ARTIST BOOK WORKSHOP

The Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA) will introduce a hands-on Artist Book Workshop at artSPACEdurban facilitated by Cheryl Penn on August 3.

The day will begin with a review of Mail Art and the general genre of Artists Books as an art medium. This will be followed by a hands-on workshop where participants will make two books during the course of the day. These will be an Accordion bound book and a Pamphlet Stitch Book.

These two simple but effective formats will be completed in one day, filled by the participants at home and then exhibited at The Collective from August 19 to 24.

Cheryl Penn is a conceptual artist who trades in the medium of ideas. She has a transdisciplinary approach to art-making which culminates in artists’ books. In 2012 she exhibited in Rome, Belgium, Argentina, America and Russia in group exhibitions as well as curating the first Mail Art exhibition in South Africa at artSPACE durban. This show represented part of her collection of Mail Art gathered from over 400 international correspondents.

As part of a process-based art practice, Penn has cut up 49 mixed media paintings, some upwards of five metres long, which have been distributed to international Mail Artists, Collections and Museums throughout the world. She co-ordinates the assemble book Mail Art Makes the World a Town, now in its ninth edition.

Penn is currently creating, collecting and swapping books with local and international artists for an installation, An Encyclopaedia of Everything, to be exhibited in 2014. She lectures painting at the Durban University of Technology, runs courses on conceptual art practice and curates an art collection in Johannesburg.

The Artist Book Workshop will take place on August 3 at artSPACEdurban from 10h30 to 14h30. Price R250 includes all materials. To RSVP or for more information contact: kznadmin@vansa.com or call 031 303 4891 (weekdays from 12h00 to 17h00)