September 2009 - February 2010
The Bookmarks series of free, international artworks distribution has been running since 2004. Over the last five years it has visited 67 venues in Italy, The Netherlands, UK, Germany, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Croatia, South Korea, Cyprus, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. 292 artists have contributed 29,200 bookmarks to the seven projects so far.
Bookmarks: Infiltrating the Library System's aim is to get more people to appreciate work in the format of the artist's book, and give book artists the opportunity to network with other artists and the public.
Bookmarks VII has seen 37 artists contributing 3600 bookmarks from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Canada, USA and Australia.
Some collaborative works include Angie Butler’s beautiful origami wrapper bookmarks which each contain “A Friendly Piece Of Advice” collected from members of the Good Neighbours Club, Luncheon Club, residents, visitors and friends of Simpson Cross, a small village, in Pembrokeshire, Wales where she asked them to handwrite a motto that they would like to pass onto someone else in the world. Angie is also distributing bookmarks through the mobile library that visits Simpsons Cross.
Nancy Campbell interviewed Peter T. Scott, an antiquarian book dealer and historian who has collected bookmarks all his life: “I was inspired by the goal of ‘infiltrating the system’ to make the interview available online as a podcast. I also ‘infiltrated’ the trade journal ‘Bookdealer’, writing two features, one covering the significance of conventional bookmarks, the other classifying the random objects which less-organised readers use to mark their places. Was the reader who slipped a slice of bacon between the pages an artist - or just absent-minded?” You can listen to a podcast of Nancy’s interview with Peter T. Scott about his bookmark collection at: www.archive.org/details/BookmarksVii
Debbie Hill in Australia is inviting recipients of her bookmarks to participate in a project: “I am always interested with how illustrators take a page or line from a book and compose an image to ‘describe’ the story; therefore I am asking receivers of my bookmarks to send (via the addressed envelope) a line, paragraph or page, either copied or original of a favourite book. I am anticipating that I will over the next 12 months create drawings from these words, and I would also like to make an artist’s book/s to document the project. All participants who supply contact details will be sent documentation of the images and any associated exhibitions that come from this venture. I am looking forward to what I may get!”
In this year’s set we have bookmarks in Morse code (Patrick Murphy, UK) and bookmarks of codes for genes where variations have been associated with negative human characteristics (Nick Silva, UK), there are many formats too: letterpress, collage, photocopy, linen, handmade papers, cut journals, screenprints and hand drawn.
Annabel Ralphs accessed The Oxford University Press archives to study correspondence between Dr Minor and James Murray as they worked on the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, despite Dr Minor being confined to Broadmoor. “The images on the front of my bookmarks are from the original stacks of correspondence and special slips on which Dr Minor transcribed many examples of word usage in his minute handwriting. These scruffy bundles tied with string are evidence of the unusual relationship between the two men, from which came a vital contribution to a highly ordered and structured reference book.”
A project by students took place at Solihull College, The Book Mark Project 2009 - Olton Art Groups Joint Project, organised by Joy Simkin, which you can read more about.
Next year’s project 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 2011-2012 is already full, we will announce Bookmarks X 2012-2013 nearer the time! But if you can’t wait, you can register your interest early by emailing Sarah.Bodman@uwe.ac.uk.
You will find a huge variety of wonderful bookmarks in this 2009 series, so please visit the venues to choose yours…
Venues for Bookmarks VII
25th September 2009 – 26th February 2010
IMPACT
Multi-disciplinary Printmaking Conference 2009
(16-19 September)
UWE Bristol, England
www.impact.uwe.ac.uk
Bower Ashton library
UWE Bristol
School of Creative Arts
Kennel Lodge Road
Bristol BS3 2JT
England
www.uwe.ac.uk/library/info/opening/#ba
Stiftung Lyrik Kabinett
Lyrik-Bibliothek
Amalienstraße 83a
80799 München
Germany
www.lyrik-kabinett.de
Eureka Books
426 Second Street
Eureka
CA 95501, USA
http://eurekabooksellers.com
SNAP Shop
Gallery, Printworkshop
20-21 Lower Park Row
Bristol
BS1 5BN
England
http://snapstudio.org.uk
Glasgow School of Art Library
167 Renfrew Street
Glasgow
G3 6RQ
Scotland
www2.gsa.ac.uk/library
National Irish Visual Arts Library
100 Thomas Street
Dublin 8
Ireland
www.ncad.ie/library/index.shtml
Howard Gardens library
UWIC
Howard Gardens
Cardiff
CF24 OSP
Wales
www.uwic.ac.uk/library/about/campuses/howard.htm
Door No.3
Print and Book Arts Studio
The Methow Valley Community Center
Twisp
USA
www.methownet.com/mvccenter
www.doorno3.com
Yateley Library
School Lane
Yateley
GU46 6NL
England
www3.hants.gov.uk/library/library-finder/yateley-library.htm
Washington Elementary School
777 E. Lincoln Street
Woodburn
Oregon
97071
USA
http://woodburn.k12.or.us