MWP publications at THE BALLARAT IMAGINARIUM

As of this week, MWP books There was once…The collected fairy tales and Fallen Women are available at the splendid Ballarat Imaginarium. 

Adjacent to historic Ballarat Mechanic’s Institute Library in centrally located Sturt Street, Ballarat (pictured top), this new kid on the block is set to be the go-to gallery and retail outlet for locals and visitors alike. What sets it aside from the rest is that it’s the only retailer in Ballarat that exclusively carries works by local makers, including visual artists, sculptors, ceramicists, jewellers, clothing designers, musicians, writers and more. 

The Ballarat Imaginarium is the result of the remarkable vision of local artist, Melinda Muscat, pictured above. 

The previous occupant of the shop was another notable MWP stockist, Playing in the Attic, which still carries our books and zines, but has relocated to nearby Talbot. It is due to reopen in March. (More about this in a future post). 

Click on images to enlarge. 

For regular updates, visit the Ballarat Imaginarium’s Instagram page HERE and on Facebook HERE.

The Ballarat Imaginarium

119A Sturt Street, BALLARAT, VIC 3550

Open Tuesday to Friday 10 am - 5 pm

Saturday 10 am - 5 pm

Sunday by appointment 

For further information about The Ballarat Imaginarium and views of its luscious interior, visit my Art Blog HERE.

Stocking Fillers

Like it or not, the Festive Season is well and truly upon us and if, like me, you’re determined to remain in denial for as long as is humanly possible, here is a modest suggestion for some last minute stocking fillers.

Today I delivered extra copies of my books, There was once… and Fallen Women, together with a selection  of limited edition Moth Woman Press mini-zines, to Playing in the Attic, Ballarat (see above and below, in situ). Click on images for an enlarged view. 

Helmed by the lovely Trudy McLaughlin, this “curious extraordinarium of papery delights”  is currently open every day until Christmas. 

Playing in the Attic

119a Sturt Street

Ballarat

Victoria 3350

Australia 

Christmas hours: 10 am - 4pm daily 

Phone: 0428580309

Email: trudymac@bigpond.com.au

New zines at Playing in the Attic

We’re delighted to announce that the four MWP zines recently launched at the 2020 Sticky Institute Festival of the Photocopier Zine Fair (pictured top) are now available at Playing in the Attic in Ballarat. The shop has also stocked up on new copies of two old favourites, our books There was once...The collected fairy tales and Fallen Women.

Playing in the Attic
119a Sturt Street
Ballarat (VIC) 3350

Phone: 0428 580 309
Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 10 am - 4 pm

Ghost Gums

Currently on the work table: Ghost Gums, a Moth Woman Press mini-zine in the process of creation for the 2020 STICKY INSTITUTE FESTIVAL OF THE PHOTOCOPIER ZINE FAIR, Meat Market, 3 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne, 3051. You’ll find me and my zines there on Sunday 9 February from 12 – 5 pm. 

As mentioned in our recent posts, all proceeds from Moth Woman Press sales at FOTP 2020 will be donated to Wildlife Victoria’s Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

More MWP publications at PLAYING IN THE ATTIC

The diminutive but delightful Playing in the Attic is one of our favourite stores in Ballarat. Helmed by the equally delightful Trudy MacLauchlan, it specialises in products primarily sourced from local makers, including a plethora of Moth Woman Press publications: postcards, zines and our small fairytale anthology, There was once...  
Playing in the Attic is also the sole stockist of our recently published book, Fallen Women. (For individual page views, go HERE).

Also in stock as of this week are the four remaining copies of our zine, A Short Book About Long Hair. Signed and limited to an edition of 60, this was the very first zine published by Moth Woman Press, and we're still rather proud of it. The zine is held in the permanent collections of the State Library of Victoria and the National Library of Australia.

Playing in the Attic
119a Sturt Street
Ballarat Victoria 3350
AUSTRALIA

Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 10 am - 4pm
Phone: 0428580309
Email: trudymac@bigpond.com.au

Fallen Women at Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Back in March a handful of preview copies of MWP's latest book Fallen Women were featured on the Regional Arts Australia stand at the National Gallery of Victoria's annual Art Book Fair.

Fallen Women contains much of the leaf art that was created following the publication of my artist book Leaves of Absence. Like its predecessor, the book focuses on the virtual absence of Chinese Women during the Australian Gold Rush era. It is prefaced by a short fairy tale.

I'll be discussing these and other Moth Woman Press publications in an informal artist talk at Melbourne Athenaeum Library on Wednesday evening, July 4 from 6 - 7 pm. The event is part of Melbourne Rare Book Week. Attendance is free, but due to space restrictions, bookings are essential. For more about the talk, go HERE.

Wednesday, July 4, 6 - 7 pm
MULTIDISCIPLINARY ART MAKING
Speaker: Deborah Klein
Presented by Melbourne Athenaeum Library
Level 1
188 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000
Phone (03) 9650 3100
Or book online HERE.

For those who can't attend (but do come along if you possibly can) here is Fallen Women, page by page. Click on individual images for a clearer view.

RAW at Melbourne Art Book Fair 2018

A personal highlight of yesterday, Day 1 of Melbourne Art Book Fair 2018 at NGV International, was taking part in the panel discussion, Regional Arts Words (RAW), hosted by Regional Arts Australia. I’m on the far right, pictured with (L - R) Mary Jane Warfield, Manager, Regional Arts Fund/Regional Arts Australia, and fellow panelists, photographer Angela Rivas and writer Lindy Schneider. Our books are available from the Regional Arts Australia stand throughout the weekend. Photo credit for images 1 and 2: Shane Jones.

Moth Woman Press on the move

A copy of Leaves of Absence (2017), our unbound artist book, has just been reserved by the State Library of Victoria. The book is pictured below in our Abbotsford study. Shortly thereafter it was packaged up in readiness for delivery to the library, where it was placed in the capable hands of Des Cowley, History of the Book Manager/Collection Development and Discovery.

Meanwhile, as previously announced, next Friday, 16 March, between 2.30 - 3.15 pm, I'm participating in Regional Arts Words (RAW), a panel discussion hosted by Regional Arts Australia at Melbourne Art Book Fair 2018. My contribution will include a show and tell of Leaves of Absence, a project that sprung unexpectedly to life during a walk in Newstead Forest in the Victorian goldfields. 

As I write, the presses are rolling for Fallen Women, the little book we've made especially for the book fair. Early this week we okayed the final proofs and mockup (pictured below). Fallen Women contains a selection of works that were made subsequent to Leaves of Absence, preceded by a short fairy tale. Although it's a stand alone publication, Fallen Women is the key that unlocks the secret of the mysterious Shadow Women in Leaves of Absence. The book will be available from the Regional Arts Australia stand and I'll have some extra copies with me at the RAW talk.

RAW will be the sole voice of Australian regional arts at the book fair, so do come along if you can.

For full details of RAW and Melbourne Art Book Fair 2018, scroll down to our last post.

In further news, the State Library of Victoria/Sticky Institute show Self-made: Zines and Artist Books continues its run, opening today, 9 March, at Bunjil Place. Included in the exhibition are Moth Woman Press zines Tattooed Faces and Moth Woman Vigilantes. Self-made runs until 29 April. For full details, go HERE.

An installation view is directly below. Photo credit: Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison.

FALLEN WOMEN, a new book for Melbourne Art Book Fair 2018

As reported in our previous post, Regional Arts Australia have invited me to participate in Regional Arts Words (RAW), a panel discussion they are hosting during Melbourne Art Book Fair 2018. 

To mark the occasion, a new book, Fallen Women, is currently in the making. Its front cover is previewed above. 

Fallen Women will be available at the Regional Arts Australia stand throughout the book fair. Full details of the publication will be provided shortly.

Regional Arts Words (RAW)

The Great Hall 

NGV International 

Friday 16 March 2.30 - 3.15 pm

Melbourne Art Book Fair 2018 runs from Friday 16 March - Sunday 18 March.

Fallen Women

Leaf-by-leaf views of Fallen Women, a sixteen page zine created for last Sunday's superlative Sticky Institute Festival of the Photocopier Zine Fair (see previous three posts).

In Fallen Women, the secret of the ghostly Shadow Women of Newstead Forest is at least revealed. The zine is a signed and numbered limited edition of 100 and retails for $6.00.

A New Zine for a New Year (progress view)

Happy New Year and welcome back to Moth Woman Press.

I spent part of my first day back at work experimenting with a new zine structure. At 16 pages, it's a more complicated version of the 8-page cut-and-fold structure used for many MWP mini-zines. After compiling the images in a grid that was created in the Strip Designer app, I made a few photocopies in black and white so I could practice on them until I knew what I was doing.

I have renowned book artist Alisa Golden to thank for the template of what she calls a GuestX Book.

My 8-page zines are constructed from single A4 sheets. In this case, it was necessary to increase the sheet size to A3, lest the individual zine pages be too small. Aside from having to reposition two of the images so that the back cover art is in the correct place, it didn't turn out too badly, although I think I'll need to revisit Alisa's step-by-step instructions for awhile until this new method of construction becomes second nature.

The images in Fallen Women are an extension and development of the imagery in the 2017 artist book, Leaves of Absence. The zine takes its title from my solo show at Tacit Contemporary Art in November/December 2017 and some, but not all, of the leaf art is based on images that were part of that show.

All going well, Fallen Women will burst into glorious leafy colour at the 2018 Sticky Institute Festival of the Photocopier Zine Fair on February 11. Although that date will come around quickly enough, there's still time to tweak the new publication a little more - for example, I'm considering the addition of a brief introductory paragraph.

In a year where there's already much to look forward to, it feels like 2018 is off to a promising start.