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Marlene MacCallum

WorkBook Works Theme and Permutation

01T&P_front

Theme and Permutation: View of closed book. Hand sewn pamphlet, images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, text printed in inkjet, covers are inkjet printed on translucent Glama. 23.5 × 21.6 × .6 cm (closed dimension), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of half title page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, text is inkjet printed on cover sheets of translucent Glama. 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, text printed in digital inkjet, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, text printed in digital inkjet, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

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Theme and Permutation: View of information block and colophon page spread. Images custom-printed in offset lithography on Mohawk Superfine, text printed on cover sheets of translucent Glama. 23.5 × 43.2 (open page spread), 2012.

Theme and Permutation is one of a series of artist’s books inspired by the experience of living in Corner Brook’s Townsite area on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland. Between 1924-34 the pulp mill built 150 homes to house the mill management and skilled labourers. Over a period of 10 years, I have photographed in several homes, all the same type-4 model as the one I live in. These homes vary in condition from close to original in design and décor to highly renovated. This project gave me the rare opportunity to record the evolution of interior aspects of these homes. It has been the context to explore the paradoxical phenomena of conformity and individualization that occurs in a company town. Having grown up in a suburban housing development, my earliest memories of home is that of living in a space that is reminiscent of my neighbors’. Each artist’s book explores a distinct facet of image memory, multiplicity, sequence and offers the viewer a visual equivalence of the uncanny.

Theme and Permutation is a response to the permutations and variations of the type-4 Townsite House. Digital tools were used to translate the original film source of eight different window images from five houses. The sixteen offset lithographic plates were custom printed in twenty-nine separate press runs. Each image is the result of a different combination of plates. The structure is a sewn pamphlet with translucent covers. The viewer enters the body of the book with a tritone image of a single Townsite window. As one moves into the piece, new window images appear and layer over each other. The images become darker and more heavily layered towards the mid-point. The center spread has an inkjet layer of two text blocks printed over the offset litho images. The text speaks of the history of the homes, the architectural permutations and economic shifts within the Townsite area. The ensuing pages continue to provide new combinations of window layers, gradually lightening in tonality and allowing the individual windows to become more distinct. A third text block provides a personal narrative. The piece concludes with a tritone image of one of the Townsite windows in original condition.

Artists’ Publishing: An Investigation into Digital Media as a means to Integrate Dissemination into the Creative Cycle funded through a SSHRC Insight Development Grant 2011-14

Objectives:

This research seeks to identify ways in which artists can gain more creative control of the relationship between their production and its interaction with the viewer/audience. The objective is to explore production methods that improve and expand artists’ dissemination of their work as an integral component of the creative cycle. The research team consists of Marlene MacCallum, principal investigator and three co-applicants, David Morrish and Pierre LeBlanc of the Grenfell Campus Visual Arts Program and Clifton Meador, Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. The four artist/researchers work with multiple-producing formats, such as artist’s books and time-based new media (film, video, new digital and electronic technologies, audio) to explore and investigate how digital applications can develop enhanced interaction with prospective audiences. This is particularly relevant as there is an historical tension between traditional display systems and these evolving media formats.

This project brings together Canadian artists who are seeking to expand the dissemination of their work in new ways, in collaboration with American artists who have established methodologies and expertise in a range of artists’ books distribution systems. The project will be the initial context for identifying collaborative means to expand upon dissemination systems for artists. This is of particular significance to Canadian artists working in isolated pockets of geographically widespread communities, and those who are disadvantaged by their distance from larger centers.

Methodology:

Each artist/researcher will develop and disseminate one case study work with an intended distribution method. In every case, the artist researcher will embark on new ways of working embedded with an implied form of dissemination. I have created a series of book works inspired by the experience of living in Corner Brook’s Townsite area on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland. Between 1924-34 the pulp mill built 150 homes to house the mill management and skilled labourers. Over a period of 10 years, I have photographed in several homes, all the same model as the one I live in. These homes vary in condition from close to original in design and décor to highly renovated. This project gave me the rare opportunity to record the evolution of interior aspects of these homes. It has been the context to explore the paradoxical phenomena of conformity and individualization that occurs in a company town. Having grown up in a suburban housing development, my earliest memories of home is that of living in a space that is reminiscent of my neighbors’. Each artist’s book explores a distinct facet of image memory, multiplicity, sequence and offers the viewer a visual equivalence of the uncanny.

Dissemination:

The research team will presented a themed panel at the international print conference Impact 8 in Dundee, Scotland on the topic of development of an artist’s publishing network. One of my artist’s books was recently awarded special recognition of merit by the jury for the Minnesota Center for Book Arts Book Prize in Minneapolis, MN. During November and December of 2013, I will be working on an experimental gallery project at the Grenfell Campus Art Gallery where I will be sharing with the community the results of the research as well as engaging the community in the creation of a new work. The Journal of Artists’ Books has invited me to produce an artist’s book for the spring 2014 issue. In this project, I will be collaborating with David Morrish and two Newfoundland writers, Jessica Grant and Lisa Moore.