Checking
out the fine print
Art
critic Peter Wakelin reviews a new exhibition revealing
the creative processes that make artists' books
One thing recent trends in art remind us about is that visual
art need not consist of just paintings on the walls of galleries.
Conceptual Art installations, videos and public art have
made the image speak to us in new ways. But one of the oldest
examples of breaking out of the gallery setting is the artist's
book. A number of artists are taking a new interest in the
artist's book. Among cutting-edge Conceptual artists who
have made books are the Artes Mundi nominated Tim Davies,
and Carlos Pinatti and Christine Mills in their residency
at the 2003 National Eisteddfod. Books are an age-old tool
of communication, but they can be vital objects of artistic
expression and potent symbols.
Brecknock
Museum in Brecon is currently providing a unique opportunity
to see in exhibition form the work of one of the leading
creators of artists' books in Wales, The Old Stile Press.
Based in the Wye Valley, the Press has now worked with dozens
of artists on limited-edition, hand-made books, combining
text with imagery to create something that is an art object
in itself. Nicolas and Frances McDowall have been working
with artists for 25 years and their back catalogue and current
projects represent a devotion to the artist's book which
has produced superb results. Their creations are recognised
world-wide, and are in important collections of fine books
from New York to Tokyo.
| Wales
has played an important role in the private press movement
and the art of the book. The historic Gregynog Press
was created in Wales in the 1930s, and among other significant
makers of artists' books based here have been the Caseg
Press and the Red Hen Press. Nicolas and Frances McDowall
created the Old Stile Press in London in 1979 but moved
to Llandogo, near Tintern just a few years later. They
have now created over fifty books altogether. |
|
The
McDowalls are a partnership in the initiation, design and
making of the books, but they create further partnerships
with individual artists and writers, conceptualising projects
together. The artists devise the imagery; Nicolas designs
the volumes and prints the book by hand; Frances makes paper
that is used in the end-papers, covers, or even for the
whole printing. In each case, the Old Stile Press aims to
create a book that strikes a stimulating relationship between
word and image. Nicolas and Frances are adamant that they
are never interested in illustration - the imagery in their
books should give readers an opportunity to reflect in new
ways on the text and delve deeper into their imaginations.
Writers whose work has been re-printed in the rich new form
of artists' books, or in some cases published for the first
time, have included Ted Hughes, Robin Skelton, Malcolm Parr,
Dylan Thomas and Dafydd ap Gwilym.
 |
The
Brecon exhibition focuses on their work with Welsh artists
in particular - twelve of whom are featured, ranging
from the late John Elwyn and the senior watercolourist
Philip Sutton to younger painters such as Sara Philpott
and Christopher Nurse. These are all artists known for
powerful work in other media - shown alongside the books
in the exhibition - from the sculptures of Harry Brockway
to the collages of Glenys Cour, the paintings of Keith
Bayliss and the videos and puppets of Susan Adams.
|
Because
the books are hand-printed by letter-press methods on superb
papers, they have a depth and texture never to be found
in modern commercial publications. The fine bindings add
to the feeling of a beautiful object to hold and contemplate.
The images are reproduced by the same methods used to make
original artist's prints - lino-cuts, woodcuts, engravings,
or blocks generated from drawings.
One of the
up-coming projects displayed for the first time at the
exhibition is the book of the long poem by Vernon Watkins,
Taliesin and the Mockers, with images by the highly-respected
Swansea artist Glenys Cour, who was a close friend of
the poet. Cour has made a series of dynamic collages
which intimately complement the poet's own vision. The
exhibition also sees the launch of the latest completed
project, a book of 26 sensual woodcuts by Robert Macdonald
exploring the subject of young love in the early poems
of John Donne.
|
 |
An
example of the originality that goes into creating some
of the Press's projects is the recent book by Christopher
Nurse which extracts 'the play within the play' from Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream. It tells the story of Pyramus
and Thisbe with Nurse's vividly re-created characters. Often,
there has been a continuing creative relationship between
particular artists and the Press. Clive Hicks-Jenkins has
worked on five projects with them over the years, and each
time the challenges involved have fed back into his work
as a painter. Bert Isaac's portfolio of colour prints and
accompanying text formed a manifesto for his continuing
explorations of the landscape.
Nicolas
McDowall has himself created the imagery for several books.
Among his most satisfying is a little volume contemplating
a stretch of dry stone wall in the woods above the home
of the Press near Tintern. The images are based on photographs
of the wall's interlocking stones, abstracted to their bare
essentials of jigsaw-puzzle chinks and crevices.
The exhibition is an opportunity to see the many ways in
which fine books can be made, and to observe the dialogue
between the artists' personal work and their collaborative
projects. There are reading-copies of all the volumes produced
to date. Visitors can leave behind the gallery setting in
their imaginations - by sitting down and losing themselves
in a good book.
The
Old Stile Press - Working with Artists in Wales can be seen
at Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery, Captain's Walk, Brecon,
from 18 September to 13 November. Telephone 01874 624121.
The
twelve Welsh artists featured in the exhibition are Susan
Adams, Keith Bayliss, Harry Brockway, Glenys Cour, Clive
Hicks-Jenkins, Bert Isaac, Robert Macdonald, Nicolas McDowall,
Christopher Nurse, John Petts, Sara Philpott and Philip
Sutton.
Link:
www.oldstilepress.com
