INTERVIEW
FOR SQUAM ART WORKSHOPS
The Australian collaborative duo of Gracia Haby
and Louise Jennison has been delighting and intriguing fans for many
years now. Using paper as their primary medium, the perfectly matched
pair create limited edition artists' books, lithographic offset prints,
zines and the like. With a half dozen websites between them (and who
knows when the next one will be launched) catching up with either one
can be something of a treasure hunt, but lucky for us, we got to connect
with both of them.
Gracia and Louise live and work in Melbourne, Australia. They spoke
with Elizabeth in May 2008.
Elizabeth: It
seems Gracia & Louise has been together longer than chocolate and
peanut butter or coffee and cream, but surely there was a time when
you met-- can you share that with us? Where the collaboration began
and how it evolved into the magic that is Gracia & Louise?
Gracia & Louise: Yes, I guess we have been collaborating
for some time now. It's not one of those things we consciously entered
into nor one we ponder upon the mechanics of. We rather fell into it,
without even realising; a turn here, and a turn there, and here we are.
We made our first limited edition collaborative artists' book, This
morning I went into the garden, in 1999, so, yes, it has been
awhile that we've been nutting out compositions, scoring paper, gluing
covers and sourcing material and imagery side by side.
Both studying painting at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)
we worked, for the most part, in neighbouring studio spaces and held
several small group exhibitions together. Printing invitations, installing
and de-installing an exhibition and all those other tasks both grotty
and less grotty, we knew we could easily work together without either
one feeling as though a toe had been stepped on or a corner cut. Our
collaboration, in this area, felt effortless.
Why not, we thought, take this harmonious working relationship one step
further and start to collaborate on an actual artwork too.
The joy of collaborating, as many will attest, is that you end up with
something neither could have made without the other; you end up with
a third image, one that neither I nor Louise could create, or would
want to create, on our own. It is an enjoyable way for us to work, and
it is challenging and productive as well.
We also work individually for otherwise we would have little to contribute
to the collaborative pieces. I collage, Louise watercolours, and we
both draw, and hoard. Some parts of our collaboration are done separately.
Louise, for example, is far better than I when it comes to the precision
of bookbinding, so the cutting and folding, the gluing and the pressing
of uncut pages are largely down to her. Other stages are done so in
complete collaboration with us both shoulder to shoulder at the computer,
one mouse between two, deciding what needs to be removed, what needs
to be added, and what needs a nudge to the left.
Elizabeth: How
did you get into collage work? Was there a particular inspiration? How
would you say your work has evolved over the years?
Gracia & Louise: As with collaboration, collage
also, upon reflection, feels very much part of an organic process I
fell into. Challenges aside, both are so comfortable that it would be
hard to imagine never working with scissors in hand nor Louise by my
side.
I enjoy working with material I have consciously selected and collected,
and equally I enjoy the challenge of working with images sent to me
in the form of postcards (For my Postcard
Travels series of works, I use only the postcards sent to me
by others, usually either those who read my blog, High
up in the trees and/or those who know me in person).
I first experimented working with collage at art school, using elements
of collage in my paintings and assemblages until I removed the canvas
support, put down the brush, and moved closer to the world of books
and paper armed with my scissors, glue pot and a brush for gluing. A
stint in Switzerland to studying experimental binding techniques (thanks
to a travelling scholarship courtesy of the Freedman Foundation) drew
Louise and I further into the world of books and their binding, and
this went hand in hand with collage.
Technically our skills have improved over the years, and, we hope, our
visual language too.
Elizabeth: Where
do you collect your ephemera and images? Do you ever miss a particular
piece once you send it out into the world?
Gracia & Louise: I would like to say I collect
all the time but financially this is not always possible; resourcefulness
is a thing picked up quickly. That said, I also collect images in my
mind from films seen and books read; a less tangible collection in some
respects but not all. Everyday observations also play their part. The
library, too, is a great place to search for such things (to borrow
rather than own). Louise is someone you could say who knows the library
better than the back of her hand.
To make collage, or anything really, the main ingredient needed is imagination.
I have a few spots I always go to find things, but really, once there,
it is the things that find me. I may have a certain idea or visual in
mind that I am looking for but it is best not to be too specific lest
you pass something that proves ideal. To narrow a search never works
for me. On the whole I will look for images I can add to or remove something
from. An image that is complete and does not need anything is of less
interest to me; I have little desire to add an additional element thereby
subverting reality and altering narrative to such an image. It is the
largely chance things I adore.
As to missing a piece, yes, we both do. That many friends and family,
and collectors and public collections have purchased our work makes
us glad, and it is always nice to know that someone somewhere is looking
at it, holding it and enjoying it.
Elizabeth: You
and Louise create such fabulous zines. How do you go about creating
a zine?
Gracia & Louise: So quick and immediate, it is
the less polished side of zines that appeals. Where an artists' book
can take months upon months to create as we happily chip away at it,
a zine represents the complete opposite whilst still being a labour
of love.
We don't really collect zines but we do often trade zines. We have amassed
a small but handsome collection this way, and they reside in a glass-topped
cabinet that our cats Omar and Olive love to sit on (when closed).
Creating a zine (depending upon edition size) requires an idea, a computer
(we scan our images and place them in) and access to a photocopier.
A guillotine for trimming, a stapler or thread for the spine, and time
to sit and collate, that is all you need. We then distribute our zines
to Sticky (a zine haven found the Degraves Street underpass, Melbourne)
and sell them through our online store, shipping them to new homes both
near and far.
We can keep them affordable and they are deliciously low tech. Generally
we sell them at cost; the fun is in the making. You wouldn't make zines
for extra coinage in your pocket.
Elizabeth: Can
you share with us the inspiration that launched your newest endeavour,
A Skulk of Foxes and A Husk of Hares --- how do you balance so many
creative outlets?
Gracia: Collective nouns are so poetic and capable
of conjuring such rich imagery that one can't help fall for them. A
quiver of arrows, a tabernacle of bakers, a smack of jellyfish and a
pitying of doves, how could anyone resist? From marvelling at such delights
to creating a new blog space, A Skulk
of Foxes and a Husk of Hares, the progression seemed a natural one.
Inviting Elaine (my Mum and fellow artist) along on such an adventure,
and my collaboration chum Louise seemed yet another obvious choice staring
me in the face. Together we shall respond predominately visually to
collective nouns for people, animals, concepts and things.
In terms of balance, I have little idea how that is achieved. Sometimes,
most of the time, it feels as though things are in chaos completely
and utterly. With so many things in the air, it is impossible to catch
them all but it is awfully fun trying.
Elizabeth: What
are your favourite seasons? Favourite places to travel? Any places you'd
love to visit in the future?
Gracia & Louise: Autumn, hands down, is a favourite
season. Light coats and scarves can be worn, soup simmers on the stove
and the cats chase the light spots in the house and sleep in its warmth.
It is a productive time of year for us and it signals that the year
is halfway through.
Now, as to places to travel, both of us would dearly love to travel
anywhere and everywhere. Tomorrow our airline tickets would take us
to Russia and across to Finland. Care to join us?
Elizabeth:
Um,
sorry kids. After being buried under 150 inches of snow this past Winter,
I'm only booking flights to beachy enclaves-- but do send us a postcard!
And, many thanks to you both!
Elizabeth,
2008
Central New Hampshire, USA
Squam
Art Workshops interview
Squam
Art Workshops
Gracia
Haby & Louise Jennison
From this side, it looked to be a done deal
Pod-like
vessels abandoned but with recent modifications
2008
from
the artists' book And we stood alone in the silent night
