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Our new display explores journeys to islands both real and imaginary, centering on Voyage Boxed: sea journeys, island hopping & trans-oceanic concepts, by Imi Maufe and others, (2014), and including in addition, an Atlas of Remote Islands, by Judith Schalansky (2010), The Fascinating secrets of oceans and islands, (Reader’s Digest Association, 1972) Archipelago: an atlas of imagined islands, by Huw Lewis-Jones (2019) and Dreaming the Gokstadt: northern lands and islands, Thomas Joshua Cooper, (1988).
Our display at ECA Library focuses on book works by artist Jane Hyslop, including a recent acquisition: The Oak Tree: a tribute to eternity.
Jane Hyslop: The Oak Tree: a tribute to eternity
Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando, a biography, and spanning over 700 years, The Oak Tree: a tribute to eternity weaves historical and contemporary fact with fiction, and marks the pivotal point at which we now find ourselves in the face of climate change and declining biodiversity. It follows Woolf’s groundbreaking novel in drawing attention to the very moment of the present, while urging us to look to the future.
Taking the form of an imagined visual edition of the manuscript the eponymous character writes throughout the novel, the artist’s book is accompanied by an introduction and notes written in collaboration with Professor Bryony Randall.
Other works featured in the display include Edinburgh: a visual handbook, 2007, and An Experiment, 2010.
ECA Library is delighted to host a new display featuring works by Julie Johnstone of Essence Press, and Alan Shipway, painter. Julie has long been drawn to the painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004). For this project she decided to address her interest in Agnes Martin directly, in order to see the body of work that might result when Martin’s life and work ‘met’ her own practice. She was interested in asking what it was that draws us to a particular painter or work of art – that affinity or resonance one feels – and how one might be inspired by that. Also on display are two watercolours by Alan Shipway who is also an admirer of Agnes Martin.
The show is open now until the end of February 2024.
Please do come along to ECA Library, level 1 of Evolution House, West Port, to take a look at our 3 display cabinets and the wonderful works inside.
NB: Evolution House is open to the public Monday – Friday, 9.00am – 4.45pm only. Sometimes our reception needs to close over lunchtime, at short notice, so please either phone ahead to check the building is open or arrive between 9am and 12, or 2pm and 4pm. You can reach ECA Library on 0131 651 5700. Thank you!
The ECA Library artists’ books collection includes an extensive range of bookworks by Julie Johnstone and the Essence Press. This display features fourteen works from 2006 to 2020.
From 8th September until 7th November 2023 we were delighted to host sidereal. the afterimage, presenting a selection of work from ~ sidereal. the afterimage, by Barbara A. Morton of Entropie Books.
sidereal. the afterimage
sidereal. the afterimage
~ sidereal. the afterimage is a new chapter of creative composition by Barbara A Morton.
The exhibition takes its title from the distinctive signature piece ~ sidereal. the
afterimage which achieves an extension of intention and originality in the
expression of poetry, book-making, drawing, and design.
The accompanying pieces, likewise, demonstrate ambition and creative reach,
both technically and imaginatively, and serve to maintain and develop Barbara’s
ongoing purpose of bringing poetry and poetic text to its aesthetic and accurate
environment ~ to encourage the reader to look, and to encourage the viewer to
read. To look closely. To look again. To look ~ for longer.
The show was at ECA Library, Evolution House (level 1), West Port, Edinburgh, until noon on 7th November 2023. Evolution House is open to the public Monday – Friday, 9.00am – 4.45pm.
Award winning artist, poet and letterpress printer, and founder of Stichill Marigold Press, Len McDermid sadly died last week, and we pay tribute to him at ECA Library with a display of the work we hold by him in the ECA Library artists’ books collection.
We were honoured to host a tribute exhibition in 2021, Fair Winds and Following Seas, curated by book artist Barbara A Morton, and we loved and respected Len and enjoyed working with him.
We are very excited about today’s artists’ books and zines Bookmarks Bookfair, which will be open and free to attend from 1pm to 7pm, Wednesday 29th March 2023, at the ECA Sculpture Court in the Main Building.
This is a fantastic annual event organised by the School of Design and is a chance to meet and buy from our hugely talented art and design students, staff and friends, selling a range of zines, artists’ books, cards and prints.
You can get a free ticket on Eventbrite.
Our new display at ECA Library, Evolution House, features the work of book artist Priya Pereira. Published by Pixie Books, Seven Stories of Mewar is an artist’s book exploring episodes of significance that occurred during the illustrious history of Mewar, in Northern India, over the last 1500 years.
Are you interested in making and exploring the world of zines? We have a growing collection of zines within the ECA Library artists’ books collection! You can find them all on DiscoverEd.
Our collection includes works by Lesley Imgart, Sarah Sheard, “Zine a Month” duo Matt Swan and John Brown, and book artists at Good Press Gallery such as Eden Bo Dower, Johanna Hedva, Aki Hassan, and Isobel Neviazsky.
If you are interested in other collections and collectives, take a look at:
The Edinburgh Zine Library is a volunteer-run archive and reference library of contemporary zines.
The Queer Zine Library is a UK based diy mobile library volunteer collective celebrating radical LGBTQIA+ self publishing. You can find out more about the history of zines here.
Find out more about the zines at ECA Library by watching this talk on Media Hopper.
You might also be interested in our subject guide on Gender and Sexuality Studies
We also have an artists’ books and zines subject guide
