FIRST NATIONAL ARTISTS' BOOK FORUM

The First National Artists' Book Forum was held by Artspace Mackay on Friday 7 February 2004 and brought together a range of artists, curators, writers, poets, students and academics to discuss the artform of artists' books. The Forum attracted 105 delegates and coincided with the opening of the FOCUS ON ARTISTS' BOOKS exhibitions at Artspace Mackay.

The day long seminar included presentations on subjects including the nature of collaboration in creating artists' books; the impact of new technologies upon artists' books; public collecting, displaying and presentation of artists' books and future directions and international trends in artists' books.

The First National Artists' Book Forum was supported by Arts Queensland and the Gordon Darling Foundation.

SPEAKERS AT THE FIRST NATIONAL ARTISTS' BOOK FORUM:

Robert Heather, Director, Artspace Mackay

Welcome by the Director

Robert Heather has been the Director of Artspace Mackay since July 2002, prior to the facility's opening in December 2002. Before that he was the Executive Director of the Regional Galleries Association of Queensland from (1999- 2002), Marketing Manager of Cairns Regional Gallery (1995-1999) and Assistant Promotions Officer at the Queensland Art Gallery (1993-94). he is also currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Queensland Museum (2001-present), the Senate Art Committee of the University of Queensland (2002-present) and the Commonwealth Regional Arts Fund Committee in Queensland (2001 - 2004).

Ron McBurnie, artist and lecturer, James Cook University, Townsville

The exquisite – corpse – shall drink – the young – wine: Adventures in collaboration

In this talk, Ron McBurnie will discuss how collaborative projects came about, the pros and cons of collaborating, some strategies to begin collaboration and the consequences of the exquisite corpse. He will also present a brief outline of some collaborative projects.

Ron McBurnie has made a major contribution to the development of contemporary printmaking in Australia as Co-Director of Lyre Bird Press, James Cook University (JCU) Townsville, the establishment of Lyre Bird Off The Wall Books and as lecturer in Printmaking and Book Arts at JCU Townsville. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions over the past twenty-five years and has lectured and participated in artist-in-residence programs in universities in Australia and overseas. Ron McBurnie’s work is represented in all major State Galleries, the National Gallery of Australia Collection and the Mackay Regional Council Collection, Artspace Mackay.

Chris Wallace-Crabbe, poet, Melbourne

Chris Wallace-Crabbe, poet, essayist and critic is Emeritus Professor in the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne. His latest collection is By and Large (Brandl & Schlesinger, Carcanet). His prose books include Falling into Language (O.U.P) and the anthology Author. Author! He has read his poetry to audiences all around the globe, and has been Visiting Professor at Harvard and at the University of Venice. For the past ten years he has worked with the painter Bruno Leti on artists’ books, those rare, beautiful objects. He is genially obsessed by trees, drawing and ball games.

Associate Professor Jan Davis, Head of School of Contemporary Art, Southern Cross University, Lismore

Collaboration: playing the third hand

It is impossible to address the issue of collaboration in artists’ books without acknowledging the broader collaborative trends in arts practice of the twentieth century. This paper looks at the desire to subvert authorship that dominated collaborative practice since the 60’s and asks if the same motivation drives collaborative artists’ books. Jan Davis will present some examples of books to suggest alternative motivations.

Jan Davis studied printmaking at Phillip Institute of Technology in Melbourne in the late 1970s. She moved to Lismore in 1988 to take up an academic position at the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education. She currently holds the position of Associate Professor and Head of School of Contemporary Arts at Southern Cross University. She works with computer manipulated images and in 1995 won the Fremantle Print Prize with a suite of artists books produced on a bubble jet printer. She has an M.A. (Fine Arts) with distinction. Her work is in many national collections including the National Library of Australia in Canberra,  the State Library of Queensland and Mackay Regional Council, Artspace Mackay.

Kate Ravenswood, Head of Access, Education and Regional Services, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

Kate Ravenswood is the Head of Access, Education and Regional Services at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane where she is responsible for touring exhibitions, educational and public programs. Prteviously she was a lecturer and director of the art gallery at the Southern Cross University in Lismore and has studied Art History at the University of Queensland.

Maryke Stagg, Public Programs Officer, Noosa Regional Gallery

BOOKS.04 works of imagination

Maryke demonstrates the curatorial challenge of balancing the integrity or ‘sanctity’ of the artists’ book with the kaleidoscopic and diverse dynamics of a gallery’s exhibitions program through a case study of Books: works of imagination an annual artists’ book exhibition at Noosa Regional Gallery since 1997.

Maryke Stagg is Public Programs Officer at Noosa Regional Gallery. As an inaugural volunteer since 1983 she has seen the Gallery grow to the dynamic space it is today. Her extensive network and experience in tourism and small business was invaluable in developing the volunteer base and activating the public program. Maryke inititiated and developed the artists’ book program at the Gallery. It has become a major national event and attracts national and international participation.

Helen Cole, Librarian, Rare Books Collection, James Hardie Library, State Library of Queensland

To (g)love and to hold: Artists’ books in libraries

This paper will survey some of the issues of selection, acquisition, maintenance and access facing libraries that collect artists’ books, and show some particular works from the James Hardie Library of Australian Fine Arts that have proved a challenge in reconciling preservation and access. It will detail the advantages libraries have as presenters of artists’ books and show why libraries are ideal places to experience artists’ books as their makers intended.

Helen Cole grew up in Mackay and developed an interest in art here when her only contact with the outside art world was a subscription to Art and Australia. Study at the University of Queensland in Art History, History and Russian, and at QIT in Librarianship, was followed by work as Manuscript Librarian in the John Oxley Library. Since 1992 Helen has been Librarian with the James Hardie Library of Australian Fine Arts, a job that combines her dual love of art and book history. Helen’s other area of particular interest within the collection is botanical art and its history.

Kirsty Grant, Curator, Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Victoria

Artists’ books in the NGV Collection

The National Gallery of Victoria’s collection of artists’ books was initiated soon after the institution was established in the early 1860s. Kirsty Grant will present an overview of the Gallery’s holdings of Australian artists’ books, from nineteenth century ‘view books’ to contemporary examples by artists including John Ryrie, Ruth Johnstone and Bea Maddock.

Kirsty Grant has worked as a curator in the Prints and Drawings department of the National Gallery of Victoria since 1994. Her particular focus is on the Gallery’s collection of Australian works on paper, which includes prints in all media, drawings, watercolours, sketchbooks and artists’ books. She has curated exhibitions on the work of Fred Williams and Ruth Johnstone, in addition to numerous collection-based surveys, and published widely on various aspects of Australian art on paper.

Bruno Leti, artist, Melbourne

Artist’s Talk

Bruno Leti is a painter, printmaker and artists’ book maker. He has studied art at Melbourne University and RMIT University where he has gained degrees and fellowships. He has also gained workshop art practices and residencies in New York, Milan and Canberra. Leti exhibits nationally and internationally and is represented in many major collections in Australia and abroad. He lives and works in Melbourne. Two years ago he received the prestigious Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, from New York and recently a monograph of 40 years of his work was published by the Beagle Press in Sydney. The exhibition Bruno Leti: Survey Artists Books 1982-2003 was developed by the Geelong Art Gallery.

Ken Orchard, artist, Adelaide

Artist’s Talk

Ken Orchard has held more then 20 solo exhibitions since 1987. He exhibited in the 10th British International Print Biennale, Bradford Museum, UK (1988); Australian Perspecta, AGNSW, Sydney (1989); Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, AGSA, Adelaide (1990); Aspects of Australian Printmaking 1984-1994, NGV, Melbourne (1994) and My Head is a Map, NGA, Canberra (1995). His recent survey exhibition Image as Text – Text as Image toured South Australia through 2001-02, and received critical acclaim when shown at UTS Gallery, Sydney in early 2003. Ken won The Pedersen Memorial Prize, QAG, Brisbane in 1988 and more recently the Fleming Muntz Prize, Albury in 2002 and the mixed media section of the Heysen Prize (Hahndorf) in 2003. He lives and works in Adelaide.

Sandra Ross, artist, Brisbane

Artist’s Talk

Sandra’s love of art began as a child and has grown to become a life long career. She sees herself as an artist and teacher who considers that her art practice is ultimately consolidated by her teaching. After studying Art Teaching during the early 1980s and majoring in painting she returned to study her Masters in Visual Arts in 2002. Her continued interest in the human form provoked her to explore the connection between the human form and architectural structure. Her recent work in the ‘presence’ exhibition directly explores this relationship using a combination of printmaking and photography.

Dianne Longley, artist and Lecturer, Adelaide Central School of Art

Artist’s Talk

Dianne Longley created her first limited edition book as a student at Newcastle College of Advanced Education in 1978. Since then Dianne has continued to make a wide range of artists’ books and folios, some as discrete works and others that intersected thematically with her print and mixed media works. Her books have been included in many national and international exhibitions and in 1994 she won the Fremantle Print Artists’ Book Award for Night Sea Crossing.

Glen Skien, artist, Mackay

Artist’s Talk

Glen Skien completed his formal art studies of a Diploma of Fine Arts in 1988 and is the principal of the Silent Parrot Press in Mackay. During his 15 years of professional practice, Glen has exhibited regularly in Townsville and Mackay. He has held a solo exhibition of his prints and artists’ books in Sendai, Japan and is represented in numerous collections throughout Australia.

Akky van Ogtrop, Executive Director, Sydney Art on Paper Fair

The art market place and artists’ books. What are the future directions and international trends/aspects in artists’ books?

To speak of the ‘art market’ is to refer to the many markets of special interests and to recognise that there are different sectors. Sectors such as the type of work, which include all mediums and the method of sales: through auctions, art fairs, commercial galleries, dealers and private sales where the artist sells directly to the buyer. Art Like other commodities can be marketed in a variety of ways. Art markets can be geographical or regional.

What is the future of the artist’s book? The past twenty-five years, especially the last fifteen have seen an explosive growth in the number of artists creating ‘books’ and the acceptance of the format along with other more ‘mainstream’ forms of art. Exhibitions are becoming increasingly widespread and ‘the book’ as concept is being taught in a number of art programs. As technology has advanced, bringing with it new means of producing and creating texts and illustrating the ‘book’, the very concept of the ‘physical book’ is changing.

Akky van Ogtrop (born in the Netherlands), graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Netherlands, majoring in printmaking, and has a Masters Degree Fine Arts, Sydney University. She previously held positions as Assistant Director of Galerie d’Eendt in Amsterdam, organising exhibitions of paintings, prints and sculptures by Dutch and international artists. After moving to Australia she became Manager of Stadia Graphics Gallery in Sydney, one of the first and foremost galleries in Australia to specialise in works on paper. In 1988, she established Akky van Ogtrop Fine Arts, specialising in Works on Paper by the 19th and 20th Century Masters, as well as contemporary Australian and international artists, and in 1989 organised the first art fair in Sydney, the Sydney Art on Paper Fair, and still organises this biennial event.

Noreen Grahame, Director, Grahame Galleries + Editions and The Artists’ Book Fair, Brisbane

Open Other End

Since the 1980s interest in artists’ books has led to a mini-explosion in the production of these artworks. Artists have been experimenting with the size, shape and form of the book. But has the artist book changed? By examining some recent works we may find the answer.

After ten years as a print dealer in Europe, Noreen Grahame returned to Australia in 1987 to establish a gallery specialising in works on paper including artists’ books. The Gallery mounted the first exhibition of Australian and international artists’ books in 1991 and Grahame encouraged artists represented by the gallery to undertake their first artists’ book for this show, which was accompanied by an important catalogue. Comprehensive catalogues have also been prepared for the four artists’ book fairs organised by Grahame since 1994. With over 500 Australian and international artists’ books as well as reference documents of Grahame’s collection, The Centre for the Artists’ Book is one of the most important in the country.

Dianne Fogwell, Lecturer in Charge, Editions + Artist Book Studio, School of Art, NITA, Australian National University, Canberra

Walk forward and see how far we can go.

This presentation will be discussing the role of the Edition + Artist Book Studio at the Australian National University as a place for research and creative thinking within the broader learning environment of an art school. Developing and maintaining a workable philosophy, the changes in approach since 1996 and the current directions. The paper will also discuss a brief history of the publications and the artist in residence program, which the Centre runs.

Dianne Fogwell has been an exhibiting artist since 1979. An invited artist to international biennials for print and the artist book in Poland, Belgium, Belgrade, France and London. Her work is represented in national and international collections. Her involvement in print collaboration with visual artists, musicians and writers spans two decades where she has been the master printer for over 200 editions for prominent Australian artists and curator/co-curator for major exhibitions in the field of print and book. Her dedication to printmaking and the artists’ book led her to be co-founder of Studio One and Founder/Director of the Criterion Press and Fine Art Gallery. From 1996 she has been Lecturer in Charge of the Edition + Artists Book Studio (EABS) within the School of Art, NITA, the Australian National University, Canberra.