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

Hummingbird

A two page A6 book about the Hummingbird.

How to describe a hummingbird in one concise sentence?
"A continuous sequence of visual commentary."

I initially produced a piece of artwork with that description on very thin strips of paper collaged together to create the image of the hummingbird.

However, in wanting to make multiple A6 books, I needed to avoid using an original for each book and use a reproduction instead. This led me to explore the process digitally, which was more successful than I anticipated!

Front cover 'Hummingbird', 2014. 

A6

Card, paper, inkjet.

Inside page 'Hummingbird', 2014. 

A6

Card, paper, inkjet.

Counter Plymouth Artist Book Fair

Plymouth Arts Centre hosted the Counter Plymouth Artist Book Fair

Sunday 19th October 2014

This was a great (and my first) opportunity to display my books at a local book fair. It was great to see what other artists created and talk to them about their work. 

It also raised questions about pricing book art work, which we all agreed, was very difficult. Typically, a buyer would be prepared to pay a couple of hundred pounds for an small original watercolour painting, but not for an original, one-off hand made book. Both artists would have spent hours working in their art, not forgetting the time spent training, qualifying and reading about art. Is the problem the book concept - once read, it's finished with? 

It is frustrating and I came to the conclusion that I would still make the larger, more complex one-off books, but also focus on making multiples of smaller, inexpensive books that people are prepared to buy.  By doing this, hopefully more books will sell and more people will get to know my work. I guess it's about getting the balance right!

A selection of my hand made books.

Place Names in Devon, England

A hand made book using reply paid envelopes, a map of Devon and stab binding.

The inside is a handwritten list of all the place names in Devon.

Continuing with my theme of repetitious tasks! Again, I feel that the capital letters in a natural handwritten size work well, especially in two columns on each page. There is also a steady spatial quality to the alphabetical order.

I had seen other artist's work using maps and envelopes, and after collecting the envelopes over a period of time, I decided on the theme of place names, (which the old map fitted into well).

The list of names intrigues me, particularly the localising of some of the words, such as coombe, meaning valley. It's also worth considering the sound and rhythm of the place names when read aloud in list form. 

'Place names in Devon' 2014

Prepaid envelopes, map, tapestry wool, ink