I've had an idea for the final show. I spent the Friday following the low residency week in the library at Chelsea looking at the artists books collection (well, some of them!). There were a couple which particularly stood out to me. I was most interested in the ones that were very much made by hand, and which were more unusual in their design.
I loved 'Crevice' by Susan Johanknecht and Jennifer Newson which was presented as a map, reinforced along the outer folds and edge with some slightly plastic woven material and presented in a pouch made of something similar. 3 Scouts by Denise Hawrysio made me chuckle (because I can imagine doing something similar with my children's uniform) and Prints by Karel Martins was interesting. Of all the structures the last was the most frustrating because I wanted to unfold it but couldn't because of the stitching. I didn't mind the interior pages being folded as much as the cover, this was really annoying in my mind because it could have been attached in a way that would have enabled it to be opened up which I would have found really interesting. I wanted to see what the artist saw before it was all folded by was denied.
Of all the books I saw the most exciting was Aberrations by Iris Colomb.
It was really small, the box wasn't quite A5. I was also really light which made the excitement of opening it all the greater as I expected it to have some weight but it didn't so my curiosity was raised. When I opened it and saw the beautiful, delicate book inside I was thrilled. It was so simple and yet so stunning. I read a few of the pages but was much more interested in the structure and the making of it. It was a beautiful object. It gave me the idea of creating something similar but with multiple layers to represent a log. I think this could be a much more exciting way of creating a log-like structure than simply making something in the shop of a log. There could be multiple circles of pages attached with less in the inner and more in the outer, the imagery and colours could change with each layer. I would need to consider whether I want the viewer to be bale to see all the way to the centre or whether I want layers of concertina spines to restrict the view. This one got me really excited!
The other one I particularly liked was Space Fold by Valerie Large.
It was quite simple but very effective, I played with it for ages; looking at each page separately and seeing how it worked then considering them all together.
I showed my pictures to my 7 year old son and showed him how to make two cuts and fold them to make them pop out. He took the idea and ran with it creating a really lovely little 'book'. We need to pop some covers on it to finish it but it's beautiful, it's also totally different depending on which side you look at it:
I'm not sure why but it reminds me of totem poles. I think it must be something about the graphic nature of the lines. He got really , folding some pieces twice and changing their direction. It was rather exciting!
I treated myself to a cheeky trip to Shepherds when I broke for some lunch, I now have no excuse not to practise over the easter weekend while we're away!