BABE was awesome!!

So, for those of you who didn't come, you should know that you missed out. BABE was awesome! As you can see in Tris's post below, the table looked lovely. I didn't get too long to wander around but I did manage to speak to some of the people I'd already mention. Whilst I didn't do a proper interview, I did have a few conversations that answered some of my questions. Here are some points that I've written down...

-Usually book fairs won't support you financially, even if you do them every weekend. It's not a regular source of income so you might make loads one fair and none the other. Not reliable.

-People like free stuff but make sure you don't give stuff out all over the place, like to just regular people looking around etc, as they won't appreciate it and you won't have got your work anywhere else- it'll just be thrown away. (Someone who did lots of owls said this...)

-Don't expect to get into an illustration based job right away after university. Absolutely take it if you get offered one but don't be worried if you have to have a part time normal shop job or something at first. (This is a very condensed version of the conversation I had with Alex Pritchard, who makes lovely books.)

-You definitely need to have an overall definite style and look to your stall, so that people want to buy into this identity. (Again, owl people).

This last point made me wonder whether we should arrange our stall all mixed up like we do (to show the variety) or maybe have it a bit more compartmentalised- ie one section of the table is screen print, another is digital, the badges are over here, the books are over there... etc. We should talk about this before we do the next fair. What do you all think?

AND a lady named Tanya from Book Arts Bookshop (Old Street, London) has asked us if we want to do an exhibition in her window space, which we all need to discuss together but would be rather lovely!

And finally, as this is quite a wordy post, here are some pictures of the day that I did with the lovely Tris (Saturday 30th April):

Chloe x

BABE is this weekend!!

Hi everyone,

As you know (as I haven't stopped pestering you!) BABE is this Saturday and Sunday. You should DEFINITELY come! There's gonna be loads of really good exhibitors there and usually they're very friendly, so now is your chance to ask questions. Come prepared but let them just talk, they know a lot that you could learn from. If you can't come then please feel free to forward your questions on to me and I'll ask them when I'm there, just comment on this post with your questions and whether it's for someone specific or just general. 

Here is a HUGE list of the exhibitors so you can check them out before we go: 

ABC @ BIAD, abombpress, Alex

Pritchard, Altazimuth Press /

Tom Paine Printing Press, AMB

(ambruno), Ambeck, Andrew Law,

Antic-Ham, Artist Book Collective,

artistsbooksonline.com, Artists’

Books Club UWE, Atlantic Press,

Bob Howe Letterpress Type &

Equipment, Book Transformations,

bookartbookshop, Bookbinders

Collective, Booked, Books About

Nothing, Books to Change Your Life,

Borbonesa, Bow of Burning Gold,

Cally Barker, Charlotte Vallance

/ Jat Bains, Colin Sackett, Covet

and Whistle, Decadence Comics,

DISPERSAL, EAK Press, East London

Printmakers, Editorial Krausse,

Elizabeth Shackleton Collinge,

Emily Speed, Ensixteen Editions,

Francis Elliot - Foundry, Gemma

Lacey, Glyn Walton/ Rag-&-Bone

Shop Books, Here Gallery, ignition

/ Ciara Healy, Illustrated Digest

/ Plymouth College of Art, Imi

Maufe - World Atlas, Impact Press

UWE, Jane Cradock-Watson, John

Woodman, Jonathan Doney at The

Spitfire Press, Kali De Vega, Karen

Joyce, Karoline Rerrie, Kite Dagger

Anchor, Leopard Studio Editions,

Liver & Lights, Lucy May Schofield /

Bibliotherapy Artist’s Book Library,

MADE, MailWorks@Bruxelles,

Mandy Brannan, Mark Pawson,

mermaid turbulence, Mikhail

Pogarsky, Mizue Yoshimura, Nick

Moore, one.zero6 press, Ottobooks,

Owl & Lion - Isabelle Ting, Oxford

and Cherwell Valley College,

Paper Garden Press, Parvenu

Press, peach-tree, pear-tree press,

Pylon Press / Plymouth College

of Art, reassemble, Redfoxpress,

Responsa Press, Road Books, Roger

Polley, Sally Stanley, Salt + Shaw,

Serendipity Press / Little Black

Press, Sidney Nolan Trust, SILT,

Simon Goode, Snake Perch Press,

Stephen Fowler, SuperPress, Teacup

Press - Mavina Baker, The Courtyard

Press, Trigger Editions, University

of Plymouth - Illustration, Vox

Humana Press, whnic Press.

I'm particularly keen to talk to people like Charlotte Valance to see how difficult things are when you get out of uni (since I'm nearly there, eek!) and also people from East London Printmakers to see how easy/difficult it is to print out of uni in places other than Birmingham. Also small presses and galleries like Here Gallery to see what kind of things they publish and showcase.

This will be a great opportunity for us to find loads of things out, so please come and if you can't then comment on here with questions you'd like me to ask.

Chloe x

Poster Club

Hi guys,

There's this really interesting club in Glasgow named poster club, and word on the grape vine is that they'll be exhibiting at Eastside Projects sometime soon so I'll try and find out when that is.

http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_A-chat-with-Poster-Club/blog/2379759/126249.html

It's a great idea, maybe we should do something like this in print club after easter? Let me know if you're interested and I can get stuff set up!

Chloe x

More BABE info...

Hi everyone! 

Katie and me are both going to BABE to sell ABC@BIAD work, but we can't do it on our own! We need your help, give us your printy stuff!! Obviously it needs to be good quality and well packaged and presented. If you'd like us to sell your bits and bobs then please bring your work into school. You can leave it in the plan chest draw marked "BABE" or in the one marked "Chloe Cook" if there's room, or just give it to someone who is involved. Chiu will be looking at all the work before we go so if your work is a bit below the standard of everything else we're taking then I'm afraid it may not go with us. Come and see someone in the print room if you need help or advice, we're all friendly like kittens! =^.^=

Also, Katie and I don't wanna be alone so if you'd like to man the stall with us it'd be a great experience for you and would stop us going insane! I'm going on the Saturday and Katie is going on the Sunday, so let one of us know if you'd like to join and we can all book trains and stuff together. Or email me at: start_today@rocketmail.com

If you're in Print Club then I'll have already told you this, but YOU SHOULD COME and see how printmaking fits into a contemporary market. We're going to be interviewing people whos work is interesting and things like that too, so it'd be a good way to learn.

Sorry about such a long post!

Chloe x

Link to BABE info: http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/events/details/953

Go to BABE!!!

Go to BABE and you'll get to see loads of beautiful and amazing artist books and prints. If you're new to printing it'll be a great insight into what you can do with your work, and if you're not new to printing it's still really inspirational. It's well worth the train fair, and if you're quick you can book it in advance or the megabus is quite cheap. I should be going myself so maybe we could organise a meet-up and have a look round together?

More details about BABE here: http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/events/details/951

Chloe x

So far in the Print Club...

We've been up to loads in the Print Club so far, and here is a brief summary...

This is the poster that I made to advertise the Print Club in the first place:

And the first Print Club session went down really well. We had a really busy print room and everyone was enjoying getting on with things.

Most people are from very different courses, such as graphic design and architecture. Many people who came are new to screen printing and have only been to one of Lucie's workshop before, so it was a bit of a challenge for me at times but I really enjoyed helping everyone and getting the print club more used. And some of the work being produced in Print Club is lovely!

Sam also made a really cool video of the first Print Club, which you can find here on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckAARD-J58E

So if you're a BCU student come in one Wednesday afternoon and see what you're missing! The Print Club runs from 1.30pm until 4pm. 

See you soon! :)

Chloe x

Wow, long time no posties!

Hi everyone!

We are Sam, Kirk and Chloe- and we are the 2010/2011 student academic partners at the Print Room. We have LOADS to tell you! Chloe's been running a Print Club every Wednesday that any BCU students are welcome to attend, which has seen the print room become a lot busier. So far a success! Kirk is knuckling down making a kit that will allow students to screen print at home after university, as this is something we all worry about not being able to do. And Sam is planning on networking for the print room, to make connections with outside artists and printmakers.

If you'd like to see what we've been doing so far, I've updated the Student Academic Partners wordpress blog quite a lot. You can find that here: http://studentacademicpartners.co.uk/projects/20102011/birmingham-institute-of-art-and-design/screen-print-and-artists-book-at-biad/
I promise to post here too from now on! :D

Chloe x