22nd September 2008 - 28th February 2009
Book Marks: Infiltrating the Library System, is an ongoing, annual series of free international distribution of bookmarks made by book artists, to help promote their work and to get the public involved with artists’ books.
Since May 2004, the Bookmarks series has visited 83 venues in Italy, The Netherlands, UK, Germany, Poland, Spain, Canada, Japan, Poland, Brazil, Croatia, South Korea, New Zealand, Cyprus, Australia, and the USA.
249 artists have contributed 24,900 bookmarks to the six projects so far.
Bookmarks VI has seen 45 artists contributing 4500 bookmarks from Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia.
Contributions are collated into sets, with one full set sent to each of the contributing artists and an archive set kept here for exhibitions. The rest are divided up into distribution boxes, which are sent to participating galleries, bookstores and libraries around the world, for people to help themselves from. Each venue also receives an archive set of bookmarks to share or keep.
Each bookmark is stamped with the Bookmarks project website, which directs the taker of the bookmark to this gallery section of the website.
The bookmarks for Part VI have been made from a variety of media: old library cards, recycled embroidery, papers, photography, digital print, screenprint, laser-cutting, photocopied, folded, cut and sewn. You can view the bookmarks online, read about how and why they were made, and contact the artists who made them via the links from the gallery site.
If you would like to join in future Bookmarks projects, please email Sarah for instructions at Sarah.Bodman@uwe.ac.uk and see below:
Bookmarks VII : Infiltrating the Library System 2009-2010 is already full with the maximum of 50 artists!
Bookmarks VIII : Escaping the Library System 2010-2011 - has a twist - this time, it will be Librarians only. Library staff will be making them rather than distributing them. Quite a few of our previous bookmarks makers have been librarians, so we thought we would ask them to infiltrate some other places with their own bookmarks. If you work in a library and would like to join, then please get in touch.
Bookmarks IX Infiltrating the Library System 2011-2012 is full!
Bookmarks X Infiltrating the Library System 2012-2013 has places available.
An aside to the project:
Susan Bittker, one of this year’s Bookmarks participants, emailed to say that she had found two of the bookmarks in her set had been made by someone who lived around the corner, and another she had heard speak. She has also spread the word about the project to a friend in a library in the USA, who will join later. She remarked that “there are these interconnections and synchronicities within the project that people might want to share”.
From Melanie Cory : Linda Hasking (Bookmarks V) originally told me about the project, Linda and I went to the same University and became friends, another friend of ours from University, Lorraine Morris participated in Bookmarks VI. I now live in France and a friend of our neighbours who is an artist, as a result of our meeting, is now participating in Bookmarks VII, her name is Frances Kiernan.
So, if you want to tell us about any of these connections or outcomes, as a participant or viewer - in situ or online - then do email and let us know and we will add this to the website.
Venues with distribution boxes for this year’s Bookmarks are:
Lord Louis Library
Orchard Street
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 1LL
www.iwight.com/thelibrary
Rosenberg Library
City College of San Francisco
50 Phelan Avenue
San Francisco
CA 94112
USA
www.ccsf.edu/Library
Martin County Library
110 N. Park Street
Fairmont
MN 56031
USA
www.martincountylibrarysystem.org
the greenhouse
Information Centre
North Esplanade
St Peter Port
Guernsey
GY1 2LQ
www.gov.gg/ccm/navigation/culture---leisure/arts-development/the-greenhouse/
Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Art and Design
15 Westminster St
Providence
RI 02903
USA
www.risd.edu/risd_library.cfm
Cheshire County Council Arts Service
Goldsmith House
Hamilton Place
Chester
CH1 1SE
www.cheshire.gov.uk/readersandwriters
Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers
208 First Avenue South
Seattle
Washington 98104
USA
www.wlbooks.com
Hampshire County Council Recreation and Heritage Dept.
Museums and Archives Service
Chilcomb House
Chilcomb Lane
Winchester
SO23 8RD
www.hants.gov.uk/museums
www.hants.gov.uk/year-of-reading
IES San Rosendo
Avenida As San Lucas nº 33
27740 Mondoñedo
Lugo
Spain
www.iessanrosendo.es
Collins Memorial Library
University of Puget Sound
1500 North Warner St. #1021
Tacoma, WA 98416-1021
USA
www.ups.edu/library.xml
Bower Ashton library
UWE, Bristol, School of Creative Arts
Kennel Lodge Road
Bristol
BS3 2JT
www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk
Bookmarks will also be at the one-day artists’ books event on Sunday 14th September at:
Limfjordscenter Doverodde Købmandsgård
Fjordstræde 1, Doverodde
DK-7760 Hurup Thy
Denmark
www.limfjordscenter.dk