This year’s Focus on Artists’ Books 2 at Artspace Mackay was clear evidence that a regional gallery can take on a leadership role within the visual arts by developing a focused collection and programs. Although only a recent addition to the cultural landscape Artspace Mackay’s focus on the artist’s book as an art form has already won it many admirers, and strategically builds upon an initiative of the Mackay City Library, which began collecting artists’ books in the mid-1990s.
Focus on Artists’ Books 2 (the second, after last year’s inaugural event) was not just a conference, not just an opportunity to share ideas, and not just an excuse for a social get-together; it was all of the above and more! Spanning five days in late-February, Focus on Artists’ Books 2 included a conference, workshops, exhibitions, and a range of related events. This year there were booked-out practical workshops or ‘masterclasses’ in printmaking, bookbinding and papermaking, with such luminaries in the field as Martin King, Senior Printmaker at the Australian Print Workshop, Canberra-based artist and papermaker Katherine Nix, Dianne Fogwell from the Canberra School of Art’s Edition + Artist Book Studio, and bookmaker Adele Outteridge.
Fogwell and Outteridge were in Mackay wearing a number of hats, with two new exhibitions launched at Artspace Mackay. The first, entitled ‘How I entered there I cannot truly say’, was an impressive survey of collaborative works (prints, folios, and books) produced at the Edition + Artist Book Studio (E+ABS) since Fogwell was appointed Lecturer-in-Charge in 1996. As a rather animated Professor Sasha Grishin, Head of Art History at the Australian National University convincingly argued in his opening speech, the E+ABS is a unique research and