Season's Greetings from Moth Woman Press

It seems like only yesterday since my last Christmas post (a rather lengthy excerpt from my prized childhood copy of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, accompanied by one of Maraja’s superb illustrations from the same volume.)

The year has ended on a fine note - the National Gallery of Australia has just acquired a copy of There was once… The collected fairy tales.

And The Rare Books Department of the State Library of Victoria are in the process of acquiring a copy of my very first artist’s book Tattooed Faces (1996) which was bound by George Matoulas.

Tattooed Faces, 1996 (front cover)

Tattooed Faces: title page

 Tattooed Faces excerpt: Lace Face

Tattooed Faces excerpt: Eyes Everywhere

In the meantime, the third volume of Australian Book Arts Journal, themed Text as image, image as text is currently winging its way to subscribers and contributors from all over Australia. One of this year’s pleasures has been getting to know its creator, editor, designer and publisher Linda Douglas. At this stage our acquaintanceship is a long distance one, but one day I hope we will get a chance to meet in person. Linda has been working harder than ever on ABAJ - it seems to get better and better with each new volume. My essay Metamorphosis is a feature article in this issue. Its title not only applies to the current imagery, but equally to the manner in which the pictures morphed into stories and then into the small anthology that became There was once... 

My zines also rate a mention. As I write in the article, zines and books will be a major focus of my work in 2011 – if I get around to making a New Year’s Resolution that will be it.

Wishing everyone the best Christmas and New Year ever - we you will drop into Moth Woman Press from time to time in 2011.