A Model of Order: the Concrete Poetry exhibition continues in Edinburgh

A Model of Order: Concrete Poetry, the Scottish Poetry Library’s pioneering collaboration with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and other collections throughout Edinburgh, has coordinated a city-wide celebration of concrete poetry from October 2009. This continues until 3 January 2010 at the Dean Gallery and the Edinburgh College of Art library.

SNGMA re-hang exhibition: What You See Is Where You're At

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh is celebrating the re-hang of its collection until 28 February 2010. Their website describes the "exhibition" in this way:

"What you see is where you're at launches a year of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. The Collection will be divided into thematic displays, bringing together iconic works, forgotten pieces and new acquisitions.

Features include a room focusing on still life; space dedicated to collage, two successive rooms contrasting the use of colour around 1910 with the use of colour in Pop and Op art from the 1960s, and a further room is devoted to an exploration of white.

Elsewhere, single artists or works are made the focal point, such as Martin Boyce's large-scale installation Electric Trees and Telephone Booth Conversations, a two-room display curated by the artist Callum Innes, rooms dedicated to American artist David Schutter and German artist Kitty Kraus, and works by Douglas Gordon. THERE WILL BE NO MIRACLES HERE, a major work by Nathan Coley, will be installed in the grounds of the Dean Gallery.

This dynamic programme showcases new displays from the collection, as well as new commissions from leading Scottish and international artists. Displays will change on a rotating basis, so there will be something new to see each time you visit."

ECA Open Day: Friday 30 October

The Edinburgh College of Art Open Day is an annual event, open to all who want to find out more about study at ECA. Aimed primarily at prospective students considering undergraduate study, the Open Day also caters for all those interested in postgraduate courses, part-time study, evening classes or classes organised as part of the celebrated Summer School.

Further information can be found on the ECA website.

Japanese Prints from the Henry Dyer Collections

Edinburgh Central Library is currently exhibiting Japanese prints from the Henry Dyer Collection.
The Fine Art Library holds a special collection of Japanese prints and watercolours from the collection of Dr Henry Dyer, presented to the library by his daughter in 1944, with some further items presented in the 1950s. The bequest is shared between Edinburgh and Glasgow City Libraries, and consists of around 80 painted photographs of Japanese characters and scenes by Baron von Stillfied-Rathenitz (an Austrian painter and photographer whose studio in Yokohama was immensely successful during the last quarter of the nineteenth century - producing thousands of images of the working classes, actors in the theatre, geishas and craftsmen primarily for tourists visiting the city).
Also gifted were Japanese prints, consisting of 8 albums, 9 kakaemonos or hanging pictures, 3 makimonos or rolling pictures, and many original watercolour sketches and woodcuts. Artists represented are Kunisada (1786-1865), a pupil of Toyokuni and a member of the Utagawa school; Hiroshige (1798-1858), one of the foremost landscape artists; Sadahide(c.1840), a pupil of Kunisada; and Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), a member of the Toyokuni school. relating to their current exhibition collection of Japanese print material
More information is available at http://tinyurl.com/nks4uq
Events for children relating to this exhibition are listed here http://tinyurl.com/nkx9lq

By Leaves We Live

By Leaves We Live : A celebration of artists’ books and small presses

Scottish Poetry Library
Saturday 26 September 2009 11am-6pm Free, no booking required

Join us for our lively and inspiring annual one-day book fair at the Scottish Poetry Library.

Lots of stalls, displays and talks running throughout the day. Plus a leafy exhibition.

Drop in to browse or buy, meet publishers, artists and poets from Scotland and beyond, and listen to talks on making books, the artists’ book creative process, and other aspects of poetry and art publishing.
For readers, writers, artists, designers, publishers, and anyone interested in books, printing and paper – all welcome. Free admission.

Exhibitors and stallholders will include:
20x20magazine; Artist Book Group; Artists Books Online; The Caseroom Press; Essence Press; David Faithfull; The Fruitmarket Gallery Bookshop; Rag-and-Bone Shop Books; The Ingleby Gallery; Hamish MacDonald; Magma Poetry Magazine; Mariscat Press; Metal Rabbit Editions; The Owl & Lion Gallery; Read This Press; Red Squirrel Press; Roncadora Press; Salt + Shaw; Scottish Pamphlet Poetry; Stichill Marigold Press; Mary Thomson; Unbordered Artist' Books (Susie Goodwin & Anna Davis); Wild Hawthorn Press: the Archive of Ian Hamilton Finlay; Writers' Bloc.

Talks running throughout the day:

12 noon The Elements of a Book

Bookbinder Isabelle Ting from the Owl & Lion Gallery talks about the process of making a book and answers your questions about bookbinding. A special opportunity to see samples and tools close up and hear an expert talk about her art.

1.30pm JURA eastward/westward

David Faithfull talks about an artist book created on the Isle of Jura in collaboration with the poet John Burnside, and produced for the Scottish Book Trust and the Isle of Jura Distillery.

2.30pm 9 Things To Do On Holiday

SALT + SHAW talk about how location influences the production of their artists’ books. An exploration of words, artefacts, images and stories specific to place.

3.30pm Indie Publishing: a DIY Guide to Making Books

Novelist and indie publisher Hamish MacDonald will guide you through making a simple chapbook, present other types of DIY binding you can do with common materials, and explain how you can print the inside pages of a book.

4.30pm Pamphlet Collaborators

Hugh Bryden of Roncadora, winner of the Callum Macdonald Memorial pamphlet publishing award, talks about the process of trying to find a balance between the poetic and visual elements in a pamphlet. Poet Hugh McMillan will join him to read from their recent collaborations.

All talks approximately 30 minutes unless otherwise noted, free, no need to book.

Exhibition : 25 leaves for 25 years

The Scottish Poetry Library strapline since 2004, taken from the words of philanthropist, teacher and town planner Sir Patrick Geddes, is: "by leaves we live". In response to these words, a group of artists and writers have joined with us to celebrate our anniversary by donating 25 beautiful images of leaves. These will be displayed in the library during the fair. Featuring Brigid Collins, Anne Bevan, Norman McBeath, Claire Melinsky, Nicola Murray, Gerry Cambridge, Helen Douglas, Ann Ross, Laurie Clark, Julie Lacombe, Sylvia Von Hartman, Iain McIntosh, Jane Alexander, Morven Gregor, Liz Lochhead, Alexander McCall Smith, Mary Hutchison, Stephen Raw, Jean Johnstone, Rachel Hazel, Holly Hayward and Gail Turpin.

More details at http://www.spl.org.uk/events/by_leaves.html

How to find the venue http://www.spl.org.uk/about/find.html

Cataloguing Exhibition Catalogues

Cataloging Exhibition Publications: Best Practices

Subjects

Written and compiled by:

Lynda Bunting, Sherman Clarke, Marly Helm, S. Isidor Justeson, Elizabeth Lilker, Elizabeth O'Keefe, Sarah Quimby, Daniel Starr, Lori Van Deman.

This new Online Publication provides invaluable insights into cataloging subject heading fields for exhibition catalogs -- illuminating the particular issues and challenges associated with these 6xx fields, including meeting names, named works of art, and the use of genre terms.

This publication of best practices, created by the ARLIS/NA Cataloging Advisory Committee, is devoted to providing practical guidance to catalogers working with art exhibition publications. These guidelines are intended to be used in conjunction with other cataloging documentation, including Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 2nd edition, 2002 revision (AACR2), and its successor, Resource Description and Access (RDA), Library of Congress Rule Interpretations (LCRI), and MARC21.

The cataloging of exhibition publications poses unique challenges to new and experienced catalogers alike. These types of publications often require more use of a cataloger's judgment, and more intervention in terms of transposing, omitting, and supplying data. Decision-making about the choice of a primary access point can be quite involved, and local practices and guidelines greatly affect how an exhibition publication is cataloged.

This new online publication is the third devoted to providing best practice guidelines for cataloging exhibition catalogs. The series of three are:

Title and Statement of Responsibility: http://www.arlisna.org/resources/onlinepubs/cataloging.pdf
Note Fields: http://www.arlisna.org/pubs/onlinepubs/cat_exhib_pub.pdf
Subject Headings: http://www.arlisna.org/pubs/onlinepubs/cat_best_pract-subjects.pdf

Courtauld Colour Slide Scheme Suspended

Following its suspension earlier this year, the Courtauld Colour Slide Scheme has now been permanently closed. The Witt and Conway Libraries and Photographic Survey collections are also undergoing changes and the libraries will be temporarily closed until 2 November 2009.
Via http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/LibraryArts/?p=344

CHArt announces 25th annual conference in November 2009

OBJECT AND IDENTITY IN A DIGITAL AGE
Thursday 12 - Friday 13 November 2009
Birkbeck, University of London, Clore Lecture Theatre, Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square, London, WC1 7HX.

This year's CHArt (Computers and the History of Art) conference engages with the idea of object and identity in relation to art practice, production, consumption, representation and display. The conference will explore new notions of the identity of the artist, including those involving collaboration and anonymity; new conceptions and ontologies of the art object, as processual, virtual, or hybrid; new means of consumption and reception, whether in galleries and museums, in public spaces, or over networks of broadcast and narrowcast; and the challenges these transformations bring to the display of art and to its curation and access.

Places are limited so early booking is recommended.

The programme and booking form are available at the CHArt website. Bookings made before 1 October 2009 will be entitled to a discount. Conference fees (pounds sterling) include coffee/tea breaks and lunch.


BOOKING FEE
CHArt Member: TWO DAYS £120 (£100 before 1 Oct 2009) CHArt Member: ONE DAY £80 (£70 before 1 Oct 2009)
Non-member: TWO DAYS £160 (£140 before 1 Oct 2009)
Non-member: ONE DAY £110 (£100 before 1 Oct 2009) CHArt Student Member: TWO DAYS £65 £45 before 1 Oct 2009) CHArt Student Member: ONE DAY £45(£35 before 1 Oct 2009) Student Non-member: TWO DAYS £85 (£65 before 1 Oct 2009) Student Non-member: ONE DAY £55 (£45 before 1 Oct 2009)

SVAG member in photo contest win

Congratulations to SVAG member Sanne Dijkstra-Downie of VARIE. Her beautiful photograph from the Edinburgh Cavalcade (left) was printed in the Scottish Metro newspaper as today's winner of their Fringe Framed photography contest! It can also be found on her photography blog.

ARLIS Picture This! cataloguing study day, 9 September

The ARLIS Visual Resources Committee and Cataloguing and Classification Committee jointly present a study day aimed at both library cataloguers of print and electronic publications, who need or wish to find out about how to adapt their skills to visual resources, and at ‘ACADIans’, visual resources curators and anyone responsible for the management and discovery of digital images, whether in HE, Art Colleges, Museums, Galleries or Art Collections.

It will explore approaches to the business of cataloguing images, looking at different metadata schemas, data standards & controlled vocabularies & how these have been applied to real life resources including digital image collections, the moving image, art websites, material in digital repositories, and even primary art objects. Speakers include representatives from the museums world, Higher Education & the JISC.

Further information about the event (including the booking form) can be found from this page on the ARLIS website, or contact Clare Hemmings at C.Hemmings@soton.ac.uk

Draft Programme:

Venue: The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 16 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3JA
Date and time: Wednesday 9th September 2009, 10:00am ­ 4:30pm
Cost, including lunch: £85 ARLIS members; £42.50 ARLIS Students/unwaged
£105 Non-ARLIS members; £65 Non-ARLIS Students; £63.75 Retired members

10:00 - 10:20 Registration/Tea and Coffee
10:20 - 10:30 Welcome and Introduction: Vicky Brown, Chair of ARLIS VRC
10:30 - 11:10 Practical Metadata: John Hargreaves (JISC Digital Media Technical Support Officer)
11:10 - 11:50 Sharing new standards: Building a dual-purpose image collection: Sally Forrest (University of Derby)
12:00 - 12:10 Break
12:10 - 12:40 Cataloguing moving images: describing artists' videos with MARC21: Jacqueline Cooke (Goldsmiths, University of London)
12:40 - 13:30 Lunch
13:35 - 15:20 Case studies including: Enhancing VADS ­ enhancing metadata: Marie-Therese Gramstadt (Visual Arts Data Service), Kultur: Andrew Gray (University of the Arts London), V&A Factory Project: Ella Ravilious (Victoria & Albert Museum), Cataloguing computer art: Honor Beddard (Victoria and Albert Museum), Cataloguing visual resources at the Royal College of Art: Neil Parkinson (Royal College of Art)
Intute: Mary Burslem (Intute)
15:20 - 15:50 Tea/Coffee break PLUS discussion
15:50 - 16:20 The ‘Your Paintings' website: strategies for cataloguing oil paintings for web users: Aimee Blackledge (University of Oxford)
16:20 - 16:30 Goodbye / Sum up: Elizabeth James, Chair of ARLIS C&CC
16:30 End

From Gorbachev to global warming: education experts choose images for JISC Collections archive

Education experts have taken the first steps towards building a JISC Collections archive containing over 500 hours of film and 56,000 photos documenting modern history.

The expert panel consists of e-learning advisors, librarians, academics and image specialists who collectively represent over a hundred years of experience of working with digital images in education, They have chosen 11 collections from ten suppliers to form an archive for students and academics which will be available from next July.

Following £2.5 million in funding from JISC and a competitive procurement process, JISC Collections has licensed the collections for at least 25 years as part of the Digital Images for Education initiative ¹.

The images are copyright-cleared for use in education so they can be reproduced in course packs, virtual learning environments, e-portfolios and other multimedia works.

The selected images bring to life our shared history from a local, UK and international perspectives to support teaching and lifelong learning.

Film clips will be available – from Gorbachev's accession to power in the Soviet Union in 1985 to the financial crisis of 2009, and including powerful raw footage of the 9/11 attacks, as well as coverage of key issues such as deforestation and global warming.

Photographs range from nineteenth-century life in the Scottish Highlands to contemporary youth culture.

Noel Williams, professor of communication at Sheffield Hallam University, commented: "JISC has created what is pretty much a unique resource, exciting in its scope and potential. It touches on the interests of a wide range of subject areas, and contains images which will be of value to both teachers and researchers, and useful in all educational contexts – from colleges through to the highest levels of HE."

The collection will include materials from academic and not-for-profit organisations such as the Royal Geographic Society and the University of Brighton, alongside commercial agencies such as Associated Press, ITN Source and Getty Images.

Lorraine Estelle, CEO of JISC Collections, said: "The new images purchased as part of the Digital Images for Education initiative bring to life our history and capture, in particular, the key events of the past 25 years – from the death of Princess Diana to the election of Barack Obama. The images will complement our existing and highly popular collections – Newsfilm Online, Film and Sound Online and the Education Image Gallery – to provide the UK education community with a world class library of still and moving images covering the last 150 years."

Between now and February, around a terabyte of data will be delivered each month from the content suppliers, which converted to paper would mean the use of 500,000 trees.

Each of the images has to be checked for quality, and extensive metadata tagging is required to optimise searching and browsing facilities. New features will also be built into the destination collections to ensure the tags are helpful for both curators and users of the archive.

SVAG is tweeting!

Hi all,
Just to let you know, SVAG now has a Twitter feed for the postings on our blog - you can find it here and the link is also posted on this blog:
http://twitter.com/scotvisualarts
(unfortunately SVAG was already taken but I hope that name sums it up nicely...)
The photo is negotiable, if anyone has any suggestions you can either contact me directly or leave a comment on the blog... if you forgot the URL, here it is:
http://scottish-visual-arts-group.blogspot.com/
You can always subscribe to the blog if you have a Blogger-compatible (including Google) account, or use the blog's RSS feed:
http://scottish-visual-arts-group.blogspot.com/rss.xml
Onwards and technically upwards!
Cheers,
Paula (SVAG reporting secretary)

ECA exhibition: Remembering Little Sparta

Hi all, passing on information from Jane Furness at ECA on their latest exhibition - enjoy! Cheers, Paula

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REMEMBERING LITTLE SPARTA: 30 July - 30 August 2009
Sculpture Court, Main Building, Edinburgh College of Art
An exhibition of paintings, paper reliefs and photographs based on the 16 year engagement by the artist Janet Boulton with Ian Hamilton Finlay's garden at Little Sparta.
See the ECA website for more details.

JISC Digital Media - new training courses for autumn 2009

Hi all, course details for your information... Cheers, Paula

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We have just released details of JISC Digital Media's new training programme for September to December 2009.

In addition to our July and August dates, we now have the following courses
scheduled - note the brand new Digital Media Restoration course, and look out for an announcement soon on more new video and audio courses...

*Audio Production: Recording Lectures, Seminars, Interviews and Podcasts -
09 September 2009 or 10 November 2009

*Essential Techniques in Digital Image Capture - 28 July 2009

*Advanced Techniques in Digital Image Capture - 29 July 2009

*Using Digital Media in VLEs - 04 November 2009

*Digitising Analogue Video Recordings - 06 October 2009 or 11 November 2009

*Introduction to Image Metadata - 10 September 2009 or 09 December 2009

*Building a Departmental Image Collection - 07 October 2009

*Finding Free-to-Use Images Online - 13 October 2009

*Scanning with the CLA Licence - 14 October 2009

*Digital Photography - Getting started with your SLR - 27 October 2009

*Digital Photography - Taking Control of your SLR - 28 October 2009

*Colour Management - 18 November 2009

*Essential Photoshop Skills - 01 December 2009

*Digital Media Restoration - 02 December 2009

We will also be announcing some brand new video and audio courses soon. For full details on each course, please visit our Training page.

Best regards,
Antony Theobald, Technical Support Officer - Still Images
JISC Digital Media - A JISC Advisory Service

JISC Collections announces new online image library

Hi all, just passing on the latest news from JISC Collections - sounds like an interesting development! Thanks to Duncan for pointing this out to me. Cheers, Paula

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The last 25 years of UK and world history told through news film and photo journalism

An unrivalled online image library, comprising over 500 hours of film and 56,000 photos, will be available free of charge to UK students and academics from Summer 2010.

Following £2.5 million in funding from JISC and a competitive procurement process, 11 high quality film and image collections have been licensed by JISC Collections for at least 25 years as part of the Digital Images for Education initiative.

Read the full press release

View sample films and images on the Digital Images for Education website

Job Vacancy: Visual Resources Curator, University of St. Andrews

(please see the St. Andrews website for the posted advert, or feel free to contact the current post holder Margaret Humfrey for more information - cheers, Paula)


Visual Resources Curator (SK269/09)
Closing date: 13 July 2009
£24,152 - £28,839 pa

We are seeking to appoint a Curator to run the Visual Resources Collection in the School of Art History, which is vital for the School¿s teaching.

You should have a sound knowledge of the history of Western art (a degree in the subject is desirable), be proficient in using computers and familiar with image databases and their maintenance.

You will be expected to supervise the production and storage of digital images for the use of academic staff in teaching and to record cataloguing data in the University database. In addition the existing collection of c.150,000 photographic slides is still in use and will need to be maintained in good order for the foreseeable future. The job will also entail the recruitment, training and supervision of student assistants and advising users on the use of the collection.

The Curator also looks after a small book and video/DVD/CD collection and oversees the ordering of books by academic staff for the University Library.

Informal enquiries to Ms Annette Carruthers, Head of School Tel: 01334 462405 or email: vac@st-andrews.ac.uk

Application forms and further particulars are available from Human Resources, University of St Andrews, The Old Burgh School, Abbey Walk, North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9LB, (tel: 01334 462571, by fax 01334 462570 or by e-mail Jobline@st-andrews.ac.uk )

The advertisement, further particulars and a downloadable application form can be found at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/employment/ - please quote ref # SK269/09.

The University is committed to equality of opportunity.

The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland (No SC013532)

More sources for artists' books

Stephen Palmer, the Visual Arts Officer at the Scottish Arts Council, has been in contact with me and passes along the following information on artists' books which he feels would be of interest to SVAG members and others - we hope to see him at our next meeting. Cheers, Paula

---

I have just read your last minutes about Artists Books and thought you might be interested (if you don't already know) in:

Analogue Books (on Victoria Street in Edinburgh) who publish a lot of artist books;

IRIS in Dumfries and Galloway who are about to show at Gracefield;

Glasgow International Artist Book Fair which is run by Harald Turek;

The Owl and Lion Gallery on the Grassmarket in Edinburgh;

And Aye-Aye Books which is currently running out of the CCA in Glasgow and aims to support, catalogue and sell artist books in Scotland.

There are some excellent publications of artist books done through some of the commercial galleries such as Modern Institute, Sorcha Dallas, Ingleby and Mary, Mary which you may already have!

BBC archives being unlocked!

Just in case you weren't aware yet, the BBC is putting together collections of themed audio, video and still images from their vast archives:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/index.shtml
There is also more information about how it was put together and links to background material etc.

Looks like a fantastic study tool, as well as a great way to explore the BBC archives!

Cheers, Paula

Edinburgh College of Art Degree Show 2009

Here's some information from Jane Furness at ECA on their current degree show - cheers, Paula

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EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART DEGREE SHOW 2009:

Art & Design: 13 – 23 June 09;

Architecture & Landscape Architecture: 20 June – 2 July 09.

See http://www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=1163 for further details.

ARLIS vacancies in Publications Committee - closing date Fri 12 June

Passing on a notification email from Nicola Salliss (ARLIS secretary) - cheers, Paula

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Contribute to ARLIS; Add to your portfolio of professional skills & experience; Enhance your professional networks; Enjoy the challenge!!

ARLIS/UK & Ireland has two vacancies for key (voluntary) roles that involve working as part of our Publications Committee. The closing date for applications has been extended by a week to Friday 12th June.

1. News-sheet Co-editor

The successful candidate will replace Tim Pate (who has recently moved to Canada) and join Catherine Sheridan, the existing co-editor.

The ARLIS/UK & Ireland News-sheet acts as the forum of communication between ARLIS members. Its purpose is to disseminate news, publicise ARLIS events and publications and provide a platform for members to publish reports and articles on their activities, study visits, etc.

The two co-editors work very closely together. Their role is to work with the Publications Committee to develop the editorial policy and design of the News-sheet, liaise with contributors, compile and edit six issues of the ARLIS/UK & Ireland News-sheet a year.

2. Website Editor

This revised role has emerged as a result of the launch of the new ARLIS website in 2008.

The primary purpose of the ARLIS/UK & Ireland Web site is to disseminate news to and about members, publicise ARLIS/UK & Ireland activities, events and publications and support the work of our Committees and the administration of the Society.

The Website Editor will be a member of the Publications Committee and will be responsible for maintaining overall editorial control of the content of the website and liaising with VADS (the website hosts) over the technical issues relating to the website. Experience of website design and development is important to this role.

How to apply
For more information and a complete description of these roles please go to the ARLIS website, then choose "About ARLIS" – "Committees & Groups" - "Publications Committee".

If you would like an informal chat about these roles please contact Catherine Sheridan (csheridan@ngi.ie) for post 1 and Nicola Salliss (n.salliss@kingston.ac.uk) for post 2.

To apply send a brief summary of your skills and experience relevant to the role explaining why you would like to be considered for the role(s) to Nicola Salliss, ARLIS Secretary, Information Services (Art, Design & Architecture), Kingston University, Knights Park, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2QJ, +44 (0)20 8417 4035, E: n.salliss@kingston.ac.uk.

ELISA Open Forum 2009 - Thursday 11 June

I heard details of this today and thought this might be of interest to group members (and a good topic for our first posting!).

The ELISA Open Forum 2009 is being held at Appleton Tower here at the University of Edinburgh this week, with the theme "Libraries and Learning in the e-Environment". Many interesting topics being discussed cross-discipline. Details of the Open Forum and a link to the programme can be found on the ELISA website - I'm not sure if you need to register in advance (cost is £15 at the door) but you can contact Wendy Ball for more information (Wendy.Ball@edinburgh.gov.uk).

Cheers, Paula Cuccurullo (SVAG reporting secretary)