Happy Christmas!

Hello folks! Not much news to report but I just wanted to drop you a note to wish you a very Happy Christmas! Thank you very much for all your intrigue, curiosity and purchases of my creations over the last year. I hope this festive illustration brightens up your winter afternoon! Lucy x PS. Please order any items from the web shop by THIS FRIDAY 16 DECEMBER in order that arrive with you in time for Christmas!

Christmassy books and things...

I've quietly working away gearing up for Christmas since about June (or at least it feel like that!) It's a lovely feeling to box up all the paper bells, candelabra, cards and screen printed papers and put them into the hands of our wonderful Royal Mail to whisk them of to a gallery down south or over the sea, almost as exciting as receiving a parcel myself!

Orders have winged their way to my new stockist Yard Gallery in Holywood, Northern Ireland; mima down in Middlesbrough; and New Brewery Arts down in Cirencester. I also sent off some oversized candelabras to the Bowery in Leeds for a festive window display. In addition to all this Merriment Makers took a box of treats for their Pop-up Exhibition this weekend.

Tomorrow I will be at Life is Good in Morningside for a very classy workshop as part of their series 'Not tonight darling....'  We'll be making a beautiful booky paper christmas tree and Prossecco & mince pies will get you in the christmas mood. 

Cost £12. 

Tuesday 6th December, 6.30- 8.30pm.

Please call into the shop or call Jill on 01314473339 / 07903585682 to book.

Heading south of the border

I am indeed using this space as a notice board again, however I wanted to spread the word about this exciting event coming up on Saturday. Do pop come and say hello if you are in the area, there are some great names on the bill.

The Beach House Opening Night

 

Images: The Beach House (Photographer: Peter Cloke 2011), Where do seagulls go on holiday? (Photographer: Jonny Barber 2011), Beach Hut Platter (Photographer: Peter Cloke 2011), Friends, Beach Huts, Artist's Books (Photographer: Jonny Barber 2011).

The Beach House runs until 9 October at Broughton Delicatessen, Barony Street, Edinburgh

Exhibition Opening!

 

I am delighted to invite you along to the launch of a collection of new work in an exhibition opening in Edinburgh next Thursday. Drinks + nibbles will be served to celebrate at Broughton Deli 7.30 to 9pm on Thursday 1 September.

New work includes silkscreen prints inspired by trips to the seaside and paper installations of beach huts.

Pop in and say hello!

Lucy

Lost in Marrakesh

In April I was fortunate to be awarded a Craft Maker Award from the City of Edinburgh Council to facilitate further research within my practice as an illustrator.  This exciting development enabled me to set up more processes within my small studio and buy important materials. However more significantly it has introduced freedom for experimentation and a 'playground' to explore process in my work. 

The two images above were two of the first silk screen prints I produced with the help of the grant. They were inspired by a trip to Marrakesh in Morocco in February and are made up of layer upon layer of textural marks. I was fascinated during our visit by the stucco plasterwork, mosaic tiling and a beautiful terracotta pink which adorned the walls of main streets, which quickly narrowed to alleys then passages and eventually inevitably drew you to a dead end and the entrance to someone's home. We got happily lost most days trying to find our way out to the walls of the old city and back to our hotel. But leaving the slight apprehension caused by a strange place aside, this was definitely the best way to explore and discover unique Morocco. I hope to return soon to see the rest of the country, in particular the white and blue washes of the Atlantic coast.

(top: 'Morocco' 2011 edition of 6

bottom: 'The Bike Shop' 2011 edition of 6)

Itching to get making?

Hi everyone,

Just a quick little post to let you all know there's still spaces available on both the Wearable Paper workshop on Saturday and the Book Trees workshop on Tuesday... details below.

Saturday 11th June
Wearable paper
Use paper in imaginative ways to create a wearable accessory. Combine folding, texture, stitching & colour to transform an everyday material into something beautiful.
2 pm to 4.30 pm
£20

Tuesday 14th June
Book Trees
Create a unique book in the shape of a tree. Using carefully selected papers and design, produce a sophisticated and individual artwork.
6.30 to 8.30 pm
£18

Email lucy@thebooktreepress.co.uk to book a place or give me a ring on 077 969 20533. All abilities welcome.

Ask me how it's made...

Last night saw the opening of the exhibition Paper at Craft House Concept. Steph Marsden, the creative head behind Craft House Concept approached me back in February to discuss the curation of a series of exhibitions at the shop inspired by materials. As soon as she mentioned paper I did not need much persuading, it is such a fantastic and versatile material that I fell in love with a long time ago.

After an open call for submissions we received entries from all over the UK and even the odd suggestion from Europe. The entries excited and also challenged us we sorted through and brought out the best of the selection. Even more exciting though, was the moment the packages started to arrive at the shop last week.

The exhibition represents artists, designers and craftsmen who all work in some way with paper. Process is celebrated in the collection as each creator started with the same material but the results are varied and innovative, no two are alike. Even within the artists who cut paper there was great diversity. The exhibition includes work by Helen Snell, Turnhurst and Julie Linn using a laser cutter; Hannah Greenwood’s use of a Robocutter and hand cut work by Janine Partington and myself. 

The question floating around the room at the opening was definitively ‘just how was that made?’ Each method of cutting does end up with a linear slice through the material, however each device leaves a unique ghost on the finished piece. For laser cutting the burnt edges add character and scarring that add texture to the article. The robocutter leaves a smooth line, accurate and digital in nature. Hand cut work with a scalpel leaves a story told through the angle of the cuts, small snags and the linked branches holding an image together. All of these features are exploited and manipulated by artists to produce beautiful and unique results.

Claire de Ruiter moulded silk fibres to create a beautifully fragile and feminine pair of paper slippers. This contrasted with Rosalind Bunter’s moulded scissors and doll’s clothing made from white pulp. Hannah Lobley’s Paperwork series explores moulded paper treated with wood working practises to create robust and solid objects. Travelling bookbinder Rachel Hazell brought work that brought the traditional craft of bookbinding into clothing and jewellery. This reflects perfectly Steph’s vision of living with craft carried throughout the shop. Jenny Pope’s delicate vessels are built from porcelain paper clay. Paper plays a vital role in the making process of the artwork, however the material itself is burnt away in the firing process. In a similar case, Janine Partington uses paper cutting regularly in the process of vitreous enamelling however has only recently began to see the templates made as artworks in themselves.

As a natural researcher I am delighted when artwork inspires the kind of animated discussion we shared last night around the paper works. The subject of which pieces were Craft, which were Fine Art and what role design played was an important consideration as we arranged the artworks and worked out the relationship between the shop and the gallery space. Andy Singleton's colourful birds burst out of exhibition case to drift out in the shop reminding me that craft follows function and causes the same perpetual question I find popping up in book exhibitions on a regular basis; how do you display a functional object in the way it was destined, available to handle and use, and yet protect the fragile artwork. In a digital world I look forward to seeing where the future of paper lies and it fights for its place as a valuable material. I suspect it will not be retired to the box of cassette tapes and floppy disks quite yet.

Paper is on at Craft House Concept until Sunday 17 July.

Craft House Concept

31E Minto Street, Edinburgh

www.livingwithcraft.com

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10 to 5 pm and Sunday 12 to 5 pm

Images to follow.

Paper Exhibition at Craft House Concept

Hello folks,

I am delighted to invite you to the opening of an exhibition I have some work in this Thursday. Come along if you are free and enjoy a tipple whilst looking at an innovative and beautiful collection of paperworks.

To celebrate the exhibition 'Paper' at Craft House Concept which explores some of the most exciting possibilities of using paper as a material I am running two creative workshops at The Book Tree Press headquarters.

On Saturday 11th June discover Wearable paper. Use paper in imaginative ways to create a wearable accessory. Combine folding, texture, stitching & colour to transform an everyday material into something beautiful. The workshop runs from 2 pm to 4.30 pm and costs £20.

Then on Tuesday 14th June I invite you along to a classic workshop making Book Trees. Create a unique book in the shape of a tree. Using carefully selected papers and design, produce a sophisticated and individual artwork. This workshop will run for 6.30 to 8.30 pm and costs £18.

 

For more information on anything or book a place on either workshop please email lucy@thebooktreepress.co.uk or phone me on 077 969 20533


Thanks for reading, hope to see you soon!
Lucy

Rome wasn't built in a day....

... but occasionally designers set themselves little challenges such as a one day project - fond memories of art college are flooding back!

This week I set aside one day to design and print a little book I have been pondering over for a while. There's no such thing as a seagull?' was inspired by early outings with my husband's parents. They have become keen bird watchers over the last few years and after being corrected several times as I commented on seagulls around Leith, I soon learned that the seagull in itself does not actually exist, but is instead the commonly mistakenly identified herring gull or lesser black-backed gull!

Bird watching lesson over! I hope you enjoy this sneaky peak into the new artist's book which I hope will make you chuckle. A copy is winging its way to my in-laws now and lets hope they enjoy my playful observations and a little pride that they have managed to educate me on my bird species!

 

This is a digitally printed edition of 40 books measuring 105 x 105 mm. It will be available to buy this coming Tuesday at the Artist's Bookmarket hosted by The Fruitmarket Gallery, retailing at £10.

Artist's Bookmarket

Tuesday 29 March 2011

4pm to 9pm

The Fruitmarket Gallery
45 Market Street 

Edinburgh EH1 1DF

Spring Workshops

Back by popular demand, I am happy to announce a short series of Spring Workshops.

This set of three intimate workshops will give you the chance to give bookbinding a try for the first time, or to learn some new skills if you have never made a book before. All abilities are welcome for each workshop, and to keep the workshops nice and cosy, giving each of you even more of my attention there are only 4 places for each workshop so book early! Don’t worry if they book up I will add more dates.

Mother’s Day Workshop
Tuesday 22 March
6.30 to 8.45 pm
£20
Another chance to make a traditional hardbound book with a lovely ribbon bookmark, this will make a lovely mothers day gift, or a nice treat for yourself.
Alternatively, book yourself and your mum onto one of the later workshops, I will happily provide a gift certificate to give her on the day.

Book Tree
Tuesday 5 April
6.30 to 8.30pm
£15
Spring in is the air so we’ll be making book trees. The contemporary twist on traditional bookbinding skills makes a lovely and sophisticated decorative book.

An introduction to bookbinding
Tuesday 19 April
6.30 to 8.30pm
£18
In an introduction to basic bookbinding I will teach you about paper grain, make a simple book using pamphlet stitch and a second book using a Japanese stab binding. You go home desperate to make more yourself!

To book or for more information email lucy@thebooktreepress.co.uk and give me a ring on 077 969 20533.

Look forward to seeing you soon!