Part II has produced some really adventurous bookmarks, the artists have used a multitude of media, recycled materials, website interactive programmes, books, sculptural forms and even their own teeth! to make the editions of bookmarks for this set.
’s Book-o-meter allows you to let other people know how you feel about the book you are reading. The artist wanted the bookmark to interact with each book it marked – so that each book will have an individual effect on the bookmark. She says
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“I felt the bookmark could act as a quality thermometer,
the reader places the bookmark sticking out of the book at varying depths
depending on how good the book is. The idea grew from watching people
reading on the train and wondering whether their books were any good –
some looked great – but how can you tell from a distance? (I’ve
found out the hard way that covers can let you down). I also wanted the
Book-o-meter to be rather
bossy in tone, even suggesting if the book is particularly bad it should
be thrown away. I enjoy the over-complication and the notion of the unique
selling proposition, this bookmark is trying to be self-important when
we all know a used train ticket will do the job as effectively.”
’s own infiltration into the library system is called:
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"4 letter word the series contains
four words: love, kiss, hold, book! Besides playing with the phrase, the
bookmark acts as a moveable pop-up. The idea is to bring an element of
sculpture, fun and the unexpected into the book, some of the elements
I use for my other work too. Each bookmark is hand-cut, -folded and printed
with wood and rubber type."
’s own work deals with cultural and personal history through the presentation of first-hand accounts, archival images, and artefacts.
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“So it was natural that for the Bookmark
Project I would look for a vintage quote regarding
the book. The period font is based on the typeface used in a bible that
came to America on the Mayflower. It is also important to me that my work
references the body in some way – my books often take the form of
a puzzle, game, or some other playful structure that must be manipulated
in a particular way to navigate through it. This time the artist had to
do the work, taking a bite of each of an edition of 100. I was not looking
for a pun, but I am delighted that the name of the author of the quotation
is also something to eat. Enjoy!”
’s half a bookmark edition has been made from meticulously cut out and collaged letters, taken from magazines. Each one in the edition is unique. made an edition of 100 different bookmarks, made from recycling redundant objects: train tickets, envelopes, cards etc. each one has the word “useful” painted or stitched onto the bookmark. made five different sets of 20 bookmarks using screenprint, embossing, chine collé and etching, plus two sets of typewritten poems.
is an artist who publishes his own series of zines based on a character called Ron. For the bookmarks project he has produced a special edition of ten different Ron-scenes encouraging you to read more, with historical quotes about books.
meticulously hand produced 100 books, each to be used as a single bookmark. Naughty, naughty Savage stole the last pages from 100 books and sealed them in plastic to make his bookmarks, thus ruining the pleasure of reading for many unsuspecting victims, he certainly won’t be going to book heaven.
An addition to Part II comes from , who noticed that I was hollowing out old books for the artists’ sets. Jean took the leftover pages and made some paper in the same shape as the cut-out books. Jean is an artist who works with paper, producing collages and hangings and exhibits alongside book, paper and textile artists.
contacted us during Part I, she is a bookmark collector and has built her own website and archive dedicated to the subject. We sent her a complete spare set of Parts I and II which she has mentioned on her site, Tales of a Bookmark Collector: http://home.earthlink.net/~lainefarley/bookmarkcollectortales/
Sarah Bodman
CFPR, UWE, Bristol
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