A Book in the Hand goes to Glastonbury

The Speaking Tree bookshop is hosting a display of ABCD books from our recent exhibition at ACEarts in Somerton. Gareth Mills, the owner of the Speaking Tree, is a great believer in the value of handmade, artists’ books, and wants to help promote them, and also work out how to make it easier to produce them, thus cutting costs and reaching more people. This display is a start – some, though not all, of the books are for sale.

Catch it if you can: it’s on for a couple of weeks from today.

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The Speech I didn’t make at the ‘Book in the Hand’ Preview tonight

 

Lovely preview this evening – the show looked stunning and friends and supporters came and stayed – and actually looked at the work!  I was chatting to visitors and totally unprepared for an off the cuff vote of thanks that Diana Milstein delivered to me, impromptu, generously; and when she said, at the end of it – do you want to make a speech? in my embarrassment I said No, firmly, to general laughter. Afterwards I wished I’d said yes, but the moment was gone.

I should have said yes because I would have expressed the following: – yes, it’s true I started the Dove Book group 17 years ago, and that this current exhibition stems from that initiative and the 17 years of teaching and facilitating since then. But in another, more important way, this exhibition is the fruit of the persistence and ever increasing expertise of the 13 members of the Artists’ Book Club (Dove), and of our group activities that foster creativity, ideas, laughter, and wonderful lunches. That’s what it’s about for me – the group, and what we can achieve when we work together. So thank you to fellow ABCDers; to everyone who came tonight, and to Nina and her staff and volunteers who were brilliant. I hope you read this.

And please note: the show is on for 6 days only: Saturday 29th, and then Tuesday 1st August – Saturday 5th August. 10 – 5 each day. Two members of the group will be present each day to answer questions about the books, and maybe demonstrate a thing or two.

Landscape into Etching

Jenny Graham tutored an etching course last week in the Dove Print Room, which involved going outside and drawing, and then straight back into the studio to make an etching of the same subject. There were some lovely results: here are some of them

Etching classes start again in the Autumn, late this year because of Somerset Art Weeks, so the starting dates are October 16th & 17th for the Monday & Tuesday groups (tutor: Bronwen Bradshaw), and Wednesday, 1st November for Jenny Graham’s group.

Please contact either tutor if you are interested in joining one of these weekly classes (bronbradshaw@yahoo.com; jennygraham2011@hotmail.co.uk)

 

Dove Summer Courses 2017

This year we are running two studio-based courses and one mainly outdoor-based course: details as follows:

Landscape into Etching

July 18, 19, 20

Tutor: Jenny Graham

Fee: £175

Times: 10 – 4

Further details to be announced: briefly, this course is a marriage between getting out in the landscape to draw, and coming back into the studio to make prints, so it is designed for both painters and printmakers, or people wanting to develop either of those and the links between them. Suitable for all levels of ability.

 

Mokuhanga – Japanese Water-based Woodcut and Monoprint

August 15, 16, 17

Tutor: Robin Frood

Fee: £175

Times: 10 – 4

Further details to be announced; briefly, you will learn a technique that uses the free flowing water-based inks of Mokuhanga to create work that either has structure and can be repeated, using woodcut, or the one-off approach of monoprint, or a combination of both. Suitable for both beginners and more advanced students.

Woodwork and Tree House Design

May 6 & 27

June 17, 18

July 8 & 22

August 12, 13 & 26, 27

September 2 & 16, 17

Tutor: Jim Blackburn

Fee: £30 per day,  or by donation, of skills, materials, money…

Times: 9 – 6

Taking part in designing and building the Dove Tree Hide will be a very broad and project-specific activity. Participants will learn basic carpentry, joinery and green woodworking skills, ie splitting and cleaving oak, as well as how to use more modern materials and connections. Tree species will be considered and discussed, as will wood science, and building biology (why wood rots etc). We will explore how structures work, designing with the materials at hand as we make and build.

Jim writes: ‘The last thing I want is for people to feel any pressure on them as regards ability or experience as we will be a mixed group of people; young and old, male and female, skilled or unskilled. I will be filling in the blanks (of the tree house build) as necessary so as not to lean  heavily on the group, rather I am looking for an exciting voyage of discovery, design and making!’

Please contact Bron Bradshaw at bronbradshaw@yahoo.com, or phone 01458 850682 or text 07905644015, to register your interest in any of the above courses, and I’ll send you the booking form and further details.

 

Regular etching classes start again in October: please contact Bron if you are interested (Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday mornings)

ABCD “Repetition”

This gallery contains 8 photos.

Originally posted on barleybooks:
We gathered at the Dove last Saturday in warm sunshine. Some of us had visited BABE – the biennial Bristol Artists Book Event. My finds included a large and jolly picture book with a blackly humorous message (from OttoGraphic),  a lovely little hand-painted floppy zigzag from Andrew Law, and some simply…

Ceramics at Messums, Tithe Barn, Tisbury

Sculpture by Bridget McCrum outside the Tithe Barn

Material: Earth, A survey of Ceramics is on at the beautiful tithe barn in Tisbury where Messums have a gallery. Catch it while you can: it finishes next week (30th April). And next weekend there is a public event there: Clay Festival: Making and learning for the whole family.

Here are some of the works that caught my eye – among the many.

Dominid Welch sculpture

Stephanie Buttle: performance with pottery

Alison Britton: Upland

Grayson Perry: Vase

Adam Buick: Moon jars

Christie Brown: Statue

Tithe barn display

Bouke de Vries: Dead Nature Chaos

Christie Brown: The Uncanny Playroom

Sandy Brown: Platter

View of exhibition

KaoriTatebayashi: In the dark of night

Elisabeth Fritsch: Counterpoint vase

Sam Bakewell: a messenger, a smuggler

It’s a little hard to find as we spotted no sign posts: but if coming from Hendon direction, take an (unmarked) left as you enter Tisbury and can see what looks like the High Street sloping down ahead. A mile or so, and you are there. Really worth the trip if you love ceramics.

Forest Bathing

The path to the trees

I’ve just been reading a Facebook post about Shinrin-Yoku, which translated means ‘Spending more time around trees’. Which is what I’ve been doing this last couple of beautiful days; not just spending time around them, but taking what the Japanese call a ‘Forest Bath’. Lying under them.

The Biggest Pine

All the more enjoyable because these are all trees that we planted nearly forty years ago, so they are family.

Scots Pine family

The smell of the Pine resin heated by the sun was quite intoxicating, and no doubt mightily healing as well. Lucky, because I was in search of healing.

Wych Elm trunks

These pale trunks are those of a Wych Elm, which was grown from a cutting Roger took from a hedge up the lane. Wych elm is said to be a bit more resistant to Dutch Elm disease, which shows no mercy to our native Elms.

Wych Elm seeds

Here in the foreground are the embryonic seeds of the Wych Elm; still not much sign of leaves yet. And the Ash tree: its flowers are a thing of wonder – just look at this exotic beauty!

Ash flowers

Or this: the furled leaves of the Wild Service Tree:

Wild Service Tree leaves

Evening on its way now: time to go in, well bathed in Forest. Well healed.