Personal Histories Artist Book Exhibition


Bringing together artists from around the globe to share their own stories in artist book form. Sharing similarities, diversities and individual perspectives. Highlighting the dynamic world of artist books.

REDLAND MUSEUM: 12 October - 30 November 2014
REDLAND ART GALLERY: 29 March - 10 May 2015
UNSW CANBERRA: 28 September - 11 December 2015

For more information please contact the Coördinator, Robyn Foster (email: fostered@tpg.com.au.)


Wednesday 31 July 2013

Unexpected Developments....


Those of you who read the comments left by
others on this blog may have noticed
that after my last post the lovely Vicki
(an expat Aussie now happily living in Iceland)
left some surprising information for me
regarding little Elsie May Baills.

Vicki very kindly used her investigative skills 
and genealogical knowledge 
to do a little research on Elsie May 
and uncovered quite a bit of information about her
and her extended family.

I am so grateful to Vicki for following this up
and I now look forward to further
updates regarding the forgotten photos I have in my possession.

Who knows,  maybe we'll be able to find a
loving descendant to return the photos to one day,
all because of the investigative skills of a lovely lady from Iceland.

For those of you who haven't read the comments,
this is what Vicki told me:

Elsie May's parents were Thomas George Baills and Martha Jenner
who married in 1902.  She also had 3 brothers, Allan, Percy and Norman. 
 Her father died in 1940 and her mother in 1952.

Vicki has also sent me a follow up email with more information and 
copies of newspaper articles.
I'm hoping I'll be able to use these in the book I intend to make about the family.

I am secretly hoping we might find an ancestor interested enough
to come along to the exhibition.  Wouldn't that be exciting!


Thursday 25 July 2013

Unknown Identities



The first book I intend to make for
the Personal Histories exhibition is linked to a 
box of photographs which have fascinated me ever since they were
discovered in the ceiling of a house my brother bought a number of years back.

The century old sepia photographs are of people long gone,
with not many clues to their identity.

They apparently came from the Toowoomba/Ipswich region
of Southern Queensland (Australia) according to the addresses of
the photographers labels.

The only other identification is from a tribute card
for one of the children, Elsie May Bailis (above, top),
a blonde, curly haired moppet who died very young
at the tender age of 10yrs 10 mths on 23rd April 1914.

Do you have any intriguing stories like this to add to the exhibition?


Tuesday 16 July 2013

Tall Tales and True

Family Holiday, Amity Point circa January 1972

We all have tales to tell.
Interesting snippets of personal history
that reveal a little about ourselves and the times
we have experienced.  Tales which can be fascinating
not only to ourselves but to others as well.

At the beginning of 2012 I held an
exhibition of altered book art at
Redland Museum Cleveland.
Since then, the Museum has
doubled in size and now boasts
2 large gallery spaces perfect for
sharing artists works with the community.

I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity
to coordinate an exhibition of artist books
and works on paper and to make the exhibition
relevant to the venue by setting a theme of personal histories.

Something everyone has but no one shares.

I have succeeded in procuring space for the exhibition at the Museum
and am currently in negotiations with the Exhibitions Officer
to set a date.  We have earmarked late 2014 in order to
give artists time to work on their submissions.

There won't be any fees to participate in this event
however artists will be responsible for the cost of shipping
for any works submitted.
Artists will also be able to sell their works if they choose.
(commission for the Museum for any works sold will be applicable).

I hope you will consider participating in this event,
whether you are local to the area or from somewhere far away,
we would love to include your artist book or work on paper
to share something of your personal history.

More details to come............