STACKED

Steine by Einhorn 3. See Flickr photostream here.

I've come to the conclusion that artists will stack almost anything for the sake of art. From rocks and bones to driftwood and tree trunks.

The City. Assemblage by Wayne Chisnall. See Flickr photostream here.

Found objects to furniture, boxes and shipping containers.

Book Tower. Wheeled sculpture by Wayne Chisnall.

Books, newspapers, concrete blocks, glass bottles .... you name it, it's been done.

Gloria's Piece by Kate Hunt. Newspaper, twine and steel.

Kate Hunt's series of work, made with stacked and bound bundles of newspaper is quite extraordinary. Visit her website here to see more.

Detail of Gloria's Piece by Kate Hunt.

Colony 45 by Randi Parkhurst. Website here.

Velma Bolyard's beautiful handmade papers. Blog here.

Sculpture by Tony Cragg.

Tony Cragg is master of the stack. See his impressive website here.

Assemblage by Tony Cragg

Beauty in unexpected places. Photograph of stacked sleepers by Craig Williams. Flickr photostream here.

FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS

I was going to post photos of my tidy studio this week but it's been a particularly daunting task and I'm not quite finished yet. Lack of space being the main problem. I seem to be rotating art supplies and books round and round the room because there's nowhere to put them once I've tidied up.

I bought Rice Freeman-Zachery's book Creative Time and Space a few months ago and I received Lynne Perrellas latest book, Art Making and Studio Space for christmas so I am feeling inspired to make space, both physical and mental, for new beginnings in 2010.

My dilemma is that I can't bring myself to clear out old books to make space for the sparkly new Christmas books. I love them all! They are like old friends and were my main source of inspiration before I succumbed to the lure of the internet.

Our book collections live in every room of the house .....

"It is instantly apparent, as soon as you enter, that this studio is all about the books, from the display cases to the bulging library shelves." - Pam Sussman in Art Making and Studio Spaces by Lynne Perrella


Another quote from Lynne Perrella's  book, Art Making and Studio Spaces ......
"Books have the most powerful and subtle connotations. They are never only objects, they have a voice with which they speak across time and across lives, a voice contingent only in part on their material nature and expressed forcefully in their text." - Philipp Blom

And then there are the notebooks ..... dozens of them!  I really find it difficult to throw them out.  They are filled with copious notes and even if they're only shopping lists, telephone numbers ..... or website links....what if I need this information one day? I also have journals (who hasn't?) and sketchbooks of ideas as well as my beloved quote books where I've been scribbling favourite quotations since the year dot.

Jackie mentioned Randi Parkhurst's extraordinary assemblage of books she discovered  here or  here, which led me to Judy Wilkenfeld's delightful little handmade books  here, as well as heartstopping images taken while making artists books with some of the treasures that Judy found at an Asian antique store. Scroll down to the 23rd December and watch a video clip about Judy's art.