Monday 6 March 2017

Edinburgh Artist's Bookmarket at The Fruitmarket Gallery Febrary 24th & 25th 2017

I decided to apply to exhibit at this years Artist's Bookmarket in Edinburgh, this is the first time I have exhibited my books. I was accepted!!

I'm not sure why I always have to start so big or so far from home, anyway, I packed up every book I'd ever made and headed up to Scotland (unfortunately the same weekend at the Six Nations Wales v Scotland rugby match). I was tempted to put on a workshop but decided that was too much for my first event.


It was the weirdest, best and quite scary moment when I looked at the programme and saw my name on it as a proper professional exhibiting artist.

My space looked like this!


I probably put too much out but excitement is a hard thing to control, I didn't put it all out and changed it round on the second day. It was really interesting to see what got the most attention over the weekend. The tunnel books were a real hit and of course the enamel concertina book, however the closed braille book with lenses and the copper book had a lot of interest.
I did struggle with people picking things up, and before this weekend I was keen on having all the pieces in my degree show handleable. Not sure now?

Part of the reason for going to Edinburgh was to get the public to contribute to my final show by way of using the braille writer and writing things with it. 


Lots of people were keen to join in but I was surprised how many people wanted to take their piece away with them (everyone likes a momento). I asked people if I could photograph their hands while they used the machine. Again like most of my work the photography was black and white. It retains the same slightly industrial, pre-technological and minimal ambience as my work.


I loved the Fruitmarket Gallery, they have a fantastic collection of artist's books in their shop, lovely cafe and everyone was really helpful and nice. Hopefully return next year?

Out of this amazing opportunity, I have been invited to submit work for the Liverpool Book Fair and also been asked to submit work and a CV for Edinburgh Library (who carry a selection of artist's books in their collection).

No comments:

Post a Comment