BALTIC Self-Publishing Artists’ Market - Saturday 21 April, 11am-6pm

I've been getting my publications ready to take to BALTIC Self-Publishing Artists’ Market on Saturday. There will be over 50 artists, bookmakers, small press publishers, printmakers, artist’s groups and zine makers selling their work. My publications will be on the Newcastle University table. 

This is one of the publications that I will be selling.

This expanded version of the annual Artists' Book Market is a great opportunity to meet artists and browse a wide range of affordable artworks. 

Artist-led activities and performances will also accompany this special one-day event.

BALTIC Self-Publishing Artists' Market will include:

Artists' Book Club (ABC)
Andrea Allan
Ashington District Star
Kristyna Baczynski
BBB Books Collective
Mark Beechill
Guy Bigland
Shona Branigan
Hugh Bryden
Nancy Campbell
Jessie Churchill
Katy Cole
Nicola Connor
Corridor8
Daniel Dale
Mike Davidson
Theresa Easton
Peter J Evans
Francis Fitzgerald
Ross Frew
Natalie Frost
Peter and Frances Grant
Greyscale Poetry Zine and SUBS magazine
John Harrison
Alexander Hetherington
Ella Holder
Rachael House
Jawbone Jawbone
Nicola Maxwell
Newbridge Books
Newcastle University - this is where you will find my publications
Northumberland College
Northumbria University
Pete Kennedy
Paper Jam Comics Collective
Pathetic Babies
Shinyoung Park
Synchronise Witches Press
Tamsin Rees
Kathryn Robertson
Chloe Spicer
Stichill Marigold Press
Jacqueline Thomas
Debra Thompson
Transition Editions
Sarah Tulloch
University Centre Farnborough
Andy Walton / Swirl
Andrew Waugh
Ellen Welsh
Eileen White
Women Artists of the North East Library
Lydia Wysocki

For more information please visit

http://baltic.art/whats-on/artists-market

My work on The Listening Booth ; Collection 2

I am delighted that my work has been accepted to The Listening Booth ; Collection 2.

THE LISTENING BOOTH is an online listening gallery of contemporary sound based art and experimental music.  THE LISTENING BOOTH is an opportunity to test the limitations and freedoms of using sound like a physical space.

THE LISTENING BOOTH hosts downloadable MP3s produced by artists, writers, musicians and performers. Each MP3 acts as a dedicated gallery space for each artist. The works can be listened to online or downloaded and experienced in the world. This allows the artists to implant their work directly into their listeners’ life, but also allows the listener access to art outside a traditional gallery setting.

The internet was chosen the venue for this project because of its vast accessibility and inclusivity. It also reflects the manner most of us experience the majority of our sound culture. Listening to music or the spoken word online or via podcasts is, for the most part, a solitary experience. THE LISTENING BOOTH aims to make full use of the intimacy created between the artist and a single listener.

Every Monday and Thursday from Monday 25th April to Thursday 22nd September, a new downloadable MP3 will be made available to the public via The Listening Booth.

My artwork will be available from 30th May 2016. 

The full schedule of all the artists and their release dates is below:

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Ggeorgearts/

Twitter https://twitter.com/Ggeorgearts

Instagram @ggeorgearts

Tumblr (http://ggeorgearts.tumblr.com/) 

Drone ensemble

I've joined the Drone ensemble, a newly formed experimental sound group that make and perform extraordinary instruments that hum and wheeze, grunt and bark, shimmer and cascade. 

The group consists of a mixture of artists and musicians, but no experience of playing a musical instrument is necessary. 

We will meet every Monday evening and create instruments that make sound which we will then play.



I began by looking at some of the instruments that Joe has already made. He showed us a wonderful range of what looked and sounded like some form of steel drum. Another percussion instrument had been made by cutting a gas cylinder in half and making 4 tongues of different sizes on each half of the cylinder. The sound produced varied depending on the length of the tongue.



We then began making a kind of bagpipe/flute instrument using household pipes and inflatable yoga balls. Getting the mouthpiece right was rather difficult, and mine did not make much of sound, but as a team we managed to make a couple of organs, each with 4 pipes making 4 different notes.

On Friday 4th March we will be playing our first concert to an audience. A number of artists videos will be played alongside the improvised sound piece.

Please come along to the XL Gallery in the Fine Art Building, Newcastle University at 7pm on Friday 4th March for an exciting audiovisual experience.

Artists' Book Market at BALTIC

Yesterday I visited the BALTIC for the Artists' Book Market. There was a good variety of artists, bookmakers, small press publishers, artist’s groups, zine artists and bookbinders exhibiting and selling a range of artists' books, including traditional hardbound books printed by hand, paper cut books, folded books, musical books and sculptural books.

It was lovely to bump into some familiar faces from Glasgow International Artists Bookfair, and meet other artists bookmakers whose artists books I had not previously seen.

I attended Dean Pavitt's talk in which he explained how he, as a designer, works with others to produce photo-books, and the stages to follow.

You can get a lot from looking at someone's book collection

As part of the London Art Book Fair, the Whitechapel asked the UK’s best artists to share their ‘shelfies’. They offer a fascinating insight into their work

Iwona Blazwick
Thursday, 25 September 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/london-art-book-fair-some-of-britains-best-artists-share-their-shelfies-9754099.html?printService=print

Books have been important to artists as an artistic medium and rich source of inspiration for centuries.

You have only to look at examples such as the Book of Kells or William Blake’s illustrated book Songs of Innocence and Experience. Books deliver a microcosm of the artists’ work and through the writings of those who know and are passionate about art, we can better understand it. They are also beautiful objects.

Covers, margins, double page spreads, sequences of pages are all empty stages for artists to tell stories using images or texts. Pushing beyond merely reproducing their works of art, artists have taken every publishing convention – from science to literature – and turned it upside down. Books give artists a way of sharing their work with the widest possible audience. Unlike an exhibition, a book is for ever. And artists often create books as works of art in their own right – which is why they are a great investment that gains enormous value over time.

Shelf life: Selfies of some of the nations finest artists

Who better to showcase art books than artists themselves? London’s Whitechapel Gallery was inspired to reach out to the vast network of artists that we have exhibited, to get a glimpse into the books that prompt, provoke and enrich their practice.

Artists often turn to books, either as inspiration or as sources of research. The works on their shelves often contain the kernels of their artistic ideas. Artists also have a tendency to have very particular (and often peculiar) tastes and collections. A glimpse into these is always tantalizing.

The studio library is a private space – rather than invade it, we asked artists to do what everyone in the world is doing – take a selfie. The screen shots we received were like glowing miniatures. Ironically, we are taking pictures of something that is ardently pre-screen. It’s a strange combination of the instantaneity of the screen, and the slow time of the book. I think books – and art – ask their audience to slow down and spend time with them. This slowness is refreshing.

The Whitechapel Gallery established the London Art Book Fair in 2009 to both celebrate and incubate art book publishing. The concept was to present a snapshot of the wide scope of art book publishing; to represent every manifestation of the contemporary art book, from museum catalogues and coffee-table monographs on the one hand to artists’ books, scholarly publications, and ’zines on the other. It’s also a platform for amazing design and thrilling new ideas about our visual culture and what it means.

Art book publishing is not exempt from many of the challenges facing the publishing world today, but as an experimental and highly versatile art form, it is in some ways in a unique position to respond to these challenges. As such, it is today more relevant than ever. Many of these issues will be discussed in talks, performances, conferences and other events. As a former library and one of the UK’s primary centres for contemporary art, the Whitechapel Gallery is ideally placed to bring this community together and engage in these discussions.

It’s worth noting that we don’t choose books for the Fair, we choose publishers. Part of our interest is in creating a lively gathering that will bring together interesting people who are as captivated by publishing as we are. One of the major aims for the London Art Book fair is to be a setting that offers an opportunity for, and to foster exchange between the various publishers, practitioners, and collectors. Art books, and artists’ books especially, tend to have a wholly different distribution model than mass-market books, and book fairs are one of the primary ways that artists’ books can be discovered and exchanged. We feel privileged that we can be a part of this mechanism.

I’ve always been fascinated, personally, by Richard Prince’s vast library of first editions. Especially his collection of the various editions and translations of Nabokov’s Lolita (Prince even owns Nabokov’s own two-volume Olympia Press edition of Lolita, with his handwritten corrections). You can see how he is as excited about the look of a cover as its contents, how it conveys the spirit of its age.

The London Art Book Fair, Whitechapel Gallery, London E1 (020 7522 7888) tonight to 28 September. See more on Instagram @WhitechapelGallery or Twitter @TheLABF

Iwona Blazwick is director of the Whitechapel Gallery

http://www.londonartbookfair.org/

Books: What do the stars think?


Damien Hirst

“As a kid growing up in Leeds, books and postcards were my way into art. The Brutality of Fact book of Francis Bacon interviews was published when I was about 16 and it was the most important thing I’d ever read. I couldn’t believe how visceral his words were, I hadn’t read anything like it. I’ll never forget him talking about the smell of fear coming off the cows at a slaughterhouse, the universal fear of death. It changed how I thought about art. I’ve made my own books ever since I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to, I love how democratic they are and that they live for ever and that you can read them on the toilet. The Jeff Koons pocket handbook is another favourite of mine. It manages to capture Jeff’s extraordinary use of material and colour in a way that feels tangible, and his words crack me up and inspire me in equal measure. They are both books that made, and continue to make me fall head over heels in love with art.”


Tracey Emin

“My first art book was a book on German Expressionism. My Mum bought it for me when I was 17. I was ill. She asked me what I would like. I lay in bed staring into every image. Egon Schiele... Käthe Kollwitz. That book influenced my entire career as an artist. I still have it.”


Liam Gillick

“I don’t organise books by artist, architect, writer or use any other system. I just put them together as they arrive and as I go through different phases and different thoughts. So sometimes it looks as if there is a system. I don’t know if I “love” books. Sometimes they sit there and taunt me. They remain unread and ignored. Some of them are not even very good but I have read them more than once. I am not sure why I do that.”


Simon Starling

“Here is a picture of my book shelves at home, or at least the non-fiction section. The cataloguing as you can see is a work in progress. It almost looks like you could play the book shelves as some kind of musical composition – pianissimo for the small ones, fortissimo for the massif monographs, adagio when they lean to the right, allegro when they lean to the left etc. One day, I’ll get around to giving the cacophony some harmony but in the meantime I always seem able to find the ones that matter.”

Artists U: a Movement for sustainable art practice

Artists U is a grassroots, artist-run platform for changing the working conditions of artists.

Their manifesto reads:

Make art. Don’t starve.
We want to change the conversations artists have in our heads, with each other, and with the world.
We push artists to build lives that are balanced, productive, and sustainable.
We are skills-based, not need-based: we work to empower artists to create their lives and their art.
We don’t give advice. We don’t do things for you.
Everything we do is artist-to-artist and free for all participants.
We started in Philadelphia and now we work in Baltimore and South Carolina too (and sometimes in other places).
We have two tools: group meetings and one-on-one planning sessions.

We offer those tools in three different programs:

CORE PROGRAM

12 artists are nominated and selected for a year-long program. Artist meet eight times as a group to look at specific topics: artist statement, grant writing, communications, etc. Each artist also meets monthly one-on-one with an artist facilitator to do her/his own planning work. Artists leave with: a two-year personal strategic plan; a new artist statement; a financial plan including annual income goals and hour, day, and week rates; and an administrative plan including schedule and resources.

INTRO COURSE: BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE LIFE AS AN ARTIST

Open enrollment. Three 2-hour workshops spread over three weeks. We look at: strategic planning, artist statement, and time and money management.

PLANNING MONDAYS

Free one-on-one planning sessions with an artist facilitator. You bring in an issue, the facilitator asks you a lot of questions. Our goal: turn challenges and dreams in to to-do lists.

For more information, visit http://www.artistsu.org

David Pettibone and Nikki Gardham

One of the highlights of the residency at Dumfries House for me was getting to know the other artists who were also doing residencies at Dumfries House.

David Pettibone, Nikki Gardham and I all shared accommodation in the artists lodge, and although we each had a separate studio, they were all housed in the same building.

I really enjoyed spending time with Nikki and David. It was fascinating to find out about their backgrounds and varied working practices. Although we have had different educational experiences, work in different ways and address different concerns through the work we make, we have a lot of shared interests, for instance art and education.

David Pettibone is based in New York and completed his BA Painting Degree at Rhode Island School of Design, followed by a MFA in Painting at New York Academy of Art. He is an experienced Painting tutor, regularly exhibits his work and has been on a number of international residencies.








In 2013 David spent several months with the Inupiat Eskimo people of Barrow, Alaska and experienced the whaling culture. He is creating a series of paintings that depict the subsistence whaling culture of the Inupiat Eskimo people of Barrow, Alaska and the tradition’s integration into a modern Arctic coastal community.



It seems so appropriate for David to be using oil paint for these paintings as the texture of meat seems to be brought out by the paint's properties.





Whilst at Dumfries House, David has been working on paintings of trees. It has been fascinating for me to see the development of the paintings, and the stages that the painting goes through before reaching its finished state.












I have great admiration for David's amazing observational and technical skills, evident not only in his landscapes, but in his portraits and life drawing too.



More of his work can be seen via his website: http://www.davidpettibone.com

















Likewise, Nikki Gardham has an exceptional talent for drawing people. She is able to capture the person and transfer it onto the page.




I admire Nikki's energetic and free style of drawing, and I very much enjoy her quick studies which have a fresh and uncomplicated feel to them.

I am attracted to the layers that Nikki builds up on the paper and appreciate the way that she incorporates the background into features within the drawings.



Nikki uses a variety of inks, paints and drawing materials to create varied surfaces. Seeing her work has encouraged me to explore the properties of acrylic and water based ink and how they react to each other.





Nikki also has vast experience in teaching art, and has done many interesting projects. She studied at the Princes Drawing School.







Nikki had been at Dumfries House for a month, so had built up a considerable amount of work, and David has completed 2 weeks of his 4 week period at Dumfries House. More of her work can be seen on her website: http://nikkigardham.com




I look forward to seeing more of the work that David makes in his remaining time at Dumfries House.

Mark Devereux Projects

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I have finally got round to joining as an Associate Member with Mark Devereux Projects.

Mark Devereux Projects is an artist production-development organisation established to help increase the national and international profile of early-career visual artists. With each practitioner’s artistic and career development paramount, emphasis is placed upon mentoring and helping the individual to place themselves within the industry through concentrated critical engagement and promotion.

As the cost of education is rising and more and more creative people are unable to commit to long-term education, artists are turning to the DIY approach. This means there are substantial numbers of creatives with the talent, ambition and drive to succeed within the market but lack support and direction to get there. Mark Devereux Projects provides a generous and thoughtful approach to working with artists.

Initially trained as an artist, Mark Devereux founded and Directed Blank Media Collective from 2006-2012. Working with early career visual artists, performers and writers, Devereux curated and produced numerous exhibitions, events and publications, showcasing the work of these practitioners. He was pivotal in the acquisition of BLANKSPACE gallery, Manchester in 2011, in which he was Director until leaving the organisation.

For further information and details about Mark Devereux Projects visit the website:

http://markdevereuxprojects.com/site/homepage

Mark visited me during my residency at Market Gallery earlier this year, and it was then that he told me about the organisation that he was (at that time) setting up.

Mark Devereux Projects was launched in July 2013 at CUBE, Manchester with an exhibition featuring the three selected artists that Mark is working with, namely Nicola Dale, David Ogle and Nicola Ellis. More information about the artists can be found on the website

http://markdevereuxprojects.com/artists

Underlay

I have just discovered a website called Underlay

http://www.underlayartists.com/Underlayartists/Underlay.html

featuring the work of the following four artists:

Rachel Mimiec
www.rachelmimiec.com

Michael Hill Johnston
www.hilljohnston.com 

 
John Shankie
www.shankie.com 

Karen Vaughan
www.karenlvaughan.co.uk