Sunday, December 17, 2017

Collected

In the last week I was able to deliver five artists' books to the State Library of Queensland for them to include in their collection.

The collection - the Australian Library of Art - is one of the best in Australia and it is such an honour to be amongst the many fine book artists who are part of it.

The Library purchased four books and I donated one.

The four they purchased were:

Silence - the final book in the Pas de Deux collaboration by Susan Bowers and myself.



Silence Helps No One - a book about family violence.




The Nurses - honouring the stories of Australian nurses in World War I.




Lost for Words - a book about grief and loss.



Because I think there is reciprocity in life and that positive exchange is part of the making of a good life, I wanted to give the Library a book of mine as well. I really wanted them to know how much I value their support and appreciate that they have purchased several books of mine over the years.

I could have packed them up and posted them all off; but I chose to catch the train down to the big smoke and hand deliver them.  The Library is a gorgeous building in a beautiful cultural precinct by the Brisbane River; it has a fabulous book shop; and a great coffee shop and it is always a joy to visit for so many reasons.

I took along my recent small book What? Why? What? What?  and showed Christene Drewe the Librarian and offered it to her for the collection.




Her response was priceless "Oh you have made my day! This feels like Christmas! " At which point I knew I had made the right decision.

In a letter to acknowledge receipt of the book Christene wrote:

"...the book is a lovely example of the design ethic 'less is more' addressing the social issue of domestic violence. The text encourages reflection through reading, while the images are a discreet accompanying comment on the seriousness of the issue. The book will be added to the artists' book collection in the Australian Library of Art where it will complement your earlier work addressing the issue of domestic violence".

So that was a lovely way to finish off the year artistically speaking.

4 comments:

  1. your books reflect such depth of thought, made with true heart & elegant soul

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  2. F - your artists books all have such a strong messages often in such subtle physical forms. B

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    Replies
    1. Thank you B- lots of work goes in and its nice when it comes out looking strong yet subtle!

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