anotherandanotherandthenanother

Another week........ the VIP PV at NUA is tonight with the family and friends PV on Tuesday http://www.nua.ac.uk/degreeshows/ – the show opens on Wednesday is open till July 8th when it all comes down and we breath for another year. Cley14 PV is on Wednesday night http://www.cleycontemporaryart.org/ - there are some great events around and attached to the exhibition. 

weekbyweekbyweek

A long week of helping hang work in various undergrad final year shows alongside a return to one of my spiritual homes graphic design - by helping students creating mock up design objects; LP cases, book covers and folded business cards!

Managed to see/listen to a body of work by Tristan Murali under the title Klangforum Wein 1 today at Aldeburgh Festival – my favourite piece was Desintegrations - It was a wonderful muscular sound – as if Richard Serra had made music! – As Murail himself put it, “I make music by working the sound matter like a sculptor, revealing the form that is hidden within the block of stone, rather than constructing it with bricks, as is the case in a traditional approach”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRuxHVWfQtA He was there and most excellent in correcting the interviewer about his music.

Looking forward to the week to come – hanging another exhibition – the Post grad Book Art show at Camberwell, re-hanging the textiles show at NUA in a morning as work returns from New Designers and attending the event at Kings as part of Parallel Practices. The Private View of Cley14 is on Wednesday and I’m on invigilator duty Friday and Saturday which should be fun.

thinkingandnegotiating

It’s all go within the world of education at this time of year – hanging the textile degree show at NUA requires a skill set that includes the mediation of Nelson Mandela, the steely nerve of Amelia Earhart and the dedication to truth and fairness exhibited by the wonderful Sharmishta Chakrabarti 

Or on the other hand maybe it’s more like the truth spoken by Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinski affair, the understanding of other people’s needs evidenced in the work of Putin and the focused thought of late Elvis on pain killers. But this year has the potential to be one of the best shows having spent 2 weeks with some quite excellent work while assessing it.

Meanwhile I have been shortlisted for the Parallel Practices Craft Council project - well more through to the next round of many – it’s going to be a fascinating process of speed date matching art and craft with medicine which is very exciting

There are so many opportunities for active participation around Cley14 from walks, talks and workshops – I would check out the web site. http://www.cleycontemporaryart.org/nwt.htm

foldingtoasdonatrains

some pages from 1 of the 24 conversational bookworks potentially for the pews at Cley14 - spent the day on the train to Leeds folding and sewing. The day was most excellent with time at ASDA HQ talking with the George people and associates for possible student placements and a quick visit to The Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery to see the sublime exhibition Tooth House by Ian Kiaer http://www.henry-moore.org/hmi/exhibitions/ian-kiaer-tooth-house and then a blast of a video by Bruce McLean http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/Pages/leedsartgallery/Bruce-McLean-Another-condition-of-sculpture.aspx very funny and worth a visit just for that.

abusydayoffoldingaproductionline

a busy day of folding - working on 24 joint books for Cley14 - thinking about conversations and juxtapositions and the wonderful possibility afforded by random

clothpewsandfold

a thoughtful day in North Norfolk - a day of a visit accompanied by Polly Binns to the church that holds cley14 www.cleycontemporaryart.org I have a number of starting places and a possible site for the work - books and the pews! but meanwhile I have been captivated by the cloth acting as a protective coverings - maybe there is a connection there.

qualityexhibitionopportunities

Working towards 3 exhibitions in different states - The upcoming show in Bristol is now on the Bristol book arts web site http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/les-bicknell.htm and the work is packaged up – apart from, as ever, the new books I am making specially for the space....

Now working on the proposed show in August/September for imprints in France http://www.imprints-galerie.com/ - at the moment I think that it’s an opportunity to show some of the more appropriate pieces from the unpicking and rebinding body of work.

The proposal for cley14 is evolving – I have a meeting with Polly Binns in a couple of weeks as carrying out my initial idea is proving to be not so straight forward.

The latest faster than sound was quite sublime – an example of really solid high quality - what Aldeburgh music does well – https://tickets.aldeburgh.co.uk/Online/richardskelton Richard Skelton has an interesting hybrid practice which involves text, sound, image making and the book – all published from some intriguing web sites - http://richardskelton.wordpress.com/  the first piece called EA was like listening to the sound of a painting of a river by an artist from the Norwich School – someone like Crome or Cotman.

Finally the true detective series is remarkable – from the thoughtfully disturbing opening credits to the final comforting conclusion via the brutal but elegant episode 4 raid and episode 8 set dressing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Detective_(TV_series)

blackfoldexhibitingevil

I’ve been invited by Sarah Bodman from the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE Bristol, on behalf of the International Association, Moscow Book Arts to be part of an exhibition in Russia. It’s from the 13^th March – 18^th May 2014 at the State Historical, Architectural, Art and Landscape Museum-Reserve, Moscow.  It’s an interesting group –

Angie Butler, X =, 2012

Anwyl Cooper-Willis, The Elsewhere Necktie Archive, 2011

Barrie Tullett, A Poem To Philip Glass, 2011

Charlotte Hall, Insectapolis, 2013

Christopher Robinson, La Chamade, 2009

Craig Atkinson, Preston Bus Station: Lost and Found, Craig Atkinson, 2013

Elizabeth Willow and David Armes, Hanging Valley, 2013

Guy Begbie, Black Cross Channel, 1998

Hazel Grainger, Digital Doesn’t Make Me Happy, 2013

Helen Douglas / Thomas Evans, Pivot, 2003

Jackie Batey, Future Fantasteek!, 12, 14 and 15, 2012-2013

Jeremy Dixon, Some Like Awesome American Soldiers, 2011

John Bently Liver & Lights No 40 My Ancestors, 2008

John McDowall, Atramentum, 2012

Julie Johnstone, ten skies, 2007

Les Bicknell, blackfold, 2013

Nancy Campbell, Doverodde, 2012

Otto, Dance, 2013

Pauline Lamont-Fisher, teastains, 2013

Philippa Wood and Tamar MacLellan, Mr Craggs’ left-over type, 2013

Sarah Bodman, GM Future, 1999

seekers of lice, quot, 2008

Simon Goode, Various Small Cookies, 2011

Simon le Ruez, Elsewhere, 2013

Sophie Loss, Swinging Susan, 2010

Stephen Fowler, White Heat, 2010

Susan Johanknecht, moments of forces, 1997

Theresa Easton, Thrifty Tips, 2013

Tom Sowden, Fortynine Coach Seats Travelling Along The M4, 2003

I’ve also got a small show at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE Bristol from Mon 7th April - Sat 31st May 2014. It will be nice to show the folded 'smocking is evil' sculptural paper pieces to a wider world

Meanwhile my proposal for Cley14 has been accepted so I need to focus on that to firm up some logistics – the statement – proposal for Cley14

the book - a space of debate – a place for the storage and dissemination of information – an exchange – a position – a settlement.

The work takes the form of structures that are created from joining (binding) two or more book structures together. The arrangement of book forms joined together enables reflection on the notion of conversation. It is a comment on the books that are in all of us, a response to the idea that when a person dies it is as if a library is burnt. It is a reflection on our negotiation with ageing and death.

I would like to make an intervention into the graveyard. I would attach at least 2 and possibly more books to every grave. At the moment I am considering working with rope/heavy twine to ‘fix’ the work, although I also like the idea of holding the books down with a large stone collected from the beach, referencing the Jewish tradition of placing stones on graves as a sign of remembrance and a symbol of the permanence of memory.

The books would be very simple handmade and blank. They would act as a symbol of narrative, of story, of conversation. The audience filling in the blanks. The piece would actually be the connection of the books with the stone of the grave, highlighting the text cut into the stone.

The work would change over the time of the exhibition, deteriorating with the weather, but they would be secured so as not to litter the space.

I would also like to display a limited editioned bookwork within the church; it would support the thinking and engage with the ideas behind the intervention outside.