Blog - MANCHESTER ARTISTS BOOK FAIR

MANCHESTER ARTISTS BOOK FAIR

And don't forget the Zitouna Press talk at Hot Bed Press tomorrow

19/10/2014

25 YEARS OF ZITOUNA - EVENING TALK WITH RONI GROSS
Monday 20th October 2014
From: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Tomorrow - Monday 20th October - £10 (£5 Members) Based in New York, Zitouna have issued multiples for the past 25 years. Begun as a means of celebrating the secular holidays Halloween and Valentine’s Day these projects developed into explorations of the themes of love and death. The objects have taken many forms over the years: from constructed rolodex to broadsides, photographic puzzles, volvelles and flip books. Letterpress, offset and xerox prints, photography, watercolour and collage are some of the mediums employed. Many of the pieces are in the permanent collections of universities and museums (including Harvard, Yale, Brooklyn Museum, New York Public Library).

Cost: £10.00 / £5.00 members -

No need to book, just arrive and pay on the door!

All over for 2014

19/10/2014

All the preparation, the frantic last minute tweaks of this and that, the problems, the rushing every which way - then the fair is there for a scant two days before it's all over, done and dusted for another year.

As ever, thank you to everyone who was involved in anyway - the volunteers from Hot Bed Press who made everything run so smoothly, the gallery staff, Duncan who designed the lovely new banners for us, Sue and Martin who demonstrated paper marbling and letterpress printing respectively, the visitors and of course the exhibitors who produced such a fantastic range of work for us all to enjoy.

Here's just a flavour of the fair - the rest of the photos will arrive on the site in the next few weeks. If you missed the whole thing this year, let's hope we'll see you next autumn.

One day to go

16/10/2014

The catalogues are waiting, the tables are up and covered, all we need now are the artists (check), their work (check) and ... the visitors. Come along tomorrow or saturday - in fact, come along both days! It's free and it'll be full of so much fascinating art, how could you do it justice without a second visit?

The Skinny have just added us to 10 things to do in the north west this week (we're number 6 on the list, by the way, but I don't think it's a rating system). Thank you Skinny!

A final gallery of exhibitors before the fair arrives:

Susan Shaw, Two Wood Press and The Library of Lost Books. They'll be there tomorrow, along with all the other artists - come and meet them.

Two days to go

15/10/2014

Today's gallery of lovelies is brought to you courtesy of Wirral Met College's BA Fine Arts course, Thomas Tomasska and Pat Hodson (Iceland Blues).

Fffffflyers

14/10/2014

Three days to go - more exhibitors & a reminder about the Zitouna Press talk

14/10/2014

Here we go then - a quick gallery of three more exhibitors' work.

From left to right, work by Alex Pritchard of AP Books, Joanna Wilkinson and Roni Gross.

Don't forget that next week, on Monday 20th October, New York-based book artist Roni Gross will be giving a talk entitled 25 years of Zitouna. Zitouna have issued multiples for the past 25 years. Begun as a means of celebrating the secular holidays of Halloween and Valentine’s Day, these projects developed into explorations of the themes of love and death. The objects have taken many forms over the years - letterpress, offset and xerox prints, photography, watercolour and collage are just some of the mediums employed. Many pieces are in the permanent collections of universities and museums.

The talk should be excellent and will be from 7pm to 8.30pm at Hot Bed Press, Casket Works, Cow Lane (off Oldfield Road), Salford M5 4NB - tickets will be sold on the door, £10 (£5 for Hot Bed Press members).

Four days to go

13/10/2014

So here's a further selection of images from those taking part, to tempt you in.

From left to right, an image by Gunnar Brusewitz from a book printed and published by Incline Press, a complex woven artefact by HopScotchStop and a page from Nancy Campbell's "How to say 'I love you' in Greenlandic". Look them up on the 2014 exhibitors page for more information, then come and see them and their fantastic work for real at the fair.

Alas no Turners

12/10/2014

We had hoped to increase your range of stockist opportunities this year, with art suppliers Turners nicely complementing bookbinding suppliers Ratchford.

Unfortunately, Turners have unexpectedly found themselves unable to attend after all. It's a shame, and both Turners and Manchester Artists' Book Fair are very sorry to have to announce this at such short notice.

Materials and marbling

9/10/2014

A trip to MMU Special Collections today was also a chance to see their latest exhibition, Material Matters - how different materials have been used in art, craft and design. It's a fascinating range. including ceramics, wood, metal, enamel, glass and paper - and amongst the examples of paper use are artists' books by Mette Sofie Ambeck, Karen Pilling and Ron King.

During the two days of the fair, Special Collections will have a range of artists' books from their collection on show in the Special Collections Library Reading Room, for visitors to enjoy and handle. They have also noticed there will be a demonstration of paper marbling at the fair, and to complement that they will be displaying some of their stunning marbled papers, including pieces by Tirza Ravilious, Golden Cockerel Press and Karli Frigge. Some of the examples are jaw-droppingly stunning and have to be seen to be believed! Don't pass up the opportunity to see them.

Art Junky

7/10/2014

The lovely art and design magazine Art Junky have posted a promotional feature about the fair - thanks folks. It's a fascinating site, full of all sorts of (well, yes) art and design goodies - interviews, exhibitions, features, publications, projects. Definitely worth an in depth browse.