Things left Behind

 

 

I haven't created anything new since being back because I have had to sit and do all the working drawings for my book Seventy Two Ways which will be published in French in January. Serves me right- I thought I would get away with drawing by simply sewing- but not so- they also wanted drawings as well as drawings indicating sewing directions. So I have had to sit and draw these very neatly ( and you know my drawing with the sewing machine is much better than by hand!) it is done- I also had to be more instructional in the descritpions accompanying each square- in the english version I sort of presumed that the people who would be buying the book would already know some of the things, however Editions de Saxe caters to a much wider market than I might reach, so I have had to be much more didactic than I might ordinarily have been. But it is all done- all I have to do is load some images of some of my machine quilted pieces onto a cd and it is ready to send off tomorrow!.

I leave a lot of my things in Europe at my aunts- I get snagged by way too many books- you know how it is- fishing line with attractive book at the end and when I was in Syria I was given a number of artists books as well. I brought one of them home this time. The book was released to accompany the exhibition of the work of Abdullah Murad and is wonderful. I share two images here. The blue one was entrancing- it was quite big and had I had the money I would have bought it. It is composed of so many layers, so many drifts of ideas, a langauge beyond langaue and yet it also captures the presence of Syria/of a Syrian artist working with layers of story and history- I loved it. The other thing I much admired in Murad's work was his masterly use of yellow- it reminded me so of Bonnard whose use of yellow is wonderful.

One of the things I noticed when I visited Artisan Bookshop in Melbourne just before I left, was how miserly the books on quilting are. By this I mean they were all soft back slim volumes on one technique yet many of the other books in the shop also relating to areas of art and craft were substantial weighty beautiful books. I think we are selling ourselves short- by allowing publishers to dictate the quick and speedy way of publishing. I don't mind if it relates to one technique but when the book contains substantial work it desreves better than a slim soft cover volume. So this thought has been ruminating in my mind- as I have been trying to think of ways I can make a catalogue to accompany my exhibition in Munch next year- and I am leaning to hand made books- I know it is a kind of expensive exercise- but if the content is good and the work even goes vaguely halfway to capturing what I have been imagining then it is worthy of something more than a mere invite. Anyway I have still got the thinking cap on , and maybe it is too big an ask. I am thinking limited edition catalogue. Ok off for a glass of champers!