{The cover of my artists' book, All that's bewitching by the water (Capri), exhibited recently as part of By This Unwinking Night at Latrobe Regional Gallery.}
As Louise and I spend the lion’s share of this Sunday putting the finishing touches to our work for our forthcoming window display at Port Jackson Press Print Room’s Little Window of Opportunity, I thought I’d take the chance to share a little of what we will be installing. One of the artists’ books we hope to fit in the window is All that's bewitching by the water (Capri) (2012). Space permitting, it will be exhibited alongside Sleeping during the day (2010) and With you my destiny I'd steal (Venezia) (2012). We have mapped out on the floor the window’s proportions and things are looking promising. The theatricality and primal brilliance of Stravinsky plays in the background as we adhere little tabs to the back of our artists' books and map out flying bird configurations on the carpet. Yes, we are looking very much forward to installing our paper works early in the week that peeps around the corner. And I'll be sure to post a few photos of the instal here and on instagram.
{Page details from All that's bewitching by the water (Capri).}
Charms of the Gloaming
Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
Wednesday 24th of October – Friday 30th of November, 2012
December 7, 1906
Went to F— Duckponds. Flocks of Wigeon and Teal on the water. Taking advantage of a dip in the land managed to stalk them splendidly, and for quite a long time I lay among the long grass watching them through my field glasses. But during the day Wild Duck are not particularly lively or interesting birds. Occasionally one will paddle around lazily. But for the most part they show a great ennui and seem so sleepy and tired that one would almost think to be able to approach and feed them out of hand. But I moved one hand carelessly and the whole flock was up in a minute and whizzing across the river. Afterwards, at dusk, on returning to the ponds, they had come back; but now that the sun was down, those dozy, flapdoodle creatures of the afternoon were transformed into quacking, quarrelsome, blustering birds that squabbled and chivvied each other, every moment seizing the chance of a luxurious dip, flinging the ice-cold water off their backs with a shake of the tail that seemed to indicate the keenest-edged delight.
W.N.P. Barbellion, The Journal of a Disappointed Man, Little Toller Books
Bring me your Honey buzzards, your Common swifts, your Eurasian sparrowhawks, and your Gyr falcons too. Your birds you see as dusk settles on the stage and prepares to darken to a night winged with wide sweep of owls. Quickly now, things are about to disappear into the darkness.
Assembled in the window, we have for you, paper birds drawn, collaged works, and artists’ books. These are our Charms of the Gloaming, our tiny scenes soon to change.
We are besotted with paper for its foldable, concealable, revealing nature, and our artists' books, prints, and other such works, use an armoury of play, humour, and perhaps the poetic too, to lure one closer. The words of Gogol whisper in the ear, “the longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes”. And thus, we leave our scenes open-ended, inviting you to ponder and perhaps find that things are not as they first appear.
Press your nose to the glass. Do.
+ Thank-you for your recent comments here in regards to my Swan Lake piece for Fjord Review and my collage for The World of Interiors.
