turn the page

Come along to turn the page artists’ book fair this weekend

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time spent

 

 

A view into Manchester from Cheetham and Crumpsall Model Allotments. A morning a week was spent working in this lovely setting.

Seen whilst walking the river in Norwich. Apparently artist Rory Macbeth painted the entire text of Thomas Moore’s Utopia (44,000 words) on the old Eastern Electricity building. Searching will bring up internal photos too of rooms painted in red text.

A scroll piece of printing, physically scanned from the floor of the space, made over the duration of The Negligent Eye at the Bluecoat Arts Centre by Maurice Carlin.

A view from part of the DLA Piper Series: Constellations at Tate Liverpool. The exhibition covers 2 floors and shows work grouped together by association. I enjoyed the opportunity to see the backs of frames and to view many works arranged together within space rather than crammed on a wall.

Plans for a new project come together. Making escape paths out of patterns in a pond with Helen Mather.

Two small exhibitions of wide reaching projects exploring the Yangtze River in China. At Touchstones in Rochdale, Yan Preston’s work was intimate and communicated directly. Trying to reconnect with her homeland through simple creative processes Yan’s work is physical, performative, poetic and clearly documented. Though Yan’s exhibition at Touchstones is now over (sorry!) her website is well worth a look if you are interested in ‘landscapes, myths and values’. The image above was taken from Corridor 8 where you will find a review of Yan Preston’s show.

In ‘Normal Pool Level’ by Jorge Mañes Rubio at the Chinese Art Centre, Manchester  the artist explored the impact that the monumental Three Gorges Dam had on the Yangtze River and valley. Jorge presents objects collected, adapted and created over his 2 month residency that speak of the industrial processes, cultural shifts and economies he encounters. Presented with photos, drawings and lots of informative texts. This exhibition continues on until September 7th. I have just noticed that earlier in the month both Yan and Jorge shared a discussion at the Chinese Arts Centre, damn. I will get better at this!

Another weekend in another wonderful library redevelopment, this time Liverpool, where the domed Picton Reading Room and the arching hall of the Hornby Library housed the casts of books and keys made by Aiko Miyanaga and the Artist’s Book exhibition that saw people I know show work alongside that of Picasso and Goya, what a treat.  My favourite time was spent looking at ‘Averting Your Fate’ by Andrew Morrison of Two Wood Press, an excellent use of print block and text.

And finally, after 2 years of watching the leaves grow, the flowers come and they don’t seem able to stop. A metre and a half for each year waiting.

turn the page artist’s book fair

I’m very excited to be off to Norwich to show books and prints at Turn the Page Artist’s Book Fair this weekend (Friday and Saturday at the Forum). To see lots of lovely books in my fine home city and also hopefully to hear George Szirtes read on Friday evening at Elbow Room live. Add to that beaches, blue bell woods and loved ones, what a wonderful week it will be.

A fine city, revisited

So Turn the Page Artists book fair has been and gone and in between the rest of life and work I can assure you I’m getting together all the bits and bobs I need to finish the books I promised to post out to new homes.  It was a lovely weekend by all accounts. The sun alternately warmed and dazzled us through the glass ceiling as we circled, sat and wondered at the variety and splendour of the artists book / book arts field. The central showcases worked well to display the more sculptural works, enticing people into the space, diverting the flows of movement around the tables and breaking the stiff-neck-close-focus-rictus even the best book fair adventurers must suffer from.

I got to meet some lovely people, generous with their advice, tales and praise but am ashamed to say that as usual I didn’t get to see all the people and work I’d have liked.  From those artists I did manage to speak with Gloria Ceballos‘ wild flower work, Theresa Easton’s colourful books full of social and science history and Stef Mitchell’s caravan printing adventures all inspired.

Next stop Baltic Artists Book Fair 14th and 15th June

A Fine City

On Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th of May between 10am and 6pm each day my books will be sat out for all to see on a table at the Forum in Norwich. On Friday my lovely sister will be there masquerading as me and on Saturday I will be there myself, perhaps masquerading as her. If you happen to be nearby come along and say hello.  Turn the Page Artists Book Fair has installations, demonstrations, workshops, readings and sculptural works unfolding on the day alongside 60 exhibitors.

Norwich is also a lovely place to come for a day trip, so if you are wondering if you could really spend a whole day looking at books, perhaps you could also have a walk along the river Wensum that winds its way through the city, see the (most beautiful) cathedral and cloisters and massage your feet up one of the many cobbled streets….

she shew me

..only when I moved to Manchester was I told of my incorrect grammar. But back in Norfolk I could say without note that my sister shew me, along the river Wensum, things I’d not seen before. My sister, having now lived there longer than me, walked me through the city along the river with its huge weeping willows and shew me the old pump house near Barn Road, some good public art – it looks like it belongs there – on the Quay side and a parasitic birds house in a tree beside Cow Tower.  She shew me the Jarrolds Printing museum, only open on Wednesdays ( it was a thursday) and a new bridge – rusty metal and wood..mmmm near Pulls Ferry. We walked over to see parts of the old city walls, out past the football grounds and Carrow Bridge House, tucked away up the side of a hill. She says they reckon parts of the wall were taken as raw materials, built in and around. People are living with the wall in their homes today and might not even know they have a lookout post in the attic, flint arrowheads in the cellar.

We also walked into Surrey House the Norwich Union building that took up all the marble Westminster Abbey couldn’t afford, lining almost every surface with it. We saw an  early air conditioning system and a gold and green skeleton clock made for the Great Exhibition. The clock played 12 tunes, 1 for every hour, the workers disabled it as they couldn’t get enough work done, unable to resist the urge to waltz the  marble floors whenever the  chime called them.