Bookarts
Projects
Current projects
Artists’ Books Creative Production and
Marketing: 3rd Edition 2010.
The third edition of the free marketing guide for book artists
with updated and new case studies, advice on making, pricing,
ISBNs, collections, book fairs and marketing work. Publication
May 2010.
Regenerator - Altered Books Project 2010
The first altered book exhibition
and exchange, Regenerator, turned
discarded library books into artists’ books by sending
them out to artists to work on and swap with each other.
76 artists took part, selecting a book and returning it
after they had created a new piece of work with it. The
regenerated bookworks were exhibited at the Off-Centre
Gallery, Bristol, and each of the books are permanently
archived on the bookarts website, with working notes from
the artists and images of the books.
Regenerator
II - The comeback (2010) is in progress. Guy
Begbie ran some demonstrations for altering /reconfiguring
books at our library earlier in 2010, whilst attendees
collected their books, the others have been sent out in
the post to artists around the world.
66
artists have joined Regenerator II,
and are currently working on their selected books, to
return here by July 2010. The finished books will go into
the library’s Special Collections area, for students
to handle, study and be inspired by, where they will remain
on permanent display. All of the books will be archived
in an online gallery on the bookarts website, which will
launch in September 2010. |
|
|
Follow-ed
by Tom Sowden
Tom’s article for The Bonefolder
was published in the Fall Issue, Volume 6 Number 1.
His essay discusses why he makes books influenced by
Ed Ruscha and how his plans to co-curate a show
of works in this style are developing.
He is working towards the launch of the exhibition in
collaboration with Linda Newington,
to be held Winchester School of Art in January 2011.
You can access the journal online at: /www.philobiblon.com/bonefolder/vol6no1contents.htm |
|
 |
The Blue Notebook: journal for artists' books
Launched in October 2006 as
a peer-reviewed journal of essays and artworks on contemporary
artists publishing. Two issues a year are published by
Impact Press (October and April). The journal provides
a platform for the discussion of worldwide, contemporary
book arts practice.
Our referee panel: Maria Fusco,
UK; Susan Johanknecht, UK; Jeff
Rathermel, USA; Dr Paulo Silveira,
Brazil and Ulrike Stoltz, Germany.
The journal is published in two formats: an electronic
colour version accessed online, and a paper, black and
white version. Subscription covers both formats at £10
GBP per annum - UK and international.
We welcome submissions of writing on contemporary artists’
books for The Blue Notebook. Please
see the submission
guidelines or contact 
Sarah Bodman
For subscriptions, please download the form on The
Blue Notebook page. |
|
|
A
Manifesto for the Book
Sarah Bodman and Tom Sowden
recently published a free download 187pp reference publication:
A Manifesto for the Book, one of
the results of a two-year, Arts
and Humanities Research Council March 2008 - February
2010: In an arena including digital and traditional artists'
publishing formats - What
will be the canon for the artist's book in the 21st Century?
The research project was a responsive exploration with
a collaborative, international audience of artists, academics,
presses, publishers, curators, dealers, collectors and
students involved in the field, in order to propose an
inclusive structure for the academic study, artistic practice
and historical appreciation of the artist's book.
You can read all of the published outcomes online including,
interviews, essays, conference papers, case studies and
their Manifesto for the Book on
the project’s
home page. |
|
|
Al-Mutanabbi Street Broadsides
The al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition has been organising readings
and other events since April 2007 to fundraise for Doctors
Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Sarah is currently helping with co-ordination of the March 2010
-2011 programme for the European section of the two-year Readings,
Exhibitions and Events International tour.
      
The first round of broadsides may be viewed at the Florida Atlantic
University/Jaffe Center for Book Arts site, which is adding
all the broadsides to the online
gallery.
Artists’ Books Partnership, exhibition
Programme (ABPP)
We set up the
artists’ books partnership exhibition programme
(ABPP) in 2005, which has loaned works to universities,
collections, schools, libraries, galleries and bookshops
in Europe and the USA to date.
The programme loans artists’ books from Sarah’s
own collection at CFPR, on a no fee basis - to set up
exhibitions and events promoting the artist’s book
to a wider community.
Previous
loans include:
The Art of
the Book: Collaboration at the University
of Missouri, USA curated by Marian
Amies, Associate Professor in the Department of
Art and Art History at the University of Missouri;
Limfjordscenter Doverodde, Denmark; Cowles
Library, Drake University Des Moines, USA;
AKI (ArtEz), Enschede, The Netherlands; Stroud
College; Quay Arts Centre,
Isle of Wight; The Greenhouse,
Guernsey; University of Leicester;
londonprintstudio, London; The
New Art Gallery Walsall; Swindon
College; Bristol Reference Library,
Yateley Library;
University of Chester; Internationales
Bentlager Druckgraphik - Symposium, Germany and
Galleri VOX, Bergen, Norway.
We also loaned a selection of artists’ books in
2009 from the Meir
Agassi Archive to the artist’s group Public
Space With A Roof for their project Endless
Installation: A Ghost Story For Adults (Encounters, Questions,
Collaboration) at SMART Project Space, Amsterdam.
Some workshop loans include: The Richard
Attenborough Centre at the University
of Leicester; Stroud College Foundation
Degree; Isle of Wight Book Arts
Group and the Society of Bookbinders.
|
|
|
We have collaborated again with
Marian Amies in 2010 for The
Art of the Book: Journals Then and Now,
which is touring the USA and UK over this year. Other 2010 loans
include: Book Arts Center at Limfjordscenter Doverodde, Denmark;
Stroud College; Pages Of History (19th
March - 21st May) at Yateley Library; The
Secret Library of Solihull (8th March
- 8th May 2010) at Solihull Gallery, Homer Road, Solihull, West
Midlands B91 3RG www.solihull.gov.uk/gallery.
If you would like to borrow some books
for a project or exhibition, download the artists'
books list or zines and multiples
list and contact
Sarah Bodman.
Artist's Book Yearbook
The Artist’s Book Yearbook
was established in 1994 by the contributing editors: Tanya
Peixoto, John
Bently, Stephanie
Brown and Stefan
Szczelkun and continues to be
published on a biennial basis. The Yearbook arose from
their collective passion to offer book artists an opportunity
to read critical essays by writers and artists, to gain
an overview of artist’s book production and most
importantly to encourage greater discussion and awareness
of book arts, particularly in the UK.
As the publishing editor, Tanya
Peixoto produced the Yearbook
under her Magpie Press imprint until 1999 when she went
on to set up bookartbookshop in London, a fantastic place
to see and buy a huge selection of artists’ books.
For information and sales of previous issues 1994-5, 1996-7,
1998-9 (and current issues) please contact Tanya
Peixoto at www.bookartbookshop.com
The ABYB serves as a resource
for artists, lecturers, students, collectors and researchers. |
|
|
This biennial publication includes essays
and information on many aspects of the book arts, artists' listings,
information on book arts galleries, archives and collections,
book arts courses, events, journals, bibliographies and reference
publications, studios and websites, with book arts contributors
from around the world.
Since 2001, the Artist’s Book Yearbook
has been edited by Sarah Bodman
for Impact Press at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE,
Bristol, UK. The ABYB is available
at selected bookshops and galleries in Europe and the USA or
can be ordered directly from us here at Impact Press.
Please see the publications
pages for issues 2001-2, 2003-5 (out
of print, free
PDF download), 2006-7, 2008-9 and the current issue 2010-2011
(published September 2009).
Artist’s Book Study Area:
Collection and Exhibition Programme
The Bower Ashton library collection
of artists’ books is a working study collection
for student and public access.
An artist’s book exhibition programme is curated
by Sarah Bodman and documented
through our archived website and a regular book arts newsletter,
mailed to an extensive list of over 2000 national and
international academics and artists (you can also download
the newsletter in colour). The exhibitions programme
has seen 85 national and international artists' books
exhibitions since the launch of the area in May 2002.
The exhibitions range from individuals: Ian
Tyson, Tony Kemplen,
Liz Workman, John
Bently, John Dilnot,
Carrie Galbraith, Karen
Hanmer and Les Coleman
to touring shows such as Black/White [and
Read] curated by Gloria Helfgott;
Little Treasures: an exhibition
of collaborative works by Stephen Spurrier
and other artists from Australia; the Wexford
Artist’s Book Exhibition curated by Andi
McGarry and Denis Collins;
FACTION, and works from UIAH
Helsinki, and the Scuola Graphica,
Venice.
2010 exhibitions include, amongst others: O
Pão Nosso - Livros de Artista / Our daily bread
Artists’ Books; salt
& Shaw; Victoria
Bianchetti; Lucy
Harrington; Batool
Showghi, Stacey
Wilding, and in the summer we
will show the touring The Art of
the Book: Journals Then and Now.
For full details of all these exhibitions with archived
images, please see the Archived
Exhibitions pages. |
|
|
O Pão
Nosso - Livros de Artista / Our daily bread Artists’
Books
A touring exhibition until September 2010
A Collaborative Artist’s Book Project curated by
Mara Caruso, Secretaria Municipal
da Cultura - Coordenação de Artes Plásticas,
Atelier Livre da Prefeitura de Porto Alegre / RS / Brazil.
Eight groups were invited to join the project. Each group
with a maximum of 15 artists produced a collaborative
book by making a one-of-a-kind page each to assemble as
a set of folios and send to Brazil. The theme - Bread:
history, types of breads, Bread and..., Bread of...
Artists groups in Malaysia, Spain, Italy, Britain and
Brazil, have participated in the project. The collaborative
books will tour each of the participating venues. |
|
|
Bookmarks - Infiltrating the Library System
An annual project which aims to encourage appreciation of work
in the format of the artist's book. Participating artists each
hand-produce an edition of 100 signed and numbered bookmarks
to give away through distribution boxes at venues around the
world. Since May 2004, the Bookmarks
series of free artwork distribution has visited 50 venues
in Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, UK,
Germany, Poland, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Cyprus, Australia
and the USA. Over 250 artists have contributed more than 25,000
bookmarks to the projects to date.
         
Bookmarks VIII Escaping the Library System 2010-2011
- has a twist - this time, it is Librarians who are making bookmarks
rather than distributing them.
This project investigated and discussed issues concerning the
context and future of the artist’s book, in an attempt
to extend and sustain critical debate of what constitutes an
artist’s book in the 21st Century.
This project investigated and discussed issues concerning the
context and future of the artist’s book, in an attempt
to extend and sustain critical debate of what constitutes an
artist’s book in the 21st Century. We have now published
all the research outcomes, interviews, essays, conference papers,
case studies and our manifesto for the book as free downloads
on the project’s home page.
| BABE - Bristol Artist's
Book Events at Arnolfini |
|
|
The Centre for Fine Print Research in collaboration
with Arnolfini,
holds the biennial Bristol Artist's Book Event at Arnolfini
Bristol. Each event has c. 50 stands of national and international
exhibitors and around 6,500 visitors come to Arnolfini for the
last event in 2009. The next BABE will be held at Arnolfini
in April 2011.
What’s
in the Box?
A project for the Centre for Fine Print Research, published
as a collection of artists’ books curated and edited
by Tom Sowden.
Supported and sponsored by: CFPR, UWE Bristol School of
Art, Media and Design and Hewlett Packard.
Each project involves MA Printmaking students,
staff and invited artists; and has so far produced five
boxed volumes of books by 50 artists.
Each book is digitally printed from a single, A3 folded
sheet, printed and bound in uniform covers, with contents
supplied by the artists.
Books can be ordered individually or in boxed sets, see
our publications
pages for more information. |
|
|
Some previous projects
All of our projects remain archived
online:
Reading Around…
   
We love books, and these are a few others
who do too: Guy Begbie,
Shevone Bliss
and Liam
and Carly Kok.
46 other artists joined them for this project.
To celebrate the National Year of Reading
2008 and World
Book Day, we invited contributions
to Reading around…
asking artists to make an artwork page/movie clip/audio clip
about reading.
The project is archived in three parts:
• An
online website archive, launching at the end of April, of artworks
about reading.
• A
free download, self-assembly PDF book of images from the artwork
“page” files.
• 50
library/bookstore packs of copied “pages”, to slip
into random library books.
We hope this will encourage more people to find out about books
by artists through the website link we have added to the back
of each page in the library book packs: www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/reading.htm
View the online gallery.
Artists’ Books Marketing
and Creative Production Survey
The 2007 issue can be 
downloaded as a free PDF
The first guide was compiled after a one-year, AHRC
supported survey in 2005, for the book artist in their
role of creative maker, publisher and distributor of their
own artwork.
A second, expanded and updated edition was published in
August 2007 as a free download PDF e-book. We are currently
working on a new updated edition to be published in 2010. |
|
|
Regenerator - Altered Books Project
Veronica Morgan
and Robert Heather
both emailed in April 2006 to give a link to an online article
from the New York Times
about an altered books project exhibition involving Portland
library and the Maine College of Art in Portland, USA; Long
Overdue: Book Renewal, where nearly
200 artists recycled books that were withdrawn from use, into
artists' books. The books from that project can be viewed
online.
This inspired us to do something similar with the books that
had been boxed up for withdrawal from our School's art library
at Bower Ashton.
The project ran as an exchange, with 72 artists selecting
a book to work on and return. The books were exhibited, and
swapped. The project archive
can be viewed online.
Arcadia
id est: artists’ books,
nature and the landscape
The Arcadia
exhibition, symposium and accompanying small publication
examined how nature and landscape are interpreted and
utilised in a narrative format: through the use of image,
text, structural and site-specific works in relation to
the artist’s book.
The books in the exhibition ranged from traditional landscape
works to social, ecological and political works.
The exhibition launched at TRACE
Gallery Dorset, in March 2005 and toured over the following
34 months to: UWE,
Bristol; Centre for the Artist's
Book, Australia; Moufflon
Bookshop, Nicosia, Cyprus; Eagle
Gallery, London;
Hartley Library, University
of Southampton; AKI,
Enschede, The Netherlands, Rikhardinkatu
Library, Helsinki, Finland The
Yard Gallery at Wollaton Hall;
the John M Flaxman Library
at the School of the Art Institute
of Chicago, the Ginkgo
Reading Room at the John M. Olin
Library, Washington University,
USA; The Fleet Library
at Rhode Island School of Design,
USA; Noosa Regional Gallery,
Tewantin, Australia and The National
Print Museum of Ireland.
The Arcadia
project included special events at many venues. Online
gallery and archive. |
|
|
|
|
|
