Thursday Thoughts...

“All that is holding us together is stories and compassion.” 

Barry Lopez

I think the Barry Lopez quoted here is the nature writing and essayist; who I had never heard of before so I am now granted the wonderful opportunity to discover him and his writing!

The words here resonated with me greatly. I feel as if our entire life is oftentimes about telling stories to help us make sense of our world. Of gathering our observations and our readings; our thoughts and our understandings and trying to put them together in a meaningful way which helps to clarify. Which helps us understand ourselves, those around us and the world at large.

Stories hold us together. Sometimes people write books of stories that help us understand.

But I also really love that he says we are held together by compassion. Compassion and empathy. Compassion for others and their failings towards us. Compassion for ourselves as we too, fail ourselves and others.

Compassion and stories. What a wonderful way of looking at our lives.

Tidying up and using up

 We are well underway with the studio downsizing. Our lease runs out in February and we won't be renewing it. This means we have a major task on our hands to get rid of things we don't need or use anymore; get organised to move the things we will be keeping; and generally speaking tidy up and sort a lot of things out!

As part of this we have re-imagined our home office and created more storage there for things like books, work for sale and so on. As we did this I came across some leftover images from my exhibition with my friend Sheila back in 2024 - Exposed. They were the small proofs, most of which didn't make the final cut; some of which did make the cut, but only in a larger size; and some that made the cut but with minor tweaks.

Did they go in the bin? Or could they be re-worked somehow?

I went with the notion of rescuing some and re-working them. I thought about making cards; but then decide to make postcard-sized works. I wondered about putting them on another colour before placing on the card. And then I thought I would blind-emboss a square to frame them.

I first used this technique back in 2010 for a series of books based on glyphs - marks made either in urban setting or bush settings. More recently, I have come across it in the work of my friend and co-collaborator Annwyn Dean, who uses it beautifully to set off her prints in many of her books- for example here. 

My challenge was however, that as part of the downsizing we had sold our etching press. How to make a deep enough emboss without a press? I recalled we had a timber bed we could slot into the proofing press we use to print letterpress posters, and popped it in. But the rough timber worried me, so I cut some acetate and placed it on the bed. I put the registration template underneath that and thought I was onto it.

I cut a 7cm square from a desk mat, and then I needed to build up the pressure. So I put in several sheets of grey board to give it some oomph as the roller passed over it.

The only trouble was it needed so much oomph I was in danger of crushing my fingers; or having the whole press fall off the bench due to the uncontrollable movement as I pushed and pushed. I recalled there was a handle? But where? Luckily I found it and could fit it. I did have to turn the press around by myself which was fun given its weight, but I managed that safely, then used the handle to really pressure roll and it worked.

And then it was gluing and signing.

And bundled up, waiting for some of them to head off and out.

It felt good to rescue these images. I ended up with 26 workable images on postcards.

The silences

 I had such a lovely time making these books and spending time with the thoughts and words of my friends.

One of the most delightful things was the constant loveliness of the edges and the light and the pages and the covers...

Here is list of all the silences within, and a few images of some of them within  the book. In terms of design decision-making, I simply went with the silences in the order in which I received them. It seemed impossible to make a selection or decision based on anything else.

the silence of being awake at night beside a sleeping love

in our marriage a silence meant something needed to be addressed

quietly sitting in companionable silence with my lover and friend

as children we were told that if the radio fell silent, then someone had pressed the red button

the silence between the notes is also music

the hollowed-out silence of grief

a political silence (from most of australia)

in moments of silence i can hear myself gently exclaiming that i'm proud of you

when the silence of the inner world meets that of a cold moonlit night, i am at peace

moments when silence is all that i have to give

silence can sit quietly amidst noise

silence is a warm comfort blanket between the very best of friends

the silence o your own eyes in the mirror

the companionable silence when reading alongside each other

the silence of insults in the face of righteousness

i find my silence in stillness and inner quiet

One of the things I found most powerful and most moving about this project, was that each of the silences I received was one I would not have thought of, known or imagined.  It seemed to me our silences are unique and as a result quite personal and intimate.

I have collected and collated enough silences for there to be a second book, and the covers and pages are all cut, ready for when I can get around to setting type and printing. 

Thursday Thoughts...

"The world is the closed door. It is a barrier. And at the same time it is the way through. Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication … every separation is a link". 

 Simone Weil

I was headed towards a rather simple pondering this morning, and then I came across this one. And as ever I know not how, but it grabbed me and said 'choose me'.

I confess up front to not having read anything of Ms Weil's to date, but she sounds an interesting character, whose work would be worthy of exploration.

Perhaps this one appealed to me because it speaks of duality. She has taken a moment to consider an object and describe how it can act in two opposing ways.  With a particular example which really does make her case; she could suggest an extrapolation of this notion to other events, objects and experiences.

What can be this; can also be that. 

Interestingly, I think she goes not so much to the scene or the set-up or the physicality of the object; but rather to the concept of that particular example (the wall both divides and enables communication); and instead extrapolates that idea - that every separation is also a link.

For me, this is much harder to conceive of and my mind does some twisting and turning as I attempt to work my way through it. Can every separation also be a link??? Or only certain separations?

In the end, I think I can agree as I try to imagine separations as links - when you are physically separated from somebody; you are somehow also deeply connected by love, by some invisible, non-physical means of attachment to a person. So perhaps the separation enhances this link? Emphasises it? Brings it forth into our awareness? 

Even when somebody dies, the link is still there - through memories, objects you can touch or feel or smell, certain shared experiences, words or moments...

This one could take a lifetime of pondering!

Do Ho Suh 2023

Orchard signs

 We have recently seen the planting of a lovely small orchard in the village where we live. It sits alongside a new walking path and further around the corner are some raised garden beds for vegetables and herbs. A number of the fruit trees were saved from where they were previously growing, as the development started down below.  It was wonderful to be able to save them, move them and give them new life. Others were donated by folk who live here; and one was planted by the operators.

People who walked past however, weren't too sure what was growing, so we undertook to place some signs nearby so that folk could see what was what.

Over the weekend, Barry did the cutting and painting of the stakes/signs, and I did the writing. Together we hammered them in.

Barry's first steps.

Over to me to write on them. I thought they looked a bit like pencils at this point!

I remembered we had done a similar thing many years ago for the Neighbourhood Centre, and went back to check if there were any tips or tricks for me. And there was an excellent one!

Given the variation in word length, I re-created this template as a guide for me to work between/within.

I had written the names out in pencil to get a sense of the size of lettering I could use.

And got myself a permanent marker and started writing.

As per the previous signs from 2017, I simply wrote Orange - and then across the top the type. We might be getting a Navel orange as well, so this is one way to know which is which.

After hammering in place.

Once again, it was a case of the blog to the rescue.  I love being able to search the blog 'vegetables' and have a few posts pop up, including the one I needed to remind myself what I had done in the past!

Completion - all stitched up!

In many ways, it is so hard to think that all of the work that has been happening around these wee books has finished and this couple of small piles is all I kind of have to show for it!

In the edition of 21 (such a nice number), I have 16 that will go to the people who shared their silences with me. Then there will be 5 extra. Across the back here are the 16 and to the bottom left are the5.

Half way through stitching the stash, the late afternoon sunlight appeared.

After stitching came the trimming. I had known from the beginning that by using quite a number of folios which would need to be nestled within each other in order to do the simple pamphlet stitch, that I would need to trim the centre folios quite a bit. And that proved to be the case.

You can see how much the internal folios protruded in this before and after shot.

I had to fold the covers back on each book, line up the ruler along the first page and then slowly slice through the remaining layers. Several slices per book!

The widest slices in the centre of the book were about 5mm (0.5cm) wide. This has rather an impact on where I had placed the type on the page and I was glad I had left extra room in anticipation. Although I have thoughts for the next one!

Before trimming, you can see how much white space there is on that left hand page along the foredge. After trimming, the words sit far more comfortably on the page. Although as I said, I have thoughts about the next one!

Inside my rubbish bin was a lovely layering of strips.

After stitching and trimming it was time to sign, and edition. From 1 - 21.

And now to send them out into the world to the wonderful folk who shared their silences...

Just how I will handle the other five remains open - please get in touch if you might be interested!

Thursday Thoughts...

“To be an artist, you need to exist in a world of silence”. 

Louise Bourgeois

How timely that my eyes fell upon this quote in my many pages of quotes about art today!

Silence and I are having a moment. I find myself thinking about it, exploring it, delving deeper into trying to understand it. Wondering is it even possible for silence to prevail?

So for Ms Bourgeois to say that we need to live within silence in order to create and make art, makes me wonder what that looked like for her. I wonder if it means that she worked in solitude (which isn't of itself silence); if she closed the door to the studio and kept the outer world at bay.

The essences of her words seem to me to be about the need for quiet moments. The quietude of mind and silence from which thoughts and feelings can come forward and into expression. It suggests to me that noise and frenzy are not at all conducive to her life as an artist. And I know it is so for me.  

I need quiet places and quiet spaces to let my thoughts slow, my mind unwind and enable me to focus on the work.

I am not so sure I need to exist fully in a world of silence, but I am pretty sure that silence is a prerequisite for my times of making.

Sentinel, 2010.

Next steps in silences

 And onwards we go.  I took the covers for the book of silences home to work on because there were going to be storms and it would be good to have indoor activities planned whilst at home, where the car could be under cover and safe from hail. We were fortunate that we missed the hail; but it was 9-10cm in diameter in places and absolutely destroyed car windows, and windows and roofs.

There is something lovely about working with decked edges that always delights me, and slows me down. I keep looking at them, arranging them, checking them out from different angles, gathering them all together. There is no doubt I am smitten by them! As evidenced. 

And then it was back to the studio to start putting the books together, and thinking about the stitching. I decided at this point to add in another folio, so I had to cut them down and fold them as well.

And then all the folios were gathered into a book! Of course I reached the end and found I was one folio short. I checked the spares rack and the one folio for which I had no spare, was the one missing. Sod's Law as they say. So it was back to checking each and every single book again and I found (as I had hoped) that I had popped two of that folio into a single book and so I was bang on with the numbers printed. I'll take the win.

And here they are ready to be stitched. I have taken them all home again as more storms are predicted.

In between times as another whilst-waiting-at-home chore; I finally sorted the type sampler books for the type we have retained. What an effort that was for no good reason; it just took me ages and a few detours but I got there. We now have a couple of books that hold our exisiting type alphabetically and by size and by style. Well done me.

And just because they were wonderful to look at - these blossoms on the footpath plus shadows. Stunning!

I always want to call these flowers coral tree flowers; but am pretty sure they are from an Illawarra Flame Tree.