BABE Bristol Artists Books Event, April 2013

BABE happens every other year, at the Arnolfini Gallery on Bristol's Harbourside, in conjunction with the Centre for Book Arts at UWE. Two year ago I visited BABE for the first time and was entranced, and this year I was there as part of the UWE Artists' Books Club, and had two of my books on show on our stand.

I had two books on show.  the first, A Book of Letters, was inspired by discovering A Letter A week in late 2012.  I made 26 letter, each contained in an origami-folded "envelope", bound together with Coptic stitch.

The second book is Exhibition,  which I made from copies of the quarterly publication Art, from the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol.  The pages are 3" square, and I used all 4 editions of Art for 2011, so representing a whole year's worth of gallery visits and exhibitions.  The coptic-bound book became quite long - roughly 14 inches - and I made a horse-shoe shaped box, approx 6'"x 8", to contain it.  The box is covered with torn pieces of the same gallery newsletter.  The book is invitingly tactile and playful - rather like a child's 'slinky" toy which tumbles down stairs.   The structure of the book plays with the ways in which we view gallery exhibitions, twisting and turning, glancing at some things, stopping to really look at others.  As you turn the book, random images catch the eye, while others are just a passing flicker of colour.

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