World of the Book 2023, State Library of Victoria

Deborah Klein, Four pages from the unbound artist book, Leaves of Absence, 2017.

 Installation view, State Library of Victoria, April 2023.

Selected pages from Leaves of Absence, my unbound artist book, are on display in the latest iteration of World of the Book in the Dome Galleries, Level 4, State Library of Victoria, amidst some remarkable examples of silhouette art. 

Other exhibits include early editions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and rare editions of Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. 

The exhibition opened on 1 April 2023 and is current to 12 May 2024.

Pictured top: Memory 1, 16, 14 and 9 from Leaves of Absence, 2017, unbound artist book. Collection: State Library of Victoria.

Pictured below: The State Library’s splendid La Trobe Reading Room, viewed from the Dome Galleries. 

BMI Maker Market

A big thank you to everyone who dropped by the Moth Woman Press table at yesterday’s BMI Christmas Maker Market at the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute and to all those who made purchases. We met some lovely people and the friends who stopped by for a chat made the day complete. Thanks also to the amazing Shane Jones for assistance above and beyond the call of duty and to the BMI for having us. We couldn’t have wished for more thoughtful, considerate, helpful or better organised hosts. I’m delighted to hear that the BMI Library’s fundraising book sale was a huge success too! 

Photo credit for top pic: Shane Jones. 

For a detailed and informative article on the history of Mechanics’ Institutes, go HERE.

Shape of things to come

Pitcher, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 cm (pictured top in the upstairs kitchenette adjoining my studio, propped up by a vintage Johnson Brothers jug) is from a suite of miniature silhouettes created for next Sunday’s BMI Maker and Community Market.

The jug, from the Johnson Brothers Dream Town series, c 1950s, one of a pair recently purchased from Rocket and Belle in Ballarat, is currently among my favourite things. It was the point of departure for this work, although beyond elements of the colour scheme, there is no discernible resemblance between the two. The painting has been pared down to stylised shapes, drawing much of its inspiration from 1920s-30s Art Deco. 

This series in progress (see also previous post) reintroduces the Shadow Women, a cast of characters that made their first public appearance in my paintings, prints, artist books and zines in 2013. The current works were started in fun, but in a remarkably brief time frame, appear to be pointing the way to future directions in my work. All going well, they will form the basis for an ambitious project that has been on the back burner for so many years, I’d all but given up on it. I certainly didn’t see that one coming. 

Meanwhile, let us not forget the BMI Christmas Maker and Community Market:
Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute
117-119 Sturt Street
Ballarat Vic 3350.
Sunday December 18 from 9 am - 2 pm.

BMI Christmas Maker and Community Market

I’m a proud member of no less than two iconic Mechanics’ Institute libraries: Melbourne Atheneum Library (see yesterday’s post) and Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute Library in Sturt Street, Ballarat. 

Scribe, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 cm (pictured top) and Candlelight, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 cm (pictured below) are two of several miniature silhouette paintings in the making for the latter’s BMI Maker and Community Market on Sunday, December 18, 9 am - 2 pm. 

My table will also include a selection of Moth Woman Press books and zines. I always look forward to this annual event, but this will be my first time as an actual participant. If you’re free, do drop by and say hello.

Bulletin

I will cut adrift—I will sit on pavements and drink coffee—I will dream; I will take my mind out of its iron cage and let it swim—this fine October.

- Virginia Woolf

Pictured top: Detail from The Maiden Flight, 2013.

Pictured below: The Maiden Flight, 2013, one-of-a-kind vertical artist book, pigmented drawing ink and acrylic paint, 80 x 15 cm (open). Collection: State Library of Victoria.

Photography: Tim Gresham.

THINKING OF PLACE II - further travels

Today’s blog post brings news I’ve been remiss about sharing earlier: the group exhibition, THINKING OF PLACE II, originally conceived for the international print symposium IMPACT 10 in Santander, Spain in 2018, is currently on exhibit at Northsite Contemporary Arts in Cairns, Far North Queensland. The show opened in September and continues to November 7.

Prints being multiples, from today, October 21, and continuing to November 1, the exhibition will run concurrently at Arthaus Contemporary Gallery in Orakei, Auckland, New Zealand. For further information, visit the Facebook page of THINKING OF PLACE II HERE.

Yesterday a review of the exhibition by Ina Arraoui arrived in my inbox - an unexpected and delightful surprise. My contribution to the show, the phemograph Detritus, 2018, pictured above, is referenced in the review. Back in 2018, I was unable to travel to Santander for IMPACT 10. With continued travel restrictions, it’s possible I won’t even get to see the exhibition in any of its subsequent venues, so my thanks and gratitude are extended to Ina for giving many others in the same boat a very real sense of what THINKING OF PLACE II is about.

Ina Arraoui is a New Zealand-based print artist and curator. Her website is HERE.

The introductory paragraphs of Ina Arraoui’s review are directly below. To read the review in its entirety, click HERE. 

Introduction

Although many of us envisage a physical geographical location when thinking of place, it’s more often than not a complex synthesis of feelings and memories that ultimately defines our relationship to a place. Printmaking artist and academic Monika Lukowska argues that notions of place are inseparable from the human experience, referencing geographer Yi-Fu Tuan’s theory of “topophilia” whereby place only comes into existence when meaning is attached to a certain location resulting from time spent between the person and the space (2018). The exhibition Thinking of Place II is an impressive cultural exchange project where over 60 artists from 9 printmaking collectives across 5 countries have been invited to make works exploring questions of place. Artists were encouraged to reflect on the relationship between place, memory and time, using a range of traditional and contemporary printmaking processes and techniques, resulting in a rich and engaging conversation, as diverse in perspectives as in the collection’s visual presentation. 

Background to the project

Thinking of Place was initially conceived as a cultural exchange project between five artist groups from New Zealand and Australia. Members of each group had met at the IMPACT 8 Conference in Dundee, Scotland, instantly striking a lasting friendship and giving birth to a trans Tasman collaborative print project.  After a successful first edition of the exchange, which was exhibited in each of the host cities, the organisers decided to continue the momentum with a second iteration of the project to be exhibited at IMPACT 10. In the spirit of the printmaking community, which is marked by a distinctly inclusive, collaborative approach, the project expanded to include four more groups from Canada, Ireland and the UK.  Whether a group is based on a shared geographical location or print studio, each one is committed to advancing printmaking and supporting artists working in print-based media. Collaborative projects such as Thinking of Place give printmakers the opportunity to not only exhibit their work on the international stage but to foster professional and personal connections across the printmaking community, globally. Participating artists have been selected by each group either by invitation or open call. 

Read on HERE.

2020 Libris Awards finalist

Cat’s Cradle, 2019, acrylic on wood, and pigmented drawing ink on paper, 16.5 x 15.5 x 1.5 cm (closed)

I'm delighted to announce that my one-of-a-kind artist book, Cat's Cradle (2019) is one of sixty finalists in the 2020 Libris Awards at Artspace Mackay in Queensland.

For further information and an inside view of Cat's Cradle, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

A past and future memory

My linocut The Drive Home, 2013, 17.5 x 12.5 cm, was originally made for the eponymous group exhibition at Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York that opened on this day in 2013.

Viewed today, the work seems uncannily prophetic as Shane Jones and I anticipate the drive to our future home. We’ve only seven more weeks to wait, but sometimes it feels like we’ve been waiting for this our entire lives.

National Eucalypt Day 2019

Fallen Woman 5, 2017, phemograph, 43 x 32 cm, edition: 20

In celebration of National Eucalypt Day, here is a random selection of works from the Fallen Women suite. The leaves in these works were sourced in the Victorian Goldfields town of Newstead.

Held annually on 23 March, National Eucalypt Day aims to raise awareness of eucalypts and celebrate the important place that they hold in the hearts and lives of Australians. 

The National Eucalypt Day program aims to meet the promotion, education and conservation objectives of Eucalypt Australia by addressing the themes of tree breeding and genomics, primary education and public awareness.

- From the Eucalypt Australia website.

To learn more, go here: http://www.eucalyptaustralia.org.au/special-programs/national-eucalypt-day/

The Last Leaf, 2017, phemograph, 35.5 cm x 29.5 cm, edition: 20

Fallen Woman 4, 2017, phemograph, 42.5 x 32 cm, edition: 20

Memory 40, 2017, phemograph, 29 x 21.5 cm, edition: 20

Fallen Woman 11, 2017, phemograph, 39.5 x 29.5 cm, edition: 20

Memory 4, 2017, phemograph, 29 x 21 cm, edition: 20

Brilliant Brollies at the Duldig Studio

Pictured with my hand-painted umbrella, Sunshade, created for the Duldig Studio's second Brilliant Brolly
event on April 6.  Photo credit: Shane Jones.

In the And Now for Something Completely Different Department, tomorrow, February 10, is International Umbrella Day.

Accordingly, the Duldig Studio museum and sculpture garden is hosting Part 1 of the Brilliant Brolly Campaign, a competition wherein some extremely talented and imaginative students have hand-decorated over forty folding umbrellas. Tomorrow afternoon from 2 - 4 pm, their umbrellas, including the prize winners, will be sold in a silent auction to raise funds for the care and conservation of the museum's collections and in support of its outreach programs.

A selection of the student entries on display in the sculpture garden. Image courtesy the Duldig Studio.

I first got to know the Duldig Studio in 2018, when I was invited to speak as part of their Creative Women in Focus series. This extraordinary house museum is the former home and studio of Viennese-Australian artists Slawa Horowitz-Duldig (1901 - 1975) and her husband, sculptor Karl Duldig (1902 - 1986). The museum is filled with their artworks, collections and furniture, some of the latter designed by Slawa. 

Another of Slawa's remarkable achievements is the invention of the folding umbrella, in much the same form as we know it today. The prototypes, plans and documentation relating to the umbrella, 'Flirt', which Slawa patented in 1929, are on display as part of the current exhibition at Duldig Studio, SLAWA: MODERNIST ART AND DESIGN. To learn about 'Flirt' and its troubled history, go HERE.

INTERNATIONAL UMBRELLA DAY FUNDRAISING EVENT
SPECIAL FAMILY DAY
Sunday 10 February, 2.00pm - 4.00pm
Duldig Studio 
92 Burke Rd 
Malvern East
FREE - ALL WELCOME

Part 2 of Brilliant Brolly is an open competition with entries due by 4 pm on March 21. A celebratory event will take place on Saturday, April 6 at 6 pm. I’m one of several invited artists who have embellished a brolly especially for the campaign, although mine is more along the lines of a sunshade.

The underside of Sunshade. Photo credit: Shane Jones.

Full details of the second event will be posted nearer the time. For further information, visit the Duldig Studio HERE.

Acquisition by National Gallery of Australia

Leaves of Absence, 2017, unbound artist book

31 archival pigment prints in Solander box

32.5 (H) x 25.5 (W) x 4 cm (D) edition: 10 plus one artist proof

In the midst of an exceptionally hectic period, I've received some marvellous news. My artist book LEAVES OF ABSENCE has been acquired for the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

For additional information and page views, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Page view from Leaves of Absence

Biblio Art Prize Part 2: Opening night

At the launch of Biblio Art 2018 with my shortlisted entry, Bell Jar
Photo credit: Shane Jones

The 10th Annual Biblio Art Prize, co-ordinated by Blarney Books & Art, opened last Saturday evening, November 3, to a packed house. Two of my works were finalists: Bell Jar, an archival pigment print inspired by Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar and the Frankenstein-inspired Progeny, a unique artist book (pictured in situ third from top). I was delighted when the latter received a Highly Commended Award from judges Justine Hyde (Director, Library Services, State Library of Victoria) and Vanessa Gerrans (Director, Warrnambool Art Gallery). 

The Biblio Art Prize was awarded to Mandy Gunn for her superb work, Pillars of Wisdom.

For detailed views of Progeny, scroll down to my previous post. For selected views of the exhibition launch, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Bell Jar, 2018, archival pigment print, 42.5 x 32 cm,
edition no. 1/10

Installation view of my artist book Progeny in the Biblio Art Prize 2018 at Blarney Books & Art

9th INTERNATIONAL PRINTMAKING EXHIBITION OF DOURO 2018

Memory 12, 2016, phemograph, edition 20

Memory 14, 2016, phemograph, edition 20

In the current flurry of activity, I completely forgot that Memory 12 and Memory 14, currently on exhibit at Gallery 125 in Perth, WA, are also part of the upcoming 9th INTERNATIONAL PRINTMAKING EXHIBITION OF DOURO 2018 in Portugal. My momentary memory loss stems from sending them over so long ago, back in April 2017, to be more precise. They were printed at Arten, as are all the works in this ongoing series.

The printmaking biennial comprises workshops, conferences, 14 exhibitions, and features a colossal 1,400 works from 700 artists from 70 countries. It runs from 10 August - 31 October.

A Big Show of Small Works

I’m eagerly anticipating joining forces with an extraordinary lineup of artists in the upcoming Small Works: a Survey, including the inestimable Julie Keating and Debbie Hill, who also curated the exhibition. 

Included on the invitation is a detail of my painting Pirate Queen, seen below in its entirety:

Pirate Queen, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 9 x 7 cm
Photo credit: Tim Gresham

The show, which opens next Saturday, 7 April, from 2 - 5 pm, will be launched by David Coles, founder of Langridge Artist Colours. 

Small Works: a Survey

Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery

520 Corangamite Lake Road

Cororooke 3254.

Open weekends 11 am - 4 pm, or  by appointment.

Small Works runs to 29 April.

Happy Easter and some good news

I always look forward to the Easter break; it brings brief - but nonetheless welcome - respite from an already hectic year that, despite my best laid plans, has begun to seriously accelerate.

For me, Easter has always been associated with new beginnings. Entering into this spirit, I've begun work on the first of a new series of paintings, a project I've been planning for some time. Previews of the new work will feature in future posts.

Meanwhile, I'd like to share some super news from our sister blog, Moth Woman Press. My artist book Leaves of Absence is one of 75 finalists in the 2018 Libris Awards at Artspace Mackay. A page view, snapped in our study at Abbotsford, is below. For further views of Leaves of Absence, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

EPHEMERA

Ephemeral - adjective: lasting only a short time. Synonyms: brief, deciduous, momentary, evanescent, flash, fleeting, fugacious, fugitive, impermanent, passing, short-lived, temporary, transient, transitory.

Similarly, FALLEN WOMEN, my solo show at Tacit Contemporary Art is destined to last but a short while longer. Catch it if you can before it closes on Sunday, 17 December.

Pictured top L - R: Ephemera (13) and Ephemera (2) 
Below L - R: Ephemera (1) Ephemera (10)  Ephemera (3) and Ephemera (14)
Bottom L - R: Ephemera (11) Ephemera (9) and Ephemera (17)

(Each work: 2017, Phemograph, edition 20).

Tacit Contemporary Art

312 Johnston St, Abbotsford, Vic 3067

T: 0423 323 188

E: keith@tacitart.com.au

Wednesday – Friday 11am–6pm

Saturday – Sunday 11am–5pm

MEET THE ARTIST

If you're free, come along to my solo show FALLEN WOMEN at Tacit Contemporary Art this coming Saturday, 9 December from 2- 4 pm for an informal Meet the Artist event.

If you have any questions about the work (for example, what on earth is a Phemograph?) this is your chance to ask them.

If you can't make it - although I do hope you can - the exhibition is current until Sunday, 17 December.

Pictured top: Fallen Woman 14, 2017, phemograph, 39.5 x 30 cm, edition: 20.

Tacit Contemporary Art
312 Johnston St, Abbotsford, Vic 3067
T: 0423 323 188
E: keith@tacitart.com.au

Wednesday – Friday 11am–6pm
Saturday – Sunday 11am–5pm

IMAGININGS

I'm privileged to be one of the 65 artists exhibiting in Imaginings, curated by printmaking legend, Rona Green.

The opening celebration is this very afternoon, Saturday, 2 December between 2 - 4 pm at Neospace, 7 Campbell Street, Collingwood.

To view the exhibition catalogue, go HERE.

Imaginings runs until Tuesday, 19 December.

Pictured above is my contribution, Fallen, 2017, phemograph, 20 x 14.2 xm. Printed at Arten.

FALLEN WOMEN: Opening Night

Sending warm thanks on this cold, wet Ballarat evening to the many valiant souls who endured last Wednesday's scorcher to attend the opening night of FALLEN WOMEN at Tacit Contemporary Art in Melbourne. We only remembered to take some snaps towards the end, after the crowd had abated somewhat (although unfortunately the heat hadn't).

Photographer Tim Gresham will shortly be taking some detailed installation views of the show. Meanwhile, here are a few to be going on with.

DK with Shane Jones. Photo credit: Priscilla Ambrosini

Gaye Britt and Tim Gresham

Among those in this group, L - R: Miranda Costa, Priscilla Ambrosini, Shane Jones, Tim Gresham, Gaye Britt,
Angie Black and Paul Compton.

With Paul Compton. Photo credit: Priscilla Ambrosini

Installation view: four more works from the Ephemera suite 

L - R: Priscilla Ambrosini, Paul Compton, myself and Shane Jones. Photo credit: Julie Keating