All the information you’ll need about me and my books.
Having just visited Hardy Amies house this week near Fairford in Gloucestershire I read this quote in his Order of Thanksgiving.
“It is impossible to become rich from dealing in anything that is made almost entirely by hand – we never make any money but we have a hell of a lot of fun.”
Everyone knows the story of Tarka the Otter. Organized by John Jameson, there is to be an exhibition of fine bindings of Henry Williamson’s famous book Tarka the Otter at Barnstaple Library in the Henry Williamson Room. The exhibition is from 2nd March – 15th April, 2009 and will include my binding of this work.
As mentioned in a previous posting, ‘Water’ was the set book specially commissioned by Designer Bookbinders for an International Competition. 500 numbered copies were published. The chosen 125 bindings will be shown in conjunction with an exhibition at the Bodleian Library.
“An Art Craft – Fine and Historic Bookbindings from the Broxbourne Library and Other Collections” runs from 12th June – 1st August.
I would love to show you my latest fine binding but the rules of the DB’s Competition forbid it ! I can tell you however that the book is entitled ‘Water’ and I have chosen both materials and design with that in mind. I will post a photograph as soon as I am allowed to.
This is a selling exhibition and will be held on Tuesday 4th November and Wednesday 5th November from 10.30 – 7pm.
Isa has a great line up of her ceramics, my bookbinding, treasures from the east, paintings and prints, hand embroidered textiles from Bangladesh and baskets.
This is up in Yorkshire and if anyone is interested please email me for details.
13th – 28th September ~ Open Studio Event ~ for Somerset Art Weeks
Venue 163 – Fosse Farm, Fosse Road, Oakhill BA3 5HX
I will be showing some of my fine bindings and photograph albums. I will also have necklaces made from beads sourced from North Africa many of which are antique.
I will be working and exhibiting with
Sally Dempsey – Coiled wood-fired sculptures and pots. Decorative dishes and Garden Water Features. Wood fired kiln on site.
Jill Parkinson - Contemporary figurative paintings which are vibrant and richly
atmospheric. She likes to experiment in a variety of media -
including watercolour, pastel acrylic and mixed media.
Her inspiration comes from the world around her and reflects
her pleasure in light, landscape and architecture.
A.G. (Arthur George) Street was an English writer and broadcaster. 1892 – 1966
He farmed in Wiltshire and wrote mostly light fiction based on the Wiltshire farming community or autobiographical. His most famous book was Farmer’s Glory which described his time in Canada and his return to Wiltshire.
This copy which I have bound is a 1st edition illustrated by Gwendolen Raverat (1885-1957) nee Darwin. She was the granddaughter of Charles Darwin. She co-founded The Society of Wood Engravers. In 1952 she published Period Piece which is still in print. (Faber & Faber).
The Showcase is on from Saturday 14th June – Tuesday 15th July, 2008.
Beauty and Art in Contemporary Bookbinding
Wed. May 14th 2008: Private View – Invitation only (6-9pm)
Show runs from Thursday May 15th to Saturday 24th 2008
Open Monday to Saturday, 11:00 – 18:00
f l o w
1-5 Needham Road
London
W11 2RP
T: 020 7243 0782
info@flowgallery.co.uk
www.flowgallery.co.uk
Exhibting DB Fellows & Licentiates, and invited bookbinders:
Kathy Abbott / Glenn Bartley / Jo Bird / James Brockman / Stuart Brockman
Andrew Brown / Michael Burke / Lester Capon / Jeff Clements / Mark Cockram
Stephen Conway / Nesta Davies / Paul Delrue / Sue Doggett / Judith Ellis
Clive Farmer / Annette Friedrich / Sayaka Fukuda / Eri Funazaki
Tatjana Gretschmann / Jenni Grey / Simon Haigh / Paul Henry / Chris Hicks
Kate Holland / Derek Hood / Angela James / Sarah Jarrett-Kerr / Mel Jefferson
Peter Jones / Simeon Glyn Jones / George Kirkpatrick / Jeanette Koch
Midori Kunikata-Cockram / Kaori Maki / Yuko Matsuno / Bernard Middleton
Mary Norwood / Pamela Richmond / Dominic Riley / Lori Sauer / David Sellars
Philip Smith / Ann Thornton / Ann Tout / Rachel Ward-Sale / Margaret Wilmer
“Bookbinders work in close harmony with the text, creating structures and designs that both complement and extend the meaning or ‘feel’ of a book. Each binder will have his or her own style and each text will evoke different responses; from detailed painted images to abstract forms and patterns, the range of styles is as diverse as the individuals who create them.
Often working with publications from small private presses, binders respond not only to the ideas within the text but also to the quality of the paper, the printing and the illustrations. Materials and techniques range from traditional leathers and vellums with gold tooling and inlays, to more contemporary work incorporating Perspex and metal, airbrushed images and photographic transfer.
Prices range from £50 – £3500 but commissioning a binder to work on a particular text is also increasingly popular. Commissions can come from many sources; individuals wanting a bespoke binding of a particular text for a special gift, or public institutions, libraries and museums building up their own contemporary collections.”
For the Exhibition of Carpe Diem I chose to bind a prospective journal – a blank book to capture events as they unfold. I liked the idea of the juxtaposition of seizing and recording the now against the fact that we are all travellers in time. Today’s now is tomorrow’s yesterday. The physical form of the journal reflects the future into which the traveller must journey. The blank pages remind us that the future has yet to be seized and recorded. When one fans the leaves of the paper or turns a page it is a movement analogous to the passage of time. The cream pages with nothing on them invite the traveller to write prose or poetry or simply record moments which have been gripped, days which have been seized. A journal can symbolize the layers of life and the effects of time.
I am thrilled to be part of the Carpe Diem Exhibition which opens at the Devon Guild in Bovey Tracey on 8th March 2008. Only a few Devon Guild Members have been selected to share their sources of inspiration and processes of making. Seize the Day and go along to it if you are in the area!
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