Art of the Book - a Fair assessment!!

The box has been ticked.... my first ever artist book fair has taken place.

I enjoyed myself, lots of talking!  Met up with people not seen in a while - Hi again - met up with others I've only spoken with before from across the table, and saw some friends.  Lots of nice things said about my books, which was heartening.

This is my table display.

I decided to display a mix of types of books - so I have 3 very long books, 4 which involve stitching on plastic/acetate, and display in various ways with folds and extensions, 2 pieces of wall art and some of my postcards and I made brooches for sale.

Do look at the Facebook page here of Artbookart.  Scroll down and you can see an image from everyone who participated.  You don't need to belong to Facebook to see.
Such a huge variety in what represents the book arts, from the tiny only an inch or so handbound book, to those A3+ size.  Various materials, and formats, inspiration - can you tell its a wonderful mix of creativity, and I loved it all.  Had lots of lovely chats with fellow artists, there was an awful lot of 'wow' and other terms from me, so if you call that chatting!!!

The book in a matchbox was absolutely unbelievably in the inventiveness of people.  It was another of these "can you just" moments which come through so often after you sign up for an event.

Again, look at the Artbookart site for more images.

I was almost paralysed into not being able to do this project - purely because I ended up with so many ideas buzzing in my head, I could do this, and this, or that, there was a real danger of not doing anything.  So I decided to settle on book forms, and I chose the smallest matchbox size to work with - making my own matchboxes. So here are my pieces.

Closed matchbox - has book cover surround and gold leaf edges

Tiny book inside with same binding

Closed matchbox - beach hut shapes

A string of bunting of Japanese Stab Binding books

A folded book - not extended to full length here as it ends up about 2m long

Made from Rice paper - I liked the white box so added a clear sparkle finish to it

Again you need to go to the Artbookart site to see the viewer's winner.  Its Sally Chinea - with a divine little fire engine inside a book cover and narrative book.

Sally has had a busy week - as earlier on, she met with myself and other members of The Material Girls, and became our newest Member.  We are looking forward to sharing our skills together.

So, I asked him indoors, do you think I should do this Art Book Fair again then - and he said Yes, he had been reluctant in the first instance.  So looks like I need to keep my eyes open for the next one.

Do please look at the ArtbookArt Facebook page, and from there seek out the book artists - its such a pleasure to have this kind of display of art, almost on my doorstep.