Artist books project

If you look on the right hand side of my blog you'll see that I have started a list of interesting blogs/sites.

Artist books project
This list includes artists who work with the idea of artist books

Worth a look Artists/Projects
This list includes artists who expand on the idea of artist books and create sculptural works.

There is also a new link "Artist Collections:" which will link to sites/blogs showcasing what artists collect, and how these collections influence or surface in their work.

If you find any other sites please list them on your blog or send me the URL and I will add them to my list.

NEW TERRAIN

NEW TERRAIN - Sustainability, Environment and Community is an eclectic exhibition of twenty artists associated with Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT) Visual Arts Department.

NEW TERRAIN highlights various contemporary art practices involving photo-media, painting and small-scale sculpture, reinvigorating the idea of sustainability through diverse personal and artistic responses. The artists explore concepts of sustainability, the fragility and complexity of the natural world and the importance of embracing sustainable practices and new ways of living.

The collaboration between Ararat Regional Art Gallery and NMIT Visual Arts has come about through NMIT’s links with Ararat', Rachael Cowley Head of NMIT's Department of Visual Arts said. ‘The Visual Arts Department offers programs at four campuses in the metropolitan area. The NMIT Ararat campus offers a range of programs including Winemaking, Viticulture, Farm Chemical Use and Herb Production. This connection prompted us to develop an exhibition for Ararat and this has evolved into an artistic exploration of sustainability, environment and community.

Dr Colleen Morris, one of the featured artists and Head of Program, Bachelor of Illustration NMIT said, ‘NEW TERRAIN features practising professional artists who bring a unique vision and personal response to this project. Some of the artists have previously explored social commentary or the natural environment in their work, for others the project provided an opportunity to explore new areas.’

The exhibition features the work of George Alamidis, Rachael Cowley, Warren Crossett, Caz Guiney, Jodi Heffernan, Kari Henriksen, Chris Hillard, John Hyndman, Peter Kartsounis, Colleen Morris, John Neeson, Greg Neville, Stephen Pascoe, Carol Pelham-Thorman, Kirsten Perry, Lyn Phillips, Karenne Rees, Maurizio Salvati, Geoff Tolchard, Greg Wayn, Eric Wong and Alex Zattelman

http://www.newterrain.net

LOCATION: Ararat Regional Art Gallery, Town Hall, Vincent Street, Ararat
PHONE: (03) 5352 2836
EMAIL: gallery@ararat.vic.gov.au

AGIdeas

"AGIdeas is the largest annual International Design Event held in Australia. AGIdeas presents a series of events for designers who are seeking inspiration, for designers emerging in the industry to explore the possibilities of international careers in design and for companies looking to embrace design as an economic driver".

Well that's what the website had to say.

I turned up and stayed for the whole three days except for Tuesday evening.
It was a fantastic forum and it's hard to come back to the real world.

It's late Thursday night and I'm trying to remember the best bits of the three days.
Ken Cato opened each day (graphic designer).







Short intro, and into the business of presentations.

A presentation every 30 minutes, (some shorter others longer.
Ideas, images, sounds, I tried to take some photos ignoring the instructions not to use cameras and lashes (Flashes) but I was spotted and told. I did get a couple of blurry images and will upload them in time.

Highlights/presenters

Day 1

Christoph Niemann
"Christoph Niemann was born in Waiblingen, Germany in 1970. After his studies at the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to New York City where he has been working as an illustrator, animator, and graphic designer since 1997."

Great opening presentation.
His ideas and polished presentation style covered a wide range of topics, from working with publishers, dealing with the Illustration brief and needing one to work from, having personal projects and writing/illustrating for children.


Mark Seymour
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Mark Seymour’s music and lyrics have formed an indelible part of Australia’s musical landscape. He has followed his eighteen years with Hunters & Collectors with a vibrant solo recording career.

Maybe it''s just me, but the metaphor used by Mark to describe the search for that something that keeps you going as an artist really hit home.
The metaphor was a carrot dangling in front of you and you just keep your eyes on that carrot and try as hard as you can to get to taste it, but fail.
I suspect he got to taste it at some point in his career , but was not going to admit that.
He talked about fame, record companies, video clips and finished with a song. (applause from the crowd).

Day 2

Sara Fanelli was born in Florence and went to London to study art and has been working there as a freelance illustrator ever since graduating from the Royal College of Art.

Wow! if I ever get my hands on one of her books I will never let it out of my sight. 40 books were available and I never got to touch one of them. I'll have to get to readings over the weekend to see if they have it. Her nostalgic, eclectic style and references to literature, poetry, design, typography made her books look like precious objects. No images could do justice to these books but here is one.

Richard Seymour is one of Europe’s best-known product designers. Trained as a graphic designer and illustrator initially, his career has taken him from book to record-sleeve design, through advertising and film production design to a commanding position on the International stage, with Seymourpowell (which he created with Dick Powell in 1984), now regarded as
one of the world’s leading Product Design Consultancies. The consultancy has won numerous design awards for its work over the last 20 years, including D&AD Silver Awards, The D&AD President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Design, DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, and even two nominations for the Prince Phillip Design Prize.

Richard is a trustee of the Design Museum in London, Past President of D&AD, Consultant Deign Director to Lever Faberge in London and New York.

Richard Seymour talked about his failed projects because he said that he learned his lessons from things which failed.

One of his projects was to build a shelter which was cheap to build and could be thrown out of a plane to any location around the globe. The shelter would open like a parachute and land safely providing an opportunity for a whole family to take cover.
A number of such shelters were dispatched in a disaster zone in Africa. The locals came, tore down the shelters and used the material to re-build their old houses.

He also talked about the power of the technology and how it could be used by individuals.
10 years ago he worked on a small project with a 12 year old boy, they made a small movie about homeless people in London. The movie was sent as an attachment to an email to friends of the 12 year old. After a period of about six months the movie ended up on the desktop of the British prime minister. Richard was called to explain his involvement in the project.

He compared this time to that of the renaissance, he felt that we are sitting in the eye of the storm.