZING A "HAND IN" OF ARTWORKS THEN PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I WOULD HAVE TO HAVE SOMEONES ASSISTANCE IN GETTING MY WORK THERE OTHERWISE I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DO IT.(AINE)

For an entry form and labels send an A4 SAE to:

VAS Administrator,
Rebecca Wilson,
6/8 Newhaven Road,
Edinburgh,
EH6 5PU

Email: info@visualartsscotland.org
To download a form online visit: www.visualartsscotland.org

Image above is by the artist Elizabeth Shepherd, found on the Visual Arts Scotland Website. To see more of her work check her website

Opportunities for artists in Scotland





DEADLINE: MONDAY 26 JANUARY 2009


A three-month residency for a professional artist running from 4 May - 31 July 2009. The artist will receive a fee of £5,200, materials allowance of £750, accommodation and private studio.
For further information
http://www.covepark.org
email: information@covepark.org website:
Cove Park, Peaton Hill, Argyll and Bute, Scotland

In the RED at the Smith !!!






"Winter Warmth" continues at the Smith Art Gallery and Museum, in Stirling.





NOTE: If yours is here please identify/ post in comments (Aine S.)
__________________________________________________________________________________


15 November to 11 January 2009


as stated on the Stirling Smiths website:

"This is the first time artists from the Fife Dunfermline Printmakers Workshop have exhibited their fine art original prints within Stirling.

The works on show are created using a huge range of printmaking techniques. Small delicate etchings of landscapes, medium sized screen prints evoking images of autumn and winter, mixed media prints through to large scale works of landscape and human figures reflect the plethora of styles held by the FDPW members.



There are 19 artists taking part in the exhibition including Clare Yarrington, from Rumbling Bridge in Kinross-shire, an artist who exhibits throughout Scotland. She displays her beautifully controlled use of colour in her large collages in contrast to her subtle hand coloured collographs. She is a geologist and rock climber and these references feature regularly in her work.

Stephen Ratomski from Dunfermline had his prints included in the SSA and RSA annual exhibitions in Edinburgh this year. His artworks are powerful screen prints with rich combinations of vivid colour and shape. They evoke understated references to the changing mood of landscape and nature.




Sheila Carnduff from Aberdour also exhibited at the SSA this year as well as other group shows. Her prints are colourful collographs and etchings inspired by recent visits to the Middle East and Japan.

Lynne Rickard from Thornhill has been a member for a number of years and is exhibiting etchings inspired by nature.
Catherine King from Larbert lectures at Forth Valley College and is exhibiting large collographs of human figures and landscapes.



On Saturday 15 November at 2.30pm artists Catherine King and Alison Leeper will be giving a short talk about printmaking.

Admission is free and opening times are Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am - 5.00pm and Sunday 2.00pm - 5.00pm. Closed Mondays. All works are for sale. "


A BIG THANK YOU TO MARY FAIRGRIEVE FOR SUPPLYING PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE PRIVATE VIEW.

Star Wheel Etching Press FOR SALE





Star Wheel Press Information



An etching press in good condition with two sets of blankets
( one set nearly new )
Bed size: 63.5 x 136 cm

The press is in good working condition and is a very robust press.

It has been used regularly for 20+ years by many members of Fife Dunfermline

Printmakers Workshop until it was recently replaced by a geared etching press.

Diameter of wheel: 1775 mm

Height of frame to centre of wheel: 1105 mm

Floor to ceiling Height just under 2300 mm.

Bed size is 63.5 x 1.36 cm.

We have two sets of blankets with the press, one of which is almost new. These may be sold with the press but the press can also be sold minus one/both sets of blankets.

The press is available now and has been stripped down ready for transportation.

We have no idea of the weight of the press, apart from very very heavy. very heavy


Thursday 18 December 2008

Galicia - Luz Darriba



I am on the verge of doing a proper update concerning my activities in the studio of late. One thing I needed to do immediately was to download all of the work folders from my Powerbook G4 laptop. I put these on memory sticks which take 4 GB, they are then transferred onto DVD's on the Macbook ( our most powerful up to date Mac) compliments, so to speak of my long suffering partner C. !!

In the mean time, I came across this image, which I saved from Luz Darriba's website.

She is from Lugo in Galicia in the north west of Spain. A beautiful region, I have been there twice, on both occasions through a "Riverside Artists Group"exhibition.

Sadly the groups website seems to have 'expired'. That's a shame but perhaps it all got to be too much for Jose Saurez( one of the founding members), who bravely restarted the group, about 4 years ago after it had been dormant for a few years.

I was a member of the group for a good number of years. In RAG's early days an exhibition was co ordinated with a group of Moscow - based artists. That was before "Perestroika" so quite a feat. I would have liked to have been involved in that but it was before my time. There were a few artists who were in that show who were also in both of the exhibitions in Galicia.

Jose is from Lugo and that was how we had the link with Spain. We were very well received there and the local authorities treated us very well organizing a reception dinner in both cases with all of the local VIP's. They were very smart too with liaising with the press and television reps for the openings.
They really excelled themselves. Printing catalog and so on as well, with ( of course!!) the predictable spelling errors given that we had a language difference to contend with.

I sent Jose a Christmas card so now he knows where I live and my contact details so maybe I will hear from him as to how things are going with RAG and indeed himself.




Photo taken of my printmaking based installation at the last exhibition Riverside Artists Group presented in Spain (2002) - this being held at Museo Ourense.

Footnote- I have had a card from Jose indicating that Riverside artists group is alive and well after all.

Riverside Artists Group