By the Book!

Welcome to By the Book! - a fun and interactive event for all budding book makers out there! Ever wanted to explore some book-arts but don’t know where to begin?

This workshop will take you through a couple of different processes, to get you making your very own folio books, using both recycled book covers, and some new materials also. Simple ‘’pamphlet’ stitching may be required but otherwise it’s a lovely straightforward process, only requiring your imagination!

Your ‘books’ will be as serious or playful as you wish. By the end of the session, you will have 2 objects to fill with your own stories, drawings or collected ephemera, which may even provide some insight into the ageing process for you.

Kerry will provide materials and decorative papers, and you are welcome to bring along your own materials, and some embellishments also, for those finishing touches.

This will be a fun and interactive event for all budding book makers out there! Join us on Sat May 10, 2025 at Chrissie Cotter Gallery for a creative book-filled afternoon.

Please direct any specific questions you may have about the workshop to Kblakeart@hotmail.com

ON AGEING: AN EXHIBITION ON A THEME.

This workshop is part of a suite of events surrounding the exhibition at Chrissie Cotter Gallery, April 23 - May 12, 2025.

25 +women creatively explore what it means to grow older…

Is ageing, as Doris Lessing posits, a ‘cage of associations and labels’, or does growing older offer us the freedom to shed former roles and explore fresh selves?

In this exhibition of artworks by 25 women, many permutations on this rich and complex theme are presented. The diverse array of materials employed offer pause for thought about how we might communicate philosophical ideas through art making. From the comic to the affectionate, the angry to the content, the range of creative perspectives in this show aim to surprise, delight and provoke.

The exhibition includes many creative workshops, talks and get-togethers over its 3 week period, so please check out all the offerings (through eventbrite).

Curated by inner west artist Skye Rogers/Skye's The Limit, gallery courtesy of Inner West Council (IWC).

Some examples Below of Kerry's impressive book-making skills.

Some images from the exhibition.

About Kerry: I began learning bookbinding at night school at Sydney Tech, when I was in my first year at Art School – National Art School, in 1979 where I focused on painting & printmaking. At Tech I learned to make little books and the occasional box.

Back then I mostly concentrated on painting, and had some successes, with inclusion in exhibitions like-

1986, 1987, 1999 ACTA Maritime Art Award/1987 Blake Prize

1987, 1990 Sulman Award (AGNSW)/1988 Master Builders Art Award (winner)

2000, 2007 Portia Geach (SH Ervin Gallery)

I refreshed my training in 2000, with printmaking studio sessions and found I had a lot of prints, so this encouraged me to revisit my earlier training. I had a busy 10 years and exhibited widely-

2001 TAFE Arts& Design Prize (Downing Centre/touring exhibition)

2004 Bursting At The Seams (Eco Concepts/Danks St)

2004 BEA @ KInokuniya (Kinokuniya Bookstore)

2005 Australian Bookbinders Exhibition (Australian Antiquarian Book Centre)

2005 Black and White Books (Artisan Books Fitzroy)

2007 Australian Bookbinders Exhibition (AGNSW Research Library)

2008 Without Boundaries (Pine Street Creative Art Centre)

2008 Brought to Book (Delmar Gallery)

2009 Australian Bookbinders Exhibition (Gallery Red Glebe)

2011 Artbound (Gallery Red Glebe)

I had a book accepted in The Society of Bookbinders, London (2009) and a purchase by the Research Library AGNSW (2007).

In 2010 I retrained as an Art therapist and concentrated my career working in Aged Care settings, which I love. I had a busy practise and have worked across many different communities.

In 2019 I was a finalist (with my colleague Artist Suna Xi) in the Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Award for ‘Best Dementia Care Program’ Abrina Atrium Installation Project, which was an innovative Art project based in a Chinese Nursing Home, based on the Chinese Calendar, or ‘circle of change’ featuring suspended circles displayed like silver stars. Residents were encouraged to give expression to their birth identity through artmaking-embossing, drawing, and mark-making in response to their surroundings and inner life. Each seasonal event, folk and cultural tradition continues to be explored through object-making, and can be displayed in a changing array on the installation as events change.

I continue to run an Artists Book group at the NSW Bookbinding Guild in Rozelle.