Artists' books are books made or conceived by artists. There are fine
artists who make books and book artists who produce work exclusively in
that medium, as well as illustrators, typographers, writers, poets,
book binders, printers and many others who work collaboratively or alone
to produce artists' books. Many artists' books are self-published, or
are produced by small presses or by artists' groups or collectives,
usually in limited editions. Artists' books that maintain the
traditional structure of a book are often known as book art or
bookworks, while those that reference the shape of a book are known as
book object (source:
http://www.vam.ac.uk).
End of last year a friend of mine, who is a writer and artist (
https://elainereidwriting.co.uk/) , started talking about collaborating together. We are both inspired by artists' books and book objects and we had the change to take part in a workshop "Book Object" organised by artist and educator
Brigid Collins. Once I had seen her website and her beautiful creations I didn't have to think long before I said yes!
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| Book object by Brigid Collins |
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| Book object by Brigid Collins |
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| "Yield" by Brigid Collins |
The workshop was focussed on creating a 3D object with the general book form as reference. She showed us how to make a structure with wire and use tissue paper and markmaking to add certain effects.
I already had a clear idea of what I wanted to make with the materials I brought with me so I actually did something completely different than the rest of the class. Brigid could give me some great advice on how to construct with my mainly natural materials such as (very tough) birch bark and a branch from our garden. Other materials I used are: scrim, bookbinding thread, dried grass and skeleton leaf, printed papers, family envelope and a film strip. After the workshop I spent some more time finetuning things. I'm delighted with how my experiment turned out!
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| Birch Book (front) by Fenfolio |
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| Birch Book (front, close-up) by Fenfolio |
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| Birch Book (back) by Fenfolio |
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| Birch Book (side, back)) by Fenfolio |
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| Birch Book (side, close-up) by Fenfolio |
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| Birch Book (back, close-up) by Fenfolio |
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| Birch Book (front, close-up) by Fenfolio |
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| Birch Book (front, close-up) by Fenfolio |
After this very successful session I really wanted to learn more about how to make artists' books and objects. I had noticed there was a workshop organised by another book artist
Susie Wilson at Leith School of Art, but unfortunately I couldn't make these dates. So I arranged a one-to-one session instead. Here are some examples of her books:
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| Artist book by Susie Wilson |
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| Artist book by Susie Wilson |
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| Artist book by Susie Wilson |
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| Artist book by Susie Wilson |
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| Map book by Susie Wilson |
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| Map book by Susie Wilson |
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| Artist book by Susie Wilson |
First she showed me some samples of artists' books made by her students and herself.
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| Flutter book by Sarah Morpeth |
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| Flutter book (unfolded) by Sarah Morpeth |
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| Artist unknown |
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| Street Scene artist' book by Liza Green |
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| A Book of Tears by Julie Johnstone |
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| A Book of Tears by Julie Johnstone |
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| Dark Matter artist book by Victoria Browne |
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| Artist book by Margaret Anderson |
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| Artist book by Margaret Anderson |
We then focussed on the concertina format and I learnt how to make a pamphlet stitch, a flag book, a flutter book and a map book. Again, I brought quite a few materials with me such as a selection of my handmade proof prints. After a wonderful day in Susie's studio at home I was really pleased with what I had learnt and created such as this flag book:
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| Organic book (cover) by Fenfolio |
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| Organic book (spine) by Fenfolio |
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| Organic book (inside) by Fenfolio |
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| Organic book (inside) by Fenfolio |
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| Organic book (first page) by Fenfolio |
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| Organic book (fully laid out) by Fenfolio |
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| Organic book (inside) by Fenfolio |
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| Organic book (top view) by Fenfolio |
My friend is now also going to do an intense workshop, with Brigid. With our combined skills and interest we aim to create a few artists' books that we can exhibit in due course.
