Thinking and making

This piece of practice-based research consists of a collection of small handmade books, existing with the field of art and design enquiry, specifically artists books. The work asks if it possible to present the visual language of a book on the inside rather than the outside, in particular as a physical form that is stitched within it, rather than as a typical printed book cover. It also explores if the book can be acknowledged as a purely physical form, without the need for a title, printed information or narrative. The process involved binding a book with intentially non-descript black cover then selecting materials to bind inside it that represented the theme I was exploring, which was the domestic origins of fairy tales in reference to cloth. The materials I selected to bind inside were intended to visually suggest this theme, for example red hand-made felt for Little Red Riding Hood or yellow dusters to represent domesticity. Typical book binding methodologies (stitching and cover binding techniques) were used as far as was possible. Ultinatly the process was thinking as making. Rather than showing finished work, this was an exhibition of three-dimensional ‘sketches’, models and maquettes, made as part of the artists’ creative thinking process – either a kind of ‘making’ used purely as a thinking tool and/or as an aid to making actual work. The work I submitted includes 5 little ‘inside out’ books, which were instrumental in my thinking process when exploring relationships between cloth and the home, they ultimately inspired my embroidered dusters project (see other entries for Women & Domesticity - What's your Peerspective?) Exhibition statement: "The trouble with most ideas is that they work in my head as concept, but once physical quickly evolve into a series of ‘problems' to be resolved – that is when it gets exciting! Thinking with my hands has the same purpose as a sketchbook but without the bound, flat constraints. The intended outcome is loose and often unresolved, the pressure to achieve is lifted; no works of art here, just exploring. As ideas evolve I often apply the form of the book, with background in book design this is form I’m familiar with but feel free within.