Delires de Livres

I am very pleased to have been invited to participate in Delires de Livres once again.  

I have been an exhibitor a number of times when the exhibition was held in the wonderful old Collegiale St Andre in Chartres in France.  However the organisers were no longer able to exhibit in this location.  Fortunately they were able to secure another venue  - the new Cultural centre in Rambouillet which is on the outskirts of Paris.  The only down side was that the number of participants had to be reduced from about 175 to about 65, so a much smaller exhibition this time.

It was no surprise that the book of mine that was selected is Rimbaud's Drunken Boat and is based on a French poem of that name - Le Bateau Ivre by Arthur Rimbaud.  The book is made of triangles of perspex and is sewn together in such a way that it is flexible and can be displayed in a number of ways which can suggest the movement of the sea or the damaged boat.  

Each perspex panel contains an etching which I made in response to a line of the poem and subsequently coloured with aquamarine acrylic.   The book covers are of aquamarine perspex.

 

Delires de Livres 2016 will be on exhibition at La Lanterne in Rambouillet, France from 1st April to 21st May 2016. 

Anzac Day 2015

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate once again this year in the exhibition
 Delires de Livres in Chartres in France.
The theme for the 2015 exhibition was 'How about we go........' and I chose to send a copy of my book Back to the Front, which fitted the theme perfectly -
How about we go back in time to the Western Front.

By chance, this exhibition in France is opening tomorrow on our Anzac Day.  Although probably meaningless for many of the French (though certainly not those wonderful people in Villers-Bretonneux who observe and commemorate our Anzac Day every year after the liberation of their town by the Australians on 25th April 1918), it could not have been more appropriate for me.
The exhibition will continue from 25th April to 17th May.

The exhibition venue is the beautiful old Collegiale Saint Andre in Chartres, not far from the magnificent Chartres Cathedral.

I was interviewed recently for a video about Anzac Day on the occasion of the opening
of the Of War and Peace Exhibition at the Caloundra Regional Gallery,
along with the other three participating book artists Fiona Dempster, Barry Smith and Susan Bowers. 
This video was shot by Ellen Ebsary and she has edited it into a beautiful 3 minute film and posted it  onto the ABC Open website.
You can see it here

Delires de Livres

 

The next exhibition I will be participating in is Delires de Livres 2013, a biennial exhibition organised by Am'arts in Chartres, France.  Delires de Livres  means delirious about books. I have participated once before in 2011, and I was fortunate to be on holidays in Paris at the time and was able to spend a delightful day in Chartres seeing the exhibition and meeting Chantal Leibenguth, the organiser and curator.  Chantal produces a great catalogue and artists' cards which can be purchased at the show.

 

The exhibition is held in the Collegiale Saint-Andre, a gorgeous old church which dates back to the 12th century.  It has been partly destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries and underwent a comprehensive restoration in 2003 as a cultural centre. 

 

 

The medieval garden has been cultivated with aromatic and medicinal herbs.

 

 

After leaving the magnificent Chartres cathedral

 

 

and walking through a gateway from the gardens

 

 

I entered a steep old street of stairs

 

 

which led down to Saint-Andre.

 

 

There is a video of the opening in 2007 which gives some idea of the wonderful interior and atmosphere of the exhibition.

 

 

One of my Book Art Object books, That Unbearable Lightness

 

 

and a 2012 version of Lost in a Million Dead End Streets

 

 

 

will be on display from 27th April to 19th May.

Unfortunately I am not able to attend this year, but I'm delighted to be participating.