Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper document Personal Histories at UNSW

Fellow Australian book artists

Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper

Image: Doug Spowart + Victoria Cooper wotwedid blogsite

have posted a wonderful reference to their experience of 

the Personal Histories Opening Night Event at UNSW Canberra on their wotwedid blog site.

The post includes a written overview of their thoughts on the exhibition, documentary photographs including images of participating artists Judy Bourke and Tracie Toohey, also links to video footage of a walkthrough of some of the exhibition -

including a guest appearance by Canberra based artist
 Caren Florance and opening speeches from Selena Griffith, Lisa Morisset (UNSW Library) and Robyn Foster.

This is a marvellous resource for any one who could not physically get to visit the exhibitions and I highly recommend following the link to have a look at this post and to explore the wealth of information in other posts.

I can't thank Doug and Victoria enough for making the journey to the Canberra opening and for generously creating and sharing this documentary resource with all of us.

Doug Spowart was 2014 Siganto Foundation Research Fellow at the Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland.

Dr Victoria Cooper is 2015 Siganto Foundation Research Fellow at the Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland. 

(footnote re footage: I was a little disturbed to see one lovely person's blatant disregard for gallery etiquette, but I can assure everyone {especially Janet Braun-Reinitz - whose artwork was in imminent peril}, no artworks were harmed during the making of this footage)

Personal Histories at UNSW - End of Exhibition

The Personal Histories Exhibition at UNSW Canberra Campus finishes today.

I'll be making the 4 day round trip shortly from Brisbane to Canberra to dismantle and collect the works before returning home to send works back to artists.

Of course, being the Christmas holiday period, there may be hiccups in getting items sent off quickly, but I will endeavour to do my best - (and just a gentle reminder that artists are responsible for reimbursement of postage costs please).

I'd appreciate any artists who may have changed address since the beginning of the project to get in touch with me to update their address details. Also, if artists would like me to hold off on return of works due to holiday absences etc. I'd be most appreciative to hear from you as well.

Some artists have asked me not to return works, but instead donate them to appropriate collections in Australia, if this is your wish please contact me to arrange for this.  

Thanks again to all the artists worldwide who have given such wonderful support to this project, the institutions (Redland Museum, Redland Art Gallery Cleveland, ABBE at QCA and UNSW Canberra Campus) who have exhibited and championed the works (or part thereof) and the wonderful audiences who have given such positive feedback to the project and works over the last two years.

Personal Histories at ABBE

I took a sample of Personal Histories artworks to the artists' book fair at  

Artists Books Brisbane Event (abbe) 

which ran over three days 16-18th July 2015 

at QCA Griffith University, Southbank Brisbane.

This was a great venue to show some of the wonderful works

which have formed part of the overall exhibitions to a very interested audience.

Head on over to the official 

abbe website 

to see lots of photographs, see who was there and to read more about the event.

Doug Spowart & Victoria Cooper also have a wonderful article on their blog

wotwedid

Installation Week & Opening Night - Redland Art Gallery Cleveland

 100 Books: A Personal Histories International Artists' Book Exhibition

has opened to a very enthusiastic audience at 

Redland Art Gallery Cleveland (Queensland, Australia).

Congratulations to all the contributing artists involved.

It was an honour and a pleasure to have Jan Davis officially, and very eloquently, 

open the exhibition with Redland Art Gallery Director Stephanie Lindquist (in the blue dress below) acting as MC.

 

Exhibiting artist's books since the late 1980's,  

Jan Davis has undertaken duties as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Southern Cross University, is Vice President of the Print Council of Australia and is one of two Siganto Foundation Fellows currently based at the Australian Library of Art ( State Library of Queensland).  As part of her fellowship, Jan has chosen to research historical diaries and farm records from the John Oxley collection which she will transfigure into artists' books. 

The Redland Art Gallery exhibition holds 110 works in total 

with contributing artists from 16 countries.

100 works form the main body of the exhibition along with 10 works in an adjunct display which focuses on the centenary of WWI from a perspective of personal/family connections.

As the exhibition coincides with school holidays here, there is a dedicated area for children to create and display book art, with books referencing childhood in close proximity (all safely under perspex covers - of course).  We already have some wonderful examples after an enthusiastic response from the young people in attendance last night.

There is a reading table area where books are able to be read and touched.

I will be hosting a floor talk at the gallery at 11.30am Sunday 29 March 2015. 

Helen Malone will host a floor talk focusing on the WWI artworks at 11.30am Friday 24 April 2015.

Workshops are planned for this afternoon as well.  For details contact the gallery directly.

There are also artists' groups who have organised guided, white gloves tours throughout the run of the exhibition after having had tours of the first Personal Histories exhibition at Redland Museum in October 2014.

Many thanks to the Redland Art Gallery staff for their tireless efforts and skill in making exhibitions like this a reality.

Exhibition runs through until Sunday 10 May.

Feature Artist - JEN CONDE

JEN CONDE

is an artist and graphic designer living on a pacific coastal waterway south of Brisbane, Australia.

She exhibits prints, paintings and artists books in her solo and group exhibitions held across Australia and internationally.  She has won various awards, including 'Best of Show', Rotary Art Spectacular 2008, 'Best Overall', Aveo Art Show 2010 and has work in the National Gallery of Australia print collection.  

Jen has illustrated a number of books for local authors and is an active member of local artists and writers groups.

She holds a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Brisbane Institute of Art and a Diploma of Visual Communications from the Queensland College of Art.  

Jen's  contribution to the Personal Histories exhibition  is a mixed media and calligraphy artists book made on Hahnemühle 250gsm paper entitled "The Netmaker":

'The book is about the poem "The Netmaker" written by early Brisbane poet, teacher and opera critic 'Val Vallis' (1916-2008). 

Val Vallis gave permission to use his poem which is about his father, a fishing net maker who worked as a wharf lumper and fisherman.  "The Netmaker" is the poet's lyric ode to the memories of his father mending and making his nets.  Val died a few years ago and this exhibition is a good opportunity to remember him and his poetry but also because the poem is about his own father and the nets he made.'

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST:  JEN CONDE

Redland Museum Online Exhibition

The Personal Histories Redland Museum 

Online Exhibition has been uploaded to the website.

Below is a direct link:

Personal Histories Website Online Exhibition

There is a pause button to the top left of the image space (when you run your mouse over the screen) so you can take a bit more time to read the accompanying text.

There are still two artists pages that need to be included,

but hopefully I will have images sorted out over the next couple of days so I can add them to the mix.

Please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.

NEWS ARTICLE

                   Redland City Bulletin - Wednesday November 5 2014         

Feature Artist - JUDY BARRASS

JUDY BARRASS

is an Australian artist living and working in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.

Judy works across a broad range of mediums, and is well known for her works in paper and the book format.  Her evocative one-off artist books often make reference to history, place, and the natural environment.  Judy's work is held in private and public collections in both Australia and overseas.

Judy also works with new media as her counter ego Juanita Deharo.

Judy's current obsession is combining traditional paper theatre and articulated paper puppets with animation and digital video techniques, but she also retains a strong connection to the tradition of the artist book.  Her recent work for the exhibition 'Fibro Coast' combines video installation with small paper constructions she calls 'reliquary boxes'.

'In a digital age there is much talk about the death of the book, but I think the elements of books, such as reading, sequence, personal interaction and imagination will survive.  The book may not survive exactly as we have known it, but it will survive both as an abstract notion and an object, in some form.

Artist books have been part of my practice for a long time.  To me, as a visual artist, there is something compelling about the book as an object, and a means of conveying ideas, as a visual message.  It is sometimes, but not always, something you can hold in your hand, smell, see, feel and interact with in a more powerful way than other less familiar art objects.  I like to think of books as a sort of personal installation, to be experienced in an intimate and very individual way, alone, with your imagination.  You need to open the box, look behind the covers, interact with the object, become lost in discovering it, and then it speaks to you.'

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST - JUDY BARRASS

Exhibition Workshop

Community workshop and 

guided tour of the Personal Histories exhibition

with Robyn Foster

11.00am - 3.00pm 

THURSDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2014

at

Redland Museum

Smith Street

Cleveland  Qld  4163
Australia

The workshop is aimed at beginning/intermediate book makers

and will focus on construction techniques for various concertina fold formats.

Cost for the day is $25.00.

RSVP to:

Robyn Foster

fostered@tpg.com.au

if you would like to participate

The online exhibition and POD catalogue are in production and will be available soon.
 Feature Artists posts will resume next week.

REDLAND MUSEUM EXHIBITION OPENING

Apologies for taking so long to post about the 

Personal Histories Redland Museum Exhibition Opening.

Influenza and fatigue got the better of me.

The exhibition opened in the 

Dunn Wing of the Redland Museum on Sunday 12 October 

with works from 64 artists living in 18 different countries.

(Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America, Wales).

The exhibition was formally opened by Rick Thomason (Exhibitions Officer and Curator - Redland Museum) and Myann Burrows (Textile and Artists Book maker).

Kay Faulkner (textile artist), Robyn Foster (Coordinator Personal Histories), Myann Burrows (opening speaker), Rick Thomason (Exhibiitons Officer & Curator - Redland Museum)

It has taken 12 months of organisation to bring the exhibition to this point with communication mostly via email, website and blog.

Thanks must go to Rick Thomason and the ever supportive Redland Museum community as well as to each contributing artist for all their hard work in making and transporting their works.

Museums are time capsules of public human history and the concept for this exhibition was to allow individuals working in the forum of book arts the opportunity to share their own personal, private narratives in a public space.

Artists' books utilise the format or concept of a book in the form of artwork.  In our age of technology, artists books help connect us to a familiar, tactile past and a changing relationship with how we share and store information and images and give us the ability to creatively record our own stories.

Book Artists:  Virginia and Terence Uren (Canberra), Helen Malone (Brisbane - back to camera), Robyn Foster (Redland). (background) - Fiona Dempster & Barry Smith (Sunshine Coast), Annique Goldenberg (Northern NSW) 

The books in this exhibition vary widely in their construction and content and are a testament to the creative breadth of artists' book craftsmanship.

  

Some are handmade, some commercially printed, some altered book works, 

some unique works and some editions.

The form of the books range widely - with traditionally bound books, concertina fold formats, spiral bound books, pop-up books, unbound pages encased in slipcases, framed works, wall hung works, flag fold books, stitched books, wearable art, scrolls, books made of paper, books made of cloth and books made of natural fibres.

There are letterpress printed books, etched books, linocuts, cyanotype prints, hand drawn and painted books, digitally printed images, collaged books, hand cut books, woven pages.

There are myriad differences in the construction methods and techniques used to create these books, but each relates a tale of personal history and experience in a unique and original way.

Virginia and Terence Uren (Canberra book artists)

Whilst most books are encased or positioned for viewing,

there are a selection of books available for viewing on a supervised reading table.

An international textiles exhibition entitled "Exposition" opened alongside the Personal Histories exhibition, giving a great dynamic to the Museum space, with both exhibitions marrying well.

The exhibition runs until Sunday 30 November.

Exposition - Textiles Exhibition

Redland Museum - Exhibition Opening

The opening for the first of the Personal Histories International Artist Book Exhibitions will be at:

10am (Australian EST)

Sunday 12 OCTOBER 2014

 Redland Museum

60 Smith Street

Cleveland  Qld  4163

ph:   (07) 3286 3494

Please rsvp by Monday 6 October to Redland Museum if you are interested in coming along.

admin@redlandmuseum.org.au

Thank you and congratulations to each artist whose work is included in this exhibition.

Sending Artworks of Value into Australia

After a recent incident with a participating artist's consignment I would like to advise other artists sending artwork of value into Australia they may be charged a government goods and services tax equalling 10% of the value of their artwork if they do not clearly state that the contents of their parcel are on loan for the duration of the Personal Histories exhibition and have not been purchased.  

If any artists have concerns about this I would advise you to apply for a Carnet from Australian Customs before dispatching your parcel.  You can do this by forwarding an enquiry to the National Temporary Imports and Securities section of Australian Customs via email (ntis@customs.gov.au).

Australian Customs and Excise have a specific clause covering artworks of value entering Australia which are on loan for exhibition purposes and which are to be returned within a 12 month period.  These works do not attract the 10% goods and services tax if it is acknowledged they are to be returned to the artist at the end of the exhibition period.  However, artworks of value which are purchased or remain in the country will attract this 10% fee, either if they are purchased or if the works are not returned within 12 months.  You are more likely to be charged this fee if your artwork is of higher value and you are using a courier to forward your artworks as the courier company will be responsible for clearing your parcel through customs.

Feature Artist - TRACIE TOOHEY

TRACIE TOOHEY

was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1962.  

She has lived in Bairnsdale, East Gippsland, Australia for the past 19 years.

Tracie completed her Diploma of Visual Arts in 2006 as a mature age student, majoring in painting.  Her chosen medium for the next five years was oil on canvas, with her subject matter being portraits.  Tracie has since been focusing on works on paper and for the past year has been involved in making artist books.

"In my work I use natural materials, found objects to develop images on paper.  My work is full of interesting shapes, colour and textures.  It is spontaneous an often becomes another piece to what it was initially intended.  I want to share with the viewer some of my experiences with nature and to enable this I find myself constantly fossicking foraging and collecting what nature has discarded and repurposing it into various images and forms of art."

For the Personal Histories exhibition Tracie is contributing a sculptural artist book with a very personal subject matter.  The work is entitled "Let me tell you about my dad....".  In this sculptural work she shares excerpts of a letter received from someone unknown to her after the death of her father.  The work itself depicts aspects of her father's personality, his nomadic tendencies, and the ensuing effect this had on his relationship with his family.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST - TRACIE TOOHEY