Artist of the month
'On the day I was shown how to make my first book the future was somehow assured. That was it; standing in the green evening orchard understanding that this was what I would do for the rest of my life; make books! A Divine Calling! Bookbinding may seem a curious vocation, but that heart-powered ooomph has never left so I’ve been amazed and delighted at the consequent unfolding path of a Travelling Bookbinder.
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Escaping back to Edinburgh, where I’d spent four happy years reading books in bed (MA Hons English Literature Edinburgh University) after training in London (at The London College of Printing and Camberwell College of Art) Hazell Designs Books was established in 1998. |
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Everybody has a book inside them. Although a vision on the way home from Glastonbury Festival to convert a double decker bus into a mobile bindery has not yet materialised, I have travelled far and wide to run workshops in schools, book festivals, art colleges, on islands, in lighthouses and on a Russian icebreaker. (Go to Craftscotland for more). |
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Helen Storey’s commission to produce a two-metre high book sculpture initiated the move to large-scale narrative works and installations.
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This trajectory has continued, particularly in response to the landscapes experienced during residencies in Shetland and Antarctica. But I still bind small books and limited editions too. |
More recently I have had the time to experiment with site-specific installations, at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris during a three month residency.
Reaching the Creative Scotland Award shortlist was a huge boost. I continue to pursue funding for that project alongside more head-splittingly ambitious plans to stage a collaborative exhibition of land art on the Antarctic Peninsula.
I’m delighted to have been selected for Origin, the new Crafts Council selling event at Somerset House in October. Frenzied bookbinding is already underway. Recent coverage in “Crafts” (May/June 2006 issue) and Country Living (July 2006 issue) as well as workshops at this years Edinburgh International Book Festival provide very welcome attention and awareness for bookart’s personal pleasures. The breadth and opportunities in the book of a conceptual craftswoman has pages and pages ahead.
 
Next year you can see Rachel Hazell’s work at a solo Festival show at the Scottish Poetry Library and as part of the Cutting Edge touring exhibition.
Go on to the Rachell Hazell books website |