Feature Artist - THERESA EASTON

Theresa Easton 

is a printmaker and artist educator based in 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. 

Easton trained in Printmaking at the University of East London and completed a PGCE at Durham New College and an MA in Glass at Sunderland University.

Based in the Ouseburn Valley, the cultural quarter of Newcastle, Easton delivers regular workshops in printmaking & bookmaking. 

Easton’s interest in Artist’s Books began with an international project in 2007 with The Penny Histories, a project working in partnership with Newcastle’s Literary & Philosophical Society (Lit & Phil) and Milan based artist’s collective. Easton is interested in making art work for specific public contexts.  The first visual artist to develop a residency at the Lit & Phi, Easton went on to create a series of printed glass book installations embedded within the library shelves.  Easton is interested in pushing the boundaries of printmaking and enjoys working in cross art forms, combining her knowledge of printmaking with a wide range of materials including brick clay, glass and ceramics.  Heritage interpretation and exploring cultural episodes play an important part in Easton’s practice.  

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Theresa Easton

Theresa is currently the driving force behind an international collaborative mail art project entitled

WWI Trench & Folk Art

examining the 100th anniversary of World War I.

Visit the above link for more information about the project.

Feature Artist - FIONA DEMPSTER

FIONA DEMPSTER

is a calligraphic and book artist based in Maleny, in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland of Queensland, Australia.

Fiona loves books, words, marks and text, and her work is generally elegant, spare and restrained; seeking the essence of things rather than an elaborate and complex expression of them.

Fiona has studied calligraphy since she was young and has developed skills in both calligraphy and as a bookmaker.  Her work is often paper-based and takes the form of books; however, she also works with metal, timber and perspex to express words and texts in ways that take calligraphy off the page and into the outdoors.

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FIONA DEMSPTER

In addition to her studio work Fiona also teaches calligraphy and book-making to both adults and children.  She has exhibited with her husband Barry Smith and in group exhibitions across Australia.  Her work has also been juried into exhibitions in Australia and the USA. 

Fiona is a member of the Australian Society of Calligraphers; the Collaboration of Maleny Artists (COMA); Papermakers of Queensland; and the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA).

In 2002 Fiona was one of the first three Australians to be awarded the Intermediate National Diploma of Calligraphy (UK). In 2006 Fiona completed Certificate III in Design Fundamentals. 

Fiona was a finalist in the 2010 and 2013 Libris Book Awards, the 2009 and 2011 Southern Cross University's Acquisitive Artists' Book Award and the 2011 and 2013 East Gippsland Artist Book Award.  Her work is held in private collections in Australia, the USA and Japan and in many public  collections in Australia and the USA.  

Feature Artist - VLADIMIR BRUNTON

VLADIMIR BRUNTON 
is a photographic artist from Prague in the Czech Republic.

Vladimir takes his photographs almost exclusively "the old way", with a large format box camera (8" x 10" Toyo or 4" x 5" Linhoff) with black and white film.  He then processes the images himself through a chemical process used in traditional black and white photography.  

Vladimir photographs mainly portraits and female nudes.  His ambition is to continue working in the spirit of world renowned Czech photographer Frantisek Drtikol (1883-1961), but in his own, more modern way.

Vladimir was inspired to create his own photography at the age of 35 upon discovering that his grandfather, who was himself a photographer, had left behind old photographic material, which Vladimir has since been able to utilise in his own experiments.

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Feature Artist - TERENCE UREN

TERENCE UREN is an Australian book artist and bookbinder based in the nation's capital, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory.  His studio, BEMBindery, produces unique and small editions of artists' books and contemporary design bindings.  He exhibits regularly and teaches traditional bookbinding skills to artists, writers and others.  Terence is a member of the BookArtObject collective, the Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild and the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders.

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 http://bembindery.blogspot.com.au

NEW YEAR WISHES FOR 2014

WISHING EVERYONE A VERY CREATIVE AND SATISFYING 2014

I hope everyone gets a chance to look back quietly over what 2013

has brought and the opportunity to ponder and plan for what 2014 

promises.

I don't want to wish the year away, but I am certainly

looking forward to continuing to showcase all the talented creatives who are

participating in the Personal Histories project in the 

Feature Artist posts

and seeing it all come to fruition later in the year when we put the exhibition together. 

In the meantime:

thank you for being part of this project

and

BEST WISHES TO ALL 

as we jump through the mysterious window of time into the new year.

(a bit like Alice jumping down the rabbit hole!)

Here's something I'll be doing for 2014:

Japanese Daruma Dolls - New Year Custom

Fill in one eye of the Daruma in anticipation of

fulfilling a wish or a project.  Fill in the other

eye when the wish is fulfilled or the project complete.

Exhibition Opportunity - MCBA

OPPORTUNITY FOR ARTISTS:

Call for Artists:

Fluxjob

Minnesota Center for Book Arts (Minneapolis, MN)

An exhibition in MCBA's main gallery from February 7 through July 6, 2014.

All media formats are welcome.

No entry or participation fees.  

Selected artists are responsible for all shipping costs.

To be considered forward email submissions to exhibitions@mnbookarts.org

BEFORE DECEMBER 31, 2013.

Selected artists will be notified by January 10, 2014.

Selected works to be delivered to MCBA by January 24, 2014.

This exhibition may travel to other venues.  

Works to be available through December 2015.

For more detailed information visit the MCBA webpage.

Feature Artist - CATHERINE KIRKPATRICK

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CATHERINE KIRKPATRICK is a photographer and writer based in New York City. She has won awards from the Bloomingdale Museum, the Museum of Anthropology, and the Center for Visual Arts. One of her still life images was just named a Top 10 Pic by PDN (Photo District News) on its PhotoServe website. And Sgt. Pepper Uncovered, an article about a Buddhist Photographer and the first NYPD women patrol officers written for Professional Women Photographers, was named by PhotoShelter to its list of Best Blog Posts of 2011.

Silent Echoes is a series of photographs and photo collages on the theme of women's lives. When I was small, I thought women could do anything, and I still do. But they are responsible for so many things, great and small, that affect their lives in ways they can't control. Sometimes, looking back, they see other paths they might have taken had circumstances been different. Sometimes they are haunted by these thoughts and questions, the “what ifs.”

Throughout most of history, the struggles of women–half the human race–have gone unnoted, yet these struggles have required so much courage and effort, so much sacrifice, most of it unacknowledged and silent. I think about this often. I thought about it as I cared for my elderly father who lived to 93, with a lot of help. I think about it as I remember my grandmother, a farm girl from rural Arkansas (born in 1882 "near Turner's Post Office"), who married young and lost her husband at age 36. She bore 6 children, 4 of whom made it to adulthood and old age. There were things that were not spoken of, yet remained. In creating these images, my immediate family and ancestors come into my mind, (their births, the journeys of their lives that led to me being born in New York City and reflecting back on them). I see their triumphs and struggles, and in my work I honor them.

all images copyright of the artist

Catherine's artist's books have been shown at the Leipzig Book Fair, the Seoul International Book Fair and the Villa Borbone in Vioreggio, Italy.  You can find a little more about Catherine at her blog Photospire.