The fair is 24th and 25th March 2018.
This year I will be bringing Some Light Remains,
another poetry volume with James Simpson , same size and a sister volume to The
Rhyme of the Reddleman’s Daughter which I showed in 2015, poems printed
from Metallic Elephant metal plate and 7 colour woodcuts plus a frontispiece- see images in previous posts.
Also a very large new book, which is almost a sister volume
to my very first book Gawain done in 1997, and based on the Perceval
story and the medieval poem of The Ruin. This began as the Untenanted
Room, a long poem by James Simpson which was published as an Agenda Editions
special edition a few years ago.
It has taken us a long time to re-model and conceive it in
this new format, the complete text cut in wood as I did with sections of David
Harsent’s poem cycle Gawain.
I am using A3 and A2 woodblocks, which will give you some
idea of the size – which fits Khadi papers cotton rag paper with its lovely
uneven edges. It needs to be big so you can be completely immersed in the
story, and so that the images don’t become ‘pretty’ in any way – and to show
the monumentality of the text. If Some Light Remains was a peaceful
contemplative book this one is much angrier and reflects our times I fear.
It is currently still a huge pile of cut blocks, some of which are illustrated
here, almost ready for printing and the time of reckoning: watch this space for more images as they emerge.
I have been cutting all over Christmas, after another brief
sojourn in Bristol, where I finally found my way to Birdcage Walk on a lovely
crisp day and thought sadly of Helen Dunmore.
I just managed to catch the last week of the Grayson Perry
exhibition at the beautiful Arnolfini – it looked really good in this setting,
packed with enthusiastic visitors. I always love his ideas and this time
particularly really loved all the artworks too.
I also caught up with my daughter’s project Making Books in
Bristol which was exhibited next to the West of England Academy as part of the
Centre for Material Texts which she runs as an academic at Bristol University.
It was a very inclusive and interesting display to which people contributed
from a variety of skills and interests.
It included a photo of Nick Hand of the Letterpress
Collective in Bristol with his printing byke. I saw this project as a
crowdfunding suggestion by chance a few years ago and couldn’t resist contributing
– the idea of cycling to Mainz, in Germany, home of Gutenburg, on a bicycle
with an integral printing press, printing and sending postcards along the way
was irresistible. He has since given Peter and I a good tour of his workshop.
It is hard to give a good impression of the exhibition with
low resolution images but I hope it gives some idea –book artist Angie Butler
made a definitive volume pulling all the ideas together, including everyone’s
contributions in an often very witty way. I hope you can read some of the lables if you click on the images to enlarge them. or for much clearer pictures and more information google https://booksatbristol.wordpress.com
The good recent news about the Bodleian book project I was
involved with ( see posting below) is that it is now going on to Bristol and
will be exhibited at UWE curated by Sarah Bodman and showing all the books
involved this time, starting in June I think – watch this space.
There's a few days left to visit the Outside In exhibition at Sotheby's in Bond Street - begun at Pallant House and now an independent institution this project is really worth supporting - find out about it and see some really inspiring artwork until the 19th I think.
There's a few days left to visit the Outside In exhibition at Sotheby's in Bond Street - begun at Pallant House and now an independent institution this project is really worth supporting - find out about it and see some really inspiring artwork until the 19th I think.