On the runway, preparing for take off

One of the interesting things about planning anything is the way the project can quickly gain its own momentum, and head off in a direction that while not completely unexpected, wasn’t what you had anticipated when you started off.  And so it is with Happily Ever After (HEA)…

In the beginning, Caelli and I had thoughts of a small but beautifully executed exhibition of artists’ books, displayed tastefully in pristine glass cases in a white gallery space, everything feeling rather cool, remote and museum-esque. I don’t quite know what happened to that idea. Somewhere along the way we remembered that we loved books, we loved reading and handling them, and that other people would probably like this too. We started talking about spaces designed to help people enjoy books: good coffee shops, libraries, old fashioned reading rooms with leather wing backed chairs and open fires, the bookshelves in second hand booksellers, comfy chairs, seedy sofas and coffee machines.

Caelli got out her black pen and magic marker and started drawing up an entirely different way of exhibiting artists’ books. Basically it’s a mix of the pristine and the accessible: books in glass cases and books on bookshelves, with plenty of comfortable spots to sit down and enjoy them, everything painted white so it’s like a cross between a contemporary art gallery and a library. We’re still discussing whether we can get a decent coffee machine into the gallery. The idea is to get people to not just walk around, look at things and leave, but to sit down and actively engage with what the artists and writers have created.

The organization of the show began to follow this visual plan. We decided to split the show into two sections: an invitation only section and an open section. Basically the division corresponds to the way we’re going to display the books. The invite only section books will mainly be in display cases, while the open section books will be placed in an accessible library section and rotated through a display case. We’re planning to scan and project images from all books onto one of the gallery walls. So far we’ve sent out about forty invitations to the former section, and once we’ve confirmed acceptances we’ll send out an open call for books to the latter section. 

So far we’re delighted to confirm the participation of a growing list of artists, bookmakers and writers including: Deborah Williams, Emma Van Leest, Tony Flowers, Patricia Wilson-Adams, Monica Oppen, Pamela See, Rick Kellum (UK), Nicola Cutter (US), Yvette Sullivan (UK), Karen Robinson Smith, Annemaree Hunter, David Hampton, Samara McIlroy, Donna Townend, Pam Poulson…

Law, sausages and group exhibitions

People say that there are two things that you should never see made: legislation and sausages. As a vegetarian and a former Law student, I have no problem with either of these forms, however I do think that the saying could usefully be extended to any kind of creative endeavour, particularly joint creative productions. We started this blog to document the back stage processes of pulling together a group exhibition of artists' books at the John Paynter Gallery, Newcastle (Australia) that is coming up in June 2011. And already I'm beginning to wish we hadn't...

The first thing to note is that the idea of organising an exhibition of artists' books happened pretty much by chance. I ran into Caelli Jo Booker one day in the halls of the art school where we both periodically teach and study. Caelli had earlier mentioned that she was having an exhibition of books she had made at the University of Newcastle's student art gallery: Watt Space. Knowing very little about the form, but liking the idea, I asked her about the exhibition with the vague thought that perhaps I could participate. (After all, how hard could making a book be? And even if I was too hamfisted to do it myself, I was reasonably certain that I'd be able to talk a crafty friend into it. By the way, that's crafty as in paper and scissors, not crafty as in devious). It turned out that the exhibition was going to be a solo affair, but we ended up chatting about artists' books in general: opportunities to exhibit; forms and media; aesthetics; competitions and prizes for; symposiums and conferences related to the form; artists in Newcastle making books; possibilities for funding for making artists' books, that kind of thing. 

Having stood there chatting for a good thirty minutes, it was time to either accept that we'd just had a nice conversation that wasn't going to go anywhere, or perhaps do something with the idea. We decided that yes, it would be good to have an exhibition of artists' books somewhere in Newcastle; that it would be great to involve local writers in the project; and that the John Paynter Gallery, as the home of the Hunter Writers Centre, would be the ideal venue. Caelli, a kind and practical person, offered to contact the gallery and find out when their deadlines for exhibition proposals were. 

A couple of days later I was sitting in a cafe working on a book project with a very tight deadline. I remember feeling stressed, amplifying this with a large mug of rocket fuel coffee, and that the cafe table had a wobbly leg and it was too bright to see my laptop screen properly. The mobile rang and it was Caelli. The conversation went something like this:

Caelli: 'I've spoken to Kerrie at John Paynter Gallery...;

Helen: 'Great! How did it go? When's their next deadline?'

Caelli: '5pm tomorrow'. 

We decided to lodge an exhibition proposal and spent the next ten minutes or so fleshing out the idea of an artists' books exhibition. We knew that we wanted it to be group exhibition, involving not only Newcastle based writers and artists, but people working nationally and internationally. I was working towards a joint exhibition with the sculptor Karen Robinson Smith, titled Strange Tales, so I was quite keen to do something around story telling narrative structures, particularly from a female perspective. (I'd taught a Creative Writing class earlier in the year and had a great time getting students to rewrite an extract from a Raymond Carver story, written from the 1st person perspective of a male character, from the perspective of one of the minor female satellite characters). We started talking about fairy tales, came up with the first part of the exhibition title 'Happily Ever After', then played around until we worked out the sub title 'alternative destinies in contemporary feminine narrative'. (It is worth noting that this combination of slapstick title with serious subtitle is prevalent in the context of academic writing, and Caelli and I, unfortunately or not, have both internalised it. I call it the 'just kidding: no really, I actually do know what I'm talking about' approach). And so the exhibition proposal was born.

Caelli, a graphic designer as well as an artist, did a fantastic job of writing the proposal and making it look damned good. At the time of writing, the proposal has been accepted, exhibition dates have been set to 10-26 June 2011, and we are in the process of finalising our Expression of Interest letter and form; we intend to send these documents out to participants, hopefully before Christmas.