Book Making – Page 23

Conversations – 12th August 2019

August 12, 2019February 23, 2020 annwyndean1

My time has been taken up with planning and preparing for Art in the Pen in Skipton Auction Mart.

There are 200 pens, decorated as mini galleries and the place is alive with jolly noise and lots of visitors. Of course all the artists also manage to catch up with other exhibitors and it is great to be a part of such a major event, now in its 14th year.

I was there with my fellow book artists, Joan Newall and Elizabeth Shorrock as PagePaperStitch.

I find that I measure events in the number of ‘good conversations’ that I have both with the visitors and with fellow exhibitors hearing all their news since we last met. This year was a good year and it’s always lovely to hear from people where my books are and how they are being enjoyed.

Everything is now packed away and I have cleaned and polished the studio, so I’m ready to continue my explorations into collections and unpicked seams.

The top of my paper chest has little piles on it with the uncompleted and planned books which i did just prior to the event at the week end. I have no other event planned so I can explore, experiment and play to my own time scale.

Book Making, General

Meanderings – 31st July 2019

July 31, 2019February 23, 2020 annwyndean1

The process of giving thought to my latest idea – ‘Stories from the Collection’ is ongoing and in many ways it continues the pattern of previous themes and bodies of work. Along side the thoughts a lot of stuff is written down and those jottings are written again more formally to hopefully make a little more sense and so my ideas are clarified and organised. Whilst I no longer have to fulfil the role of student or teacher, I still find that the discipline of exploring the initial ideas is a real benefit to the work and the creative process. Notebook is essential!!

So far I have jotted down several phrases – I find doing the ironing is a particular productive time.

How does rearranging the Collection open up new avenues of imagery?

What happens if I reassess the textile fragments into different categories, date, materials Country etc

Have the printing plates really become the Collection?

What is my definition of a Collection?

I could go on!

It wasn’t so long ago I drew upon ideas around ‘The Unpicked Seam’. I was up near to Hadrians Wall recently and in the museum there was this AD100 leather saddle fragment with an unpicked seam! On that trip we visited the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle. At the end of the C19th Josephine and John Rothschild built a huge Museum just to house their Collection of paintings ceramics, furniture etc and this was done specifically for the public to view.

Now of course I draw no parallels between the collections but I do see the desire to share and communicate ideas and objects.

I have also been constructing some paper mock ups for books – one thing that I have learnt over the years is that it is essential to use the same paper for the mock up and the real thing as a good book is all about the quality of the folds, the thickness of the books and how it feels in the hand.

Displacement activity is also good for ideas to pop up and this week saw me making a couple of bags. A very dear friend gave me an Indian cotton table cloth that she had bought in 1970. It was no longer serviceable, wine, candle wax and fraying had all taken their toll over the years. So I made us both a bag each – to hold the memories.

Book Making, Printing

Process and Completion – 15th July 2019

July 15, 2019February 23, 2020 annwyndean1

This last two weeks has seen me not doing too much in the studio – I have been playing about with mock up books and the idea that the ‘Collection’ of printing plates has become the essence of current work rather than the antique fragments of cloth. I shall have to see where that leads me, I’m happy to be lead down a path that doesn’t have any particular aim at the moment as I have completed my work for my only planned event in August.

So as I mentioned last time here are the books from ‘Stories from the Cloth”

The covers were made and glued, held under weights for a day to dry.