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Monday, February 10, 2025
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Call to Participate in an Exhibition of Artists’ Books, Letting in the Light at Kirkby Gallery

Letting in the Light

Call to Participate in an Exhibition of Artists’ Books

Artists are invited to submit works for a new Book Art exhibition to be held in 2025, entitled ‘Letting in the Light’.

Context

The 87th Society of Wood Engravers exhibition will travel to new venues in 2025, including Kirkby Gallery in Knowsley, Liverpool City Region, where the exhibition will be on display from May until August. This extended show has led to a new collaboration between Liverpool Book Art, Printmaking Today, and the Society of Wood Engravers (SWE), who together are curating an exhibition of artists’ books at Kirkby Gallery to coincide with the SWE exhibition. Artists are invited to submit a proposal for a new work, or an existing book appropriate to the theme. An unexpected approach or fresh expression of an idea will be judged favourably alongside technical skill.

Kirkby Gallery

Kirkby Gallery is part of its local community. Prior to every exhibition private view, the Gallery hosts ‘Teacher First’, an opportunity for all local schoolteachers to visit the exhibition and explore its relevance to their pupils (through links to their curriculum, through workshops, etc.). The Gallery also has national credibility, hosting Henry Moore’s WWII prints from the Ashmolean Museum, and a Degas on loan from the National Gallery, for example.

Liverpool Book Art

Liverpool Book Art (LBA) has been curating exhibitions, and organising selling fairs, of artists’ books for over 10 years. Several LBA exhibitions have been hosted by Kirkby Gallery.

Printmaking Today

Printmaking Today is the leading international journal of printmaking, with regular features on wood engraving and a dedicated book arts’ section contributed by renowned expert Sarah Bodman since autumn 2008.

The Society of Wood Engravers

The aims of the Society of Wood Engravers are to nurture and promote wood engraving and related techniques by supporting the work of contemporary wood engravers. The Society was founded over 100 years ago.

Theme for the Artists’ Book Exhibition

The title of the Exhibition is ‘Letting in the Light’. Relief printmaking techniques, such as wood engraving, are subtractive: every mark is white, you are letting in the light. Wood engravers have to think like photographers: “Where is the light source, where is the light falling?” This theme has been chosen to make the connection to the SWE exhibition. There are many similarities between book art and wood engraving. In both fields, artists create multiples in small editions, or unique works. In both, fine art is created with great technical skill, and can be denigrated as ‘craft’. In both too, self-publishing is the norm.

However, the call to participate is open to all forms of printmaking and bookmaking. We invite all printmakers to tackle the creation of an artist’s book for this exhibition, and have this work exhibited alongside established (and new!) book artists. We will also accept existing works that fit the theme.

Artists are encouraged to think about the theme “Letting in the Light” as broadly as possible: it might be a book about light, windows, openings, the sun, stars, circadian rhythm or the light spectrum, or even more fundamentally – light as an indicator of reality (see for an inspirational example Joanna Kavenna’s novel ‘A Field Guide to Reality’). Or you could consider the theme more metaphorically. We are living in turbulent times politically, economically and socially, with the threat of climate breakdown looming: how do you let in the light: with hope, joy or humour? Or you may wish to consider a more personal response about finding light in times of poor mental or physical health.

We are excited to explore the possibilities of parallels, exchange, and cross-over between artists working in book art and printmaking. In both these fields there are traditions (structures in book art, subject matter in wood engraving) as well as individuals exploring new possibilities in their respective fields, whether in terms of production techniques and technologies, subject matter or other aspects. However, we would emphasise again that this Call is open to all forms of printmaking and bookmaking.

This will be a selling exhibition. There will also be opportunities for artists to propose workshops.

Application Process

Applications should be submitted via the platform CuratorSpace, providing details of the proposed books.

https://www.curatorspace.com//opportunities/detail/letting-in-the-light-book-art-exhibition/8759

The Call to participate will be open until 12th January 2025, after which a selection committee will choose the works for inclusion in the exhibition.

Artists will then have until April to create their works.

Simon Ryder, Director: Liverpool Book Art and Leonie Bradley, Editor: Printmaking Today

liverpoolbookart.com

www.cellopress.co.uk/page/printmaking-today

www.curatorspace.com

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