Happy Xmas from Damp Flat Books

This is my 2009 Xmas Email Card, the photos were taken at a Christmas Market in London last week, where a rather credit-crunch santa was scaring children and the signpost was strangely revealing about the Christmas experience...

Book Arts Newsletter - Issue 54

Every month-six weeks, The Book Arts Newsletter is published at the CFPR, edited by Sarah Bodman. This Blog is featured in issue no.54

It can be downloaded as a PDF from here (along with all the back issues):
 http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/newspdfs/54.pdf

International Postal Art Project 2010

This is my postcard image for the International Postal Art Project, Bristol 2010.
Each participant was sent a set of three perforated blank postcards, each artist creates one card and then posts the bundle on to the next artist. The project is curated by Helen Allsebrook and is due to be exhibited in Bristol, UK next year.
My image is an illustration of Sarah Palin's rather idiotic quote about why everyone should eat meat.

Future Fantasteek! Issue No.2 Now on Issuu

I've just uploaded Future Fantasteek! No.2 to Issuu.com, so now you can flick through the whole of this zine online.

Book Arts Newsletter - Issue 53

Every month-six weeks, The Book Arts Newsletter is published at the CFPR, edited by Sarah Bodman. Battered is featured in issue no.53 on page 19.
It can be downloaded as a PDF from here (along with all the back issues):
http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/newspdfs/53.pdf

New Book - Battered

Battered 95mm x 215mm wih 22 printed, folded pages, edition of 20

This book has a dual message; on one hand it’s a celebration of British chips but on the other it’s a lament to the declining cod. The book is called Battered to reflect these two sides, both the cooking and the over-fishing. The Atlantic cod is a fish in crisis, stocks have suffered heavily from overfishing on both sides of the Atlantic. All stocks are classified as being overfished or at risk of being harvested unsustainably. The sequence of pages details a packet chips being eaten, next to an image of slowly disappearing fish. The reverse pages show photographs taken over a number of years in the U.K., Gibraltar and Spain of chip shop ‘A’ boards - celebrating our culture of fish n’ chips. The book is covered in PVC table cloth material, bound in the style of a Japanese account book with folded pages. It is packaged in a chip shop bag that’s been printed with an original 2-colour lino cut, it also comes with its own wooden chip fork and ‘miracle fish’.


To flick through this book visit my website here:
http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/books/battered/index.htm

This book will be exhibited at the 2nd Sheffield Artist's Book Prize Exhibition October 8th - October 31st, 2009. Held to coincide with the Off the Shelf Festival which takes place annually in Sheffield. 32-40 Bank Street, Sheffield, S1 2DS

Copies of Battered have just been purchased by:

• The British Library for their Artists' Books Collection
• Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE, Bristol, UK

Damp Flat Books now available in the Minnesota Center for Book Arts

Damp Flat Books now has a stockist in the USA - MCBA Minnesota Center for Book Arts Opening times: Tuesdays: 10 am to 9 pm; Wednesdays through Saturdays: 10 am to 5 pm; Sundays: noon to 4 pm. Minnesota Center for Book Arts is located in the Open Book Building in downtown Minneapolis, 1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA.
The MCBA are now stocking, Mortal Coil, Anxious Homes, Running a Secret Society, Headroom and Future Fantasteek No.7.
There's a special event on October 13th called An Evening of Fine Wine and Fine Books in our studios showcasing new Book Art in The Shop. This event was a huge success the last few years and attracted artists, collectors, and new faces who wanted to find out more about artists books.

The Southern Cross University Acquisitive Artsits’ Book Award

Damp in Ditchwater has been selected for the SCU exhibition.

The Southern Cross University Acquisitive Artsits’ Book Award is coordinated by the SCU nextart Gallery, 89 Magellan Street, Lismore, NSW, Australia. Now in it’s 5th year this annual award provides Southern Cross University with an opportunity to continue to develop an artists’ book collection of national significance and in so doing also contribute to the development and awareness of artists’ books as an art form. Exhibition opening & announcement of acquisitions August 11 - exhibition continues to September 22.

Closure 2009 - Exhibition

The Gallery, The University of Northampton, 15th August–19th September 2009 at artworks-MK, Milton Keynes, UK.

We're Sorry_ has been submitted for this travelling artists' book exhibition from the We Love Your Books Collective. After the exhibiton, We're Sorry_ will join the WLYB permanent archive.

Future Fantasteek! Issue No.7

Issue No.7 July 2009
...Fiddling Your Expenses Issue

Softback Zine printed in colour on cream and peach tinted papers, staple bound. A5 size containing 16 printed pages. Bright yellow card cover with 2 rhinestones. Issue Seven: Brighton 2009, edition size of fifty.

The Damp Research Facilities have been terribly busy shredding their expenses claims for the last ten years. I mean who’d have thought the public would have gotten knocky about perfectly okay claims for moat-cleaning and second homes, when they’ve all busy thieving handfuls of biros from work.So what if a few deserving Damp Staff want a new telly? Who wouldn’t begrudge them some small comforts? What else? Well Damp Research has proved conclusively that money is vital for happiness and in the spirit of you can never be too happy...keep fiddling the claim forms

Future Fantasteek! Issues: 1 and 7 have just been made available on Issuu.com these issues can be flicked through and bookmarked.
Future Fantasteek! No.1 - http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff1
Future Fantasteek! No.7 - http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff7


All issues of Future Fantasteek! can be viewed at: www.dampflat.com

Where Have All The Rich People Gone? - Exhibition

Where Have All The Rich People Gone - Kiss The Crisis
Exhibition in Copenhagen, my 'Million Squid Note' from Future Fantasteek! Issue 6 will feature in this group show about the current economic crisis. To see the show in progress visit Banko's group page here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104247356368#/event.php?eid=190768945345

Banko / VM -bjerget
Ørestad Boulevard 55
Copenhagen, Denmark
Private view is on 15 May 2009 between 17:00 - 20:00

Place, Identity and Memory – Exhibition

Place, Identity and Memory – books made by artists
Opens 23 May to 28 June 2009, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, Scotland.

Then the exhibition tours libraries and other venues across Dumfries and Galloway, ending at Stranraer Museum, 55 George Street, Stranraer, DG9 7JP, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland between the 26th September – 31st October 2009, to coincide with the annual Literary Festival at nearby Wigtown, Scotland’s Book Town. This is a travelling exhibition by IRIS. The aim of IRIS is to develop Dumfries and Galloway as a recognised centre for book arts in Scotland and internationally. Headroom and Damp in Ditchwater both feature in the exhibition and catalogue

More Future Fantasteek! available on Issuu.com

Future Fantasteek! Issues: 3: 4 and 6 are now available on Issuu.com these issues can be flicked through and bookmarked. The file sizes means that images can be enlarged easily. If you like this system of viewing my zines, please leave a comment in Issuu. 


To see my zines visit issuu.com and search for Future Fantasteek!, 
I will add more back issues later:

Future Fantasteek! No.3 - http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff3



Future Fantasteek! No.4 - http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/ff4



Future Fantasteek! No.6 - http://issuu.com/futurefantasteek/docs/fantasteek6

He bought me a soda and he tried to molest me in a parking lot, Vol.2.

Ding Dong! was specially created for this collective zine about song lyrics that get stuck in your head. This song, from The Wizard of Oz 1939 film, remained immovable during October, for no real reason I can think of. There's something about the song that is rather hysterical (not in a funny sense, more urgent), and in my imagination it was being shouted, rather than tunefully sung. Since I couldn't remeber any other lines from the song, these few went round and round and round and round and round...

Limited Edition Prints Now Available

I've designed a new section of my website selling limited edition prints, available in A4 now and A3 in the future. Printed on heavyweight 220gsm acid-free paper. All prints are embossed with the Damp Flat Books monogram and numbered and signed in pencil. 


To visit this section click here...
http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/print/print.htm

Future Fantasteek! Issue No.6

Future Fantasteek! ISSUE SIX : MARCH 2009
...Quantitative Easing Issue

Softback Zine printed in colour on white, green and yellow paper.
includes a free Million Squid Note that can obviously be photocopied as required - in line with good-'ol quantitative easing. Staple bound zine. A5 size containing 16 printed pages. Soft silver cover with sparkling green arrow. Issue Six: Brighton 2009, edition size of fifty.

The Damp Research Facilities haven't been inventing many new life-saving gadgets this season, since they've been flat-out printing money.
It's fantstic!

want a new BIG FLAT telly?
Just photocopy the million-sqid note included with this issue and buy what ever you'd like...
with enough change left for a packet of Spangles.

To view the whole zine visit: http://www.dampflat.com/DAMPFLAT/books/zines/future6/index.htm

Zine Fest - The Women's Library

Saturday, January 24 2009, 12:00pm - 4:00pm
The Women's Library 
London Metropolitan University
25 Old Castle Street, London, E1 7NT

"...Ever wanted to make your own magazine or comic? Zine Fest is a hands-on day celebrating women’s involvement in self- publishing.Bringing together innovative publishers, artists, illustrators and crafters, this event shares easy techniques for making zines and visuals and advice on publishing projects from those in the know."

Future Fantasteek! will be on display and then joining the Women's Library Archive.

http://www.futurefantasteek.com

Compilation: Three Exhibitions on Books

One section of this show is the travelling exhibition, Shelter Artist's Book Exhibition. 

January 28th - March 31st 2009
Holy Cross, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, One College Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610-2395, USA

Headroom and Anxious Homes are both in this exhibition.