5 in 5 - June 2019 - The Lighthousekeeper

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th of 

each month I post 5 photos that I have 

taken in 5 minutes.

In March I went to a Artbookart Exhibition to see the collaborative work of local artists and friends.  It was inspired by the book 'The Lighthousekeeper' written by Jeanette Winterson and I had not read the book prior to my visit.  However, I was inspired by the story and the artwork, so I promptly ordered a copy and was not disappointed. Some might find the flitting back and forth in time does not appeal to them, but for me it was a different and enjoyable read, where the characters came to life and my imagination taken on a journey. Sometimes surreal, sometimes sad, this book weaves a story about an orphan child who goes to live with a lighthouse keeper. Here are just a few of the exhibits that were part of the collaborative exhibition:  

Sculptured objects by Gwen Simpson

Bringing the imagery of 'Lighthousekeeping' out of the page

  Part of a textile collage by Karen Apps

"Carry your own light and you'll never get lost in the darkness"

 A Pop up book using Turkish Map fold and origami envelope fold by Chris Ruston
"All of us bound together, tidal, moon drawn, past, present and future, in the break of a wave" Jeannete Winterson

Sculptural Bookart by Sally Chinea

'Some wounds never heal'

I think you'll agree, this work is impressive and I was so glad I went a long to see it.  I also enjoyed the chance to catch up with the artist, Chris Ruston, and have a day out with my friend Ruth. A good day all round!

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As always, I invite you to join in this 5in5 monthly challenge and I hope some of you will do that. Trying a new way of doing things can spark new ideas and add interest, so here's how it works: 

1.  Choose a location.

2.  Have your camera ready.

3.  Set a mobile timer for 5 minutes.

4.  Take as many photos you can until the time is up.

5.  Choose 5 photos to download and share by using the link tool 

   

You have until the 25th of the month to add your photos and if you want to know more about 5in5 there are details here.

And one more thing - when you use the link tool, please click on your post title.  This will show the web address. Please right click, copy and paste this as your link.  This will take readers directly to your '5 in 5' blog page and be easier for them to find.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

It's concertina book time again!

On Tuesday I showed photos of a concertina book that I made for a solo exhibition, and I promised to come back and show the other, so here it is:  

You can find out more about the exhibition itself in this post so I won't go into detail here.....

except to say that I chose the concertina design as it could be shown with its pages open. Because how else can you show the pages inside a book when it is displayed on a high flat board? 

Once the exhibition is over the book will be added to my ever growing collection. I might have cracked how to display the book at the exhibition, I just need to work out how to display or store all my books at home! (Excuse the belly laughing).  But I won't dwell on that, because that's another post for another day. 

If you would like to see the other concertina book, here is the link. Thank you for visiting and I hope this might inspire you to do something creative with your own photos.  See you soon.....

Book Art Day

Last week I went to London for The Society of Bookbinders Book Art Day. Would you believe that my friend Ruth came all the way from the Isle of Bute to join me?! I was super impressed by her intrepid journey for this one day event and it made the day even more special.  

The event started with an illustrated talk by Tracey Bush. In 1995 Tracey made a series of books connected to the River Thames and I really enjoyed hearing about stories and process behind these. Her latest book 'Dusk' is a beautiful work, each page carefully hand printed and hand cut out. This book was awarded the 2017 J.Hewit 'Excellence in Design' in the SOB International Bookbinding Competition. It's easy to see why when you see and handle the book.  You can see this and other books by Tracey on her website.   

Around the room were a selection of other book artists and it was lovely to see the wide range of techniques and designs.  Enjoy a few photos, and apologies to the artists - I was so engrossed in talking, looking and taking the occasional photo that I didn't make notes to attribute.  

One of my favourite stands was an Iranian lady who made journals using Photoshop and mixed media. And Dizzy Pragnell, who I met at Turn the Page in Norwich last year. Her fruit and vegetable books still continue to amaze me. I mean, really! Can you believe each page is a cabbage leaf?!   

I realised when I got home that I did not take photos of all the books that I admired, but that's okay. The ones I have show the diverse and colourful collection that was on display, and it was lovely to meet the artists in person. 

Turn the Page artists book fair - Part Two

As promised I am back with the second part of my visit to the 'Turn the Page' artists' book fair.  If you missed the previous post you might want to see that first, here.

After a short break for refreshments and fresh air we went back to complete our viewing. It gets tiring when you are standing for hours and super excited about everything you see! Energy restored, we started where we had left off....

First stop was Chris Ruston, one of my friends whose work I had seen in progress.  It was lovely to see it close up and unfortunately I was so busy looking and talking that I didn't take many photos. That will surprise those who know me!! Chris has been working on a project about whales, and it developed into a social history based on real life journals belonging to the captain of a whaling ship and his wife. Life was hard in those days and his wife spent three years on board, giving birth to two babies at sea. Here's some photos that I did take:

One of my favourite parts of this collection is a box with journals belonging to a sea captain and his wife. These are based on actual ones that Chris saw in Hull Museum. There is beautiful attention to detail with a clay pipe, ladies Victorian dip pen, and other interesting artefacts.

Part of the collection includes 2 large books, which you can see in the first photo. The hand printed paper used to cover the books, and
elsewhere in the collection, is beautiful, and the photo does not do it justice. Inside the books are bone shaped pages. Chris has added a video to her Instagram and this is worth checking out.

I think you'll agree that this art work is pretty amazing!

It was also lovely to see Karen Apps, another friend and whose work I have seen coming together. Karen slow stitches and has patience extraordinaire! 




This dressing gown is one of my favourite pieces, the tiny stitched writing is taken from a vintage letter. I wish I had asked more about the story behind it. I realised with hindsight that my energy was flagging after so many hours and I missed opportunities.   Next year I will spread my visit over the 2 days! Luckily I can go back to Karen and ask her to tell me more....

Another friend exhibiting was Paula Macgregor. She is a mixed media artist and enjoys making assemblages with narrative.

Below is one of Paula's most recent projects, a grandmother clock that tells the story of matriarchy. Just as we are connected by
family, each book is attached by a chain and decorated with beautiful vintage linen.

Another of Paula's work is a curiosity that could be a museum piece. The story is so convincing....

Like the grandmother clock, there is so much detail in the next curiosity box that you could happily loose another hour or two looking at. The story is based around the book shown on the door. As you unwind the scroll it reveals a code which you work out from clues in the book, revealing another tale. This appeals to my sense of intrigue.

Among the contributors was another friend, Ingrid Duffy. We first met at a Alice Fox Summer School, 2 years ago, and we discovered we had a mutual friend who lives in the Netherlands. It's a small and fascinating world.  Ingrid is a textile artist who often incorporates her photography into her work.  She is taking part in an Art Trail and I might try and go along. I only took one photo of Ingrid's stand, what was I thinking?!

There were a number of student groups exhibiting and also print making demonstrations.  This beautiful press was recently given to the John Jarrold Printing Museum and been carefully restored.  Based in Norwich this museum is only open on Wednesday mornings and it is on my list to visit, one day.

There were lots more stands but I will end with the Norfolk Longbook.  This is a collaborative project and artists, poets and writers were invited to submit their work. You can see this concertina book has achieved an impressionable length and there is a wonderful variety on it's double sided pages, with more on the table to add.

As you can see, the standard of work at Turn the Page is impressive and I felt privileged to be there and to meet the artists. I came home inspired and excited by what I saw, and I look forward to visiting again next year. Thanks for joining me in this post visit, and hope you liked what you saw too. 

Turn the Page artists book fair - Part One

This weekend saw me at Turn the Page artists book fair, in Norwich.  I’d been looking forward to this for some time, and over the proceeding months and weeks I watched three of my friends completing work for their stands.  My heart missed a beat or two when I entered the venue because there was such an array of book art and some extremely talented artists. It was hard to know where to start! But the beginning is always a good place - so we visited the first stand and carried on from there.

It would be impossible to show everything so here are some of the works that most connected with me.  My husband doesn't have the same level of interest, and said that once he’d seen enough he would potter off and meet me later. The fact that he didn’t potter off shows that there was much to see and admire!  There was a lovely atmosphere and all the artists were friendly and enthusiastic. But 
what stood out was hearing the stories - of how or why the artists made the books. And everyone was happy for me to take photos of their work too, I appreciate that because it is nice to look back and enjoy the experience again through memory.

So come with me and I’ll show you around…..

Visually, this was one of the show stoppers for me.  These books made by Dizzy Pragnell are pages made from fruit and vegetables - I kid you not!  Each is a wafer thin pressed image and the photo does not do them justice.





These are cabbage leaves...

apple.....

kiwi....

and carrot...

Each book was exquisite and I could fill a blog post about each stand that I visited, but I need to move on.....

Next is Pien Rotterdam. One of my favourite books of hers had a collection of fabric swatches that belonged to her grandmother and great grandmother. Pien inherited these fabrics and over the years she has used them. It was only when she started to run out that she thought it important to hold on to the memory and keep a record of the collection.

On the back of the book a small label tells what the fabric had been used for. Pien remembers these... 

Pien also made smaller copies of the book to sell. Each has original swatches and as someone who appreciates nostalgia I really admired Pien's work.  She had lots of other examples of work too, including a stamp album in which she has added beautiful snippets.  Each page is a different colour co-ordination.

Next was Peter Knight.  He makes copper etchings and uses these to make amazing prints and three dimensional constructions.

This one had particular interest as I visited Down House in recent weeks and have always been fascinated by Darwin's work.

Another stand that held my attention was artist, Jane Sasanow. I love constructions and how shadows and surprise comes from folds and concealment. I have often used these constructions to make my own books, but I was inspired how Jane had put these together, to create collections and works of art. Jane will be adding photos to her new Instagram site.

Another series of work that captured my imagination was by Annette Kreiser. 

I love to use found objects in my own work, as it is a way to create longevity.  This is even better where stories are involved too, so imagine my excitement when I heard that some of Annette's marks are made by pieces of WWII aircraft, washed up on the Norfolk coast line. Straight away I was taken back to the crashed WWII plane I found in the Shetland islands. But I digress....

There was so much to see that it was necessary to take a brief break, but a short walk and refreshments gave the much needed energy to go back for more.

And I suspect you might welcome a break at this point too!  So I'll come back with the rest, tomorrow. Thanks for joining me in this visit and I hope you are as inspired by these art works as I am.