June sees two large-scale, free, public artists’ books events in the UK, first in Gateshead and then Norwich. Each offers a great opportunity to meet the artists and to spend time with hundreds of books, to join in free talks or creative workshops, and even participate in a silent library rave.
On 18-19 June, Baltic in Gateshead hosts an annual, national two-day Artists’ Book Market organised by Theresa Easton. Over 40 national and regional artists, bookmakers, small press publishers, artists’ groups, zine artists and bookbinders will be exhibiting and selling their work.
Alongside exhibitors, the ‘Interventions’ programme offers a series of talks and performances. These include: James Wilkinson on zine making, Chloe Spicer’s Library Rave, David Faithfull’s Palindromic Artist’s Book Intervention, Nancy Campbell’s Astonishing Polar Tombola, and the Sound Book Project.
At The Forum in Norwich on 24-25 June, Turn the Page will showcase sculptural books, altered books, limited editions, zines and book installations. Organised by artist Jules Allen, it will also show this year’s progress on The Norfolk Longbook, an ongoing community book project inspired by the county of Norfolk and featuring contributions from artists, writers and the public.
Artist Chris Ruston will be presenting The Great Gathering project – seven, large ammonite-shaped books visually exploring the complexities of our continually unfolding evolution. Other featured artists include: Dizzy Pragnell, Rosie Sherwood (As Yet Untitled), Gloria Ceballos, Camberwell Book Arts MA students, Caroline Penn (Turn the Page 2015 Graduate Prize winner), UWE Artist’s Book Club, Su Blackwell, the Society of Bookbinders, and John Jarrold Printing Museum.
There will also be a display of books from the Laurence Sterne Trust, including Tom Gauld’s Endless Journey, a myriorama inspired by the works of Laurence Sterne.
Alongside a host of UK artists, international participants in Norwich include the letterpress artist Annette Disslin from Germany – who has designed the beautiful letterpress printed poster/keepsake for this year’s event – and paper artist Pien Rotterdam from The Netherlands.
Artists’ Book Market, 18-19 June, Baltic, Gateshead, 10am-5pm. www.balticmill.com
Turn the Page, The Forum, Norwich, 10am-6pm. turnthepage.org.uk
Images:
1. Poster/keepsake for Turn The Page 2016, designed and letterpress printed by Annette Disslin at Buchdruckatelier bleikloetzle, Germany. Available from the artist at Turn The Page. Photo: Annette Disslin
2. Endless Journey by Tom Gauld. A myriorama inspired by the works of Laurence Sterne, 12 cards offering the possibility of 479,001,600 different landscape arrangements. Part of a curated display this year by the Laurence Sterne Trust at Turn The Page 2016. Photo: Laurence Sterne Trust
3. Sound book performance detail, Ant Dickinson. The Sound Book Project will perform at Baltic’s Artists’ Book Market on 18 June 2016. Photo: Sound Book Project
4. The Great Gathering Vol. IV. The Age of Innocence by Chris Ruston, 2016, sediments layers and fossils. Detail of installation that will be shown at Turn The Page 2016. Photo: Chris Ruston
5. Chloe Spicer’s Library Rave, which will be featured at Baltic’s Artists’ Book Market. Photo: Chloe Spicer
Use the Artists’ Books series tag for more in the series
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