10 artists’ books that know when to raise and when to fold
NIVAL holds arguably the largest collection of publicly accessible artists’ books in Ireland with over 1500 titles listed in our online catalogue. Folding techniques are a popular feature of many artists’ books – here is a small selection of what you can see when you visit our Reading Room in person or attend one of our public events.
10. Werk, Annie Forrester
This blue-and-green, risograph-printed zine by Annie Forrester folds out into an A3-sized poster. This is a classic example of a zine fold. The artist uses this form to explore employment in capitalist culture and to challenge what is deemed acceptable when we treat it as the means to an end. This book contains handwritten text and illustrations including a portrait of Dolly Parton alongside lyrics to her song ‘9 to 5’.
9. Imaginary Cook Book, Hans Hess
This accordion-folded book between two wooden covers has been screen-printed and handmade in an edition of 75 at Red Fox Press, an artists’ book publisher based on Achill Island. Vibrant colours are used to depict food, kitchen utensils and recipe-like instructions using an imaginary language.
8. Untitled wooden book, Jessica Carson
This impressive structure stands tall when closed and is made of etched wooden blocks bound with leather and nails. The sturdy pages make a satisfying clack when they meet.
7. Four Nights / Five Days, published by Read That Image
This small book with a yellow and black cover is handbound with saddle stitch. It makes clever use of this simple stitch to include a second signature at the edge of the cover, creating a collapsing photo album form. Each page features a colour photograph of Paris and the book is the result of a collaboration between six photographers who spent four nights and five days together in Paris. With an inherent impetus for image making, it was silently agreed upon that they would collectively photograph their experience. The participants included artists Nikki Gregan, Vinny’ O’Carroll, Maciej Pestka, Neil Dorgan, Kasia Kaminska, Jonathan Higgins and Bobi Murray.
6. Passage, Ditte Kummer
This unusual approach to an accordion-folded book contains part of a poem by Barbara Guest. The fragmented nature of this poem is enhanced by the book’s unevenly shaped pages. Multiple different print patterns have been used to make this book and inserts of double pages contain calligraphy.
5. Cruinnú na n-Uiscí (Meeting of the Waters), Déirdre Kelly, designed by Christopher Taylor
With this accordion-folded book, a new map of Ireland is made where the east and west coasts draw closer together to create an interior lake, a land-locked mixture of sea & ocean. The book takes us on a ‘round trip’ journey of the bays, heads and points which characterize the Irish coastline. The original collage was made from a single map of Ireland in homage to the innovative use of collage by the Czech visual artist & poet, Jiří Kolář.
4. Project Sheela 2021, Sarah Bracken
This risoprinted book uses the lotus fold to great effect. Project Sheela is a street art project founded by two Dublin-based artists to celebrate the history of women’s rights and female sexuality in Ireland. The first event happened in 2020 on International Women’s Day and continued in 2021. Published in an edition of 20, this book contains images of Sheela na Gigs displayed at locations that represent feminist issues.
3. The Kingdom of Protista, Thea Murtagh
The Kingdom of Protista originates from the artist’s interest in slime molds. Slime molds are beautiful, magical-looking unicellular organisms that are everywhere and that display fascinating behaviours particularity around how they construct networks. A city is built and planned around many things, but it is often the tiny, the ignored, the silent and voiceless going about their daily grind who truly shape a city. This accordion-folded book is constructed from a variety of textiles and stitching.
2. An Anxiety of Meaning, Siobán Piercy
An Anxiety of (My) Meaning and An Anxiety of (Your) Meaning are twin books: My features a photographic image of wings and Your features a photographic image of hands. Using a Turkish map fold, each book dramatically reveals its black-and-white image.
1. Wild Swans at Coole & other poems, W. B. Yeats, Mary Plunkett
This limited edition letterpress publication was produced in an edition of 50, with three small hardback books housed in a beige slipcase. The edition was designed, set by hand, illustrated and letterpress printed by Mary Plunkett at The Belgrave Private Press, Dublin, and set in Caslon Old Face as favoured by Elizabeth Yeats in the publications of the Cuala Press. Each book contains one poem on which a three page fold-out linocut is based, as well as a selection of four or five shorter poems. The linocuts were planned with these particular poems in mind and were designed to fold down to fit within the books. These books were made to celebrate the 150th anniversary of W.B. Yeats’ birth.
