Lifestream
Recent content from my activities on the web, from the following sources:
→ LibraryThing (recent reading)
→ Twitter (tweets tagged '#stu')
→ Flickr (photos tagged 'studiolog')
→ Delicious(bookmarks tagged 'bookart')
→ Adminicle (blog posts tagged 'studiolog')
Johnstone, Julie: essence press
The minimal poetic bookworks of Julie Johnstone. Links to the Scottish National Poetry Library. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 28 Jul 2010 | 7:24 pm
Here Gallery, Bristol
Independent gallery and bookshop in Bristol. Occasional bookart and zine culture. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 28 Jul 2010 | 7:22 pmHyslop, Jane
The artist's books, drawings and prints of Midlothian-based artist Jane Hyslop. Hyslop's lively drawing and sense of visual balance animate some lovely work. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 28 Jul 2010 | 7:21 pmBently, John: Liver & Lights Scriptorium
The artists' books of London-based John Bently: "so far the Liver & Lights series has been 43 issues in twenty six years, a lifelong exploration of the possibilities of The Book and there are still so many ideas stacked up in my head waiting for me to try... Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 28 Jul 2010 | 7:19 pmSchofield, Lucy May
Artist's books by Lucy May Scholfield: "Inspired by an unrelenting desire to make, coupled with a passion for the written word, I make objects to house stories which may otherwise go untold. In creating narratives I accompany the viewer on a journey, often... Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 28 Jul 2010 | 7:15 pmSHOP (Vintage Lounge and Arts Venue)
"events like gigs, creative workshops, film screenings, guerrilla cafes, and allsorts really." SHOP recently opened (July 2010) their free zine library. Source: Delicious/aesop/bookart | 28 Jul 2010 | 7:13 pmon networking, twitter and Captain Gravity
A quick post to say thank you to the other people on the networking course run by Emma Collins of Gallery. A great bunch of people. I enjoyed meeting you all and I look forward to lots of Twittering.
Ffotogallery book arts fayre
The tremendous Ffotogallery book arts fayre is doing its thing once again in October and is calling for book artists to contribute:
Our Autumn Book Arts Fayre will be back at Turner House on Saturday 9th October 2010 from 11am-4.30pm!Looks like a great opportunity. The poster, by the way, is ©Tom Hobson 2010 – http://www.tomhobson.co.uk/ Source: adminicle | 19 Jul 2010 | 6:01 pmFfotogallery's biannual Book Arts Fayres celebrate self and independent publishing in all its forms. This free event with stalls, music and live art-making welcomes all to explore and engage in a wealth of contemporary book arts and print practice from Wales and beyond.
We are looking for artists and collectives who would like to host a free stall space at our forthcoming fayre or participate by submitting works for inclusion on our 'Various Artists' stall.
Joachim Schmid / Ed Ruscha
Cat / Pigeons.I've written on a couple of occasions that it was a wee bit ironic that Ed Ruscha's iconic artists' books, originally made as affordable, 'democratic' editions, were now so expensive. Well, now Joachim Schmid has produced a book entitled :
Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Every Building on the
Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Nine Swimming
Pools, A Few Palm Trees, No Small Fires
Which the interested purchaser can order inexpensively from Blurb. Schmid says of this work,
Between 1963 and 1972, Edward Ruscha published fifteen artist's books, his first being "Twentysix Gasoline Stations"; a book which is considered to be the first modern artist's book, and has become the iconic precursor and a major influence on the emerging international artists' books culture.
"Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Nine Swimming Pools, A Few Palm Trees, No Small Fires" is a modern remake of some of Ruscha's famous books, all grouped in one volume. Unlike the original books it relates to, this work was made entirely at my Berlin studio. I didn't visit Los Angeles to make the book and I didn't use a camera either. The camera is out there.
So Schmid is reworking Ruscha's by now iconic works, re-presenting them both through his own recreation of their subject, and a revivification of their distribution model.
Schmid has a whole bunch of other photobooks on Blurb too. I enjoyed some of Scmid's work at Edinburgh Stills gallery some years back. It's nice to see him making books. Source: adminicle | 15 Jul 2010 | 11:28 am
Exhibition of artists' books at Newcastle
Bristol's Centre for Fine Print Research lent books as part of this exhibition at Newcastle upon Tyne's Lit & Phil society (a large independent library), organised by Theresa Easton. Looks like a really wonderful venue- great pictures of the show on the CFPR site.
East London Printmakers
ELP's annual print exhibition will feature some artists' books by artists such as Sumi Perera, amongst other fine looking things. Looks like being a good show - they've started off with a logo featuring an astronaut chomping on an apple, which is never a bad first move.
University of Iowa Libraries Book Festival
Always nice to hear of a library promoting artists' books alongside other author events and the like. In this case some local Iowa book artists Liz Munger, Heather Wetzel and Lee Marchelonis are joined by Audrey Niffenegger, who crosses the boundary between being a 'regular' author and being a book artist. I hope it's a success, and I'm sure that libraries showing artists' books never fail to enchant their public by adding another layer of charm and mystery to the book. Iowa City Book Festival
Source: adminicle | 14 Jul 2010 | 6:32 pmThe Burry Man's Day: A Dandy Gilver Murder Mystery (Dandy Gilver Mysteries) by Catriona McPherson
aesop's review: "I grew up in the small town where this was set, that being my primary reason for reading it. It was better than expected and deserves slightly more serious consideration than its cover might suggest.
Whilst being a pretty run of the mill detective story (which is all it purports to be really), it has several nice touches of characterisation and wit. (Though the author is overfond of 'owlish' as an adjective.) A likably snobbish central character and a reasonably amusing plot contribute to a decent read. However, I feel like there is more in the author to give: some of the texture of dialect and location seems to be 'drawn away' from, as if to keep the book light and readable: here this is a mistake, as the texture of Gilver's character and those round about her is the real reason for reading. McPherson's plots and pacing, though serviceable, aren't as interesting as her voice and characters, and subtracting from the latter in favour of the former is, here, a mistake. McPherson is not a Wodehousian 'performing flea': the gymnastics of this book aren't quite up to that. But she has other things to offer. Perhaps McPherson should dare to write something a little more serious: though without abandoning the wit which renders this current piece charming and inoffensive. There's more in here than meets the eye though."Carroll & Graf (2007), Paperback, 336 pages Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 13 Jun 2010 | 9:51 am
Getting It Published, 2nd Edition: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (Chicago Guides to… by William Germano
University Of Chicago Press (2008), Edition: 2, Paperback, 224 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 7 May 2010 | 4:51 pm The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Darnton
PublicAffairs (2009), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 240 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 7 May 2010 | 4:49 pm 
Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon
Faber and Faber (1960), Edition: This is the reprint of 1967, Paperback Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 15 Apr 2010 | 1:16 pmColeridge: Darker Reflections by Richard Holmes
aesop's review: "This second volume in Holmes' masterly biography of Coleridge continues to bring to life the poet in all his genius, unstoppable talk and unbearable unreliability. Holmes animates for us the scudding play of light and shade across Coleridge's life, richly filling out his triumphs and sorrows, and opening the door to those of us who may have been less familiar with it, to Coleridge's critical and political writings.
Holmes never lets the action stand still. Even Coleridge's most desperate times and laconic lapses form part of the continuous tumult of his life. One is swept along emotionally by Holmes' handling, which is never sentimental, but which always turns a solicitous critical eye upon his subject. At the end, surrounded by the shapes of what he might have achieved, Coleridge can turn and look down on the vista of what he actually did: more than enough. That Holmes can take us on the rollercoaster journey of Coleridge's dreams and schemes and failures, and bring us to the end with a sense of Coleridge's legacy despite all this, marks another triumph for Holmes as one of our foremost biographers.
A fantastic book, filled with insight and asides, and generative of thought and reflection in the reader on many levels. More than the story of Coleridge's life, it captures our interest in Coleridge's thought, feeling and philosophy with a vivid dance of detail that recalls Coleridge's own captivating speech."HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (1998), Edition: 1st Edition, First impression., Hardcover, 512 pages Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 15 Apr 2010 | 1:15 pm
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Virago Press Ltd (2009), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 512 pages
Source: aesop's books from LibraryThing | 15 Apr 2010 | 1:15 pm 
book of the month
Turndust
A wind-miller has the duty to grind the meal so that the people living nearby can sell the produce they give him to grind and, indeed, so that they can earn their daily bread. Having had no wind to work with for weeks, and suddenly having some chance to do his work, he is tempted, even though he fears a storm. Should he risk the powerful machinery he is in charge of against the unknown? It may destroy him and the mill in the process.
In Turndust, I was able to use the windmill as a complex metaphor to discuss this in depth. Linguistically, wind-milling offers a range of interesting terminology that help give the writing texture and a specificity that helps me to distance the explicit description of visual events, cloaking them in language. Visually, the structure of the windmill itself is full of wood, beams, gears and a sense of a structure built to withstand enormous forces. A windmill is “built like a tank”. But the windmill also contains the means of its own destruction.
reviewing opportunity
Every month I will feature an artists' book in this column. At the moment I am featuring my own. If you would like me to feature one of yours, with a very brief review/description, please get in touch.
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“I have decided to speak from the book, the place of my making”