Blog - MANCHESTER ARTISTS BOOK FAIR

MANCHESTER ARTISTS BOOK FAIR

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

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.

Wooden type for sale at the fair

6/10/2014

It's going to be a pretty random collection!

Come along and see letterpress printing and paper marbling at the fair

15/9/2014

We're always pleased if we can organise some practical demonstrations to take place at the fair, and this year we have persuaded Sue Shaw to show off her paper marbling skills and Martin Kochany once again to display the fine art of letterpress printing. Both techniques have been in use for more than 500 years, and each still has a special beauty and attraction today.

The demonstrations will take place on Saturday only - Sue's is scheduled for 1pm and Martin's for 3pm.

Space nearly all gone

24/7/2014

Just to inform anyone who might be thinking of having a table at MABF this year but hasn't quite got round to booking one yet, there are only a few left. We hope to arrange room for a small handful more, if we can, but it won't put the numbers up by much. If you want to book, go to the 2014 Fair page and to the booking form from there. Soon.

Just so as you know.

The first batch of exhibitors for 2014

30/6/2014

We're delighted that applications for tables at this year's fair are already coming in steadily - and a mix of old names and new, just as we like it. As soon as we have all the information from the exhibitors, they go on to the 2014 exhibitors page to whet everyone's appetite for the event. The first half dozen are on there now - go have a look.