Thursday Thoughts...

“I long so much to make beautiful things. But beautiful things require effort—and disappointment and perseverance.” 

Vincent van Gogh

This man understood the art of art-making; the journey, the highs, the lows, the disappointments and the bliss.

That longing and desire to create things of beauty can be a very real hunger and an ache; a yearning to express ourselves through the creation of simple, elegant, beautiful things; or through bright, bold and expressive beautiful things. But that longing and yearning is there no matter the style of our creating.

I think we learn as we go along our own path just how hard it can be to make beautiful things. So often we have a sense of an idea a vision in our mind's eye of a beautiful thing, and yet the creation of it in its most beautiful form can be a path strewn with boulders and potholes.

It so often involves disappointment when we take a wrong-turn; or discover that our expression of the idea is not as beautiful as it could have been, or in the manner which we hoped for.  And perseverance is needed; to stick with it, to learn over and over again how not to do something if that is what is needed. Repetition and practice until we have mastered the skill and can translate our longing and our vision into beauty.

And then, well the reward is priceless.

©2013 Fiona Dempster,  Wingreeguu 2012, by Shirley Macnamara

Not only did I find this piece beautiful at last year Asia-Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, it was also yellow (well ochre, but…), which is this month's colour as we search for Roy G. Biv with Jennifer, Julie and the gang.

Fiddling and stitching

Susan let me know about the exhibition 14-18 Pieces for Peace being held in Ypres in Belgium later in the year. It is highlighting bookbinding, artists books and calligraphy around World War I.

A couple of us are trying to pull together entries and I have been pottering about with ideas. Lots of ideas not necessarily getting me too far forward, just maybe reducing options at the moment. For example I wasn't sure if I should make a book or do a calligraphic piece instead - thought that might be quicker, altho why I would ever think that I don't know. My calligraphic trials always take forever!

I have decided a book is the answer I think, but just what to base it around remains a challenge.

I have a personal connection to Ypres - my great grandfather died at Messines Ridge, and his name is on the Menin gate in Ypres - along with the thousands of others who have no known grave. So it feels poignant to maybe make a book about him. Although I have previously made two.

I am also working on women this year and wondered if I could find a way to tell some women's stories around the war - somehow tell William's and Isabella's story? Not sure.  The book sections that are being sent out to artists for binding - true bookbinders - include lots of poetry from the war, mostly European altho the Canadian John McRae's "In Flanders' Fields" is there as well.  So with poetry in mind I went looking for Australian women's poetry around the war and have come across a few possibilities. I have bought one book and hope that it contains some gems that I can pursue.

If not, I'll keep pondering.

After all that, here are some shots of some of the ideas I have had to date - just playing around with imagery, embossing and a colour palette.

I was recently gifted a ream of some beautiful old, typewriter paper; all brown on the edges and almost rusty-looking. Isn't it wonderful to have friends who know just what you'd love? Thanks Christine!

So I did a bit of embossing and some de-bossing and then some painting on it. Decided I prefer my poppies without the weird sticky outy bits on their stems when I draw/paint them.

Looking at grey and rusted paper and shim (decided no) and some lightweight papers too.

Liking pencil marks on the brown paper and the barbed wire de-bossing from a previous piece.

And I have kept on stitching - a little bit here and there on my sampler piece. I am going with the flow completely here, letting the weirdness that appears remain, acting as a remind for myself about beginnings and learnings and what to try differently.  I love the pulled threads and the occasional line of stitching. Such fun and oh so mediative.

So nothing major happening in the studio, baby steps here and there, and enjoying gentle pottering. Not a bad way to be, altho I do have my birds, feathers, nests and eggs book to get finished!

Booked! in more detail

I mentioned last weekend that we were in Cairns for the celebrations around Booked! and International Women's Day.  We had a fine time up north and I was thrilled to be able to see the exhibition and to share in celebrating women in the arts.

Sometimes you see an exhibition and you realise it is 'so you'. It was that way for me with this one; I gazed upon it in awe and with such delight - everything was so beautiful, so thoughtful, so intimate and so wonderfully wrought.

As many, if not most of you, won't get the chance to get to Cairns to see them, I thought I'd share a few of them in more detail.

My favourite piece and the one I kept returning to was by Rose Rigley. Titled "A preserving nature: Family History" it explored how families hold memories in tangible objects and how these are valued and experienced across generations. Lovely threads and wax and shards of ceramics were held in this book.

Another intriguing piece was by Barbara Dover - Book of truth. Using a reconstructed book and horse hair it speaks about animals in warfare and how they have been used and abused.

I was also taken by the warmth and inviting nature of this book by Susan Porteous. It references how Gandhis said spinning could save India - by spinning the fibres for making their own cotton, the country could be liberated economically. This book uses an old spindle and a book about Gandhi where the pages have been spun into this continuous thread…a contemplative and meditative practice.

I loved the simplicity and elegance of Louisa Boyd's 'Pleat', part of a series where she explores paper and taking it from a 2-D surface to a 3-D form; letting the humble page of paper shine.

Vide Freiberg's "What to expect when you are expecting" considers how the truth around childbirth is shared between women, not always fully told, and how this information can be kept from women who haven't experienced childbirth.

In "Ci-Cz"Ania Gilmore uses torn English and Polish book pages, rearranged and structured to form the word Citizenship with the I connecting the two words. From the World Book Encyclopaedia, she discovered that a word that has been such a long part of her life journey, can be described with such a short description.

Mandy Gunn's "Between the lines" uses the Oxford dictionary and braille paper, torn and cut and reassembled onto cardboard in a 3-D design. It suggest how we all see and use information differently and that it is often important tot read between the lines, not simply accept something at face value.

And then just because I loved it so…more of Rose's book in detail.

You can see what a beautiful and serene show it was, how the pieces worked together so harmoniously and each held a story beyond their visual story.  I remain thrilled and honoured to have joined these women in this exhibition.

Thursday Thoughts...

"Reading is sometimes thought of as a form of escapism, and it's a common turn of phrase to speak of getting lost in a book. But a book can also be where one finds oneself; and when a reader is grasped and held by a book, reading does not feel like an escape from life so much as it feels like an urgent, crucial dimension of life itself."

 Rebecca Mead

Lost and found. In a book.

I have been both, often, and think this quote gives a sense of the true pleasure and delight reading can offer. Sent to me by a wonderful friend, it captures the enormous wonder that is possible, the revelations and expansions that can be experienced by participating in the marvellous past time of reading.

I know reading isn't possible for everyone, nor easy for everyone, but for those for whom it IS possible I would so love them to experiences the highs, the lows, the fears, the delights, the enchantments, the discoveries and the losts and the founds that can be savoured in a book.

©2011 Fiona Dempster, detail of "No Return"

Play days and cards

I daresay I'm not alone in my desire, preference or maybe even obsession with using up scraps in my studio.  Every last bit of beautiful paper will find its way into something - bookmarks, cards, pages of books and when they are too small and scrappy, into my scrap bag for using to make handmade paper!

I sorted thru the many scraps a little while ago and had some play days and made a stack of cards for the year to come.

I think handmade cards are a lovely gift and I love receiving them, as well as sending them.

Here's the latest batch…

Mini cards using scraps of marbled paper and scraps of lino for the embossing!

They get delivered in these envelopes/pouches made of glassine paper that was used as a backdrop to me painting other paper - hence the wiggles it developed. I decided it looked too lovely to throw away and so it became envelopes.

These tiny pieces of handmade paper (using up other scraps of beautiful paper) went onto scrap paper after being stamped with thank you.

As we were making prints for the MPM collectables exhibition last year, Susan talked about how lovely it is send a print of a flower when somebody is not well or needs cheering up - instead of a bunch of flowers. I bought a few of the prints of flowers for just that reason; then came home and played and made a few flower cards for myself…

I found that last year, one of the cards I wished I could have sent was just a "thinking of you" card - when life was a bit too much for a few folk. So this year I made some of my own, quietly hoping that I might not need them…if the world is kinder this year.

I just smiled to myself when I looked at that palette - oh so very me!

Booked!

As this goes to air as they say, I am in Cairns in Far North Queensland, with the hint of a cyclone off the coast, but nothing dramatic.

Barry and I have made the trip north to attend the opening of the fabulous exhibition "Booked!" run by the KnockKnock Contemporary Artists and held at KickArts gallery in Cairns.

The KnockKnock women are amazing.  Each year they organise and co-ordinate a bunch of activities celebrating women in the arts, around International Women's Day.

I was thrilled, honoured and excited to be asked to join in this exhibition - 12 women book artists from around the country and overseas.  The works look sublime together and tell gentle and powerful stories all at once.

A bit like many women I know really.

I am showing my Copper-Perspex book "Peace Mends the World"

Copper is a universal metal, found on nearly every continent on earth, and shared by many peoples. 

Metal books speak to me of tenacity, resilience and steadfastness; that their message will last and last. 

Mending, patching, putting back together; step by step peace can mend the world. 

The contrast between masculine (metal) and feminine (stitching) works - it seems to me we need both to build lasting peace. 

Women’s work matters and is often what ties us all together. 

There are still gaps as the work is never finished, yet each page is a treasure, contained and protected. 

Every effort we make towards peace is precious. 

Fragile, strong. Peace can mend the world.

The other fabulous artists include:

Raewyn Biggs (QLD), Louisa Boyd (UK), Barbara Dover (QLD), Louisa Ennis-Thomas (QLD), Vide Freiberg (QLD), Ania Gilmore (US), Mandy Gunn (VIC), Kyoko Imazu (VIC), Liz Jeneid (NSW), Susan Porteous (US) and Rose Rigley (QLD).

It is worth hopping off to their sites to see their work- stunning and amazing.

Rose also curated the show and helped keeps the likes of me on track- she has done a marvellous job.

Thursday Thoughts...

"In the Universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors" 

 William Blake

It's a simple statement with oh so much in it.

There are many things unknown, to me and to others; and also things that are known.  I like that there is mystery out there, and there is always so much more to learn, discover, and know.

I like too that we find ways to make sense of things and to know them.

Ahhhhh but doors…so often the portal thru which we glimpse or enter places previously unknown to us.  Its funny to think about how often we approach doors with confidence - because we know who or what lies behind them; and funny to observe those moments of uncertainty when we approach a door; not sure show to deal with it, wondering how loud to knock, or whether to simply turn the handle - or press the buzzer?

The uncertainty and unknowns that lie behind those doors change our behaviour. But it remains the door which allows us entry, which guides us through the point of access. Some doors seem friendlier than others; some tell stories of humble abodes; others of fortresses. They can say so much without saying a thing!

Whilst this one appears fortress-like, it is the door into the Talas paper and bookbinding supplies store in Brooklyn NY.  I love its stainless steel patchwork and patina. It was heavy and weighty, but didn't seem all that unfriendly, and may I say it opened into an Aladdin's cave. Maybe that's why they like to make it look protected...

A door is such a simple concept and often just a plank of word, some hinges and a handle.  It does however symbolise the transition between inside and outside, private and public; known and unknown. No wonder so many use doors in their artwork and photograph them wherever they go.

Work in progress

I have no idea if other folk end up doing as many variations on a theme as I do when I am trying to work my way through a project, but this one has taken me left right, centre, up down and around!

As part of my year of women's work, I came across this poem and got permission to use it (only fragments of it appear below).  I like how it celebrates woman as they grow older.

But how best to express the ideas dancing in my head?

I was hoping to make this an edition of books, and reproduce it digitally.  I don't know if that is going to be possible; but I am still exploring options.

And more options. And then some more.

To date I have been here and there as evidenced below by these drafts and roughs…

 
I think I've landed on this idea - but am yet to finalise and finesse it…

And then in direct and radical contrast, I thought I would show you where my beautiful Fragile Gains began. It was one of those books that almost came fully formed into the world - I didn't have to fiddle and faddle with design ideas; only the mechanics of the making.

This image shows a to-do list written in New York over Christmas, reminding me of things to sort and settle when we got back home.

Up there in the top right hand corner is the notion of Fragile Gains - and it went pretty much from there to the real deal without much design angst at all. So lovely to be reminded that not every book is full of testing and trying and trying again…

Of feathers, nests, birds and eggs

Susan and I spent the day on Wednesday working towards our next collaborative book. We had set ourselves a joint theme - Birds, feathers, nests and eggs and agreed that we would mostly work into these books ourselves; that the collaboration would be in terms of mentoring each other and critiquing each other's work as we went along.  We also thought we would see if it was possible to ask the other to contribute something to the book.

After what seems like a thousand detours and trips into side-lanes, and rabbit burrows, I found my way into the theme through words - initially I fought it, but then accepted it is who I am, and have begun this book around some words.

We spent a lovely time telling each other what e were planning, how we were hoping it would work; what we were hoping to achieve etc.  We each sat down and did some work as well and it felt good to sit alongside each other as we beavered away on what we each do.

Susan is making some amazing prints, whilst I am trying to use imagery to represent the essence of the words. Not something I have tried too much of so it is challenging me a bit.  Not as much as drawing birds or nests would have may I add, so I still 'piked' on the really challenging stuff.

Here are some snippets of my day's play - which was really work!

I wanted to cut some lino and see if it would work for an embossing.

I wanted to cut some paper…

I wanted to test if stitching feathers onto paper could work

And wrote myself copious notes!

And then I came home and cut more paper to see just how soft I could go.  Must admit this seems dreamy to me, I really love what it its doing.

So I feel as if I have begun.  We are meeting again once more to work together - that being part of our collaboration this time around, and we will hopefully also have our bits for the other done by then as well. The books will get to meet properly on World Book Day 23 April 2014. That will mark the second anniversary of this beautiful and delightful collaboration that began on a whim and has given us both so much joy.