School of Art, Media and Design, UWE Bristol:
8th December 2003 - 25th January 2004
Linda Landers
Exhibition of artists’ books
I started making books ten years ago after Ron King of Circle Press noticed some of my wood engravings in a local exhibition. I had always kept notebooks which contained images and my own poems together, so when he asked me if I would like to 'do a book' I was excited, it seemed the obvious way to go. So I created my first book at Ron's press, and decided I should do another.
By this time Ron had picked a name for my press, 'Spoon Print Press', after the method of printing by burnishing with a spoon or burnishing tool, which I had to done to create a mock up for my first book. I bought an etching press, and though I was unable to buy all the equipment the big presses had, I continued by printing some parts of the books by hand (which I still do).
I started to produce books based around the poetry of William Blake and the other more mystical poets, such as Traherne and W. B. Yeats, and having been taught by Cecil Collins this seemed a natural progression. My wood engraving suited the subject matter well, and after a while I started to combine wood engravings and linocuts, as I wanted to get more colour into my work. I also found that the concertina format worked well for some subjects, as I could create a type of narrative or frieze-like composition. Having been though art school as a painter I am now working on both small scale and large format books, and also book objects, such as a folding 'Blake' bird, which fits into a little hand-made envelope. I'm also starting to include some of my own writing, and I decided to keep all books which do not directly illustrate someone else's poetry under a separate imprint; 'Merlin's Grail'. My book 'A new Dawn' which was created to mark the new millennium is one such book, it contains a dreamscape, and large folding linocut which is about 8ft long when unfolded. The book contains an introduction by myself, but no other text.
Books in this exhibition include: 'The Lamb', a small book based on the poem by William Blake. This contains several wood engravings and engravings on plastic, which are printed in various colours, and the poem printed from computer set metal type. There is some blind embossing used in the central panel.
'The Hosting of the Sidhe', a concertina style book based on the poem by W. B. Yeats. The poem is about the fairy folk who ride in the wind, and an attempt is made to suggest the movement of the wind in the extended fold of the paper. The book contains wood engravings throughout, with some incidental detail engraved on plastic. The text is printed from computer-set metal type.
'The Tyger', based on the poem by William Blake. This book is printed throughout with lino cuts. It is meant to be quite bold compared to the others. The poem text is printed over another colour linocut. There is some over-printing and building up of layers of colour in this one.
For more information on this, or any of the Artists Book Events at CFPR, please contact:
Research Associate for Artists' Books
Centre for Fine Print Research UWE, Bristol
Faculty of Art, Media and Design
Kennel Lodge Road
Bristol
BS3 2JT
UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 344 4747
Fax: +44 (0)117 344 4824
Sarah.Bodman@uwe.ac.uk
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