22CHALLENGES

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CH ALLEN G ES DEIRDRE PRETORIUS | JEAN LAMPEN JO-ANN CHAN | ERICA LÜTTICH

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The Artists’ Book Club

22 CH ALLEN G ES DEIRDRE PRETORIUS | JEAN LAMPEN JO-ANN CHAN | ERICA LÜTTICH

17 September - 8 October 2022 David Krut Projects, The Blue House

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Erica Lüttich

Deirdre Pretorius

Jean Lampen

Jo-Ann Chan

INTRODUCTION

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Historians have hypothesised that the continued growth of human innovation and creativity flourishes during times of great crisis. Over the last few years we have observed rapid societal changes that occurred due to the recent global pandemic, which paints a clear picture of this hypothesis unfolding before our very eyes.

22 Challenges, proudly presented by The Artists’ Book Club (ABC) and David Krut Projects, showcases a body of work by four book-artists that was created as a response to the various ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic had forced creatives to explore alternative and innovative methods to connect with each other and create art. These works, relating to the genre of artists’ books, also reflect the experiences of each of these four artists as they navigate the challenges of collaborative creative processes within the confines of geographical self-isolation.

Melissa Waters & Amé Bell David Krut Projects

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EXHIBITION STATEMENT

2020 marked the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and with it came a global shift to minimise physical interaction and shared spaces in the interest of containing the spread of the virus. Lockdown regulations inadvertently turned computer and cellphone screens into closely watched windows onto the outside world as individuals retreated into the bubbles of their own homes. The once public spaces of meeting rooms, offices, coffee shops and public events were replaced by living rooms, bedrooms and dining room tables that were turned into makeshift offices and studios as interactions moved onto online platforms where possible. Interactions that were once firmly located in the public and professional spheres found their way into the no-longer private spaces of our homes as we welcomed individuals into these intimate spaces through our screens; the line between public and private blurred. The interior design, our knick-knacks, the distractions in the background told stories of who we were, what we were experiencing and what we surround ourselves with, to an audience we would not usually share these with.

In arts communities, there was a short-lived productivity spurt as creatives were forced to retreat from the distractions of the social world, able to reflect and create. However, creativity also feeds off of interaction and after a while, new forms of connection and collaboration were sought as the bubbles of home offices and studios began to feel smaller over time. New prompt-based arts initiatives on social media emerged, those that already existed flourished, online creative work sessions were created to simulate working in a shared office, free

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workshops were hosted on Instagram live and Facebook live and workshops or courses that used to be hosted in person were rethought, restructured and retooled for online delivery. In the absence of physical exhibitions and art fairs, art practices shared on social media and via virtual meeting platforms became a means to connect, to share these personal experiences that were bound by the universal thread of the pandemic and to work through the process of adapting to a new normal.

The work presented reflects an intersection of these influences. Drawing inspiration from the Quarantine Public Library zine project by Katie Garth and Tracy Honn (https://www.quarantinepubliclibrary.com/about), bi-weekly prompts were provided to the participating artists as a starting point from which to explore, and experiment with techniques, media, conceptual approaches and new artmaking practices to develop a response that fit the format of an eight-page zine, and later, other formats. Physical meetings that were held in Johannesburg prior to lockdown were moved to online platforms and these virtual meetings were a space to reflect on the work produced and maintain healthy connections. Creative exploration is a vulnerable process of trial and error and while the final products may not always divulge that vulnerability, they are the result thereof. The original zines, art- and bookworks were produced with the intention to share these experiences in the safe space created by the participating artists but may now find a more universal resonance with a wider audience through the visual and textual narratives captured in their pages.

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CH ALLEN G ES ART WORKS

CONTENTS

PG 1 Artworks by Deirdre Pretorius

PG 7 Artworks by Jo-Ann Chan

PG 11 Artworks by Jean Lampen

PG 19 Artworks by Erica Lüttich

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DEIRDRE PRETORIUS Deirdre Pretorius is an Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg in the Graphic Design Department of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA). She currently lectures Design Studies on undergraduate level and supervises postgraduate students in the Honours Design, MA Design and PhD (Art and Design) programmes.

Her creative practice revolves around creating artists’ books.

Her most recent exhibited work was Dead Living Things, A Cabinet of Curiosities in the Postcolony. This installation and artistst book was exhibited in 2021 at the FADA Gallery as part of Interventions in Practice, the FADA Staff Exhibition.

@deirdrepretorius

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BOOK 1 Sugar lift etchings with digital print chine-collé (320x395m m) Variable edition printed by Bevan de Wet on Hahne m uhle Natural white with Mingeishi Natural white chine-collé sheets containing digital prints

ARTIST STATEMENT

On 23 August 2020 the first of 22 challenges was posted on the Artists’ Book Club (ABC) Facebook page and the last on 10 October 2021. All of the challenges were drawn from the small book “The Artist’s Eye” by Peter Jenny (2012), a book that aims to “open your eyes to the incidental, to the suggestions of images in everyday objects, to the beauty in the ordinary, such as blotches, clouds, scratches, etc” (Jenny 2012:7). Under the heading of “rubbing” the first task asked for the creation of a rubbing from a textured surface using pencil. This was the start of the work which is displayed in the exhibition.

In completing the tasks I used a variety of materials and techniques, including coloured pencil, inks, paints, marbling, graphic software, photography, found images and digital collage1. I used the resulting visual imagery to create three seven-page leporellos (concertina folded books) which reflect on the passing of time. I then used “Book 1 Days” as the inspiration for developing an image for an etching workshop offered by artist and printmaker Bevan de Wet ( https://www.bevandewet. co.za/ ) on the printing techniques sugarlift and chine-collé. After creating the printing plate and experimenting with these techniques the final variable edition of 14 prints was printed by Bevan.

These artworks are as much, if not more, about the process than they are about the final products. The process was largely collaborative in that the project was undertaken with Jo-Ann Chan, Erica Lüttich and Jean Lampen, and throughout its progress we met online, showed, reflected on and discussed the work. The process then extended to my collaboration with Bevan de Wet in learning from him new printing techniques and working together in developing the final printed edition.

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BOOK 1 DAYS BOOK 2 WEEKS BOOK 3 YEARS Digital print on ILFORD Fine Art Textured Silk paper (190x140 m m folded)

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BOOK 1 DAYS Digital print on ILFORD Fine Art Textured Silk paper (190x140 m m folded)

BOOK 2 WEEKS Digital print on ILFORD Fine Art Textured Silk paper (190x140 m m folded)

BOOK 3 YEARS Digital print on ILFORD Fine Art Textured Silk paper (190x140 m m folded)

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BOOK 1

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Sugar lift etchings with digital print chine-collé

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:June_Lockhart_1947.JPG

(320x395m m)

https://pxhere.com/en/photo/695852

Digital collage image credits

https://unsplash.com/photos/87ev1NvhDsU Variable edition printed by Bevan de Wet on

https://unsplash.com/photos/bnWmD3-dpvw

Hahne m uhle Natural white with Mingeishi Natural white

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/tptafja9

chine-collé sheets containing digital prints

https://www.pexels.com/photo/hippos-in-water-46540/ https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/ SK-C-1466

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JO-ANN CHAN Jo-Ann Chan completed a Master of Arts degree in Graphic Design with a focus on illustration and printmaking.

She is currently an illustration lecturer at the North-West University and continues to engage with creative practice through the Johannesburg chapter of the Artist’s Book Club, her own authorial practice and freelance work.

Her creative work taps into illustration practices, book arts and storytelling. She has contributed to group exhibitions nationally and had her first solo exhibition in 2019. In her capacity as an academic, her research engages with identity studies, practice-led research, design education and artist’s books.

@joannchancreative

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[left] CHIN UP 2020, 1-colour risograph print on archival Stephen Ivory (420x297mm) Edition of 25

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[right] BUSY BEE 2022, 5-colour risograph print on archival paper (420x297mm) Edition of 25

ARTIST STATEMENT

Tiny Tales is a series of art zines and associated risograph prints that capture some of my personal lockdown stories translated through the lens of the prompts provided. The original experimental pieces and zines were later curated into four thematic anthologies and adapted for risograph printing to unify the rather disparate aesthetics that were a natural result of the open-ended exploratory process.

Each zine is a diary entry of sorts; the raw and vulnerable stories cloaked in literary devices and diffuse imagery.

These very brief stories of a single (admittedly privileged) individual are of no real importance in the bigger picture of the global efforts to contain the pandemic; and are rather insignificant in comparison to the very real struggles for survival that others faced. However, many of the zines reflect some of the common themes that emerged in news and social media over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic: frustration, a shift in work-life balance, nostalgia, introspection, confusion, loss, and even hope.

TINY TALES SERIES: LOCKDOWN COLLECTION Antholog y Vol.1,2,3 & 4 2022 3-colour risograph zine anthologies on archival Munken Pure and Folia (120 m m x 155m m)

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Open variable edition First run of 25 for each antholog y

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LOSING MY MIND 2020, 3-colour risograph print on archival Stephen Ivory (420x297mm) Edition of 25

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JEAN LAMPEN Jean Lampen qualified as a pharmacist in 1981, after which she pursued her passion for the visual arts and arts practices.

She has attended workshops under the likes of Diane Victor and Carl Jeppe, to name a few.

Her current artistic practice showcases her illustrative flair and life drawing skills in watercolours or monochromatic ink and washes but her repertoire also includes oils and sculpture.

Having participated in numerous exhibitions since 1995, she continues to exhibit regularly in South Africa. The exhibitions to which she has contributed most recently include “Fear and Loss” (Oliewenhuys, Bloemfontein, in 2014), “Sehnsucht” (Aardklop, Potchefstroom, in 2016), “Disappearance” (NWU Main Gallery,

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Potchefstroom, in 2017), “Night music” (Aardklop, Potchefstroom, in 2018) and various other exhibitions in 2019 and 2020 at the Snowflake Building in Potchefstroom as a member of the Potchefstroom Arts Society. Internationally, her work was included in the digitally curated exhibition “Sweet little nothings” hosted

by People and Paintings Gallery (New York) in 2021; and she has twice been invited to participate in artist’s residencies at the Cite des Artes Internationale (Paris, France), exhibiting work there as part of her participation.

She has also taught illustration modules at the North West University, Potchefstroom, in the Graphic Design subject group and has presented short courses for the North-West University’s Creativity Centre.

@jnlmpn

FOLLOW YOUR LUCKY STAR 2022 Watercolour and ink pen (112mmx154mm folded) Unique bookwork

ARTIST STATEMENT

I explore the strange and fascinating juncture of the serious and the absurd to create transformative and reflective perspectives on the pervasiveness of “knowledge”, brands and intuitive associations. What are the physiologies that shape our bodies, our beliefs, and our ontologies? How do we “know”? Recycling old texts, understanding that the Pope himself is a brand, perhaps, like maize meal, raise questions about the commodification of our minds, but also about the sheer joy of deconstructing and recycling our surreal and burlesque world. Initiatives such as Laughit-off and Pop Art whimsies inspire me. While iconoclastic, perhaps, a sardonic and humorous take on the texts that we have become reveal how we inscribe meanings onto things and people, and how the information superhighway levels all hierarchies. I make the mundane strange by forging together the sublime and the ridiculous to show how all commodities (including ourselves) are socially conditioned and inscribed. I hope to generate a sense of mirth and introspection, albeit tongue in cheek. The artist’s book as an art form allows for narratives to flow from one page to the other; tangential issues thus become threads of themes that carry over as the book is perused.

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ALTERED BIOLOGY 2022 Mixed m edia (220 m m x270 m m) Unique book work

SA BR ANDS ALTERED 2022 Mixed m edia (215m m x245m m folded) Unique bookwork

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SUPERIOR INSTANT MAIZE MEAL: CLEVER

FIVE ROSES: SMOOTH CEYLON BLEND

CHOICE 2022, Watercolour and ink pen 2022, Watercolour and ink pen

(350 m m x480 m m)

(350 m m x480 m m)

WIRED PEOPLE SERIES:

WIRED PEOPLE SERIES:

THAT THING BETWEEN US

ANOTHER ONE?

2022, Wire in resin epoxy

2022, Wire in resin epoxy

(200 m m x200 m m)

(200 m m x200 m m)

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BEEFY BOVRIL: MEAT & VEGETABLE EXTR ACT

DOOM: LONG L ASTING EFFECT

2022, Watercolour and ink pen

2022, Watercolour and ink pen

(350 m m x480 m m)

(350 m m x480 m m)

WIRED PEOPLE SERIES:

WIRED PEOPLE SERIES:

HEAVY WORKLOAD

WHO IS FOLLOWING WHO?

2022, Wire in resin epoxy

2022, Wire in resin epoxy

(200 m m x200 m m)

(200 m m x200 m m)

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WIRED PEOPLE SERIES: GOING SOMEWHERE 2022, Wire in resin epoxy (130 m m x205m m folded) Unique bookwork

PORTR AIT 1

PORTR AIT 2

PORTR AIT 3

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Collage, stitching and

Collage, stitching and

Collage, stitching and

resin in stainless steel

resin in stainless steel

resin in stainless steel

spoon

spoon

spoon

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ERICA LÜTTICH Lüttich studied at Ruth Prowse School of Art in 1981-1983 before becoming a film editor.

Since 1985 she has worked with many well-known directors in the Johannesburg film industry and contributed to several international productions.

During 1992 she enrolled at Unisa (BA Fine Arts). This led to a parallel career as Creative Facilitator-Director within the field of Arts & Craft and Social Development in Hillbrow, Soweto, Sharpeville, Diepsloot, Bitou Municipality, Northern Cape and Karoo.

In 2002 she joined the Boitumelo Project in Hillbrow. Her collaborative work with Boitumelo addressed past histories but also developed individual creativity, economic empowerment and a sense of self.

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Lüttich developed a curriculum to explore the possibilities of making products with found and natural objects and raised environmental consciousness with projects across Southern Africa. In more recent years, Lüttich has worked on various Land Art projects, with international artists during the Global Nomadic Art Project, Stories of Rain 2016, and local communities to tackle issues of diminishing indigenous animal and plant populations. She relocated to the Hex River Valley in 2020.

There she engaged with a group of women and co-created the HEXlappies. Lüttich continually produces art in various media including Photography, Video Installations, Sculpture, Land Art, Textile Art and Stitching.

@ericalutttich

#17 WOOD IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER 2022, Digital print (297x420 m m)

#17 LETTERS TO SOUTH-KOREA 2022, Digital print (297x420 m m)

THE 50% OFF CHALLENGE 2022 Recycled cotton paper with red hibiscus botanical dye. Stitched with red hibiscus dyed cotton printed on rice paper. Stitched binding with rust dyed calico cloth (150 m m x1450 m m unfolded) Unique bookwork

ARTIST STATEMENT

Stories, and therefore books, have always played a pivotal role in my life. Both my mother and father read to us as children. In my privileged home, my mother read to us ‘Uilspieel’ and ‘Liewe Heksie’ in Afrikaans and my father about the evolution of this earth and its people and ‘Grimm’s Märchen’ in German. So, when I was invited to join the ABC bookmaking group in 2018, I was delighted. We collectively engaged with various book projects from the magical Melville Koppies series to the Decolonial Book Arts Project initiated by Chris Reinders.

The start of this 22 Challenges Project was a book that Deirdre Pretorius found at a sale. We were deep in Covid Lockdown and much had changed in our group that deeply affected us. We embarked on a journey to extend beyond our own boundaries through art-making. Various tasks in this project certainly challenged me to explore new ideas and techniques. I really enjoyed some tasks, while others proved to be a struggle. As my creative process is very organic and based on found materials and the re-purposing of found objects, this more meticulous and carefully considered approach was challenging. I had to

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find solutions to alter my art making practice to adjust to these tasks, and I was not always successful. I, naturally, enjoyed the challenge about shadows and found many leaves, blossoms and twigs on my walking journeys in De Doorns. This was a visual language that I understood. The Hex River Valley, that I live in, has magnificent mountains (Matroosberg being the highest mountain in the Western Cape) and the clouds are equally impressive. These were the two tasks that particularly inspired me. Over the last two years, documenting my environment through daily walks was incredibly rewarding and it has been a pleasure to be able to experience my surroundings and explore the details through these challenges in different media and on different platforms. I was walking with my eyes on the ground for shadows and searching the sky for clouds.

As a group we met twice a month via Microsoft Teams due to our geographical distances but we still engaged with all the complex questions artists worldwide grapple with. We had conversations of how to unpack and reposition our own realities within the various challenges the world finds itself in. As artists we have responsibilities to question society; do we try to fit into this world or question the climate and social challenges through our art making practices? The answers are unclear to us as well as many other questions around the dilemma of trying to live on this Earth in a sustainable manner. This we decided, should always be on our minds as we explore the possibility of a future.

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#8 CLOUDS LEPORELLO 2022 Digital print on Felix Schoeller True Fibre Matt paper with linen bookends e m broidered with e m broidery cotton (145m m x9600 m m unfolded) Unique bookwork

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#8 SHADOWS & LEAVES 2022 Digital print on Felix Schoeller True Fibre Matt paper with linen bookends e m broidered with e m broidery cotton (145m m x4400 m m) Unique bookwork

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#8 CLOUDS IN HEX RIVER VALLEY 2022, Digital print (297x420 m m)

32 #10 GAME - MY MOTHER’S QUILTING 2022, Digital print (297x420 m m)

#11 CHAOS NOT IN NATURE 2022, Digital print (297x420 m m)

#13 SHADOWS WITH JO-ANN 2022, Digital print (297x420 m m)

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Exploring accordion books, leporellos and other folding structures at the Jack Ginsberg Centre for the Book Arts

Participating artists: DEIRDRE PRETORIUS | JO-ANN CHAN JEAN LAMPEN | ERICA LÜTTICH

The Artists’ Book Club was conceived on the final day of the Booknesses Colloquium held from 24 to 26 March 2017 at the University of Johannesburg as a way to build on the excitement generated by and the opportunities presented by the conference.

The ABC is a voluntary community of book artists. We aim to create a space for collaboration and to grow our own and others’ understanding of the conception, production, distribution and consumption of book arts through activities such as discussions, exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops.

Our first meeting in person and in Johannesburg post Covid-19 lockdown

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DAVID KRUT PROJECTS The Blue House 151 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg, 2193 info-jhb@davidkrut.com https://davidkrutprojects.com/ +27(0)11 880 4242

THE ARTISTS’ BOOK CLUB www.facebook.com/abc.johannesburg.chapter dpretorius@uj.ac.za jo.chan.online@gmail.com jeanlampen@hotmail.com ericaluttich@gmail.com

© 2022 Amé Bell, Melissa Waters, Deirdre Pretorius, Jo-Ann Chan, Erica Lüttich and Jean Lampen PHOTOGRAPHY Deirdre Pretorius, Jo-Ann Chan, Erica Lüttich and Jean Lampen | LAYOUT Jo-Ann Chan

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