Fruitmarket BookMarket 2014

Last Saturday I met up with some friends to go check out a between-exhibitions event at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh! It was the Artists' BookMarket that featured over two dozen independent presses, book artists and printmakers. It. was. fabulous. I mean, how could it not be, when so many of my favorite things come together in one event? Art/printmaking/illustration and poetry/literature and bookmaking. Gah, it's so great.

I set out to pick up some pieces. I haven't picked up much in the way of ephemera during my stay in Scotland, and I thought this would be the perfect excuse to pick up some things that I can add to my personal library/collection and also work as arty souvenirs over the long-term.

I found a wonderful photography book by photographer Fergus Jordan who was there representing his own work as well as the publisher the velvet cell which has put out some really streamlined, gorgeous photography books.

One of the numerous exhibitors // via //

But aside from the arty photography books and the gorgeous presses, there were some really beautiful independent Scottish publishers as well, some of them with more of a focus on Scottish literature and poetry. I scooped up an amazing little gem called 'Twelve Sea Pictures' by Leonard McDermid, which is something of a concrete poem printed on various papers by Stitchill Marigold Press. Good old fashioned letterpress printed and hand-stitched pamphlets, just gorgeous. And Leonard was awesome.



I could have gotten really carried away, but I controlled my purchasing urges and stuck with a few choice things that I dearly treasure already. I think that printmaking and bookmaking is something, though close to my heart and a part of my background already with experience at the used bookstore, that still maintains an aura of mystery and wonder because I know so little about the process. But the fact that books, so mass-produced these days, can be seen in terms of art... that's just wonderful.

Cheers!
Kate xx

I Give Everything Away

The other day I hopped down the hill to one of the best contemporary galleries in Edinburgh, The Fruitmarket Gallery, where they just opened a new exhibition of Louise Bourgeois works to complement a major exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. I'm actually not sure I've ever seen any of her work in person before this, so I'm excited to get to the Gallery of Modern Art as well. The exhibition is titled I Give Everything Away, after a suite of large drawings by the same title on display. The Fruitmarket exhibition goes through February 23rd, 2014.

The Fruitmarket Gallery exhibition presents Bourgeois's Insomnia Drawings, 220 drawings made in that blurry phase between sleeping and waking. She used sheets of paper that she had on hand, including sheets lined for music and lined notebook paper, and did combinations of writing and drawing that are at times very personal. The clustered line of drawings wends throughout the rooms of the ground floor, roughly in chronological order, starting in November 1994 and ending in June 1995.

On the second floor (first floor if we're in the UK; this gets confusing) there are larger works on paper made at the end of her life, in 2010. They are a mix of hand-colored etching, writing, and drawing which were, to me, a bit more evocative than the snake-like procession of Insomnia Drawings downstairs.

It's a really wonderful exhibition in a fantastic space. I like very much how the first floor is almost overwhelming, "labyrinthine" as the info pamphlet says, in the sheer number of pieces and how tightly they're displayed. The other part of the space is much more open; the works on display and the two different exhibition spaces really complement each other that way.



The Fruitmarket Gallery has also published a catalogue to accompany the exhibition, titled Has the day invaded the night or the night invaded the day? Insomnia in the work of Louise Bourgeois. They have copies sitting around on benches throughout the gallery and it's a really beautiful little book with many of the Insomnia Drawings shown both sides, where in the gallery they are obviously only able to display one side of a sheet of paper.



Cheers!
Kate x

The Rabbit Gallery

I hopped to downtown Appleton to check out the city's first pop-up gallery, The Rabbit, which is organized by Lawrence University students in conjunction with local artists in order to use vacant shop space on College Avenue, and to forge a much-needed/appreciated connection between Lawrence and the community. Organizations, galleries and artists in the Appleton area have been working more diligently over the last couple of years to bring the arts to the public... and if one is even remotely acquainted with Appleton, it's clear that College Avenue is the place to pull this off -- at least to start.

And things are happening. Houdini Plaza, which connects to my workplace, The Trout Museum of Art, is undergoing a major overhaul and should be finished soon. The Trout Museum itself has become a house for many major arts organizations such as the Makaroff Ballet, White Heron Chorale, Fox Valley Symphony, and more. Lawrence University has the Wriston Art Center Galleries, and their own set of music and theatre programs, but it has been rare indeed that the events of Appleton and those of Lawrence have been brought together cohesively. That's what I like about the Rabbit Gallery: it's a small scale, trendy and classy little gallery space that puts Lawrence students in the community, gives them arts management and entrepreneurial experience, and brings the community into Lawrence's world. 

Not to mention it's a pop-up, and I love pop-up anything!

There is a pretty solid mix of student and local artist work, and some of it is quite interesting! The old art store space provides a great setup. It's up through June 8, so if you want to check it out, and you're in the area, it's in the space where Avenue Art Co. used to be, in the City Center shopping mall at 10 E. College Ave. (access from the street on Sundays).

And on my way back out of town, I happened across this Sunday afternoon demolition, which was striking to see from a couple of blocks away -- a big, gaping building. I actually never knew what this place was, but apparently it was a low-income senior apartment building. I have no idea what's going to happen in this space, and I don't think the city knows either. It's going to be turned into green space, according to the local newspaper, until development plans are made.

Okay then! Happy Sunday!

Days to Edinburgh move-in: 104

On a cloudy day...

It's possible to drive through Door County along highway 42, through the well-established harbor towns of Fish Creek and Egg Harbor, up to Ephraim, and never see the Anderson Dock. On the other hand, if you're getting married... you know where the Anderson Dock is. It's traditionally graffitied with the names of boats. Lately it has also become quite popular to write the names and dates of soon-to-be-married or newlywed couples.

So how about some art?! I stopped briefly at one of Door County's more prestigious art galleries, Edgewood Orchard, which features contemporary art from Wisconsin, but also national and international artists. Many of the galleries in Door County feature local work by regional-interest artists, but this one is attractive to me personally in that it carries a wide range of work with a broad spectrum of style and subject.

I went quite a bit out of my art bubble by focusing primarily on the sculptures outside. Edgewood Orchard has a nice winding trail through a large sculpture garden, so I made the most of that. Generally speaking, I'm usually drawn more toward painting and other 2-dimensional work--the wall-hanging kind. Not strictly, of course, but it's what I feel most comfortable with. But I like 3D work, like any 2D work, to have something to say. If it's "pretty" for the sake of decoration, it's just boring. 

Inside and out, Edgewood Orchard had its fair share of interesting work. There was some I didn't care for, of course. On the other hand, there were some things that I would have liked in my house, such as a number of heavy glass bowls by Arcata, California artist George Bucquet at Mad River Glass (which plucked a chord with me since I lived in Arcata for a short while several years ago and miss it still). There were some really magnificent paintings by Craig Blietz of Sister Bay, WI, and some wonderful bronze sculptures of rabbits by Donna Weiser of Los Angeles.

Random Thoughts by Curtis Archer of  Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Point of View by Dennis Heimbach of Middleton, Wisconsin

(Unfortunately, no information. Boo.)

And these scrumptious succulents... anyone know what they are?

Days to Edinburgh move-in: 113

The Art Garage

I made a promising French spring lamb stew last night and hoped to be able to post about it today, however it was a total disaster. So instead, I'll share just a couple photos of a mini trip to Green Bay to visit The Art Garage, a gallery, studio and classroom space hooked up to the local technical college, where my dad currently has a wall up (see below) and their current show was of travel-themed work by the Green Bay Art Colony. It was a gorgeous day for it!

It used to be an old automotive repair garage, hence the "garage" in the name. I almost liked the architecture more than the items on display, but I did see a few nice things, and it really is a splendid, bright space with an eclectic selection of work and a small gift shop.

Also, in unrelated but arguably more exciting news, I had a pow-wow via Facebook with my two sisters throughout the day yesterday, and we've decided to do a road trip to Glacier National Park at the end of June! How exciting is that. There'll be plenty more where that came from, I can assure you, so stayyy tuuuuned!

Days to Edinburgh Move-In: 122