Joanna Gibbs

Rag-and-Bone Shop Books
Mobile: 07905-117856
Email: j.gibbs577@btinternet.com

Website: www.joannagibbs.co.uk

PLACE OF STUDY: Goldsmiths BA (Hons) English and Drama and postgraduate study at University of Sussex (MA, Renaissance English Literature and Art History) and Goldsmiths (PhD, Renaissance literary history).

COLLECTIONS: My books are held in public and private collections, including the British Library, University College London, University of Westminster, Manchester Metropolitan University, St Bride Library, the Scottish Poetry Library and the Edward Clark Collection.

STATEMENT: My books are often concerned with reinterpreting literary/historical texts and are characterised by a dialogue between my prose and imagery, which typically blends painting, drawing, etching and hand engraving with digital photography, typewritten text, letterpress, hand and machine embroidery. The artist’s book is for me a rich way of responding to the narratives and histories that inform and move me. And while I often also include words in my drawings and paintings, it’s the sustained dialogue between word and image that the artist’s book allows for, together with the challenges of the constraints of the book form, that really draws me to this medium.

Leaf Watermarks, 2008, one off, hand bound with tracing paper semi-soft covers. Original essay on impermanence produced using rubber stamps and a manual typewriter. Illustrated with drawing, stitching and digital photographs of the traces of leaves left on pavements after rain. Ink-jet printed on baking paper, tracing paper, Bockingford Watercolour paper and chiffon; book size closed, 21cm x 17cm; limited edition of 20, priced £105 plus P&P

The Fairy Hunt, 2007, one-off outsized book, hand bound with hard covers in grey buckram. Digital photographs of shadows printed in non-archival inkjet ink onto Bockingford Watercolour paper, worked into with painting, drawing and hand embroidery, stitched onto Windsor & Newton Rag. The original text reworks William Allingham’s ballad The Fairies (circa.1850-1880), transposing Allingham’s  supernatural hunt to an urban setting so as to explore the contemporary problem of sex trafficking. Book size closed 58cm x 37.5cm; Not for sale

The Fairy Hunt, 2007, A4 or A5 versions of the artist’s original outsized copy (see above), hand bound case binding with hard covers. Both versions open with an inset miniature ‘book-within-a-book’ containing Allingham’s ballad printed onto tracing paper with handstitched black cotton ‘handles’ for turning each page. Book size closed, A4: 35cm x 25cm; A5: 22cm x 15.7cm; limited edition of 45, £105, and limited edition of 25 £70 respectively, plus P&P. Also available is an uneditioned illustrated pamphlet essay on Allingham’s ballad and sex trafficking priced £17.50 plus P&P  £17.50 + P&P

Road Leaves, 2008. Concertina booklet of nine digital photographs of leaves seen on roads while cycling; book size closed 12.5cm x 8.5cm. SOLD OUT.

Squirrels, a celebration, 2010, scanned reproduction of an original concertina featuring hand-carved rubber stamp images of squirrels and leaves interspersed with hand-stitching on a found musical score of Henry Purcell’s ‘In these delightful, pleasant groves’, of 1676. Printed with non-archival ink on Somerset enhanced cotton paper, with hand-stamped bookcloth covers and a green bead stitched onto the squirrel’s eye; book size closed approx. 5.2cm x 5.5cm, unfurled 62cm; £9.50 plus P&P

Gladly, Once Again, 2010, scanned reproduction of a handbound original book with a lyrical narrative about the return of spring, illustrated with digitally-manipulated embroidered pages featuring dried leaves and seaweed and manipulated images of figures carved from wood. Printed with non-archival ink on Somerset enhanced cotton paper. Stitched with linen thread and bound into rubber-stamped cover boards with coloured stitched decoration; book size closed approx. 10cm x 8cm; limited edition of 10, priced £45 plus P&P

Incarcerated Shes, 2013, hand bound with hard covers in black buckram with individual found textiles handstitched cover (cover embellishment varies between copies). Open-work spine with grey or black linen stitching. Outer edges of pages handstitched with black chiffon. Scanned prints of digital photographs worked into with etching, linocut and drawing, printed in non-archival ink on Bockingford Inkjet Watercolour paper. Opens and ends with digitally manipulated photographs of the remains of the Marshalsea prison wall. The original text is a literary critical-come-lyrical exploration of five women in the imagined and actual worlds of Charles Dickens; book size closed, 21.5cm x 15.5cm; limited edition of 10; £70 plus P&P

By Christ! The Baby Angels, 2012, one off, A4 concertina with hard covers in buttermilk-coloured buckram with inset non-archival digital photograph fringed with distressed silk. Digital photographs with drawing, painting, drypoint, collage, chine colle, letterpress, etching-press printed children’s wooden alphabet letters, manual typewriter on Bockingford Inkjet Watercolour paper stitched onto Windsor & Newton Rag. The original text is a meditation upon ageing inspired by William Blake’s The Nurse’s Song in The Songs of Innocence and Experience; book size closed 32cm x 22cm. Artist’s copy, not for sale. Available in an A5 limited edition, see below.

By Christ! The Baby Angels, 2012, limited edition A5 version of the artist’s original copy (see above), hand bound with hard covers in grey buckram with inset non-archival digital photograph fringed with distressed silk (inset image varies between copies). Open-work spine stitched with grey linen thread. Scans of original pages described above, several hand embellished with chine colle imprinted with manual typewritten details; book size closed 21.5cm x 15cm; limited edition of 15, £70 plus P&P

Bee book necklace (brown), 2015, uneditioned, hand bound with a reclaimed brown leather cover. This miniature book contains twelve prints of my original watercolours of bees ink-jet printed on Bockingford Watercolour paper. The front cover is decorated with a large faux-vintage brass bee and the back with a miniature brass bee. The book hangs diagonally when worn and fastens with a vintage chain that clasps at the front with a handmade soft brass clasp; book size closed 4.2cm across, 3.5cm high, spine 6mm wide; chain 25cm each side (50cm all round). £27, plus P&P.

Bee book necklace (black), 2015, uneditioned, hand bound with a reclaimed brown leather cover. This miniature book contains twelve prints of my original watercolours of bees ink-jet printed on Bockingford Watercolour paper. The front cover is decorated with a large faux-vintage brass bee and the back with a miniature brass bee. The book hangs diagonally when worn and fastens with a vintage chain that clasps at the front with a handmade soft brass clasp; book size closed 4.2cm across, 3.5cm high, spine 6mm wide; chain 25cm each side (50cm all round); £27 plus P&P.

Bare, Forked Pegs, 2013, Digital scans of watercolour paintings and drawings printed on tracing paper and Bockingford Watercolour 190 g/m paper; closed 12cm x 6.5cm; limited edition of 10, a miniature book that explores the psychology of childhood trauma centred on two young sisters on a trip to Edinburgh museum to view the weird miniature effigies known as the 'Arthur's Seat coffin dolls'; £45 plus P&P £4