Went to see the exhibition For the love of Books at Huyton Library and Gallery yesterday. It's a show tied in with the bicentenary of Edward Lear, plus loans from MMU Special Collections and works by current book artists.
The draw for me was the contemporary work. I went primarily because Elizabeth Willow, the resident book artist at Hot Bed Press, had pieces there, none of which I had seen before. Elizabeth's work has a recognizable flavour - there's a faded-out fragility to the style, but underneath that it feels strong, not frail. It seems to me when I examine her bookworks that I step into a completely realised and slightly off-balance world of which I had no inkling and of which I would not otherwise be aware. I rather like that.
Julie Dodd had a display of her fantastic treetrunk slices - a rather lovely cycling of tree into paper (magazines, books) and back into tree again. The Hot Bed Press connection was here too, as I first saw Julie's work at a talk she gave, with Michelle Rowley, at the workshop.
I would have liked a closer look at Liz Carter's books - little creations, each with their own fabric case, that surely need handling and a little bit of personal space. Actually, the same was true in a different way of Mette-Sophie Ambeck's "Steam Salt Milk" - it is a pale thing of beauty, and its intricately cut pages should definitely be studied. And in a different way again of Jane Kennelly's "Feral Angel", where I couldn't quite finish reading the story. However, it does no harm to be left wanting a little bit more than you can actually have. A very enjoyable exhibition, in a beautifully light space, and I had the room completely to myself.
The draw for me was the contemporary work. I went primarily because Elizabeth Willow, the resident book artist at Hot Bed Press, had pieces there, none of which I had seen before. Elizabeth's work has a recognizable flavour - there's a faded-out fragility to the style, but underneath that it feels strong, not frail. It seems to me when I examine her bookworks that I step into a completely realised and slightly off-balance world of which I had no inkling and of which I would not otherwise be aware. I rather like that.
Julie Dodd had a display of her fantastic treetrunk slices - a rather lovely cycling of tree into paper (magazines, books) and back into tree again. The Hot Bed Press connection was here too, as I first saw Julie's work at a talk she gave, with Michelle Rowley, at the workshop.
I would have liked a closer look at Liz Carter's books - little creations, each with their own fabric case, that surely need handling and a little bit of personal space. Actually, the same was true in a different way of Mette-Sophie Ambeck's "Steam Salt Milk" - it is a pale thing of beauty, and its intricately cut pages should definitely be studied. And in a different way again of Jane Kennelly's "Feral Angel", where I couldn't quite finish reading the story. However, it does no harm to be left wanting a little bit more than you can actually have. A very enjoyable exhibition, in a beautifully light space, and I had the room completely to myself.
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