Thursday 16 December 2010

Seasons Greetings








Thank you to my concerned readers; I have not been blogging recently because of a nasty attack of tendonitis - so I have been saving my right hand for essential artistic activities only.
But I have not been idle.
I've been working on lots of smaller stuff and am attaching some images of
Brighton Belle
based on visit to Brighton with my good friend Dmitry after the Whitechapel show, when the Gallopers were beginning their winter clean and dismantled and we gatecrashed a bizarre photoshoot on the beach and generally egged on each others already fertile imaginations.....
It is a very small concertina book.

I have also been working on a smaller version of Perceval/Peredur - the large book I have been working on with James Simpson, for an Agenda Special Edition to be called - The Untenanted Room - to come out next spring.
Some of James's poems from this sequence are published in the current Agenda magazine.

After christmas I will return to finishing Cock Robin - january and february are usually good months for getting things finished with fewer distractions.

Next Book fair will be BABE at the Arnolfini in Bristol, last day of April and 1st of May.

Please be aware that my e-mail has changed as of now and my old one will be dead by the middle of January. Please leave a message using the comments page here if you have not had a message giving you the new one in the next couple of weeks.

I will try to return to more regular updates soon...meanwhile very good wishes for a peaceful and productive new year despite all that it socks us with.

Saturday 18 September 2010

WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN








As promised - some images so far - still in a state of flux, colours and designs may vary..........
this must be one of the most fascinating but creepy rhymes in the canon; interesting how so many people I speak to think they know it, but then some assure me the 'bull' must be a bullfinch 'because they are all birds'..... in fact there is a fly, a beetle and a fish apart from the bull.....

Friday 17 September 2010

Whitechapel Art Book Fair



Am busy preparing for this - slowed down by an attack of tendonitis (the woodcutters curse - sounds like a new Grimm story coming on...)
It will be lovely to see as many people as possible at the fair - print off invite or rsvp to Whitechapel.

I'm still working on Who Killed Cock Robin - will try and take some pics tomorrow and post up very soon.

correction to term printing dates - first one is now SUNDAY 24th october, not saturday 23rd

Wednesday 4 August 2010

Next Exhibitions.....


ITS NOT OPEN YET - SEE BELOW FOR DATES!
August 28/29; September 4/5 and 11/12

Another disgraceful lack of blogging - but I have not been idle; pressed, stressed and unorganised - but not idle - though being without my presses for a month or two has meant little to show .
Presses are now up and running again and I am working on a (supposedly) small task of dealing with Who Killed Cock Robin - it does have 14 stanzas however; but I am currently rivetted by it. Hopefully the first 5 images may be ready for our local Arts Festival (ArtWave) here in Lewes; however what response there will be to King Death Fly ( with his little eye ) and maggots and rats, burying beetles and the usual contingent of blood, is another question. Judith is working on her poems of death -so between us you can reckon we are upholding our tradition of epatee-ing something or other.
www.judithkazantzis.com

So - busy months august and september;

Lewes ArtWave August 28/29; September 4/5 and 11/12
weekends 12-6
I will be exhibiting with Judith Kazantzis
Open House at 32 St Anne's Crescent
www.artwavefestival.org

all welcome; e me if you want to know when I will be there as I will also be organising

The Tom Paine Printing Press exhibition
,
Typography and lettering across a variety of media - print, ceramics and papercuts
Peter Chasseaud, Oliver Dawson and Lydia Crook
www.tompaineprintingpress.com
follow links to the Tom paine Press blog or go direct to
http://tompainepress.blogspot.com
http://peterchasseaud.blogspot.com


plus

images of Lewes from Paddock Printmakers new book

Around the Block;a ramble around Lewes in the footsteps of Gideon Mantell

woodcuts, collagraphs and drypoints
http://gideonmantell.wordpress.com
and a new 2011 calendar of images from last years Tom Paine in Lewes book
tuesday - sundays 10 - 5, august 28 - sept 12th
http://paddockprints.wordpress.com
this will updated for this year's book soon

The exhibition of framed work from the Gideon Mantell book will be on display in the Needlemakers Cafe throughout Artwave - many thanks to them

then
September 23 - 26
Peter and I will be at the Whitechapel Art Book Fair - Whitechapel Gallery
sharing a stand this year as I will have lots of smaller stuff and Peter will be showing his new book about the East End

Term dates for printmaking sessions - if you have given me an e-mail address and don't hear from me soon, try e-mailing me; ever so many times I don't seem to write them down correctly or they don't work for some reason, or I am just inefficient and lose them...
you can get in touch via the paddock printmakers e-mail if you have lost mine...
Contact Paddock Printmakers at pprints.f@ukonline.co.uk

saturday dates for next term are
october 23rd
november 20th
december 4th
you can start booking in any time now

Finally - I really enjoyed seeing The Surreal House exhibition at the Barbican Centre yesterday - I really recommend it; leave plenty of time for seeing all the films etc....

I'll try and add some more pics of things soon; I realise the blog has got a bit taken over by the shop in the past months but I am working on various huge projects of my own too - just not ready to share them yet. Official exhbitions at the shop have slowed down over the summer as we are nervous about all the sun on our south side of the street - but they will resume again in the autumn; meanwhile Peter has been filling the space with his wonderful huge posters anyway and we have plenty of new stuff coming and going on tables and the Tom Paine side of things has been given a boost by the tourist season....
and the unveiling of the Tom Paine statue by Marcus Cornish.

Monday 14 June 2010

DOWNSTAIRS at the Olympia Antiquarian Book Fair



I should be writing something intelligent about this but I am too exhausted, so meanwhile here are a couple of pictures, very kindly taken for me by Dmitry (Nikodim Books)whose wonderful books were next to mine. Peter was further along looking very smart too with his new typographical posters.

Friday 14 May 2010

NEXT EXHIBITIONS




Two little books I've done recently; The Magic Rabbit will be at Kaleid and both at Olympia.

NEXT EXHIBITIONS






I have two opportunities to show my books in London in June
first at Kaleid editions...
WHITE HEAT
2-27 June 2010

A.A.A.B.A.M || Victoria Browne || Angie Butler || Lorna Crabbe || Harvey Dellanzo || Desmond Felix || Stephen Fowler || Daniele Genadry || Graeme Gerard Halliday || Stephen Lee || Flora McLean || Andrew Pegram || Peter Rapp || The Readers || Shelley Revill || Mary Rouncefield || Augusta Ogilvy & Martin Sexton || Sofia Stevi || Johnette Taylor || Carolyn Trant

Private View Tuesday 1st June 2010 6-9pm

The penultimate show at KALEID project space, Redchurch Street, London E2; an interdisciplinary group exhibition of editioned artists’ books curated by Victoria Browne and Dr. Aylin Kunter.

“...in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods...”
In 1963, Harold Wilson laid forth an ambitious agenda that called into question values of family, work, education, male-female relations, sexuality, urbanism, science, technology and progress.

Taking inspiration from this period, KALEID will be subject to, and an object of ‘white heat’ as a beacon of light to illuminate a brave new collection of artists’ books; in order to represent our mood, ideas and the spirit of our time. In the current ‘light’ of the aftermath of the British general election, the exhibition will challenge the notion that there is one politics and celebrate the diversity of our lives.

‘According to Blake, anything is capable of becoming a text, that is, of bearing significant marks. The earth, the sky, the elements, natural objects, the human body and its garments, the mind itself are all space of inscription, sites in which the imagination renders or receives meaning, marking and being marked’1.

Hellicar & Lewis, a duo of interactive installation artists, will create a flock of light-beings inspired in part by John Horton Conway’s Game of Life and Craig Reynold’s further research into artificial life. The piece will interact with visitors who engage with the new collection artists’ books, as the installation replicates, mutates and evolves during the four week show.

Proudly supported by Creative Technology London

Please contact KALEID project space for further details: aylin@kaleideditions.com

1. William Blake quoted in Picture Theory by William Mitchell, 1994, p.131

KALEID editions aims to represent artists’ books to national collections and book fairs across the globe.
Since September 2009 KALEID project space has curated monthly exhibitions, represented over one hundred artists, launched publications and facilitated workshops. Meet us at the following events:

London Art Book Fair September 2010
New York Art Book Fair October 2010

Unit 2, 23-25 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, London. E2 7DJ 07870 173 524
books@kaleideditions.com www.kaleideditions.com

Wednesday to Saturday, 12-7pm Late night Thursdays and informal Sundays
Artists’ Books Drop-in Workshops Sundays, 1-5pm

I WILL ALSO BE

DOWNSTAIRS at the 53rd London International Antiquarian Book Fair, Olympia 2010
see www.olympiabookfair.com
and click on DOWNSTAIRS
I am exhibiting as Parvenu Press

meanwhile my litho press has finally been winched out of my house, quite an extraordinary sight, and I am re-organising my studio space.
All my projects are in boxes ready to spring out and set me going again with a bit more elbow room.

Monday 19 April 2010

PAGES : May exhibition at Press Gallery


Pages
 
For our next exhibition we have lots of interesting pages from books from the 15th century to contemporary Artists Books;
- a facsimile page from the Gutenburg 1455 Bible(signed by Stephen Fry – made for his TV program about the Gutenburg press made by Alan May – the same person who made our Common Press ) ,  
-one from the Nuremburg Chronicle ( genuine);
some from various productions by the St Dominic's Press, at Ditchling,;  
surrealist pages from Une Semaine de Bonte by Max Ernst, which was sponsored by Roland Penrose who lived near Lewes in Chiddingly; 
various title pages from the 16th to the  19th century, 
and examples from contemporary  Artists Books, including some Trant/Chasseaud golden oldies ;
some are typographical examples, some have images:
any of them could be a talking point framed on the wall.
 
We can assure everyone no books were harmed in the making of this event!
 
The exhibition runs from April 27th until May 29th, closed Sundays and Mondays; at the same time we will have our usual changing selection of books, prints, cards, posters, magazines and printed ephemera.

Sunday 21 March 2010

Pictures from an exhibition

The new carnivalesque show opened at our Press gallery this afternoon.
I finished making some little books and theatres a few minutes before the PV and was still stuffing new hand-printed woodcut cards in ( hand-made) envelopes as people arrived
You can see the concertina book opened out on the bottom shelf in the window and one of the theatres on the top shelf, more clearly in the second photo




Apart from walls full of prints by myself ( the sepia coloured drypoints ) we had linocuts and monoprints by Walter Bachinski from Shanty Bay press and wood and linocuts and collagraphs by Sarah Young..
( see their websites in previous posting)


and as a complete change we had a magnificent selection of old toys games and puppet theatres and puppets to sell from a private collection - great fun and great graphics.
The last of the Carnival boxes I made after a visit to the Munich toy and puppet museum fitted in quite nicely - you can see them to the right of the second to last picture...




The show will be up for another month until the end of April.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

What's happening next at Tom Paine Press Gallery


Continuing our light and bright themes for dark months, the Tom Paine Printing Press gallery’s third exhibition will be centred around both the light and the dark side of the idea of Carnival and Circus.

Hopefully spring is on its way - we have just passed Mardi Gras and Lewes Operatic Society are about to perform Carousel…
At the gallery we will be featuring the Shanty Bay Press from the far north of Canada run by Walter Bachinski and Janis Butler. Their first book – Circus - contained pochoir prints of unbelievable intensity of colour; and they are now working another on the same theme….

CIRCUS
The Artist as Saltimbanque
Various Writers and Poets
4 pochoirs and 8 colour linocuts by Walter Bachinski

see
www.shantybaypress.com
www.walterbachinski.com

We have some of Walter’s b+w monoprints and colour lino-cuts and a sneak preview of the new book and other pochoir prints that you can order.

This exhibition will also feature lino and woodcuts by Sarah Young, drypoint prints and woodcut cards by Carolyn Trant and other gallery artists, and some surprise three dimensional objects;and we aim to top up our selection of toy theatres.

The show opens on 21st March – meanwhile we will still have Jonny Hannah cards and booklets – he recently sent us some new ones – and will have a changing show of prints from stock on the walls in the changeover period, and lots of new Paddock Printmakers cards so do keep looking in.

Check out Sarah Young and Jon Tutton's blog for more details and pics of our Jonny Hannah show on
http://madeuk.blogspot.com
and go to Feb 2010 posting

See also
http://tompainepress.blogspot.com

Meanwhile I'm cutting and printing lots of little coloured woodcuts on a carnival theme, as well as working on my very large book Perceval with James Simpson.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Lorca at All Saints Art centre Lewes


On sunday I showed my Lorca pages at Cancion Gitana's 'Celebration of the short tragic life of the Spanish poet Lorca: Lament for Lorca' - a celebration in Flamenco dance, song and guitar It was a wonderful evening -
many thanks to Helena for inviting me to take part in this way.
I think there are more Lorca images if you scroll back on this blog -
and I have made them into cards for the Tom Paine Printing Press shop as people were always asking for a cheaper version of them. There are a few of the original prints left too.

Saturday 6 February 2010

ART FOR LOVE



Are you ready for Valentine's Day??
I've made a few of these little theatres and some woodblock printed cards for the shop, based on 17th century emblem books which I find fascinating (the whole information by image as well as word thing).....
The theatres are about 8 X 10 inches and the cards a little larger than playing cards.

I also remembered back to Peggy Angus's 'Art for Love' exhibitions - and thought - I think she would like our shop, and I am sure she would just love the work by Jonny Hannah.
I heard in the week that Ursula Mommens, the potter and great friend of Peggy, had died peacefully in her chair aged 101. I remember talking to her last over a year ago in her house in S Heighton; it was suddenly like being back in the past in a house which smelled like Peggy's and was full of art and simplicity and peace and it made me really miss Peggy - these two women were amazing beacons in my youth in different ways; now that era is really gone.
I see the obits mention that she loved young people - just like Peggy; they both stayed incredibly young at heart always, always interested in what others were doing.
And both making things with their hands until the end.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7016929.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/feb/03/ursula-mommens-obituary

Monday 1 February 2010

The Legendary Jonny Hannah Show

Here are some pictures from the opening:
(but they all seem to have got squashed somwehow.....)








Its a really fantastic show - it'll warm the cockles of your heart - and we had a great party.
Fred Pipes has been kind enough to put a review on the blog below
http://tinyurl.com/y8cb4ol
Thanks Fred

The show is up for a month - don't miss it.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

LONG TIME NO BLOG

Disgraceful:that's what adding running a gallery to an already busy schedule does for you.
Our next show starts on sunday!


DARK TOWN
Throughout February the PRESS Gallery
at 151 High Street will have
An Illuminating Exhibition
of new work
from the
Legendary Jonny Hannah

Loads and Loads of Lovely Printed Stuff –
silk-screened books and prints,
lino-cuts, cards, T- shirts and
his unique hand painted cut-outs on board,

Featuring Luscious Lettering
with a range of very reasonable prices
and guaranteed to bring some joy
and razzmatazz to a dark month.

We will also have some very unusual
Valentine Cards!

THE TOM PAINE PRINTING PRESS & PRESS Gallery
151 High Street, Lewes (opposite the Bull House)

It looks better like this.....


but you might not be able to read it
Anyway it should be a really great show.

We kept Dmitry's work for ages as it was so popular and we have quite a range of little private press and Artists Books for sale now and people seem very interested in seeing what we have. The Press is up and running and Peter gathered up some more type over christmas. We've got card toy theatres and artists cards, specialist books on lettering and typography; and plans for more interesting shows throughout the year, including lettering used in paper cuts, lettering and ceramics and something Carnavalesque for Lent.

I'm playing around making woodcut valentine cards at the moment based on 17th century Emblem Books to get back into work again after too much chocolate and long walks in the snow

However I did fulfill my resolution and make a pilgrimage to the Green Chapel on New Years Eve (daytime!)to help get me in the mood for this year's Perceval book.
The Green Chapel, home of the Green Knight, is reputed to be in Staffordshire in The Roches at a place called Lud's Church; a cleft in the ground where the persecuted Lollards of the 15th?? century used to hold their services apparently.
Despite heavy snow on hills around, making many of the small roads impassable ( near Flash - one of the highest villages in England) - this valley was miraculously green and we toiled up a hill not knowing what to expect, when all of a sudden we plunged into the chasm - which was spectacular and scrambled for what seemed a very long way before emerging into the woods again.
An extraordinary place.
And the Green Knight himself clear as clear on the rock face - the camera homed in on him immediately itself.
There must be some strange magnetic forces around as my camera card immediately failed and unformatted itself, so the following pics are courtesy of my son Will:


You have to imagine the icicles and ferns and green gloom.....

Apart from this the year has got off to a good start with lots of plans and feelers stretching out into the year; some book fairs coming up - of which more news anon; some good discussions with Victoria at Kaleid Editions, with Tereza Buskova at an event in a soon-to-be demolished block in Soho, with Ruth at Illustration magazine - and all sorts of possible interesting projects
as well as the ongoing books I am working on.
I'll try and put out some more details next month.

Really enjoyed the Dark Monarch exhibition at the Towner - I could see no way to get to St Ives in midwinter so was so relieved to find it was coming so close to home - highly recommend it.
Ditto the Kienholz Hoerengracht at the National Gallery.