5 in 5 - March 2020 - Edward Bawden

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th
of each month I post 5 photos that I have
taken in 5 minutes.

You know those wonderful days that spring from nowhere? Well, this was one of those.... 

A London based friend let me know she was coming to Essex to see the Edward Bawden exhibition at a local museum. I was unaware of this event and was keen to see the exhibition myself, so I suggested that I meet her there. It was also an opportunity to collect posters for a workshop that Chrissie is running in Essex, and I had offered to display them. 

Our meeting was planned at short notice and I love days like that. The exhibition was everything I anticipated and I hadn't realised that the Museum holds a large collection of Edward Bawden's art (1903-1989). I have seen exhibitions of Essex Artists there before and was immediately drawn to his style and range that includes prints, painting, and illustrations. Let me show you a few:

This scene shows some of Bawden's prints and artwork set against his wall paper design. It made lovely setting and during our visit we spoke to the technician who designed the room. We asked about the wallpaper and he said he would be scraping it off the walls at the end of the exhibition. I expressed interest in any pieces that he could salvage, and he kindly offered to call me if this was achievable. Needless to say my heart was a flutter when I heard that he had saved some scraps for me! This would have been thrown so with my philosophy of reuse, recycle, I have plans for this wonderful offering and it will also make a lovely memory of this memorable day.

Below are some of the lino prints.  This is something I want to spend time doing and I have all the tools at the ready. Now I have even more inspiration and what's more, Chrissie's friend, who she bought with her, is a professional printer who runs workshops, so I may be looking into getting my tools out soon. 

Lady Filmy Fern is one of the many books that Bawden illustrated. He also wrote and illustrated his own books, and these are timeless. 

It was lovely to share the experience with other artists, especially ones who love making books as much as I do.  

We enjoyed chatting about the exhibition over lunch and I am excited about the forth coming workshop that Chrissie is running in Essex next week.  There are still places available so if you are interested and want to find out more here is a link:

I will also be seeing Chrissie and Ruth at the Society of Bookbinders Fair in London so good things are planned, and many photo opportunities.

Meanwhile here is information about Edward Bawden if you would like to know more.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you have enjoyed some interesting visits and days of your own.  As always I invite you to join in this monthly photo challenge. It's very simple, and it offers a new way of looking through the camera lens and adding a spark of new ideas.

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.

A meeting of Paperlove

Three years ago I signed up for an online course.  There is nothing new in this, I do a lot of courses, online and otherwise.  But what makes this one different is the friendships that grew. As part of the Paperlove course, Rachel Hazel set up a Facebook Group so that we could share our work and experience. The course only lasted 3 weeks - but for some of us, our friendship lasted and grew. 

After the course finished I suggested the idea of planning a gathering, and we talked about it again last year, when four of us met in London. We spoke of how nice it would be to meet more of the group and the idea took hold....

Ruth agreed to our request to meet at her studio on the Isle of Bute. News was shared, excitement spread, and soon people were booking accomodation and flights.  Because the amazing thing is, people came from California, Canada, New Zealand and Europe! Can you imagne?! Some bought partners and some travelled alone. A feast of friends drawn together through the love of paper! 

For my own part, my husband came with me to Scotland and we stayed in the campervan in a beautiful bay, not far from Ruth's studio.

The first morning I was wandering along the beach collecting shells, when I heard 'hello Sandie'. It was a friend from New Zealand! She saw the campervan parked up and stopped to see if it was me. The excitement of meeting face to face was extraordinary and suddenly it had become real - this was really happening!

There is so much I could share, but to spare you I'll choose some of the highlights and save the rest as memories. So grab a coffee if you like and I will begin:

We all arrived in advance of our 3 days together so had an improntu meet was arranged to say hello and quieten our excitement. And then it was time to gather....

Ruth is an artist and we felt very grateful that she was willing to share her studio for this time together. She showed us how to sketch and paint, something I am keen to learn....

 As you can see, I'm working on it! LOL

Then it was time to walk to the beach where we collected shells and plants.  

The plants were for Eco-printing. We had each offered to share a technique or something we enjoy, and as there were other people who make books I offered to show how I make prints onto paper and fabric.  Chris also does this, back in New Zealand, so we did this in collaboration.  I had also made everyone a small notebook using my eco-printed paper, and this gave examples of what we would make.  

It took a long time to steam all the bundles but it was worth the effort. The results were lovely and several of the group were keen to do more in future. 

Two of our friends were unable to join us but they were very much there in thought and spirit.  Julia had sent us an an individually wrapped gift pack full of treasures....

while Linda sent a postcard to us each. On the back was part of a phrase. There was great excitment in working it out and as one card arrived a day later there was suspension!  

During our three days together we made paper constructions: folded books and origami lanterns... 

and we guilded shells

and did lots more besides.

I am still holding my excitement and amazement that some people travelled so far to make this happen. I'm feeling very blessed and grateful.

But that's not all, there is more to tell, so I'll be back very soon. Hope to see you then, thanks for popping by!  

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.