Recent acquisitions by the State Library of Queensland Part 1

 

2025 is certainly off to a fine start for Moth Woman Press. As I write, Firebrand, 2017, our one-of-a-kind concertina book, is en route to the State Library of Queensland. The library has just acquired it for their permanent collection, along with a selection of MWP zines. Details of the latter will follow in our next post. 

The following is a list of Moth Woman Press publications already held in the Library’s collection:

There was once…the collected fairy tales, 2009, stories and pictures by Deborah Klein. (See previous post).

2 copies of Women with wings, both from the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan, 2010 project: 

Women with wings [1] Linocuts by Deborah Klein; text by Majabeen

Women with wings [2] Linocuts by Deborah Klein; text by Mahjan

Eve's apple, 2013, from the Tall Tales series of unique vertical concertina books

Card Sharps, 2013, zine, colour photocopy, 10.5 x 7.5 cm, ed. 100

Pictured top: Firebrand, 2017, unique artist book, pigmented drawing ink and acrylic paint on Khadi paper, cloth cover with debossed text, 15.5 x 16.5 cm (closed). Collection: State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD.

BMI Christmas Maker and Community Market

Moth Woman Press are excited to be first time participants in the BMI Maker and Community Market at Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute Library on Sunday, December 18, 9 am - 2 pm.  

Along with Moth Woman Press Publications old and new, we’ll be presenting a selection of miniature silhouette paintings, some of which also feature in our zines. For a preview of two of the silhouette paintings, visit Deborah Klein’s Art Blog HERE. 

Click on above images for a clearer view.

My new philosophy

 

Detail from The Maiden Flight,  2013. One-of-a-kind vertical artist book, pigmented drawing ink and acrylic paint, 80 x 15 cm (open). Collection: State Library of Victoria. 

Photography: Tim Gresham. 

Cat’s Cradle - Finalist in 2020 Libris Awards

Above and below: Cat’s Cradle, 2019, acrylic on wood and pigmented
drawing ink on paper, 16.5 x 15.5 x 1.5 cm (closed)

In recent news, our artist book, Cat’s Cradle, has been shortlisted for the 2020 Libris Awards: The Australian Artists Book Prize at Artspace Mackay.

Judges for the 2020 Awards are Robert Heather, Director of Advancement, Communications and Events at University of New England and Des Cowley, Principal Librarian, History of the Book and Arts at State Library of Victoria. The exhibition catalogue, including a full list of of finalists, is here:

https://www.artspacemackay.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/251731/2020LibrisAwardsCatalogueofFinalists01-05-20_4-13pm.pdf

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, exhibition dates and the announcement of award winners have yet to be confirmed. Currently Artspace Mackay anticipates announcing the the prize winning entries and confirmation of exhibition dates by late June 2020. Please visit the Artspace Mackay website for updates:

http://www.artspacemackay.com.au/whats_on/libris_awards

Last days of BETWEEN THE SHEETS

Progeny, 2018, one-of-a-kind artist book; pigmented drawing ink,
gouache and hand stitching with cloth binding, 16.5 x 91 cm (open)

If you happen to be in Perth, WA, you have until next Saturday, 21 September, to see BETWEEN THE SHEETS 2019 before it ends its run. In this exhibition, 70 works by 59 artists from 7 countries challenge notions of the traditional book. Makers include printmakers, photographers, architects, wordsmiths, textile artists, painters, sculptors, digital artists, and a glass artist.

Two of my artist books are included in the show, both of them one-of-a-kind: Progeny, 2018 (pictured top) and Firebrand, 2017.

In this extract from the catalogue essay, Paul Uhlmann, Senior Lecturer at Edith Cowan University describes ‘... the endless list of classifications; altered books; the book as unopenable object; livre de peintre (the beautiful painter’s book); the book as performance; the book as skin and body; the book as memory object; the book as archive; the book as concept and many more. Since my initial encounter, artists’ books have grown exponentially and become an international phenomenon; many attempts have been made to define the characteristics of an artist’s book; to tame it, to give it shape but an artist’s book – a book made by an artist – will defy classification, just as all artists strive to develop their own unique voice.’

To view individual works, accompanied by statements from the artists, go HERE.

BETWEEN THE SHEETS: ARTISTS BOOKS EXHIBITION 2019
Gallery Central,
12 Aberdeen Street,
Perth WA
Hours: 10 am - 4.45 pm weekdays
11 am- 4 pm Saturday
The exhibition runs until Saturday 21 September 2019

Firebrand in BETWEEN THE SHEETS 2019

Firebrand, 2017, one-of-a-kind artist book, pigmented drawing ink

and gouache with cloth binding, 16.5 x 91 cm (open)

Photo credit: Tim Gresham

Firebrand, 2017, is one of two of my artist books to be selected for BETWEEN THE SHEETS – ARTISTS’ BOOK EXHIBITION 2019. (The other is Progeny, 2018). 

Pictured below: detailed views of Firebrand, followed by silhouetted back views of both books in the studio of photographer, Tim Gresham.

BETWEEN THE SHEETS 2019 

Gallery Central

Aberdeen Street

Perth WA 6000

The show runs from 29 August - 21 September.

For further information, go HERE.

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.

LEAVES OF ABSENCE: 2018 Libris Awards Finalist

With the onset of the Easter break comes some terrific news: my artist book Leaves of Absence is a finalist in the 2018 Libris Awards: Australian Artists’ Book Prize at Artspace Mackay. It’s the first time I’ve entered a work in this esteemed artist books award, and I’m absolutely chuffed.

The exhibition runs from Saturday 26 May - Sunday 29 August. To learn more about the award and for a full list of this year's finalists, visit Artspace Mackay's website HERE.

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.

LEAVES OF ABSENCE at the Art Gallery of Ballarat

Last Saturday, July 29, the second leg of From the bower - patterns of collecting, featuring specially chosen objects and artworks from the 'bowers' of Loris Button, Louise Saxton, Carole Wilson and myself, opened at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

Extra wall space, combined with an elegant exhibition design by the AGB's Brenda Wellman, has enabled the inclusion of a number of additional artworks and collection objects. Despite the initial impression of familiarity that may be experienced by those who saw From the bower at its previous venue, Warrnambool Art Gallery, in many ways it's a very different show.

For example, this time around, Leaves of Absence, 2017, my unbound artist book, is displayed in a stand-alone cabinet, along with a selection of the hand painted eucalyptus leaves that were the basis for the artwork and the antique flower presses in which the leaves were initially pressed, and in which they are now housed. I'm indebted to my fellow artists Carole Wilson and Loris Button (who also assisted with the installation of the show) for the considerable care and thought they put into its presentation.

Leaves of Absence installation detail #1

Leaves of Absence installation detail #2

The following is a slightly extended version of the label accompanying Leaves of Absence at the AGB.

Collection items: antique flower/tie presses and eucalyptus leaves.

For several years I’ve employed silhouettes in my work, primarily as a metaphor for marginalization or invisibility. In what is a fairly recent development, the silhouettes are hand-painted onto pressed eucalyptus leaves, of which I have amassed a substantial collection. The embellished leaves form the basis for an ongoing series of archival pigment prints. The leaves are housed in my modest collection of antique tie/flower presses, most of which were discovered in the Victorian Goldfields region, including Creswick and Ballarat.

Two years ago I made my first foray into digital prints in Not Born Digital, a Goldfields Printmakers portfolio that explored the historic connection of the Victorian Goldfields with China during the gold rushes, a period of Australian history from which Chinese women were conspicuously absent. The portfolio was presented at IMPACT 9, the international printmaking conference at Hangzhou, China in September 2015. Selected images from this ongoing body of work were subsequently collected together in the artist book, Leaves of Absence (2017).

During the Australian gold rushes, thousands of Chinese men came to Australia to seek their fortunes. In 1861 Chinese immigrants made up 3.3 per cent of the Australian population. The vast majority (38,337) were men, compared to only eleven women. For many Chinese men, separation from their families was a source of abiding sadness. The harsh treatment of Chinese miners is well documented, but almost nothing is known about the women who remained in China.

In the tiny Victorian town of Newstead there were over 3000 Chinese miners. The forest floor is still pockmarked with holes, enduring evidence of its gold mining history. All of the eucalyptus leaves in my collection were sourced in Newstead, not only because of its significance to this project, but also due to their remarkably singular shapes, in part the result of interventions by my insect ‘collaborators’, the Eucalyptus tip bugs that inhabit the undersides of the leaves.

My initial research included a study of historic Chinese women’s hairstyles. Reduced to shadow forms, however, these unknown women could equally be from any place or time, including the present. 

From the bower - patterns of collecting runs until 17 September. 

For extensive installation views of the show, visit Deborah Klein's Art Blog HERE.

LEAVES OF ABSENCE shortlisted for Geelong acquisitive print award

Leaves of absence, 2017, artist book, archival inkjet prints, cloth cover; ed. 5/10,
32.5 x 25.5 x 4.0 cm (closed) 32.5 x 55.0 x 4 cm (open). Printer: Luke Ingram 

Further to recent posts, my artist book, Leaves of Absence, has just been shortlisted for the prestigious 2017 Geelong acquisitive print awards. 

The acquisitive awards and biennial exhibition will comprise 38 works by 39 established and emerging Australian artists. 

Shortlisted artists are: Benjamin Armstrong, Rosalind Atkins, Elizabeth Banfield, G.W Bot, Laura Castell, Jock Clutterbuck, Marian Crawford, Ben Fennessy, Dianne Fogwell, Peter Garnick, Kaye Green, Sue Grossman, Andrew Gunnell, Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison, Robert Hague, Rew Hanks, Carolyn Hawkins, Clare Humphries, Anita Iacovella, Michael Kempson, Deborah Klein, Jo Langley, Marion Manifold, Megan McPherson, David Nixon, Jiri Tibor Novak, Sharron Okines, Glenda Orr, Janet Parker-Smith, Jim Pavlidis, Stieg Persson, Ben Rak, Brian Robinson, Kati Thamo, Bridgit Thomas, Vanessa Wallace, Halina Wolski and Joel Wolter. 

The Geelong acquisitive print awards will run from 2 August - 8 October. 

Meanwhile, Leaves of Absence can be viewed in Between the sheets: international artists' books 2017 at Australian Galleries Melbourne until 2 July. (See previous two posts).

Leaves of Absence, page view 1

Leaves of Absence, page view 2

Memory #22 (Fallen Woman)

Hot off the press: archival pigment print Memory #22, AKA Fallen Woman. The twenty-second work from the ongoing Leaves of Absence series, it will also be part of a forthcoming artist book.

To view development stages of Memory #22, go to Deborah Klein's Art Blog HERE.

Memory #22 (Fallen Woman) 2016, archival pigment
print, 41.5 x 33.3 cm