Collections
The Blue Notebook, Volume 12, Number 2, Spring-Summer 2018 / Edited by Sarah Bodman
Serials (publications)
Joseph J Field describes Life Stories – a book arts project that the author has undertaken at Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester. It developed from volunteer work as an artist on the wards, through research on the value of reminiscence therapy for dementia patients and more generally, how exchanging “life stories” can build empathy between individuals. The process of collecting stories is explained as is the author’s approach to designing artists’ books around the narratives.
Meeting in the Middle: An open-ended visual arts collaboration, examines the collaborative practice of Tamar MacLellan and Philippa Wood through three of their most recent artist’s book projects. Having taken the decision to undertake new ways of working, their aim is to share something of this journey drawing upon pivotal blog posts which enabled the exchanging of individual, intellectual and emotional responses within the development of each project. A conclusion of each project provides observations of the challenges and shifts in practice encountered alongside the resulting collaborative approaches adopted.
Mike Nicholson – ‘Hiding In Plain Sight: A Brief History and Rationale of the ‘bio auto graphic’ series. The Who, the When, the What, the How and the Why? Caught in a flagrant, ever-decreasing circle of self-regard, artist/writer Mike Nicholson considers the achievement of creating thirty editions of his graphic narrative ‘bio auto graphic’.
In context of his earlier creative activities, the self-publishing project he began in 2004 with a speculative ‘Issue Zero’ tests the notion of his relationship to an audience, as well as releasing him from old patterns of process.
AMBruno at Tate Britain Archive: Themed Artists’ Books.An article by Sophie Loss and Cally Trench about AMBruno, a group of artists who make artists’ books to themes. The article is based on presentations given during Tate Britain’s Library and Archive Show and Tell by AMBruno, on 5th May 2017, when nine sets of AMBruno’s book works were on show, along with two sets of limited edition prints and some filmic works. In the article, five of the artists discuss different themes: Black Circle, Lines, Red, words and [sic]. AMBruno Co-ordinator Sophie Loss introduces the group, and explains how it came into existence and how its uniqueness lies in its making and exhibiting of themed sets of books.
Book handling as a research method– Tim Daly: How do we conceptualise touch? Unlike most visual art, touch is a fundamental aspect of interacting with artists’ books and it is not until you have a physical interaction with the artefact that you can fully make sense of it. Despite this, there is no obvious syntax for us to report our experiences of handling an artists’ publication.
During my recent practice as research doctoral study, it soon became apparent that there was no clear framework to describe my experience of handling books, yet this was a fundamental part of my research. Without handling a book, entire swathes of intertextual nuances could be missed – the deliberate material choices of the artist and the reader’s own rich experiential past never get the chance to make meaning.
Artists’ pages by: Kate Bernstein (UK), Darren Marsh (UK) Paul Minott (UK) Miguel Sbastida (Spain).
Cover design by Tom Sowden.