Posts Tagged ‘Victoria Cooper’
BOOKS & ANZ PHOTOBOOK AWARDS – 22&23 September 2018
Australian 2016 Photobooks of the Year Finalists
.
TWO SPECIAL PHOTOBOOK EVENTS IN BRISBANE ORGANISED BY THE PHOTOBOOK CLUB BRISBANE
Photobook Club Logo
.
Event 1 – VIEW PHOTOBOOKS FRIDAY (FREE)
22nd September evening presents the very best of contemporary photobooks from Australia and New Zealand from the recent Photobook of the Year Awards.
Meet Libby Jeffery from the Award’s Patron MOMENTO PRO.
Come in and look at the books from 5.30pm — The viewing will close at 8.00pm.
Location: MAUD GALLERY – 6 Maud Street, Newstead, Brisbane.
ANZ Photobook Awards at Maud Gallery
TO BOOK this event do so on this Facebook page: PHOTOBOOK FRIDAY FACEBOOK EVENT
Event 2 – TALKING BOOKS SATURDAY (FREE)
23 September – a free day of presentations about making photobooks and talking about the latest local and international photobooks.
Saturday September 23 10.30am – 4.00pm
Location: MAUD GALLERY – 6 Maud Street, Newstead, Brisbane.
Libby Jeffery – MomentoPro
At 11.00am
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Libby Jeffery from MomentoPro
Libby will talk about all things that make a difference for self publishers including:
-
Crowdfunding for projects
-
Working with editors, designers, reviewers, printers, distributors, publicists
-
The value of awards like Australian Photoboook of the Year Awards
-
Art book fairs
-
Print-on-demand services
From 1.00-4.00pm
HEAR FROM SOME LOCAL PHOTOBOOK MAKERS & THEIR BOOKS
Dane Beesley and his books
The images in Dane’s book The Road trace an unknown timeline to an unknown destination, where he appears only as a tall shadow. There’s an honesty, a quest for truth, perhaps a naiveté in the images reminiscent of cinéma vérité that captures the adolescent wanderlust it seeks to document.
David Symons and his book
David will show the ‘ins and outs’ of the work that he produced at the Siganto Foundation artists’ book workshops and a masterclass held at the State Library of Queensland earlier this year with UK artist Helen Douglas.
Neil Degney and his book You are here
The images in Neil’s book have been taken on the streets of inner city Brisbane over the years 2014 to 2017. The title references the ubiquitous wayfinding signs often found in unfamiliar environments that enable us to determine our geographical position and plan a course towards our intended destination. It is also my Instagram user name all the images have at some time been posted to Instagram. The photographs are taken with a camera phone and processed using an app called Snapseed. (Neil is scheduled in October to have the next exhibition at Maud Gallery).
Isaac Brown and his book This Rock Between Us
This Rock Between Us investigates the difficult relationship between my father and me. Hard, floating, and an unsubstantiated substance, the rock appears and vanishes from moment to moment. This handmade photobook attempts to represent the relationship as a physicality, as an object that exists ‘in-between’, and built, by my father and me.
HEAR ABOUT RECENT PHOTOBOOK EVENTS ACTIVITIES IN ATHENS, MALAYSIA & VIENNA
Louis at the Obscura Festival
Louis will be presenting some photobooks he had the pleasure of reading from his recent visit to the Obscura Festival 2017, as well as his recent work-in-progress photobook An Opened Letter.
Justin Ma
In March 2017 Justin Ma was invited to do a photography workshop with Antoine D’agata in Athens, Greece. The workshop was hosted by VOID, a new organisation in Athens focussed on alternative publishing, exhibitions and workshops mainly based around photography as well as other visual arts. During the event at Maud Justin will be showing a few examples of publications from VOID including their collaboration with Antoine D’agata’s latest book “Cidade de Pedra”.
Martin Parr talking photobooks with Vicky and Doug in Vienna
Doug and Vicky will talk about their experiences at the Vienna Photo Book Festival, meeting Martin Parr and Gerry Badger and show some of the books they bought home from the Festival.
.
SEE BOOKS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
.
.
TO BOOK SATURDAY PLEASE REGISTER ON THE EVENTBRITE SITE LISTED BELOW.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/talking-books-photobook-club-brisbane-event-tickets-37573180394
Maud Gallery sign
Thank You Maud Gallery for supporting this Photobook Club Brisbane event.
.
.
.
.
DARK LOVE: Stories of the darkroom @ Maud Gallery
It seems that in the digital age many photographers still pine for the days past when the darkroom was familiar territory. While older photographers may have fond memories, today they share their darkroom love with new-comers, mainly younger and digitally native photographers. To honour the past and to celebrate the future of the darkroom we worked with the Director of Maud Creative Gallery Irena Prikryl recently to host a series of events and workshops to recognise analogue photography in contemporary photographic practice.
On November 8 a group of photographers responded to the call to attend an event at the gallery called DARK LOVE: Stories of the Darkroom. They were asked to come along with something special about the darkroom and tell a story associated with it. On arrival at the gallery their photographs were prepared and then hung on the wall. The presentations were timed at around 5 minutes and were quite fascinating.
Part of the Dark Love exhibition at Maud Gallery
What follows is a photo of the attendee, their print and a brief comment about their stories …
Alex Buckingham
Alex spoke about working with Liquid Light emulsions
Victoria Cooper
Victoria Cooper discussed the making of this pinhole biscuit tin photo and the challenges of printing the 6x18cm negative
Thomas Oliver
Thomas spoke about his current academic research in the multiple printing of a single negative.
Tammy Forward
Tammy discussed the making of a studio portrait.
Sandy Barrie
Sandy spoke of the dangers of shooting large format in busy Sydney traffic.
Robyn Hills
Robyn told the story of the making of this award winning print – from its origins from a point-n-shoot camera to darkroom high contrast printing ‘Tipp-ex” and a little bit of marker pen… A great animated performance….
Rob Crapnell
Rob discussed his interest in the darkroom and work with a 6×7 Pentax documenting how old heritage buildings in Brisbane are being cramped by the skyscraper…
Peter Pescell
Peter discussed his use of an ‘ancient’ bellows camera and reloaded 120 aerial film on spools to make this image… the old and the outdated still have currency in analogue…
Michael Stephenson
Michael discussed his modern printing of a series of lantern slides that represented a panorama of Brisbane made in the 1870s(?) by the photographer a Mr Wilson(?).
Louis Lim
Louis spoke of a camera obscura that he made in a children’s hospital as part of an artist in residence. He described the view of Vulture Street in Brisbane on the ceiling of the room and how children visiting the space were enthralled by the images on the ceiling and walls…
Jeff Ryan
Jeff discussed the taking of this photograph and its connection personal connection with he and his brother’s lives. The photo was made relatively recently at a place where Jeff and his brother played as kids 40 years earlier.
Irena Prikryl
Irena’s story related to buying her first serious camera – a Hasselblad and then taking some photos in Grand Central Station in New York. The camera was balanced on a railing and the shutter speed was long… The photo was recently printed in a Fine Art Print workshop at Maud with Doug+Vicky.
Chris Bowes
Chris Bowes was unable to attend but had come by earlier to install his personal investigation of self and sweat by placing un-exposed B&W photopaper against his body. The prints are then process yield a ‘Chemigram’. Chris will present a floortalk at the gallery. Check the Dark Love page for details…
David Symons
David discussed that the origins of his 1980s photographic series was a response to the work and photobooks of David Hamilton. Hamilton was well known for his ‘soft-porn’ photos of young girls. Symons spoke about how he appropriated Hamilton’s photos by double printing copy negatives through a cracked mud image. Texts from Hamilton’s book were adapted by Symons using a redactive process to reveal an alternative story….
Doug Spowart
I commented about how a recent re-connection with pinhole photography during the Pinhole workshop last weekend had helped to resolve a need for a new project that Vicky and I will be working on next year. I passed around an 8″x10″ film pinhole negative that had revived my interest and love of the darkroom. PHOTO: Victoria Cooper.
Edwin Wecker
Edwin discussed his experiences with film photography whilst on tour to India with his friend Russell Shakespeare.
Gail Hoger-Neuman
Gail showed some photographs from her early 1990s exhibition ‘Hollywood Stills’ that was shown at Imagery Gallery.
Sandy Barrie demonstrates ancient portable daylight enlargers – the oldest was made before 1859.
Conversations continued after the presentations
The DARK LOVE works were enjoyed and discussed
CHRIS BOWES FLOORTALK – 26 November – details to be confirmed
A FINE ART PRINTING WORKSHOP WILL TAKE PLACE ON – Postponed to 2017
A CYANOTYPE WORKSHOP – Details HERE
AND THE FRONT GALLERY WILL BE CONVERTED INTO A CAMERA OBSCURA on November 26 (to be confirmed)
Festival of the Darkroom logo
All portrait photographs and gallery documentations unless credited otherwise ©2016 Doug Spowart
.
.
1993 THE BRISBANE PHOTOGRAPHY SCENE: Ian Poole Guest Editor
Cover-PHOTO.Graphy Vol4 #5
From 1990 to 2001 I edited and published a journal called PHOTO.Graphy (ISSN 1038-4332 and earlier called ‘News Sheet’). This journal was created to fill a gap in the discussion, critique and commentary about a segment of the photography discipline within Australia. Occasionally I would engage guest editors to add their voice to the conversation. Ian Poole was the Guest Editor for Volume 4 #5 – Here is my Editorial introducing to Ian’s view of the art photography scene in Queensland in 1993.
Ian’s survey of the Queensland art photography scene makes for interesting reading nearly 25 years on… Mentioned in the survey are; Rod Buchholtz, Andrew Campbell, Ray Cook, Victoria Cooper, Marion Drew, John Elliott, Peter Fischman, Craig Holmes, Andrew Hurst, Chris Houghton, Susan Leway, Kerry James, Gail Newmann, Glen O’Malley, Charles Page, Graeme Parkes, Ray Peek, Howard Plowman, Rhonda Rosenthal, Maris Rusis, Doug Spowart, Ruby Spowart, Richard Stringer, Carl Warner, Jay and Younger. Charles A. von Jobin is also featured in the issue.
.
A PDF of the full issue is available HERE: PHOTO.G-Vol4n5r.
ABBE: Artists books Brisbane Event 2015
ABBE Logo
For many years Queensland had a diversity of artists book activities: the bi-ennial Artspace Mackay Artists Book Forums and Libris Awards, the once yearly Noosa Artists Book Events and the Southern Cross University Acquisitive Artists Book Awards. Also contributing to this fertile artists book environment the State Library of Queensland’s Australian Library of Art which included the SLQ’s Siganto Foundation fellowships, ‘white glove’ presentations and events. Added to this were exhibitions and artists book fairs coordinated by Grahame Galleries and other shows at scattered venues. With the recent demise of the Mackay, Noosa and Southern Cross events their absence was felt by the artists book community. Now a new event has emerged to add to the SLQ and Grahame Galleries support of the art – the Artists Book Brisbane Event (ABBE). Over July 16, 17 and 18 ABBE featured a triptych of activities; a conference, an exhibition of books, an artists book fair and allied exhibition events at the State Library of Queensland, Grahame Galleries, The Studio West End, the IMA and Impress Printmakers Gallery.
The conference sought to address 3 main themes relating to the artists book:
- post literacy
- materiality/the haptic
- the nature of reading artists books.
Three keynote presenters lead the program:
- Sarah Bodman – Senior Research Fellow for Artists Books, CFPR editor of the Blue Notebook
- Brad Freeman – Founder and editor in chief of the Journal of Artist’s Books
- Dr Lyn Ashby – Australian artist and scholar making books
Sarah Bodman presents her keynote lecture
.
SARAH BODMAN (Abstract)– ARTISTS’ BOOKS AS A PHYSICAL SITE OF PRACTICE
If a post-Literate society might also encompass new ways of thinking about reading, we could think of contemporary artists’ books as a site of practice beyond that of McLuhan’s sign posting of the invention of moveable type as fundamentally responsible for how the Western world physically reads: “along the straight Lines of the printed page.”
We seem to have already moved from Linear to non-linear reading; we are used to flitting through digital screen-based texts, and losing our attention through a multitude of online multi-tasking. Physical engagement with artists’ books provides us with spaceto breathe, a slower rhythm of ingesting information and time to reflect, so what about the artists who are making them? How are artists engaging with the physical book now?
These examples focus on celebrating the book as a physical container used by artists to: re-present language, offer performative reading, view how reading is perceived, appropriate text from novels and instructional manuals into new works, or to transform information from the virtual into the physical.
Brad Freeman presents his keynote lecture
.
BRAD FREEMAN (Abstract) – JOURNAL OF ARTISTS’ BOOKS
Brad Freeman’s Lecture focussed on JAB, the Journal of Artists’ Books, that supports critical inquiry into artists’ books. Since 1994 JAB has published interviews with contemporary artists whose primary medium is the artist book, reviews of artists’ books, and essays about historical issues and contemporary artists and their work. JAB has a two pronged approach to culture creation via publication arts; an educational approach with critical writing and documentation of current activity; and second, a creative approach with publication art-exploring the creative potential of print and the book by commissioning artists’ covers (letterpress and offset), artist designed pages, and artists’ books made especially for insertion into JAB.
Lyn Ashby presents his keynote lecture
.
LYN ASHBY (Abstract) – POSTLITERACY AND ARTISTSBOOKS: Coming to our senses with a modern mythic form
This presentation is a speculation on the idea that contemporary artistsbooks may be the laboratory for a new literacy, and that in honor of the quietly evolutionary nature of this new literacy, we might call it “postliteracy”.
As background, it explores how our centuries of standard literacy and its attendant conventions of pictorial space and chronological, narrative time, have privileged a specific code in the representations of our language systems (both image and text) and their operations across the page and through the book. The prescriptions of these conventions and the domination of the line and the grid onto the look of language have come to minimise the participation (and uncertainty) of the senses in the direct process of apprehending meaning with language forms.
But the pages of artistsbooks are often filled with the explorations of other ways that language forms can activate a lively, sensory involvement with the page space, or how meaning can be formulated beyond the limitations of chronology.
Some of these experiments involve the invocation of pre literate, oral language structures that work more by the devices and grammars of music, song and myth than the usual strategies of standard literacy. in this way, the contemporary artistsbook may be the hardcopy home of a modern, mythic form.
.
Doug Spowart performs his lecture ‘I’m about to ‘read’ a book’
Victoria Cooper presents her lecture ‘The Grafted Image: The Montage’
Tim Mosely presents in the lecture room
Presenting/Participating at the conference
.
- Lyn Ashby
- Sarah Bodman
- Sara Bowen
- Deidre Brollo
- Helen Cole
- Victoria Cooper
- Marian Crawford
- Daniel Della-Bosca
- Fiona Dempster
- Caren Florance
- Jenny Fraser
- Brad Freeman
- Angela Gardner
- Noreen Grahame
- Bridget Hillebrand
- Joel Lardner
- Marian Macken
- Tim Mosely
- Adele Outteridge
- Mikhail Pogarsky
- Doug Spowart
- Kym Tabulo
- Wim de Vos
- Gabriella Wilson
Invite – ‘books by artists’
- books by artists’ in the Webb Gallery, QCA
The ‘books by artists’ exhibitors
- Isaac Brown
- Blogger_dad
- Penny Carey-Wells
- Victoria Cooper
- Caroline Craig
- Fiona Dempster
- Hesam Fetrati Angela Gardner
- Annique Goldenberg
- Alannah Gunter
- Institute of Modern Art Cassandra Lehman-Schultz
- Alison Mackay
- Judy Macklin
- Heather Matthew
- Tess Mehonoshen
- Christine Mellor
- Tim Mosely
- night ladder collective
- Naomi O’Reilly
- Adele Outteridge
- Mona Ryder
- Rose Rigley
- Glen Skien
- Doug Spowart
- Wim de Vos
.
.
THE ABBE ARTISTS BOOK FAIR
Artists Book Fair
.
Artists Book Fair stallholders
Sue Anderson + Gwen Harrison
Lyn Ashby
Sara Bowen (no image taken)
Deidre Brollo with Christene Drewe and Helen Cole
Penny Carey-Wells
Centre for Regional Arts Practice (Cooper+Spowart) (no image taken)
Marian Crawford with Sarah Bodman
Daniel Dell-Bosca with Victoria Cooper
Robyn Foster + Fiona Dempster
Caren Florance
Robyn Foster (no image taken)
Brad Freeman JAB
Angela Gardner
Griffith Centre for Creative Arts Research (no image taken)
Impress Printmakers: Sue Poggioli + Jennifer Stuerzl
Institute of Modern Art
Sheree Kinlyside
Clyde McGill
Heather Matthew
Anita Milroy book – ‘Biography of a Physicist’ (Image supplied by the artist)
Adele Outteridge + Wim de Vos
QCA Gold Coast (no image taken)
silverwattle bookfoundry (Tim Mosely)
Peta Smith
.
ABBE participants also visited Grahame Galleries, The Studio West End and the State Library of Queensland
.
The SLQ White Gloves team Christene, Helen and Jeanette
.
.
ABBE Logo
ABBE was an initiative of the Griffith Centre for Creative Arts Research and was coordinated by Dr Tim Mosely and Dr Lynden Stone.
All photographs © 2015 Doug Spowart
.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
PERFORMING the BOOK @ SLQ – Siganto Artists Book Seminar
The Siganto Artists’ Books Seminar 2015
On June 20+21 the 2015 The Siganto Artists’ Books Seminar took place at the State Library of Queensland. Attendees were presented with a one–day series of lectures, performances and a forum addressing the diversity of the artists’ book and importantly visual and creative research being undertaken by Fellowships supported by the Siganto Foundation.
State Librarian Janette Wright welcomes attendees to the seminar
The State Librarian Jeanette, introduced by MC Christene Drewe, spoke of the Library’s Artists’ Book Collection. This was followed by Dr Marie Siganto from the Siganto Foundation who spoke enthusiastically about the Foundation’s support of the Artists’ Book Collection.
Dr Marie Siganto makes a presentation to the attendees of the seminar and presents 2015 Fellowships
A significant theme of this years’ event was based around the idea of artists’ books as performance. Brazilian artist, performer and academic Amir Brito Cadôr’s presented his keynote address The Book as Performance – he also performed a book reading of Momento Vital by Brazilian artist Vera Chaves Barcellos.
Amir Brito Cadôr makes his keynote presentation
In the morning session 2015 Siganto Foundation Artists’ Books Fellows Clyde McGill and Julie Barratt presented progress reports on their research projects. Jan Davis discussed her 2014 Creative Fellowship and presented the completed artists’ book to the Library. The book was entitled Drawing on the ground and referenced the historical aspects of work and toil on Queensland farms. Reference material for Jan’s book came from diaries, books and documents held by the Library. Her artists’ book features text fragments and line sketches – the book was bound by Fred Pohlman and the cover was styled to resemble an old station journal.
Julie Barratt discusses her Siganto Creative Fellowship
Clyde McGill discusses his Siganto Artists’ Book Creative Fellowship
Jan Davis discusses Drawing on the ground, her Siganto Artists’ Book Creative Fellowship
Doug Spowart discusses Jacob Raupach’s Radiata
As the 2014 Siganto Artists’ Books Research Fellow I presented an illustrated lecture on my experiences as a researcher of the Australian Library of Art, a selection of the range of books I encountered that employed photography from very minor references in text to conceptual pieces based on photographs. This list included:
Anne Wilson in, Tock 01-01-2000, 2000
Codex Event: Darren Bryant .. [et al.], Wild Cherry Tin Mine, 2006.
Vince Dziekian, Blooms Books, 1993-4.
Barbara Davidson, Different moods of the Opera House, 2001.
Felipe Ehrenberg, Generacion 1973
Peter Kingston, The Blue Mountains, 1987.
Michael Buhler, Oblique Lines, 19-.
William Copley Notes on a Project for a Dictionary of Rediculous Images, 1972.
Adam Broomberg + Oliver Chanarin, Holy Bible, 2013.
Judy Barrass, Eden-Monaro in Summer, 2001.
Juli Haas, The oyster book of lessons from the memory room, 2007.
Jihad Muhammad aka John Armstrong, Ten menhirs at Plouharnel, Carnac, Morbihan, Bretagne, France, 1982.
Angela Callanan, 7 Signs of Absence, 2010.
Susan King, Photo bio, 2011.
Malcolm Enright, Western Wisdom, 1998.
Pierre Cavalan, Artists Book, 1998.
Compiled by Kay Faulkner Indulge, 2006.
Debra Gibson, Kamikaze, 2004.
Dick Jewell, Found Photos, 1977.
Julie Barratt, Collateral damage, 2008.
Alison Knowles, Bread and Water, 2004.
David King, Raw deal, 1997.
Valerie Keenan HY1, 2001.
Tim Johnson, Fittings, 1972.
Christian Boltanski, Scratch, 2002.
Amanda Watson-Will, Judy and the Jacaranda, 2010.
Phillip Zimmerman, High tension, 1993.
Jan Davis, Solomon, 1995.
I then disclosed the principal research product the paper: The artists’ book, the photobook and the photo-a spectral approach, as well as recommendations to the Library for photobooks to be relocated from the General collection into places that reflected the significance of these books in the history of photography and the photobook. I also supplied Photobook Publishers and Info URLs that could be used by anyone wanting to keep up with new photobook releases an purchasing opportunities. I particularly noted that the Library held no Trent Parke books and provided, as an example, his book Dream Life that could have been purchased in 2000 for around $60 is now sold for $1,000+. Highlighting the need for the SLQ to be pro-active in purchasing contemporary book for modest outlay – rather than waiting until they are nearly unaffordable. I also highlighted the need for institutions to engage with and maintain links with artists’ book and photobook self-publishers as they exist outside of the usual publishing structures. I quoted Des Cowley, the State Library of Victoria’s History of the Book Manager from a statement made by him in his presentation at the ‘Other Photobook’ forum at Photobook Melbourne. He said:
… It is therefore incumbent upon staff in these institutions to build networks and relationships with the communities creating this work in order to be informed about what is being produced, and to ensure this material is acquired and preserved for future researchers.
My presentation concluded with two quotes from book artist and mail art aficionado Ulises Carrion that I felt related to the contemporary artists’ book and photobook. Carrion states:
I include books in the category of
living creatures … : they grow, reproduce, change colour, become ill and finally die.
At this moment we are witnessing the final stage of this process.
… if books are to survive they have to change. And [artists’] bookworks is the real possibility that books have for survival.
Schraenen, G. (1992). Ulises Carrion : We have won! Haven’t we?
.
HERE IS THE SLQ VIDEO OF THE SIGANTO FELLOW’S PRESENTATIONS
.
Other artists’ book performances included: Virginia and Julie Barratt’s The Morning After, one by Clyde McGill and a performance by QUT drama students of the three-part book Robert Bringhurst’s artist’s book New World Suite number three: a poem in four movements for three voices. The performers were Thomas Yaxley, Emily Weir and Meghan Clarke and was directed by QUT lecturer Floyd Kennedy.
Clyde McGill performs his book
The afternoon concluded with a forum moderated by Louise Martin-Chew on the topic of collaboration. The forum participants were Clyde McGill, Julie Barratt and Doug Spowart. Each participant discussed a project that involved collaboration and questions were posed by Louise to bring out important points from each panelist. The most interesting aspect of this forum was when questions from the floor created heated debate around the idea of the physical book and its experience verses the virtual online experience.
Julie answers a question in the collaboration forum
On Sunday many local and interstate stallholders presented their work for an Artists’ Book Fair in the Knowledge Walk at the SLQ. Tours of selected artists’ books from State Library’s Artists’ Book Collection were well attended and provide rare access to special books from the Australian Library of Art Collection. The two-day event was significant for the opportunity for artists’ book aficiandos, makers, collectors and readers to engage with the physicality of not only the books but also to touch with the extensive community of the book. Our thanks must go to the SLQ, particularly Christene Drewe and Helen Cole, and to the Dr Marie Siganto and the Siganto Foundation for their continued support of the artists’ book collection of the Australian Library of Art and events such as these. Doug Spowart
State Librarian, Janette Wright views a tunnel book by Wim de Voss
What follows are a range of images from the Seminar and Artists’ Book Fair
Tim Mosely promotes the ABBE Conference @ QCA in July
Sue Poggioli at the Artists’ Book Fair
Amir and Noreen Grahame
Julie Barratt at the Artists’ Book Fair
Julie Barratt, Monica Oppen and Helen Cole Artists’ Book Fair
A section of the Artists’ Book Fair at the SLQ
Doug Spowart and Wim de Voss
Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper and their C.R.A.P. display
Clyde McGill and Anne Kirker
Helen Malone at the Artists’ Book Fair
Helen Cole, Michael Wardell and Clyde McGill at the Artists’ Book Fair
Sandra Pearce at the Artists’ Book Fair
Amir Brito Cadôr with Helen Malone
Amir Brito Cadôr with Victoria Cooper and Doug Spowart
Adele Outteridge and Wim de Voss
Judy Bourke at the Artists’ Book Fair
Presented by SLQ with the generous support of the Siganto Foundation. All photos and text ©2015 Doug Spowart
PHOTOBOOK INDEPENDENT: Our books in Hollywood – thanks to QCP
Photo Independent poster
.
As part of its international activities for Queensland and Australian photographers the Queensland Centre for Photography participated in the inaugural Photo Independent art fair at Raleigh Studios, Los Angeles 1–3 May, 2015. The main Australian contingent consists of the wall images of 12 photomedia artists. They are Anna Carey, Belinda Kochanowska, Chris Bowes, David La Roche, Henri van Noordenburg, Kim Demuth, Kelly Hussey-Smith & Alan Hill, Katelyn-Jane Dunn, Lynette Letic, Michael Cook and Marian Drew.
.
An additional aspect of Photo Independent is one dedicated to the recognition of photographers who work in the book format. Called Photobook Independent the QCP curated a selection of 16 Australian photo publishers to present in the L.A. event.
In QCP media about these two events the following statement was made:
The QCP is excited to be part of this ground-breaking event as the world of photography will set its focus on Los Angeles 1–3 May, 2015 for a weekend celebrating international photography and the most talented image-makers across various genres of the medium. Numerous high profile art fairs including Paris Photo Los Angeles, Photo Contemporary, Photo Independent and PhotoBook Independent will launch their annual editions in Hollywood with additional special photography exhibitions throughout Los Angeles. The weekend promises to offer the enthusiastic art patron a plethora of opportunities to experience photography at its highest calibre.
The photobook publishers were: Ingvar Kenne, Dane Beesley, Anne Ferran, Lindsay Varvari, Rohan Hutchinson, Julie Shiels, Prudence Murphy, Christopher Young, Paul Batt, Ian Tippett, Doug Spowart, Victoria Cooper, Gemma Avery, Michelle Powell, Mathias Heng and Christopher Köller.
Interviews with the artists and photobook makers can be found on the LUCIDA Site: http://lucidamagazine.com/
Biogs on the photobook participants can be seen here: http://qcpinternational.com/portfolios/photo-book-independent-2015/
.
Victoria Cooper’s PILLIGA
.
About Victoria’s Book: PILLIGA
Pilliga is the culmination of 10 years work. It is informed by the many physical, psychological and metaphorical journeys through this enigmatic place during the decade of its creation.
This book is not a topographic depiction of the Pilliga Scrub, a remote location in the Australian Bush. Rather it is a human story of lurking deep anxiety manifested as a destructive invisible entity feeding on fears of the unknown and unknowable.
A PDF of the book can be seen here:PILLIGA-redsmr
The book can be purchased from BLURB here: http://blur.by/1Q9cGhh
.
Doug Spowart’s I have inhabited a place …
About Doug’s Book: I HAVE INHABITED A PLACE FREQUENTED BY ARTISTS MAKING THEIR ART …
This book relates to the experience of being a documentary photographer within the world. The subject, a deserted artist’s studio, becomes an immersive landscape for investigation. This photobook expresses a personal narrative about loss, absence, place, and concepts around the relationship between the non-human and the working practices of artists.
A PDF of the book can be seen here: I have inhabited a place …red2
The book can be purchased from AMAZON here: http://blur.by/1K65dMu
.
.
.
HABITAT OUT WEST: Environmental Art of the Darling Downs Exhibition
Curated by Ashleigh Campbell and Anne Keam.
When, how, and why did the locality Darling Downs come to be known as the Surat Basin? This question informed the exhibition curators Ashleigh Campbell and Anne Keam and with it came the recognition that such a shift was deeply important to the region’s connections and perceptions of their place.
.
Habitat is a word that accommodates the presence of life beyond the human shaped and perceived landscape. In any given habitat the living and the nonliving interact to the rhythms of the earth and the cosmos. As both observers and inhabitants, artists and scientists help shape human perceptions of and relations with the broader global environment. This includes the economy of the earth’s resources that supports humanity.
Campbell and Keam researched a broad range of influences including the natural and human habitat of the Darling Downs from colonial history to present. Through the eyes and minds of the region’s colonial and post-colonial artists, along with some scientific documentation and social artifacts, they sought to reflect on shift and its implications on the regions environment.
John Mullins Memorial Art Gallery entry – Dogwood Crossing, Miles.
John Mullins Memorial Art Gallery interior
.
This exhibition brought together a diverse collection of works including: prehistoric fossils and other historical artifacts, references and narratives of the pastoralists struggle with the invasion of prickly pear cactus and other pests, floods and droughts. The artists represented in the show came from many disciplines. Paintings representing this landscape covered a range of movements and styles from romantic colonial pastoral period to impressionism, abstraction and modernism. Well known artists names: Kenneth Macqueen, Sam Fullbrook and Joe Furlonger are representative of the depth of creative work in this exhibition.
.
Joseph Furlonger Round Up Ready Field, near Dalby 2012 Acrylic bound pigment 91 x 122 cm Courtesy of The Hughes Gallery, Sydney
.
Some artists reflected on living with the natural environment as found in small corners of Patricia Hinz’s back yard in the work, Sanctuary (2014). Palpable in the drawing of Allan Bruce’s Stanthorpe, Late Winter (2008) is the feeling of being in the grand sun-soaked landscape of the Downs, and the relationship of small towns with the surrounding country. Bruce observes: “Stanthorpe is one of those towns where the natural and built environment coalesces almost seamlessly.”[1] The inventiveness and creativity that pervades every farmer’s shed and bushman’s camp is embodied in the sculptural work of Dion Cross’ Grass Harvester (2014), that highlights the competition for pasture between man and animal during periods of drought. The fine drawings of flowers and fungi by botanical artists and illustrators through scientific documentation reveal a deep understanding and investigation of the natural life forms found in this region.
.
Dion Cross Grass Harvester 2014 Steel sculpture 150 x 60 x 180 cm Courtesy of the artist Image: Spowart + Cooper
.
Phil Bazzo’s painting, Miles: At the Crossroads (Triptych, 2008) presented two concepts: the physical nature of the intersections of roads in Miles including the dynamics of heavy road vehicles and the metaphor of crossroads to infer change and concerns for the future. Both found natural and manmade objects and materials were also utilized as the visual language of protest. This was evident in the mixed media works of Jennifer Wright (Summers): Searching for Life in the Anthropocene 1 (2014), using tea bags, feathers, fabric pen & ink, watercolour and Anthropocene Nest (2014), that was made from plastic bags and pelican bone. Nicki Laws’ Habitat Gone (2014) collaged and embroidered the materials found in the fluoro safety barriers widely used in the industries found in the region.
.
Gillian Scott Grevillea x ‘Robyn Gordon’ 1993 Watercolour on paper 25 x 35 cm Courtesy of the artist
.
The solastalgic plea for a balance with man and the land was also deeply felt when viewing the work of Barbara Hancock’s Brigalow Landscape (2014). Working with the land, technology and energy needs was also strongly referenced in the work of Sylvia Secomb (Mann), Synergism – Towards Regeneration I (2010), but also reflects on the question “What will we be leaving for those who come after?”[2]
.
Sylvia Secomb (Mann) Synergism – Towards Regeneration I 2010 Acrylic and medium on canvas 91 x 213 cm Courtesy of the artist
.
For the city viewer who ventures out into the region to connect with this show, there is a unique experience: to be in the space and place of the exhibition, Dogwood Crossing, Miles, within the Habitat it references. This site-specific exhibition presents rare opportunity to engage with the historical and contemporary issues of living with the land through the creative energy and perception of those who chose to live and work in this region. The curators have also published an extensive and informative online catalogue to accompany the exhibition: Habitat_Catalogue or online at http://issuu.com/ourwesterndowns/docs/catalogue/1
Beyond the facts and information, the presence of a growing connection and love of the Australian environment pervaded strongly throughout this extraordinary show. Through visual story telling and lived experience, the artists and the curators have constructed a layered topology of the Darling Downs. A telling image of how the effects of a changing human condition: technology, energy and food production can be identified and chronicled through the artist’s vision.
.
Victoria Cooper
I am also privileged to have my work, 7 Gates (two forms: artists’ book, 2009; digital media presentation 2014), included in Habitat.
[1] Page 11, ibid.
[2] Page 21, Habitat: Environmental Art of the Darling Downs, 2014. The online catalogue for the show of the same name. See http://issuu.com/ourwesterndowns/docs/catalogue/1
Anne Keam and Ashleigh Campbell at the opening.
MEMORY COLLECTIVE: Super Moon + Phoenix
Eighteen months ago Toowoomba artist Damien Kamholtz began a project that was to bring together a team of local artists to participate in a conceptual artwork that would have many states and private and public iterations. The first public presentation of the The Memory Collective was at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery in August/September 2013.
.
Two weeks ago a key element of The Memory Collective project was altered yet again into a new state. This took place near Cabarlah at a symbolic time for Kamholtz, the recent super moon…
.
Here is part of the document made on that July evening.
.
Damien Kamholtz before the burning Photo: Cooper+Spowart
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
The super-moon rising and the embers of the phoenix rising
.
.
Aftermath of the fire
.
Aftermath: ashes of the painting the next morning. Photo: Damien Kamholtz
…. this is not an ending for the Memory Collective…
.
THE BACKSTORY OF THE MEMORY COLLECTION
.
An exhibition of the collaborative artwork as a singlarity
.
Memory Collective image from the exhibition @ Toowoomba Regional
.
A painting and a performance
The Memory Collective painting by Damien Kamholtz
.
The Memory Collective is a multi-disciplinary collaboration orchestrated by artist Damien Kamholtz. Kamholtz states: The Memory Collective Project is a creative collaboration between 12 artists across eight artistic disciplines exploring concepts and themes relating to the human condition such as change, constants, history, refection and memory. The artworks created during the project will make up an exhibition to be held at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery in September 2013.
There are different stages to the project. First Kamholtz created a large 2.2 metre square painting, while sculptor, Jessie Wright constructed the large vessel to hold the water. Kamholtz’s painting is embedded with personal meaning in the form of fragments of his past art, the ashes of diaries. In the presence of this artwork we are drawn into a poetic landscape where faces emerge; symbols and totems slip from passive dark spaces and come into conscious awareness.
The second stage of the work was the performance in the form of 9 responses to the painting by Kristy Lee. The painting and the pool created the reflective and reflexive performative space and the transformative process of the original painting then began. Integral to the space were David Usher’s delicate pots; these vessels contained the pallet of shades that then shrouded and clouded the memory of the work. Over the course of the day the painting’s physical form was transformed into something different loosing its current visual form as only a memory.
Our part of the collaboration was to witness, respond and record the transformation of the work over the day. The next stage of the Memory Collective’s work will continue over the next month our component will be to create 9 large collaged photograph memory states of the work for the show in September. Works by others include; a video art piece, a documentary video, a soundscape, interviews, prose and poems. It is a significant project and is being funded by the RADF and supported through the exhibition at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery.
.
A fragment of photographic memories made by us for the MEMORY COLLECTIVE…
.
Damien Kamholtz in the performance space with the painting and pool
.
.
A performance
..
Kirsty Lee and painting – in the early state…
…
Kirsty Lee performs before the painting
.
State 3 Kirsty applies paint to the paining…
.
Hand paint
.
Kirsty Lee and her interaction with the painting … around Stage 6
.
Blue hand…
.
Kirsty Lee in a frenetic stage…
.
Kirsty Lee and brushes before the pool
.
Paint fluid in the pool…
.
Towards the final state…
.
The final state …
…
.
.
.
Additional material
/.
Damien discussing movement with Kirsty
.
Kirsty Lee towards the end of the performance
.
Another creative work from the performance by Jason Nash…
Jason Nash – Time lapse video
CLICK HERE to see Jason Nash’s ‘Memory Collective’ time-lapse video
.
The Team: Front Ashleigh Campbell, Julio Dunlop, Kirsty Lee, Victoria Cooper, Doug Spowart
Back: David Usher, Jason Nash, Jesse Wright, Damien Kamholtz, Zac Rowling ( weakling).
Not present: Craig Allen & Jake Hickey
.
Toowoomba Chronicle 17 June, 2013 by Kate Dodd PHOTO: Dave Noonan
.
..
.
.
© 2013+2014 Victoria Cooper and Doug Spowart for The Memory Collective
.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
.
.
WORLD PINHOLE DAY, 2014: Our Contribution
.
Round the [w]hole world on the 27th of April pinholers were out having fun – Making their images for the 2014 WPD. We’ve used our Olympus camera again and this time made duo self-portraits. This is the 10th year we have made pinhole images to support the WPD project!
.
Olympus Pen with hand pierced aluminum foil hole, Auto exposure mode, ISO 1600.
.
VICKY’s Submission:
.
Victoria+Doug RayPortrait
.
DOUG’s Submission:
.
“A duo portrait – camera shadow to block the sun from the eyes — A bit of self-portrait fun…”
.
Vist the WPD Site for other contributors: http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2014/
Our Past WPD images:
.
2013 https://wotwedid.com/2013/04/29/world-pinhole-photography-day-our-contribution/
2012 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2012/index.php?id=1937&searchStr=spowart
2011 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2011/index.php?id=924
HERE IS THE LINK to the 2011 pinhole video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk4vnbzTqOU
2010 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2010/index.php?id=2464&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
2006 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2006/index.php?id=1636&Country=Australia&searchStr=cooper
2004 Vicky http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2004/index.php?id=1553&Country=Australia&searchStr=cooper
2004 Doug http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2004/index.php?id=1552&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
2003 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2003/index.php?id=615&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
2002 http://www.pinholeday.org/gallery/2002/index.php?id=826&Country=Australia&searchStr=spowart
.
.
BOX of BOOKS Event – Toowoomba!
Looking at the books – Cobb+Co Museum, Toowoomba
.
Around 35 photobook enthusiasts gathered at the Cobb+Co Museum on January 27 to view the Photobook Club’s Box of Books and talk about photobooks. The event brought together local photo identities John Elliott, Graham Burstow, David Seeto and Victoria Cooper. Eric Victor, Ian Poole and Qld College of Art Masters student Maureen Trainor came from the Brisbane side of the Range. The meeting took place in the gallery space of the ICON on ICONS photographic exhibition that also concluded on that day.
.
Convener of the event Doug Spowart opens the Box of Books
.
The seven books were viewed and discussed at length. Comments about the books included the following:
“Each book is a very personal communiqué”
“The books demand viewing at many different levels – the narrative, the design, the production, the conceptual nature of the work…”
“This is a very Eurocentric view – I wonder what the American view would look like?”
“How do these books compare with the Australian photobook scene?”
A great deal of discussion took place over the comment – “Where are the captions … the works that help me to understand what the photographer is trying to say?” One respondent commented on Roland Barthes’ concept of ‘The death of the author and the birth of the reader’ – meaning that the reader needs to connect with the images and draw on their own life experiences.
.
Donald Webber’s Interrogations drew quite a few comments – tension and the power of the portraits made in such a circumstance.
Linda Seeto, Victoria Cooper, Hardy and Alison Ahlhaus looking at Webber’s Interrogations
.
The crowd favourite was Anne Sophie Merryman’s Mrs. Merryman’s Collection … a superb design, delicate paper, the see-through of texts and the amazingly bizarre collection of post card photographs and comments.
.
Mrs. Merryman’s Collection
.
Paul Graham’s The Present and its gate-fold format presented a viewing challenge as each image or group of images needed to be revealed by folding-out the page – an extended haptic experience, and considering the size of the book, it slowed down the read and brought the busy street scenes to a slowed motion.
.
Tony Coonan, Linda and David Seeto look at Paul Graham’s book
.
The Box of Books will be in Brisbane on Monday the 3rd of February and then be off to New Zealand for the next stage in its journey.
Thanks to the Cobb+Co Museum for providing the venue. The Photobook Club and the publishers who donated the books for the opportunity for us to see, touch, and read these books.
Until the next Photobook Club event in our area….
.
This Photobook Club BOX OF BOOKS event was coordinated by Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper of the Centre for Regional Arts Practice.
.
Other images from the event…
Looking at a book…
Ann Alcock and Bev Lacey
Toula, Ian Poole and Louise
Tony Coonan, Victoria Cooper and Anne Howard
Judi Neuman and Phillipa Hodges
Graham Burstow and Maureen Trainor
Looking at some of the ephemera from the Box of Books
John Elliott and Eric Victor
Helen Gibbs and Lucy Robertson-Cunninghame
Gerry Saide looking closely at a book
Doug Spowart opens the box
Room view at the Cobb+Co Museum
The Cobb+Co Museum panorama
.
.
The Photobook Club’s BOX of BOOKS in Toowoomba
.
.
.
.
wotwedid 