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Book Arts |
| Artists’ Books Seminar 2 : Friday 20th March 2009 University of the West of England, Bower Ashton Campus, Bristol Artists’ books reports from Poland, Germany and the USA, plus two views from the UK. This was our second seminar, held as part of a two-year, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project: ‘In an arena including digital and traditional artists’ publishing formats – what will be the canon for the artist’s book in the 21st Century?’ (March 2008 – February 2010). Sarah Bodman and Tom Sowden reported back on the project’s findings to date, and the series of interviews with artists working with books over the last six months. We discussed how artists in different areas work with books, how artists’ books are perceived and showed examples of the variety of concepts and formats we have studied recently. Guest speakers offered two views of their own practice. Session 1 Sarah Bodman and Tom Sowden – reporting back on artists’ publishing in Poland: Krakow, Kielce, Lodz, Warsaw and Poznan.
How artists and writers work with the book format with examples of regional variations of the book; from traditional fine press publications to performance, Internet and experimental works in the book format. You can listen to the talk as an You can also read or download all of our interviews from Poland and watch videos of Radoslaw Nowakowski talking about his books from the links at Session 2Sarah Bodman and Tom Sowden – reporting back on new publishing media shown at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Plus, USA: an overview of MCBA Minneapolis as an example of best practice for traditional book arts and our interview with director Jeff Rathermel; Doro Böhme and the collection policies of the Joan Flasch Artist’s Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago; Sara Ranchouse Publishing as a model of ‘artists’ publications’; Clifton Meador‘s use of traditional and P-O-D bookworks, and E.F. Stevens‘ Awaiting Transmission phone book project.
You can listen to the talk as Barrie Tullett – alongside Philippa Wood – runs The Caseroom Press, a venture he began in 1995 whilst teaching at the Edinburgh College of Art. The Caseroom Press is an independent publisher based in Edinburgh and Lincoln. Their books and magazines have been reviewed in The Scotsman, The Times and The Guardian as well as MAP and Eye Magazines. Their books have received a number of awards. Last year they won Gold for Typography in the Cream Awards and had three books shortlisted for the British Book Design and Production Awards. This year they won Bronze for publications in the Roses Awards, Bronze (twice) for publications in the Cream awards and a bronze again for typography. Their second collaboration with the Graphic Design students at the Lincoln School of Art & Design won Student Book of the Year at this year’s British Book Design and Production Awards.
Information about the press can be found at: www.the-case.co.uk/AllAboutUs.html Guy showed his artists’ books, talked about the possibilities of the book form, and how artists’ books can be taught as a subject across a range of courses. Guy is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses books and video as part of his overall practice. Through his practice he attempts to continually redefine the parameters of the book, making printed editioned artists’ books, unique mixed-media books, sculptural book objects and site-specific bookworks.
These are made to enable the viewer to engage with time-based elements, through the use of cryptic narrative, digital sound and moving image. Using traditional and unorthodox book structures, he attempts to record the ephemeral moment of a specific time and place. He presents digital stills in a filmic, frame-by-frame, book format. Working with public and domestic environments, he pairs painterly imagery and photographic documentation of specific sites with minimal, non-linear texts. Guy exhibits his artists’ books and delivers book arts workshops and master classes internationally. Guy is the Book Arts Co-ordinator at Herefordshire College of Arts. You can see the short movie ‘Books in Transit’ and artists’ books made by Guy Begbie on World Book Day 06/03/08. Our project links:The home page for our project: What will be the canon for the artist’s book in the 21st Century? Our 21st Century Book group and online discussions at Artists Books 3.0 |
