Down Under Books, 2012, by Deborah McMillion Nering Made in Sketchbook Pro. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE. |
Our most exotic visitor flew in all the way from Arizona in
the US (see above). This glamourous moth-winged emissary was sent by my long
distance friend Deborah McMillion Nering, an artist who creates extraordinary paintings
on her iPad. Deborah is also remarkably well-versed in Australian literature
and film, as evidenced by the names on the book spines, all witty moth-plays on
their original titles. Over the last few months, Deborah and I have discovered
that we have much in common, not the least of which is our mutual love of Lepidoptera. As Deborah signed off her first email to me in late July
2012, “I speak Moth.”
BAZE installation view. Photograph by Megan Herring |
Des Cowley, Curator of Rare Books at the State Library of
Victoria also dropped by and acquired our new zines Poker Faces and The Moth
Woman Vigilantes UNMASKED for the permanent collection, as well as acquiring
works from several other book artists. And Susan Millard from the University of
Melbourne, Special Collections, also acquired work from a number of artists, including our Poker Faces and two older zines, Material Girls and The Little Black Hair Book.
Since my last post, there has been a change to the opening
hours at Hand Held. The gallery will now be closing for a short break between
Christmas and mid January. I’ve accordingly amended the hours listed in my
previous post and elsewhere on MWP Blog.
And so another year draws to a close. Following a family
Christmas in Melbourne, we’ll be having a short break at Ballarat. After that,
I’ll be working in earnest towards my first solo artist’s book exhibition at
Hand Held Gallery.
Moth Woman Press extends the Compliments of the Season to
everyone who has dropped in during the year. We hope to see you again in 2013.