Friday 27 December 2013

Artist's Book: READ




135mm x 190mm, containing 12 pages and printed endpapers.
Saddle-stitched, with red book-cloth bound hard cover with lasercut lime acrylic title: READ.

Bound into the book is a small red acrylic lasercut magnifying glass that slots into a small wage slip envelope bound into the back inside cover.
Title page has a library-style insert, dated, embossed, numbered and signed.

The book also contains a bookmark to be used as a aide memoire.
Brighton, First edition of ten produced in 2012.

This book was created for the exhibition Beyond Dickens. This exhibition of international artists' books was held in Portsmouth in November 2012 as part of the Dickens bicentenary celebrations held in the town (Dicken's birthplace).

READ was inspired by Our Mutual Friend and takes the first 20 pages of this novel but hides within them a Dickens' quote about the act of reading. The quote describes reading as being like a code, whereby the initiated can open the world of books. The quote is hidden word by word on each page in pale turquoise that can only be seen clearly when viewed through the red lense on of the magnifying glass (see images below). The endpapers are images of monochrome violent waters since Our Mutual Friend begins and ends with drownings.









  



Artist's Book: Notebook 57


160mm x 137mm, containing 20 pages.
Saddle-stitched, with red card cover to resemble an exercise book.
Brighton, first edition produced in 2003.

This book was inspired by researching into alchemy and chemistry. Old medieval illustrations reveal the belief that a human servant could be conjured-up from ancient recipes. The fabricated human was an exact replica except that it had no soul. The replica was called a Homonculous. The book represents a notebook kept by someone who not only believes Homonculi can be made, but sees them everywhere in the form of shop and display dummies, then documents them in the form of notes and photographs. The paper-clipped pages are actually printed within the book as are the ink spills and typewritten notes.

There are some elements added by hand such as a punch cut, rubber stamp and drawn marks.
The body of the book is printed on 130g cartridge paper.








To read the whole book scroll here:



Notebook 57 has been exhibited at the following venues:

Poetry Books: Reading Books - 25 January 2007 - 24 March 2007
Exhibition will be at the Broekhuis Bookshop, Enschede, The Netherlands.
http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/bruik07.htm

New Orleans Bookfair - Babylon Lexicon - 28th October - 30th November, 2006
Selected Damp Flat Books, incuding Notebook 57, will be appearing at the New Orleans Bookfair - Babylon Lexicon. Selected books and my catalogue will be on display in this showcase of artists' books and book-related art.
Barrister's Gallery
1724 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.,
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, U.S.A

2nd Seoul International Bookarts Fair 2005
3rd June - 8th June 2005
COEX Pacific Hall(www.coex.co.kr)
Korean Publishers Association, 105-2, Sagan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-190, KOREA
Notebook 57 was submitted along with two others: Which Filter Works? and Running a Secret Society No.20, the latter was awarded a medal in the Book Arts competition. The 2nd Seoul International Book Arts Fair is the only fair of it's kind in Asia, information about the fair will be sent to major TV broadcasting companies(KBS, MBC, SBS etc) newspapers, magazines, galleries, museums, and libraries. There were 200,000 visitors to the fair last year.

This book is entered on page 133 of the Artist's Book Yearbook 2006-2007 by Sarah Bodman (Ed), Impact Press, Bristol, UK. ISBN 0 9543810 9 2


Artist's Book: Anxious Homes




Subtitled: Cursory-Cleaning for the imminent arrival of visitors, or 
How to Give the impression of a Clean House in under 20 minutes.

The book 190mm x 125mm, pink single-section sewn binding.
The cover is satin card backed with pink patterned paper.
It contains 18 pages on 130gm cartridge paper.
Produced in editions of 10 - First Edition produced in 2001

Anxious Homes, is the antidote to all the 'Life Instructions' that surround us. Far from being outraged
at the patronising tone of 'How to do it' books, I have always found them funny. This book provides a
step-by-step guide of how to appear like you're doing everything properly. It contains explanations in
detail of how-to-get-away-with-it. It is a manual for people with better things to worry about than housework.

There are sections on; anxiety and the home; nearly cleaning floors; the bathroom and kitchen; washing clothes; dealing with emergency visitors; and a chart of serenity and anxiety. Anxious Homes seeks to
take away the homemaker's feeling of inadequacy by promoting shortcuts as if they are perfectly normal.

Anxious Homes was inspired by my childhood experience. As a 10 year old, I remember being amazed
at how my mother used to frantically tidy the house before visitors arrived. When I asked her what was
wrong with letting our relatives see us how we usually lived, she was horrified at the idea.
When I started living in my own home I noticed I had inherited 'pretending to be tidy' from my mother.
When my parents (or especially parents-in-law) visit I rush round picking piles of papers off the floor and making sure the bathroom taps are shiny. Cleaning-up thoroughly is a long job and despite my collection of Good Housekeeping Manuals there's just not enough time to be the ideal woman, when you have good books to read, drawings to make and tea to drink.

Anxious Homes is essential for the busy woman.









Tuesday 17 December 2013

Saturday 16 November 2013

To tweet or not to tweet


I went to a great event at the University of Portsmouth yesterday, 'Blogging for academic purposes'.
I feel inspired to give Twitter a go, not sure quite what is is though so might have to bear with me a bit...
https://twitter.com/JackieBatey

Tuesday 5 November 2013

The 4th Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize Exhibition

READ has been accepted as part of the The 4th Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize Exhibition, As in previous years, this year’s exhibition will feature artists' books and will be staged as part of the Off The Shelf Festival in Sheffield in October 2013.

Exhibition dates: 5th October - 30th November, 2013
SIABP, Bank Street Arts, 32-40 Bank Street, Sheffield, S1 2DS, U.K.


The catalogue of this exhibition has also just been published.






Tuesday 8 October 2013

Work in progress

I'm currently working on a long vertical drawing that will be able to fold into an artist's book, working title: Drip Drip Drip.  The drawings will form an imagined cross-section through London from the Bank of England down into the earth past the Underground then past one of the hidden underground rivers and into the Underworld. Hidden within the illustrations are two quotes about economics by Dickens. 
For research I visited the Bank of England Museum, Bank station underground as well as researched the lost rivers of London and engineering cross-sections. Images of the Underworld have long been an interest since writing my degree dissertation on Apocalypse Manuscripts many years ago. I also read The Inferno (Hell and Purgatory) and Paradise Lost (which has given me some great ideas for future projects - thank you Mr.Milton).

Here are some photos of work in progress, I'm using technical pens, Japanese papers and a light box, which explains the yellow tinge in the pics here. I'm planning for the book to be in black and white with one spot colour, maybe magenta, maybe not.







Saturday 3 August 2013

Future Fantasteek! issues 14 and 15 now on ibooks

I've just made Future Fantasteek! Nos. 14 and 15 available to view on ibooks via an ipad.
You can download both issues for free from itunes.

On itunes (if you search 'Jackie Batey' ) you'll also find an interview I did with Grey Art Lab Gallery in Minneapolis earlier in the year for their 'Secrets' exhibition.



Issue No.14
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/future-fantasteek!-no.14/id681350675?mt=11




Issue No.15
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/future-fantasteek!-no.15/id681188775?mt=11



Tuesday 30 July 2013

Future Fantasteek! No 15 OUT NOW


Softback zine laser printed in black & white on cream and blue (for a boy) paper.
A5 size with 20 printed pages, saddle-stitched.
Manilla cover in laserprint black with hand-pulled yellow sérigraphie screen print.
Brighton, July 2013, edition size of 40.

Issue No.15 Here Comes Another One
What's been happening in the BIG WIDE WORLD... Who cares!
Look at the BABY that'll take your mind off things, the Wefare State can cope with one more...

Still free to libraries and zine collections, email me: bateyjackie@gmail.com
Also available to buy online: http://www.freewebstore.org/storepage1952940.aspx

Read on Issuu NOW...


This issue will soon also be available from the ibook store ...





Here's issue no.15 'Here Comes Another One' being printed.
For a change I printed the cover using a 30yr old serigraphie  (French children's mini screen print toy).
It prints a bit erratically (or maybe that was me) using cut out paper stencils.


Here's how they came out, I printed yellow on brown wrapping paper, after laser printing the black first.





Sunday 2 June 2013

PRESS & RELEASE, Phoenix Gallery Brighton

http://www.phoenixbrighton.org/archive/press-release/

As part of the Phoenix Gallery's Press & Release artists' books exhibition, I will be showing everything in the Damp Flat Books catalogue! All 22 artist's book titles, along with 14 issues of my artzine Future Fantasteek! and a selection of sketchbooks. So, if you want to see EVERTHING come and visit the exhibition.
For more images of the exhibition click here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.575928842439904.1073741827.159039400795519&type=1

I will also be doing a short talk in the Gallery as part of the events evening on Sat 25th May.
But, that's not all - I'll be running a zines workshop on Sat 1st June. So come and see lots of lovely books by lots of bookartists.


Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Here's the Gallery info...

"Please join us for the Preview of  PRESS and RELEASE, an exhibition of artists' books, at Phoenix Brighton on  Friday 26 April, 6 - 8 pm.
The exhibition runs until 9 June, and is accompanied by a number of special activities and events including: 

Shaking the Shelf: Performing Books
Saturday 25 May, 7 - 10 pm.

"For one evening only, the books will dust off their jackets and leap onto stage. Iain Paxon spins audio-visual yarns using music, slide projections and fairy tales; Bones & The Aft open their pop-up set and take us on a rock-n-roll bus ride; Carolina Diaz draws together dance and organic forms in a book-inspired dance performance, accompanied by Geoff Leigh; Laboratoro takes us on a page-turning promenade through the exhibition, and Jackie Batey fills us in on her Damp Flat Books which use humour and satire to rant about the glitches of modern life."

Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Gallery talk about Damp Flat Books
Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Photo: Phoenix Brighton

Off the Page: An Afternoon of Books
Saturday 1 June, 2 - 5 pm

"Immerse yourself in a lively mix of talks, workshops and collaborative activities, and learn more about resources and networks for book artists. Everyone welcome!

TIMETABLE OF ACTIVITIES

2.00: ILLUSTRATED TALK
Art & design collective Borbonesa (Lee Shearman and Matt Fleming) discuss self-publishing, through printed works and projects created over the past 13 years

2.00 – 5.00: DROP-IN WORKSHOPS and ACTIVITIES
Bibliotherapy with Lucy May Schofield
BABL is a mobile library, home to over 150 artist made books and publications, which tours the country offering bibliotherapy and a unique reading experience to anyone in need of a dose of handheld art and a pair of listening ears.

Concertina Book Making
Focusing on collage and composition, participants will collaborate on a monstrously long book, as well as make their own books to take away.

Photo: Phoenix Brighton

Writing with Xelis de Toro
Develop a text which can be incorporated into your own book

Making Zines with Jackie Batey
Learn simple binding techniques, then draw, cut and paste or write to get your ideas onto paper

Photo: Phoenix Brighton
Photo: Matt Fleming

Workshops with the Sussex Book Arts Collective
Collaborative books, miniature books that go out into the world, and a demonstration of making the concertina format.

The Bookends Lounge with Carol Ann Quin and Kirsten Norwood
Come along to ‘the place where the books never end’ to collaborate, swap and network with other makers of books.

The Press & Release Cafe
Refresh your body and mind with tea, coffee and cakes all afternoon

Plus: The Bookends Lounge, Press & Release Bookshop, artist book courses, late openings, and online projects. Full details and updates can be found at www.phoenixbrighton.org"
Image: Lee Shearman