reeling and writhing

100% Books By Canberra Artists is now open

An exciting exhibition showcasing artist's books across the field: from fine press to street press, made by 20 Canberra artists who don't think of themselves as 'book artists'. Opening at 6pm on Thursday 11 April at the Watson Arts Centre (with guest speaker Peter Haynes), the show runs until 28 April, 


...Canberra has a long and prolific history of artistic book production, encouraged and inspired by our rich array of cultural and creative institutions. There is a vibrant community of artists here who use the book form to explore and extend their broader practice, whether it be printmaking, sculpture or any other medium.

Contact the Watson Arts Centre for details of events related to the exhibition (a zine fair and children's day have been planned): wcac@canberrapotters.com.au /02 6241 1670.

The Watson Arts Centre is on Aspinall Street, Watson ACT and is open 10am to 4pm, Thursdays to Sundays.

Works by GW Bot, Patsy Payne, Tanya Myshkin, Franki Sparke,  Dianne Fogwell, Nicci Haynes, Jan Hogan, Antonia Aitken, Bernie Slater, Ingeborg Hansen, Shellaine Godbold, UK Frederick, Genevieve Swifte, Maryann Mussared, Murray Kirkland, Kirsten Farrell, Hannah Hoyne, Nick Stranks, Iona Walsh. The exhibition has been curated by Caren Florance.

digitization increases the value and understanding of rare printed texts: Facsimile II

Part II of a recent essay by Kyle Schlesinger is up at Jacket2: 

Although entirely worthy of study, I’m the first to admit that descriptive bibliography is obsolete. Working closely with librarians and archivists at UVA, [Johanna] Drucker’s Artists’ Books Online set in place an important, revolutionary, framework for the future of bibliography. The ability to see, retrieve, print, document, and describe artists’ books that often exist in relative obscurity is nothing short of the Gutenberg Revolution all over again, only different. Many of the books featured on the site were produced in small editions for one reason or another, making it difficult for readers to obtain or even visit with these titles in a public or private library. The digitalization of the book has decentralized critical bibliographic information, spreading the seeds far and wide—one need only invoke the Library of Alexandria to convey the advantages of doing so, yet some librarians and artists feel threatened by the move and its implications on the status of a work’s originality and value. Yet time has proven the opposite to be true: the more people know about a particular book though online exhibition, analysis, and discussion, the more likely it is to be understood and valued.

I am wondering if this essay would have been easier to read in one go. Here's Part I again.

Kyle Schlesinger is a poet who writes and lectures on typography and artists’ books. He is proprietor of Cuneiform Press and co-director of the Graduate Program in Publishing at the University of Houston-Virginia.

to yeu and yeu and yeu

Wellll....it's time for a longer break, for a lot of good reasons (which is, of course, a far, far better thing than taking it for bad ones.) Think 'talking 25 year old son with autism' for starters. I will be flashing intermittently here like a sick modem till June, if at all, and then taking stock again.

For now, the Internet's going to continue as a fine distraction, taken neat, rather than an enthralling one, diluted with mixers (for example, if I see one more post on e-readers in my feeds I will probably mutate into an iTablet myself). I will lurk on my friends' blogs - that's a given, and there might be a review, or two at some stage - but only general maintenance will be undertaken here.

You might like to follow* LiteraryMinded, the Wheeler Centre, SPUNC news (yes, that's the feed to the whole site down in the lefthand corner of the homepage), the engaging blogs of the book artist known as Ampersand Duck , Emerging Writers Festival director Lisa Dempster, and artist Fifi at Strange Fruit, and keep an eye on this page, and things magazine, while I'm gone.
Till June, adieu.

*apologies to those left off this list earlier today....what was I thinking?

other reading, other writing

At the Varuna blog, Cate Kennedy talks about the need for feedback during the writing process from other writers and editors, and her appreciation for readers' remarks on her work.

It’s one thing for a critic to praise your deftness with imagery or whatever, but when someone feels moved to write that they’re planning on staying alive to read what you might come up with next…well,  that’ll get you back to the desk – elated and close to mysterious tears, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

There's a review of Judith Beveridge's latest collection, Storm and Honey, by Libby Hart up at Cordite.

Here's another beautiful bit of writing from Ampersand Duck, this time on some of her own work. What a fine photo-essay this is, on the story and making of pillow books. Get her into Black Inc tout de suite.

Looking for something silly? John Williams' personal collection of personals from the LRB is a hoot.

And here is something rather gorgeous I will get in my letterbox at some point, as a subscriber. John Williams comments that "It looks stunning. Not sure how it’s supposed to make the newspaper business feel any better, though. Not exactly a feasible model . . ."

Finally here's a great post by Alec Patric about the latest issue of Page Seventeen, and the life of small mags in general.

weekend news 3: come see the magic theatre

This beautiful exhibition (click on the image for details) is running at Craft Victoria from October 23rd to November 28th.

Taking its cue from Hesse’s surrealistic landscape (in Der Steppenwolf), A Key to Help Make Your Own World Visible presents a series of hidden interior topographies; worlds existing somewhere between the pain and beauty of things past.

Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison have worked collaboratively for the past ten years, chiefly using paper as their medium. From carefully constructed limited edition artists’ books to works on paper, they record, deconstruct and rebuild miniature worlds.

Do please check it out. Louise Jennison's fine blog is elsewhere (so to speak) and you can see more of their work there.

a pressing reason to take in some fine art

Oh My. This is going to be very beautiful indeed.

Looking at the pictures again and reading the post makes me sad, because I can't get to Duck's first solo show myself.

If you can get to Canberra between September 2 and 12, make sure you see this show. I saw some of her work here in the State Library in 2007 and it is simply wonderful, so don't miss out.

beanie season at Artisan Books

Artisan Books, one of my favourite stops on the way into the CBD, advises that their annual Beanie Exhibition is open now.

Do click on their other exhibition invites to the right of the homepage to see what other beautiful things are able to be viewed there, apart from a constantly magnificent selection of books on art, textiles, photography, design, gardens and all manner of crafts

The lovely piece on the invitation is the work of Margaret Lanne.

letterpress music

'This year the print workshop is full of glitter and the sound of typewriters :)'

This is also very beautiful stuff. Time for an artists' books list in the sidebar down there...

 Enjoy.

from a distance

On the origins of a blogging sensibility - look no further than this post, and this blogger's beautiful early contributions. (What a pity the original publication is no longer in the artist's hands.)