Tam O' Shanter: new artists book

I am finally able to share images from a recently completed book art project that was started long before the pandemic, a wordless paper-cut leporello book of Robert Burns' epic poem Tam O' Shanter -

The poem follows the misadventures of farmer Tam on his way home from another night in the pub and a chance encounter with a coven of witches and warlocks along the way...  

I felt that the supernatural subject matter of the poem lent itself very well to being re-told in this format, especially the chase scene, and the artwork focuses almost exclusively on the journey home from the tavern...

 

 

 

 

During the first lockdown in March 2020, I began working in a much slower way: instead of working with a combination of hand-drawn line images and Photoshop, I took the time to hand paint the entire piece.  The end result of this way of working meant that there was much more of a connection between the original ink artwork and the final cut-out piece.

 

This version of Tam O' Shanter is in an open edition, however each copy will have its own unique number.  It's my intention to create a limited edition version next year.
 

Tam O' Shanter will be available to purchase from my online shop from 
5pm on Sunday 21st November 2021

You can visit the online shop at
https://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com/

 

 

 

 

Thank you for looking!

New book art coming soon...

More information and images coming soon!

Lockdown Home Show

After a difficult year of events being cancelled and places being closed, I decided to create a temporary exhibition space at home and share it online.

Seeing as there won't be any galleries open or art fairs happening for a long time yet, I thought that making and sharing something like this would be the next best thing and would make for an interesting alternative.

Much of the work will be familiar to those of you who've been following my work for a while, but there are a couple of unseen works in progress too!

The final result was a 10 minute video and can be accessed below and at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC7g8-R_syU

 

I hope you enjoy the short video! 

Any comments or feedback in general is welcome.

 

RSA Annual Exhibition 2020

Fighting the Monster (above) was accepted for inclusion in this year's Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, which I was delighted to learn about.  However due to the current global pandemic, the exhibition has been moved online and will run until the end May 2020.

It's a pity not to be able to visit the exhibition space itself and see everyone's work on display, so for now we all view the artwork from the comfort (and safety) of our own sofas.

Visit the RSA Annual Exhibition website

Review in Scotsman can be found here at https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/art/art-review-rsa-annual-exhibition-2020-online-2543135

The Fruitmarket Gallery Presents: Artists' BookMarket 2020

 New location:

Custom Lane, 1 Customs Wharf, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6AL 

 

Next weekend, Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery will hold this year's Artists' BookMarket for another two days of workshops, talks and the opportunity to see and buy work from exhibiting artists. This year the fair will move location to Custom Lane in Leith, while the Fruitmarket Gallery itself undergoes refurbishment.  The fair will be open from 10 til 5pm both days, with free entry. I will be exhibiting with much of the work pictured above, alongside nineteen other participants - for the full list of this year's stallholders visit https://www.fruitmarket.co.uk/event/artists-bookmarket-2020/2020-03-07/  There is also a dedicated Facebook page for the event at https://www.facebook.com/events/627801064640631/ Hopefully see some of you there next weekend!

Short video of Nylmah

Many photos of my lasercut book Nylmah have been shared on this blog and across other social media platforms, but a few days ago I decided to make and upload a short video of it too.  Designing this book marked a departure from the work I'd done prior to this, as you can see below in the video below - enjoy!

If this video doesn't play in your browser or isn't working for any other reason, then you can find it on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPUVK2tO66Y.

Vasilisa and the Witch's Fire

Recently I have developed and finished a new piece of laser cut book art.  Vasilisa and the Witch's Fire depicts a scene from the Russian fairytale Vasilisa the Beautiful, a story that sees its heroine Vasilisa overcome the obstacles put before her by the witch Baba Yaga.  

Uneditioned version

Uneditioned version

Uneditioned version

The lasercut booklet illustrates the heroine's escape home across the forest at night, armed with a mysterious glowing skull.  It's an eerie tale that has not left my imagination since I read the tale as a child.

Two versions of this piece have just been finished: an unlimited edition fold-out concertina version that comes in a dark yellow dustjacket (seen above); and a limited edition version, which has clothbound hardcovers that fold over the booklet and turn the piece in to a cube (below).  The latter are in an edition of thirty.

This version represents a bit of a departure from the fold-out concertina books that I usually create, as this one folds itself up in to a self-supporting structure.  It took a lot of experimentation before getting the paper hinges just right, but I think it was worth it.  Below is a short video of this new lasercut version:

(if the embedded video below doesn't work on your browser then you can find it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dqmSRaxryc, or by searching for the title of the book)

Limited edition version

Editioned cube version, seen from above with spotlight

Both versions:
uneditioned copy on the left, and the limited edition 'cube' version on the right

More information on both copies can be found on my online shop at 

 https://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com

Thanks for looking!  If you have any questions, comments or thoughts about any of the artwork then do feel free to get in touch with me via the shop link above or through the comments section below.

Work in progress: something wicked this way comes...

Here is some work in progress of a new laser-cut artists' book, which won't be finished for a little while yet. Perhaps some of you can already tell which story this is based on by the clues in this photograph...

Once the edits have been finished I'll begin making an edition, with copies available to purchase this Autumn.  

If you would like to be among the first to see new artwork from me (including the final images of this new piece), then do add your email address to my mailing list at https://bigcartel.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=e89fc5b3e135c7a4021010835&id=4b3010f94b

Thanks for reading!  

Fighting the Monster: Frankenstein 2018 Book Art Exhibition

Close up of screen-printed and lasercut pages

Liverpool Book Art's third major exhibition of book art will open in May 2018 and will celebrate another significant literary anniversary: the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein.

I'm delighted to say that my proposal for this exhibition was successful and over the past few months I have designed and made a new book for it entitled Fighting the Monster.

I wanted to create a book which considered the way in which ‘monsters’ are created online. Our choice in what we like, what we dislike, what we share, what we publicly comment on builds up a larger picture of who we are to others online. It’s also something that is reflected straight back at us with the virtual voices and opinions we surround ourselves with. Online debate seems to create a virtual army of those For and those Against, where friends are removed and followers unfollowed if their opinions or beliefs are out of synch with our own. I believe that this is an area from where some of the most challenging monsters of our day can appear, monsters we didn’t think existed, who get up and walk away from their computer screen to attack someone in real life.

Fighting the Monster is now available to purchase through my online shop in the link above - £380 plus postage

Photos and a short video are below...

Thanks for looking!

Work in progress 

Short video of Fighting The Monster - 

The Ambassador's Ball

New artists' book ready to be editioned!  

Twenty copies of The Ambassador's Ball are being created and will be available to purchase through my online shop.  

Inspired by a real event, this lasercut concertina book illustrates how I imagine the Spring Festival on 24th April 1935 at the US embassy in Moscow might have unfolded.  

And why choose this particular event?  The level of chaos at this party would not have been out of place in a Marx Brothers film: in a bid to impress their Soviet hosts, the US embassy staff threw an outlandish party, a party that aimed to surpass any other embassy party in Moscow's history.  Guests arrived to discover that the neo-classical embassy of Spaso House had been transformed: decorations included birch trees in the chandelier room; an orchestra from Prague; flowers from Helsinki; a sword dancer from Tblisi; and numerous live animals including over one hundred finches, pheasants, roosters, goats and a baby bear.

Spaso House, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow

The animals caused an uproar – the unhousebroken bear was introduced to champagne and ruined a Soviet general’s uniform, while hundreds of finches escaped their aviary and flew noisily about the high ceilinged rooms during the party and for some days after.

One of the guests at the party was the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov.  The fantastic and surreal imagery of this party was not lost on him, ensuring that the legacy of the party was to live on beyond that night.  Bulgakov went on to use the party as inspiration for a famous scene in his novel The Master and Margarita.  Satan’s Ball (or the Spring Ball of the Full Moon) in Bulgakov’s novel features a number of barely disguised parallels with the Spring Festival of 1935.

Something about the chaos of this event against the backdrop of such an elegant neo-classical building caught my imagination last summer, and I set to work.

The finished book is a panorama of lasercut scenes against a white embossed background.  References to The Master and Margarita are dotted throughout the book, including one giant black cat and an embossed cascade of playing cards hidden in the building's ceiling.  

Below are some of my favourite photos of the book as well as a quote from one of the party's organisers...

I'm currently taking orders for copies of The Ambassador's Ball, so if you'd like to purchase one, please contact me through my online shop in the tab at the top.  Each copy of The Ambassador's Ball is £350 plus p&p.

Alternatively if you're based in or around Edinburgh, you can come and have a look at a copy for yourself at my table at the Fruitmarket's Artists' BookMarket on the weekend of the 17th and 18th of February.  (For more information please visit www.fruitmarket.co.uk/event/artists-bookmarket. )

Thanks for looking!