Across the pond

Card by the StoneArch Press (Minneapolis, MN)

Having been back from Minnesota for a couple of weeks now I've had a chance to reflect on all of the discoveries, experiences and conversations from our visit to MCBA (Minnesota Center for Book Arts).

Coming from the UK where book arts is still quite a marginal area of arts practice it was something of a revelation to be in an environment where it was the commonality of everyone we met.  I had expected to be wow-ed by the letterpress facilities (I was) and the Center as a space and resource, but I guess what I hadn't considered in advance were the people.  From full-time practitioners, to teachers and researchers, everyone was so enthusiastic about making and discussing all aspects of artists' books, and I was both alarmed and flattered to be treated as an equal by them.  The Book Art Biennial in particular was not only a chance to chat informally with book artists whose work I have admired and been inspired by, but made me consider the differences between the US and UK in the teaching, appreciation and practice of making artists' books.

And there I was thinking I'd left all serious academic thought behind at the end of the MA.  To compensate here are some gratuitous letterpress shots...

Printing on the Vandercook SP219 aka 'The Beast'

Learning how to do double-sided printing

Pressure printing - like magic!

These were taken during the 2 day course I took in 'Creative Letterpress' with Regula Russelle at MCBA.  I was a bit bemused at the beginning when it dawned on me that we weren't going to be using any type at all (despite being surrounded by cases and cases), but in fact the techniques we learned were great, and I think could easily translate into more type-based experimentation if I get the chance.

Showdown

Well its been a whirlwind couple of weeks finishing the work, putting the show up, chatting to visitors at the show, and taking it all down again!  I've yet to receive my module feedback, but I'm pretty pleased with how it all went.

For those who couldn't make it here are a few images of my corner of the gallery...

The Final Furlong

The end is in sight, literally, as the day for hanging work for final assessment and degree show for my MA is now on the same page of the calendar as today!

Masses to report but no time right now to do so.  Since the last post I have been at the Leeds International Artists Book Fair, and Bristol Artists' Book Event, as well as printing and scribbling furiously for the MA (and a new job and old job but lets not go into that here, suffice to say its been a busy old time).

So this whimsical book made back in October unfortunately doesn't hold true at the moment, there is plenty of bother and drama (though still definitely no banana).

An ode to the handmade

A conversation with a colleague over some particularly fiddly letterpress registration as part of a complex book composition, about how she knew it would have been so much easier to design on the computer and print digitally, and why even knowing this she chose not to do that, led to the comment 'because digital doesn't make you happy'.  This was meant not just literally, but as an acknowledgement that it is the hands-on process of making which brings some of us as much satisfaction as the end result.

At a course run by the same colleague, learning to print on an Adana press, I printed 'Digital doesn't make me happy' onto a set of postcards, one of which I gave back to her, the rest of which sold at the Manchester Artists' Book Fair, mostly to other letterpress printers, and I thought that was the end of that.  In the months following, I found the phrase was still in my head, with related sentences and the idea of putting them into a book.  I couldn't shake it off so finally I have printed and made the book, resisting the urge to compose the text in the form of a rhyme, and presenting itself in what is probably the cleanest, neatest book I shall ever make!

It is a celebration of the handmade, and doing things the difficult way because we like to.  It is intended as a light-hearted, humorous comment, rather than a deep statement, though it does reflect the overall ethos of my practice.

Digital Doesn't Make Me Happy
Edition of 20, letterpress printed and hand bound
Will be on display and for sale at the Leeds International Artists Book Fair in March, and at BABE (Bristol Artists Book Event) in April.

Letterpress yes, but not as we know it

This semester I have been almost exclusively printing using letterpress type and presses, and that has left me in a bit of a dilemma about which blog to post on, this one or the one for our letterpress group, LEN.  So if you've been missing out, you can catch up with some of my recent printing over at: http://len4letterpress.blogspot.com

This week, after a scare over the health of the Vandercook SP15 - my preferred press - I raided the box of type ornaments and other oddities that is kept in the print centre.  As well as stars, intricate patterned border pieces and pointy fingers, I had noticed that there was a big selection of curly brackets so I set myself the challenge of fishing all of these out and printing them.  I was envisioning something akin to the barcodes and striped patterns that inspired my printing on envelopes with the shilling strokes last year.

I set them out pretty much as them came out of the box, and as you can see above there was quite a range of sizes.  For the record, I am aware that this is not the recommended way to lock up your type!  I knew I wouldn't have time to set everything out and pack it precisely, so I went on the theory that as long as there was enough pressure from the sides (as it appears above) then I should be able to get away with trying to fill as many gaps as possible to stop them moving inwards.  I printed on some envelopes and strips of paper of varying thickness, to see how the effect changed.

The results were similar to what I was expecting, though I think the print was more fine and delicate than I anticipated.  When I was setting the type I was reminded of icicles - though that could have just been the temperature messing with me - but the prints make me think of those printouts of peoples heartbeats, ECGs?  It would be good to print a collection of different arrangements, and they lend themselves well to my theme of coded data.

Making covers while the sun shines

It can only mean one thing - another season of Artists' Book Fairs in the offing.

I am trying to become a bit more disciplined about making all of the copies in an edition in one go, so that they are ready in advance for fairs and exhibitions and I don't have that mad scramble to make something to order.  It should also help with the development of my work as having to keep going back and make more of an earlier piece can disrupt my train of thought and new ideas, as well as the fact that it is always difficult to remember exactly the process and measurements used when you have had a gap since making the last one.  Plus of course it will mean there is more space on my table for exciting new things!

(I say all of this with the confession that in reality I am trying to make the remaining copies of an edition of 8, the first 3 of which were completed a few weeks ago.  So it is something of a resolution rather than actual practice at the moment, but definitely something to strive for).

Yes yes yes!

Ah, that's better.  First day of term and straight back on the press.  Started things off with a small phrase for a friend, but as these things do that snowballed into a stack of prints, which in turn are destined for a book or two.