Book Studio

Woops, we fell off the internet again. Sorry about that. Sometimes there’s just so much happening that it’s hard to stop and write the blogpost.

One of the resident alumni this year is Nicci Haynes. Nicci graduated from Printmedia & Drawing here at the ANU School of Art midway through last year.

She is spending time in the Book Studio, experimenting with her printmaking and learning how to use letterpress. Today she’s playing with the smaller of our two presses, the Korrex cylinder proofing press. She’s using paper masks to print type onto some of her old intaglio prints.

Here’s a (bit fuzzy) sample:

I won’t make any promises about keeping an eye on Nicci’s work as it progresses, but I’ll do my best

Caren Florance is teaching at the Sturt Summer School in January 2008.

Artful Books aims to introduce the concept of the book as art by working through a range of structures and techniques. Books produced will range from a simple concertina fold through to more complex origami-inspired formats and on again to Asian stab books and simple Western codex bindings. There will also be a session in which we will play with altering vintage books. Every day each participant will complete at least one book, and will have a number of paper maquettes to take home for future reference.

The course runs from 2 to 6 January 2008 at Sturt in Mittagong, NSW, and enrolments will be taken right up to the day.

For more information visit the website or call 02 4860 2080 or 02 4860 2083.�

The Book Studio is hitching up its sleeves to participate in the ANU School of Art’s Open Day.

After a whole term of student letterpress printing (yes, it will be blogged about, when the TO can remember to bring the photos in from home), there is a lot of work to show off, and, along with the rest of the Printmedia & Drawing Workshop, there will be things to do and buy. Here’s our concept:

People will get the chance to set their own names, select from a variety of heinous crimes, and watch it be printed off by our small but keen posse of volunteer student printers. Then they can take their print home, damply smelling of printer’s ink.

Other keen PM&D students will be running the sausage (and lentil burger) stall, selling printed t-shirts and prints, and making badges. All monies raised offset the graduation costs for our finishing students. There will also be demonstrations throughout the day of a variety of printing techniques, and PM&D students are also performing throughout the day.

Other workshops have organised activities as well, so it is a day of endlessly entertaining things to do and see.

Open Day is Saturday 25 August, from 9 to 4. If you’re local, or interested in going to our art school to study, we hope to see you at the ANU School of Art, Childers Street, Australian National University.

PS Check out this wonderful letterpress link!

Just discovered… this one is excellent for explaining the basics of typesetting, although it only shows a platen press, which the Book Studio doesn’t have. It also features a brief cameo by Ker-bloom! the all-letterpress zine.

This term the Book Studio has been busier than ever. The Book Complementary class has been playing with letterpress, and there have been two days a week when the 2nd year Printmedia students have also been learning abut letterpress. With over 20 students a week setting type, we have been using every piece of letterpress equipment we can find, and only just managing to accommodate them all.

Youtube has proved an invaluable resource to show students how other people approach letterpress in this modern world. Here are two videos worth watching:

The Book Studio is pleased to announce the completion of the edition of visiting artist GW Bot’s artist book, Black Swan.

Black Swan features a Russian poem about Australia, written in 1912 by Konstantin Dmitrievich Bal’mont (1867-1942). The Russian text was translated into English by Sasha Grishin, and both versions were set in Times on a Mac computer, cast in photopolymer plate and printed using a letterpress process by Caren Florance.

With linocut illustrations cut and printed by Bot herself, there were 19 books produced, although it is not known at present how many will be in the final edition.

The paper used is a Magnani partially formed from wool fibres. The binding, by Caren Florance, is a traditional sewn hard case binding using Tapa cloth laminated onto black Chelsea bookcloth (there is a detail of the cover at the foreground of the image below).

The British Library and the National Library of Australia have both bought copies, and there is an article featuring Black Swan in the Winter 2007 edition (vol 42, no. 4, p. 18) of Imprint, the Quarterly Journal of the Print Council of Australia. The copy of Black Swan in this article is a hand-written version, sent to be part of Noreen Grahame’s group exhibition Lessons in History Vol. 1 (24/3/07–28/4/07, in Brisbane). The printed copy of the book was meant to be finished in time for the exhibition, but due to various setbacks, it could not be competed at that point.

For further details on the book, please contact the Book Studio. Any purchasing enquiries will be directed by the Studio to the artist.

Book Studio got a bit busy there for a while, but stay tuned for STUFF soon… in the meantime, do yourself a favour: go over to Youtube and feast your eyes on this fabulous video featuring the magic of pop-up books!

Bernie Slater, last year’s Graduate Resident in the Book Studio, and Julian Laffan, who will be the Book Studio Grad Resident next semester, have work in the latest exhibition at the ANU School of Art Gallery, Thresholds of Tolerance. They are part of a collective called Culture Kitchen, incorporating Australian, East Timorese and Indonesian artists, raising awareness of human rights issues in the Australasian region. The series of images, printed onto large (and portable!) white sheets using various techniques such as woodblock, screenprinting and stencil spraying, are titled We Refuse to be Victims.

They have just been profiled on triplej, and you may catch them talking on the radio over the next few days. If you are in Canberra it is worth a trip to the gallery to see the real thing and to see the video footage the Australian team shot whilst travelling through the region. The exhibition is on until 5 June 2007.

Here is a round-up of Book Studio-connected exhibitions:

The touring exhibition of the Studio’s previous incarnation, the Edition + Artist Book Studio, has opened in Melbourne at the State Library of Victoria. ‘How I entered there I cannot truly say’: Collaborative Works from the ANU Edition + Artist Book Studio is running until 17 June 2007 in the SLV’s Keith Murdoch Gallery. The opening day was celebrated with a full day of talks and panels on the various natures of the Artist Book, featuring artists like Peter Lyssiotis, Gracia + Louise, Carolyn Fraser and George Matoulis. Sacha Grishin gave the keynote speech: ‘Both a picture and a thousand words: Contemporary Artist Books’.

There are ongoing activities associated with the exhibition, including a children’s workshop and an advanced printing workshop at the Australian Print Workshop with Dianne Fogwell. You can explore all the options and also listen to a downloadable audio tour for the exhibition at the SLV’s website.

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Dianne Fogwell, the curator of the E+ABS touring exhibition, is travelling to Korea to exhibit at the 2007 Seongnam International Book Arts Fair (S.I.S.F.). According to their blurb, the Seongnam International Book Arts Fair opens to celebrate the first anniversary of the Book Theme Park under the auspices of Seongnam Cultural Center, Saturday April 21, 2007 to Monday April 30, 2007 at the Yeul-dong park in Book Theme Park.
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Patsy Payne, the Head of the Printmedia & Drawing Workshop and current lecturer-in-charge of the Book Studio, is exhibiting in Sydney until 31 March. The show, Mountain Building, is at the Brenda May Gallery, 2 Danks Street, Waterloo, open 11-6, Tues-Sat.

The Book Studio is presenting a workshop in conjunction with the Australian National Gallery’s 6th Australian Print Symposium, titled From Print to Book.

This will be a short workshop exploring various methods of converting prints to book structures. This is a wonderful way to transform proofs and misprints, or to develop a distinct body of work within your print practice. Participants are welcome to bring their own prints, or can work with blank paper (provided) to create maquettes for later reference.

Date: Sunday 1 April 2007, 1.30-4.30pm

Venue: Book Studio, Printmedia & Drawing Workshop, ANU School of Art, Canberra
Cost: $40

Teacher: Caren Florance

To date there are still places available (max. 15 participants) and you can book a place by emailing Caren at eabs[at]anu.edu.au or leaving a message at the Book Studo on 02 6125 5812. Payment can be made on the day by cash, cheque or credit card.