This Thursday, (February 23rd at 6:30pm in the Centrum Studio), the Oregon College of Art and Craft will be hosting a lecture by visiting artist, educator and curator, Catherine Fairgrieve of Coleg Sir Gar / University of West Wales, UK.
Fairgrieve is a printmaker, painter, book artist, and sculptor who lives and works in rural Wales, UK. She earned a Post Graduate Certificate in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art and an MA in Multidisciplinary Printmaking from UWE, Bristol. She has taught at Coleg Sir Gar and Swansea Metropolitan University for 17 years, and she is currently Program Co-ordinator, BA (Hons) Painting, Drawing and Printmaking.
Fairgrieve will be discussing images and video of her recent work investigating coal mining and the significance of a forgotten or hidden industry as well as the duality between terrible conditions in the mine and the solidarity of social communities. She will include an overview her work that preceded this project.
She is visiting OCAC in connection with the exchange exhibition she organized “Invisible Cities/Hidden Landscapes” which opens in March in the Hoffman Gallery.
We are honored to have Catherine Fairgrieve visit and present to our OCAC community. Don’t miss this event!
Thinking in particular about other contemporary artists (and book artists in particular), we’ve selected this week’s library pick, Book Art Object, because it is probably the most exhaustive and diverse survey of book artists to date. It is an excellent resource to see what it currently going on in the book art world:
“Across its 400-plus pages of sumptuous color reproductions, it tracks the present state of the art throughout every continent (including Antarctica!) and through every variant of the book arts, from one-off publications to letterpress to artist/poet collaborations to artist’s books. Stalwarts of the artist’s book circuit such as Brad Freeman and Granary Books are represented here, as well as newer artist’s book publishers such as Dobbin Mill, Otis Laboratory Press and Red Trillum Press. Also well represented are small literary presses such as Chax Press, Arion Press, Indulgence Press and Nikodim Publishing. A visual record of the proceedings and exhibitors attending the first biennial Codex International Book Fair and Symposium, Book Art Object collects work by many of the world’s most esteemed printers, book artists and artisans into a single satisfying volume.” — from the publisher.
It is an astonishing work with a broader and far more extensive reach than other surveys on the topic. We are proud to include it among our collection and we hope, by giving special attention to it, we will attract more people to explore its depths.
From a quick perusal, one can get a much better sense of what is going on in the book arts field, and, if you plan to attend Catherine Fairgrieve’s lecture, it might provide a nice context in which to interpret Fairgrieve’s work with respect to her peers. Check it out!
Book Arts
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