Counter Plymouth Book Fair

A interesting and successful day at Counter Plymouth Book Fair on 24th October 2015.

My books were displayed amongst other artist's books, zines and paper ephemera. It was great to meet, chat and make new friends with a shared interest in hand made artist books.

A lady who bought a copy of 'This Grey Wind', suggested that the rhythm in the poems made them feel like lyrics and wondered about setting them to music. An interesting idea!

Six from Ireland

A book of six poems inspired by a visit to Southern Ireland.

The beauty of the south west of Ireland was hugely inspirational and the poems came quite quickly. Creating a painting for the cover was a new part of the book making process and one that was influenced by a visit to Red Fox Press on Achill Island.

Cover Six from Ireland, 2015

148 X 148mm

Inkjet printed on 120g Colorplan paper in sandstone.

Inkjet printed original painting by artist.

Inside page.

Inkjet printed on 120g Colorset paper in natural.

Blackbird

A two page A6 book about the blackbird.

I have been thinking about birds a lot and think that their inspiration is probably unlimited!

The poems is a sombre reflection on my desire to reconnect with my mother who died 12 years ago.

Front cover 'Blackbird' 2015. 

Card, paper, inkjet printing

Inside page 'Blackbird' 2015. 

Card, paper, inkjet printing

Women in Art

A fan book featuring negative quotes about women artists and their work.

This book came about after digging through some old sketchbooks and finding the list of quotes, which were part of another, unresolved project.

It fired up my inner feminist and I do feel that more ideas could come from this book.

'Women in Art' 2015

100mm x 40mm

Inkjet printed on 160gsm white card

A sample of text from the book:

'her family were against her becoming a painter'

'reserved only for her male colleagues'

Journeys #2

The second of a series of books about journeys.

A handwritten list of company names seen on lorries during a coach journey between Exeter and London.

I mainly produced this book to be suitable as a series of multiples, which are popular at book fairs. However, on reflection, I feel that  a much longer list or series of lists, bound together into a larger book, would have greater appeal to me, if not to visitors to book fairs. Having said that, people did buy a few!

I particularly like the methodical, even meditative process of hand writing lists of words/objects, or in this case company names. Aside from the process, the visual quality of handwritten text in capitals appeals to me, and, I think works very well.

Journeys #2 2015

148 x 105mm

Hand written on newsprint.

Inkjet printed on 160gsm card in bright blue.

Journeys #1

A handwritten list of number plates from cars overtaken on a journey between Plymouth and Cardiff.

Journeys #1 2015

148 x 105mm

Cover: 120g card in canary yellow

Inside: Handwritten in black ink on squared paper.

In this Grey Wind

'In this Grey Wind' is a handmade book using extracted text from 'Birds of the Grey Wind' by Edward A. Armstrong.

This has been one of my favourite outcomes of extracting text! 

I didn't begin with a theme, but just simply started by picking out key words and phrases. The bird watching book by Armstrong was written with such passion and absorbing description, that I found myself drawn to the bird's courtships and habitats, resulting in poetry that suggests love, relationship and loss.

It was the first extraction process from a book (the others being from newspapers) and it took quite a long time to compile, but one that I will definitely repeat!   

'In this Grey Wind', 2015

130 x 210mm

Inkjet printed on 120gsm White goatskin paper. 

Cover: Judd Street paper 'Diana Wilbraham, blue'

Sample from page one:

The

birds they came to meet me

in a tangle of jessamine and

honeysuckle

blackbirds

singing

exultant

melodies

of

ardour

and

love

5th Sheffield International Artist Book Prize & Exhibition

'One hundred and Eighty Seven Words for Home' has been accepted into the 5th International Artist Book Prize and Exhibition at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield.

'One Hundred and Eighty Seven Words for Home' 2015

14.3 x 18.7cm

Inkjet printed on 120gsm goatskin parchment, 

135gsm Colorplan china white and 270gsm Colorplan mandarin

'Inventory' at BABE2015

'Inventory' 2011

A handmade book compiling a list of everything in my home.

Great to see it displayed at BABE2015 courtesy of Bank Street Arts, Sheffield!

This is a good example of the need to make more than one copy of any handmade book! Having won the 3rd Sheffield International Artist Book Prize and Exhibition, Bank Street Arts became the new owners, leaving me with no copy! It is my intention to re-compile the list, possibly hand written and using a different format....but that's for another day!

One Hundred & Eighty Seven Words for Home

A coptic bound handmade book exploring the connection between language and memory.

It is a list compiled from a short writing exercise in which I wrote down objects, sounds and scents that I could remember from the house I grew up in. I tried not to focus too consciously, instead, simply allowing the list to reveal itself as I mentally strolled through the house.

The objects, sounds and scents listed can, for me, be so clearly linked to childhood memory, that they almost form another language; one of specific association to home.

The book is coptic bound - a type of binding new to me, and one that I improve at with each new book!

One Hundred & Eighty Seven Words for Home,' 2015

14.3 x 18.7cm

Inkjet printed on 120gsm goatskin parchment, 

135gsm Colorplan china white and 270gsm Colorplan mandarin

Swatches of Conversation

Fragments of conversations from people passing by, in cafes, libraries etc. 

'it's just about taste'

'you know when you breathe in'

This makes for an interesting read and it was fun to compile!

It's intended that the reader will wonder about the parts of the conversation not heard and think (and even create) about the characters and lives unknown.

'Swatches of Conversation' 2015

10.5 x 4cm, Inkjet on 225g Kaskad card

Postcard Poems

Entry for Postcard Poems at Bank Street Arts, Sheffield, in conjunction with The Poetry Business and South Yorkshire Poety Festival.

Exhibition at Bank Street Arts from 20-30th May 2015.

Simply a poem on a postcard from where I live. I think there is more than a hint of the ongoing love/hate relationship that I have with Plymouth!

There are quite a few artists who work with postcards, by manipulating them and using them for mail art. I have previously created this kind of work and I often use the A6 format in book works.

Passively I stay here

Loving the sea, but hating

Your mediocrity in equal

Measure and

Often

Underestimating

The restraining 

Hold you have on me

Walk

'Walk' is a hand-made four page A6 booklet about my experience as a participator on a walk led by the artist Hamish Fulton. On December 6th 2014, Fulton led a walk in Plymouth city centre which involved 80 participants walking at a fixed pace, between two points, repeatedly, for exactly one hour. For Fulton, the purpose of the artwork is the experience of the walk for the individual participant.

The booklet contains my thoughts on the experience and line drawings from photographs I took during the experience. I emptied my thoughts  onto the page in rapid succession shortly after I had finished the walk, and I think this gives the writing honesty and simplicity.

Front cover. 'Walk' 2015.  

105 x 148mm

Card, paper, tracing, paper, ink.

Inside page. 'Walk' 2015.  

105 x 148mm

Card, paper, tracing, paper, ink