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.

Coming soon: BOOKISH Artist Talk at Melbourne Athenaeum Library

As the day draws closer, here is a timely reminder of the artist talk Bronwyn Rees and I will present as part of BOOKISH, an exhibition of artist books curated by the Print Council of Australia and hosted by Melbourne Athenaeum Library. All of the books in this extensive show were created by PCA members. 

Our talk is next Wednesday, March 23, from 6 pm. Full details are at the bottom of this post. 

We will bring along examples of our own works and share some of the stories behind them. Among these will be Progeny, 2018, the one-of-a-kind artist book developed during my time as the library’s artist-in-residence for Melbourne Rare Book Week 2018. Its point of departure was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, which celebrated the 200th anniversary of its publication that year. 

Bronwyn and I will also compare and contrast the evolution of our practices during a time of almost relentless change, upheaval and uncertainty.

Using works from the exhibition as examples, we’ll discuss the myriad forms an artist book can take, why so many artists relish working within the confines of the form (or alternatively, choose to expand and reinvent it), the use or omission of text, and why artist books ultimately remain such an enduring visual art form. 

The talk and exhibition are held in conjunction with the 8th Melbourne Art Book Fair at the National Gallery of Victoria. 

The BOOKISH artist talk is free. Seats are filling fast, so booking is essential. 

Proudly presented by the Print Council of Australia and

Melbourne Athenaeum Library: 

Wednesday, March 23, 6 - 8 pm

BOOKISH - Artist Talks and Drinks

Speakers: Deborah Klein and Bronwyn Rees

Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Level 1

188 Collins Street

Melbourne 3000

Email: library@melbourneathenaeum.org.au.

Phone: (03) 9650 3100

BOOKISH runs from March 17 - 26.

Melbourne Athenaeum Library opening hours:

Tuesday 10 am - 6 pm

Wednesday 10 am - 8 pm

Thursday 10 am - 6 pm

Friday 10 am - 4 pm

Saturday 10 am - 2 pm

Pictured above: Progeny, 2018, unique artist book, pigmented drawing ink, gouache and hand stitching with cloth binding, 16.5 x 91 cm (open) followed by a progress view and detail of the completed work. 

MULTIDISCIPLINARY ART MAKING, an artist talk for Melbourne Rare Book Week

Melbourne Athenaeum Library, my principal place of work during Melbourne Rare Book Week 2018

My residency at Melbourne Athenaeum Library is well and truly up and running. I've already met some terrific people, had many lively conversations and been gratified by the positive response to the work. At present I'm working on an artist book titled Progeny, one of two projects inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: a Modern Prometheus.

On Wednesday, July 4, from 6 - 7 pm I'm presenting an informal talk. My artist book, Leaves of Absence (2017) acquired last year by the library, will take centre stage, alongside Fallen Women, a small companion volume published early this year. (To preview Fallen Women, go HERE).

Tomorrow evening I'll discuss these and other Moth Woman Press publications, past, present and future. The event is part of Melbourne Rare Book Week. Attendance is free, but due to space restrictions, bookings are essential. For more about the talk, go HERE.

Wednesday, July 4, 6 - 7 pm
MULTIDISCIPLINARY ART MAKING
Speaker: Deborah Klein
Presented by Melbourne Athenaeum Library
Level 1
188 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000
Phone (03) 9650 3100
Or book online HERE.

Melbourne Athenaeum Library Artist-in-Residence for Melbourne Rare Book Week

Photo credit: Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Melbourne Rare Book Week 2018 is nearly upon us, and for some weeks I’ve been gearing up for my stint as Artist-in-Residence at marvellous Melbourne Athenaeum Library. 

A selection of my artist books and zines will be on display during the residency and I’ll be working on a couple of projects focusing on women in gothic fiction, in particular, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. (Shelley’s novel and Brontë herself both celebrate bicentenaries in 2018). 

My unbound artist book Leaves of Absence, 2017 (collection: Melbourne Athenaeum Library)
pictured during  its launch at the library in December, 2017. The book will also be exhibited during my residency.

Portrait of Emily Brontë by Branwell Brontë (fragment) C. 1833

Portrait miniature of Mary Shelley
by Reginald Easton, C. 1857

On Wednesday, July 4 at 6 pm I’m giving an informal talk on multi-disciplinary art-making, with a particular focus on book art and the importance of storytelling in my work. The event is free, but bookings are essential. 

For more about to the talk, click HERE and scroll down. To secure a seat, contact Melbourne Athenaeum Library via telephone on 9650 3100, or email: library@melbourneathenaeum.org.au 

Melbourne Rare Book Week runs from 29 June - 8 July. For the full program, go HERE.

Endings and beginnings

Next week will see the finish of one major group show (at least, for now) and the start of another.

On Monday 12 June From the bower - patterns of collecting will conclude its long run at Warrnambool Art Gallery. If you are not among the hundreds of people who saw the show, never fear. The exhibition will be reborn in a markedly different incarnation on 29 July at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. The AGB's Brenda Wellman, who also designed the elegant catalogue, has come up with a dynamic exhibition design befitting an entirely different gallery. Extra wall space will also enable the inclusion of additional artworks. So to those who saw the show at Warrnambool, you may want to come again!

Installation view of From the bower - patterns of collecting at Warrnambool Art Gallery. Photo credit: Tim Gresham.

From the Bower includes my artist book, Leaves of Absence. Coincidentally, on the same day we'll be dismantling the show at Warrnambool, the book will make its Melbourne debut in Between the Sheets: Artists' Books 2017 at Australian Galleries, Melbourne.

The show, which is curated by David Forrest and Janis Nedela, Directors of Gallery East in Western Australia, was previously exhibited at Gallery Central in Perth, WA. Shane and I called into Australian Galleries yesterday during day 3 of the installation. It was lovely to meet Janis and his colleague Andrew. To see further installation views, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Between the Sheets 2017 opens on Tuesday 13 June, 6 - 8 pm.  For full details, go HERE.

Installation in progress of Between the Sheets - Artists' Books 2017 at Australian Galleries Melbourne.
My artist book, Leaves of Absence (2017) is on the right hand plinth.

The Melbourne Art Book Fair and Australian Zine Showcase, NGV International

Photo credit: Shane Jones

Yesterday, Saturday March 18, from 2.30 - 8 pm, Moth Woman Press took part in the rotating Sticky Institute Australian Zine Showcase, the latest and freshest addition to the annual Melbourne Art Book Fair at NGV International. Directly below is the view from our stand -

followed by a wider view of the Australian Zine Showcase.

Due to the number of participants, Moth Woman Press was relegated to a half table, but we were pleased with the final result.

Some of the day's greatest pleasures were provided by visits from friends, some old, some new. Below on the righthand side is one of the former, Louise Jennison, mugging with my indispensable assistant, Shane Jones. Louise is one half of the team of artist book makers, Gracia and Louise, who are showing their books and zines in the Melbourne Art Book Fair. She and Shane are pointing to the location of their stand in the Great Hall.

In the Great Hall, Moth Woman Press is represented by Esther Gyorki (pictured right) at Assembly Books. My artist book, Castles in the Hair (2013) hangs open, next to the Assembly Books sign. The Melbourne Art Book Fair opened on Friday, 16 March and ends at 5 pm today. For more views of the book and zine fairs, visit Moth Woman Press.

A group show, a zine fair and a book fair

This morning I'm heading off to Warrnambool Art Gallery to meet up with fellow artists, Loris Button, Carole Wilson and Louise Saxton, to begin the hang of our long-planned exhibition, From the Bower - patterns of collecting. Loading the car will be a job of work. Shane is convinced it will all fit; I'm not so sure... Currently our hallway looks like the warehouse scene at the end of Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (all that's missing is Rosebud) and some of the boxes have also started to colonise the living room. From the Bower opens on 18 March (see also previous post). For more about the show, go HERE.

Meanwhile, it's also been a hive of activity at Moth Woman Press. We've been working on two new zines for the Sticky Institute Australian Zine Showcase that will be running concurrently with the Melbourne Art Book Fair at NGV International, National Gallery of Victoria. Moth Woman Press is part of that too; our books will be represented by Esther Gyorki at Assembly Books. For progress views of the new zines, go HERE and HERE. For more about the MWP publications that will be shown by Assembly Books, go HERE.

The Melbourne Art Book Fair runs from 16 - 19 March. The website is HERE.

I'll be presenting a selection of Moth Woman Press zines at the Sticky Institute Australian Zine Showcase at NGV International on Saturday, 18 March from 2.30 - 8 pm. Sticky's website is HERE.

Left - right: Fuchsia, Harpy and Cactus Flower, 2013, one-of-a-kind artist books,
pigmented drawing ink, cloth binding, each 80 x 15 cm (open) will be presented by
Assembly Books at the Melbourne Art Book Fair at NGV International from 16 - 19 March

On the cutting board: PRESSING MATTERS, one of two new zines heading for the Australian Zine Showcase at
NGV International. Moth Woman Press will be there on Saturday, 18 March from 2.30 - 8 pm 

A Gold Letter Day

Leaves of Absence (closed). Linen box with gold debossed text and image,
32.5 (H) x 25.5 (W) x 4 cm (D). Edition: 10, plus 1 artist proof

Yesterday was a red letter day, or rather a gold letter day. The boxes for the artist book, Leaves of Absence, were completed, marking the final stage of this almost two-year long project. Leaves of Absence is a limited edition of 10, plus one artist proof.

The closed book is pictured above, followed directly below by selected page views. To preview additional pages, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

A new year and a new leaf of a new book

Leaves of Absence pages, together with a fragment of the linen with which
the book's specially designed box will be bound  

The first few months of 2017 are dominated by book-related projects, so naturally this is reflected in my current studio practice. Pictured above is a progress view of Leaves of Absence, an unbound, limited edition artist book that has been two years in the making. The boxes that will house the book are currently under construction. They will be covered with the same linen as the sample upon which the pages rest. The completed book will be limited to an edition of 10, plus one artist proof.

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

Between the Sheets

Top: Between the Sheets: Installation view, Gallery Central, Perth, WA
Base: Homo-insecta - An Unnatural History Portfolio, 2013, artist book, hand coloured linocuts and inkjet prints, 33H 24W x 1.5D cm, edition 2/10.

An installation view of Between the Sheets, the international artist books exhibition that includes my unbound book, Homo-insecta (foreground, right) inset below with the front cover and selected page views.

Between the Sheets
Gallery Central
12 Aberdeen Street
Perth
Western Australia

The exhibition opened on 7 March and runs until 2 April.

For full details of the exhibition, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Feature article in IMPRINT

A couple of months back, Kate-Gorringe Smith, Acting Editor of the Print Council of Australia's quarterly journal IMPRINT, contacted me and asked if I would write an article on my books and zines for the summer edition. As good timing would have it, the issue in question (volume 49, number 4) has just been published; it complements perfectly my current exhibition at the Art Vault, as it discusses in part the unbound artist book Homo-insecta, selected works from which are exhibited in the show.

Pictured below: installation views of Homo-insecta in Gallery 2 at the Art Vault

Selected Homo-insecta and zines. Hard at work in Gallery 1 (in this and the following shot): Sonja Hodge and Anne Spudvilas

Bluebird and Castles in the Hair

Bluebird, 2013 and Castles in the Hair, 2013
Ink and acrylic on Khadi paper
Unique artist books, each 15 x 80 cm (open)
Photography by Tim Gresham

When the two artist books pictured on the left were photographed recently, their pairing was quite arbitrary. Coincidentally, however, they share a thematic link: both take well-known figures of speech as points of departure (one in the form of a pun). They tap into the nature of human aspirations, the first of which is - at best - impermanent, whilst the other, because it has no basis whatsoever in reality, is doomed to be forever unattainable. 

I’ve just finished re-reading Voltaire's timeless satiric masterpiece Candide, or Optimism (1759) and wonder if something of its sentiments (its highly ironic catchphrase is "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds") were subconsciously absorbed into these two works - more particularly the latter.

BLUEBIRD

In Native American culture the attributes of the Bluebird are happiness, joy, and contentment. Similarly, the Oxford English Dictionary defines Bluebird as “happiness”. This symbology was the basis for the plot of l’Oiseau bleu, or The Bluebird, a 1909 play by Belgian playwright and poet Maurice Maeterlinck, which purportedly introduced the phrase "Bluebird of happiness".

In this context the Bluebird has long been absorbed into popular music, which tends to stress its elusive nature, for example in the lyric Over the Rainbow: (1) "...Somewhere over the rainbow, Bluebirds fly/Birds fly over the rainbow/Why, oh why can't I?". Another song, also memorably performed by Judy Garland is I'm Always Chasing Rainbows: (2) "... I'm always chasing rainbows/ Waiting to find a little bluebird in vain".

(1) Published 1939, Music: E. Y. Harburg/Lyrics: Harold Arlen

(2) Published 1917, Music: Harry Carroll/Lyrics: Joseph McCarthy

CASTLES IN THE (H)AIR

The idiom "castles in the air", refers to futile flights of fancy. Two early examples of its usage date from the sixteenth century:

"In a word, whoever will consult common sense upon religious opinions, and will carry into the examination the attention given to objects of ordinary interest, will easily perceive that the opinions have no solid foundation; that all religion is but a castle in the air; that Theology is but ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system...."

Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592 (Translated from the French)

"And that the Poet hath that Idea, is manifest, by delivering them foorth in such excellencie as he had imagined them: which delivering foorth, also is not wholly imaginative, as we are wont to say by them that build Castles in the aire..."

Sir Philip Sidney, 1554-1586

Bluebird, 2013 and Castles in the Hair, 2013

Acrylic on canvas

Each work: 12.5 x 7.5 cm
Photography: Tim Gresham

Pictured directly above are the miniature paintings that served as studies for the artist books. All the work featured in this post was made especially for the forthcoming exhibition Wonder Room. It will hang alongside works by fellow Wonder Room artists Rona Green, Paul Compton, Heather Shimmen and Filomena Coppola.

Tall Tales: Installation Views

Tall Tales is now very much up and running. We've already had an impressive number of visitors, including groups of secondary and university students. 

The artist book The Maiden Flight (below, third from left) has been acquired by the University of Melbourne's Baillieu Library, Tree House (below, sixth from right) was acquired by the State Library of Victoria and the State Library of Queensland has acquired Eve's Apple (pictured fourth from right).  

In addition, the State Library of Victoria and Baillieu Library have each acquired a copy of the limited edition mini-zine Card Sharps for their permanent collections.

For more about the exhibition, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

 

 

Pictured from top:

Artist's books: installation view

Artist's books (detail)

Shadow Women miniature paintings. Photographer: Tim Gresham

Shadow Women (detail). Photographer: Tim Gresham

Tall Tales at Long Last

It was quite extraordinary watching Hand Held Gallery Director Megan Herring hang the Tall Tales exhibition. Never in my exhibiting history have I known an exhibition hang to come together so smoothly.

Now, after a marvellously buzzy and crowded opening night on Thursday, June 13, Tall Tales is up and running.

Pictured below are some snapshots of the installation in progress. For more detailed information about the exhibition visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Miniature silhouettes: installation in progress. With Megan Herring.

A very happy DK pictured with Megan Herring directly after the installation of the miniature silhouettes. Photograph by Shane Jones.

Megan completing the installation of the Tall Tales artist's books

Two Tall Tales

Although I’m currently juggling several projects, my primary focus remains on Tall Tales, an ongoing suite of one-of-a-kind artist’s books. Here are the first two, The Maiden Flight and A Tall Tale. To learn more about the project, visit my books and zines blog Moth Woman Press HERE.

Pictured above: The Maiden Flight and A Tall Tale, each 2013, unique concertina books, ink and acrylic paint on Khadi paper, 80 x 15 cm (open). Photograph by Tim Gresham.