MMU Special Collections Artists' Books

As they will be showing off a selection of their artists' books during the fair, this is an obvious opportunity to showcase a few items from MMU Special Collection's book arts library here, along with the artists - there's no guarantee that these particular books will be on show on the day, but they give you a little taster.  None of the artists whose work is shown here will be at the book fair. 
 
MMU Special Collections will be open during the Artists’ Book Fair 2pm-4pm on Friday 18th October and 12 noon-4pm on Saturday 19th October.  A small selection of the more than 2,000 books in the collection will be on display in the Reading Room at these times.  All other titles can be viewed in the Reading Room and no appointment is necessary.  Special Collections is open 10am-4pm Monday to Friday throughout the year, and in addition till 7pm on Thursdays and 12noon-4pm on Saturdays during term time. The collection is open to the public and admission is free.

Mike Nicholson has parallel careers as a professional illustrator (Penguin Books, Weekend Guardian, Oxford University Press), storyboard artist (Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), League of Gentlemen, The Armando Iannucci Shows) and academic (senior lecturer at the University for the Creative Arts, Epsom) as well as being a book artist.  Since 2004 he has created an ongoing series of personal graphic narratives that link the personal to the public, the local to the global. They are called 'bio auto graphic', and have been acquired by Tate Collection, V&A, Winchester School of Art and Smith College, Massachusetts.  The MMU All Saints Collection has a complete set of the titles to date. 

You can follow his blog at www.ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com. 

Cover of 'bio auto graphic' Number 23 © Mike Nicholson 2013

Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck is a Danish book artist, designer and lecturer.  After her graduation from St. Martins College of Art and Design she has pursued an ongoing career mixing fine skills of bookbinding and paper-cutting with notions of narrative sequence and themes including Nordic mythology, random romantic robots and meditations on mortality.  Her work - comprising installations, multiple editions and unique pieces - has been collected and exhibited internationally, and has twice won the prestigious Birgit Skiöld Memorial Trust: Artist Book Award at the Whitechapel Gallery's London Art Book Fair. She lectures in Denmark and the UK and is also organizer of the Doverodde Book Arts Festival. 

www.ambeckdesign.blogspot.com 

Detail from (left) "Al-Mutanabbi Street: a Vicious Circle" and (right) "Dust to Dust" © 2013 & 2012 Mette Ambeck

Lucy May Schofield's practice attempts to capture moments and consistently documents vulnerability.  She is a keen observer of the changing landscape of both the physical and emotional worlds  and the desire to record these changes with image and text drives her practice. She was trained originally as a printmaker, studied the traditional techniques of book making and has discovered a great satisfaction in making objects by hand - the process of making her work is paramount.  Her work is held in public and private collections including Yale Center for British Art, Tate Britain, Chelsea College of Art, London College of Communication, Winchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, State Library of Queensland. Artist multiples are stocked in London, Edinburgh, Paris, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Lucy May Schofield is currently respresented by Paper.  She is the curator of The Bibliotherapy Artist’s Book Library (BABL), a touring mobile library home to over 150 artists’ books.

http://lucymayschofield.blogspot.co.uk/

'Roadkill' and 'Loveless'  © 2006 and 2005 Lucy May Schofield