A SET OF THREE ARTISTS’ BOOKS, 2011–2012
Louise Jennison
An unexpected gathering
2011–2012
Eight page concertina artists’ book, unique state, pencil on Fabriano bright-white 300gsm paper
This artists’ book, made especially for the exhibtion By This Unwinking Night (2012), features, as title suggests, a gathering of birds that you would not find in the wild. You can see the Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus); two Apostlebirds (Struthidea cinerea); a Northern flicker (Colaptes auratus); a Blue manakin (Chiroxiphia caudata); a Southern white-faced owl (Ptilopsis granti); a Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus); and (upon the cover) a House sparrow (Passer domesticus).
This artists’ book is in the collection of the State Library of NSW.
For Martha and A meeting of parrots that shouldn’t is bound in the same fashion.
Louise Jennison
For Martha
2011–2012
Eight page concertina artists’ book, unique state, pencil on Fabriano bright-white 300gsm paper
This artists’ book, made especially for the exhibition By This Unwinking Night, features the now extinct Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius). Its title refers to the last known individual of the species, Martha (after Martha Washington), who died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden at 1pm at the age of twenty-nine. The year was 1914. Martha now resides in a display case within the Smithsonian Institution, and, in one sense, across the pages of this book.
For Martha was exhibited in the 2013 Libris Awards: Australian Artists’ Book Prize, Artspace Mackay, Queensland.
“The extinction of the passenger pigeon is a poignant example of what happens when the interests of man clash with the interests of nature. It is believed that this species once constituted 25 to 40 per cent of the total bird population of the United States. It is estimated that there were 3 billion to 5 billion passenger pigeons at the time Europeans discovered America.”
Louise Jennison
A meeting of parrots that shouldn’t
2011–2012
Eight page concertina artists’ book, unique state, pencil on Fabriano bright-white 300gsm paper
This artists’ book features, as title suggests, an assortment of birds not found together in the wild. Made especially for the exhibition By This Unwinking Night, it features a yellow-collared love bird (Agapornis personatus); a Plum-headed parakeet (Psittacula cyanocephala); a Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus); a Double-eyed fig-parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma); Eclectus parrots (Eclectus roratus); a Pacific parrotlet (Forpus coelestis); and (upon the cover) a Kea (Nestor notabilis).
This artists’ book is in the collection of the State Library of NSW.
