Venation (2018)

Venation (2018)
Shona Grant
Hard backed artists’ book containing a 6 page hand bound book and 5 photographic print scrolls. Hard back covered in Nepalese handmade batik rustic paper with buckram cloth hinges; H160 x W195 x D50mm; Bhutanese hand made paper and lokta fibre sheet mix endpapers; hand bound book containing 8 pressed holly leaves on jaconette calico pages; lokta fibre sheet covers; 5 hand made cylinders consisting of layers of batik rustic paper (to contain scrolls); photographic prints on Hahnemuhle rice paper 100gsm using dye based inks.
Unique, acquired from the artist 8 May 2018. Photo: Books On Books

The above two photos of the work: Books On Books

Venation interior
Photo: Shona Grant

Photo of the work: Books On Books

Venation invites an end-of-autumn expectation that turns into an experience of veneration. The endpapers move aside like a veil, the book opens to reveal eight relic-like holly leaves and closes to reveal what could be five tall bark-clad votive candleholders containing scrolls. Unrolled and smoothed, the scrolls present photos marking further stages of the leaves’ dessication. The visual and tactile richness of the work delivers a sense of opening a treasure, relishing a keepsake.

Tree Line (2018)

Tree Line (2018)
Shona Grant
Hard backed flag book of a single image 6 flags wide and 4 flags deep. Images printed on Ice Duo Matte 320gsm. Concertina image printed on Hahnemuhle Rice Paper 100gsm. Covers hand painted jaconette with Payne’s Grey acrylic with hand painted torn line in black acrylic.
Closed: H210 x W108 x D15 mm; Open: W450 mm.
Unique. Acquired from the artist 28 June 2018. Photos: Shona Grant.

The above three photos of the work: Books On Books.

The photograph selected from Grant’s Land Lines project for the commissioned artist’s book is strangely textured — as if drawn with charcoal and gesso. With the cover’s treatment in particular, Grant has deepened the texture, and using the flag book structure, she has developed the texture even further. Every aspect of Tree Line draws the viewer into a visual experience that is tangible.

Land Lines (2018)

Land Lines (2018)
Shona Grant
Hardcovered accordion book with handmade hinges of black acrylic painted deckle-edged paper. H110 x W180 mm (closed), W500 mm (open). 8 panels, 7 photographs on Bockingford watercolour paper 190gsm with ChromaLife100 dye-based inks. Unique. Acquired from the artist, 5 May 2021.
Photos of the work: Books On Books Collection.

This artist’s book accompanied the “Land Lines” project originally created for The Stills Gallery Book Market, Edinburgh. The positioning of the images gives the lines an abstractness that contests with the realism of the photography. The result is a constant drawing near then drawing away from the images.

Tide Lines (2020)

Tide Lines (2020)
Shona Grant
Panorama concertina. H245 x W155 mm (closed), W800 mm (open). 6 photographs (122 x 122 mm) on Fotospeed Matt Ultra 240 fine art photo paper attached to concertina of inkjet printed photographs on Bockingford Inkjet watercolour 190gsm paper using Chroma 100 dye based inks. Unique. Acquired from the artist, 5 May 2021.
Photos of the work: Books On Books Collection.

Artist’s description: “… it’s the first time that I’ve made a book using this structure which was originally devised by the book artist Hedi Kyle. By carefully cutting and folding the concertina, individual panels and hinges are formed onto which I then attached my sequenced photographs. The photographs were taken on a remote beach at Rosinish on the island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. It’s a sheltered bay so no big waves, but it was fascinating to see the subtle marks left on the sand as small waves slowly retreated as the tide went out. The sequence echoes the movement of the waves as they moved around individual rocks in the sand where I was standing. The concertina and book covers show the open Atlantic Ocean whose sea laps these shores”.

The same image, paper and inks as the concertina are used on the cover boards, and the endpapers (Hahnemuhle 100gsm fine art photo rice paper) are inkjet printed with a photograph showing a tide line detail on the beach and the book’s title.

Strandline Kelp (2020)

Strandline Kelp (2020)
Shona Grant
Ledger-type book housed in handmade box surmounted with dried kelp (subject of the photographs). Box H130 x W510 x D80 mm covered in dark blue book cloth with a Chiyogami paper strip detail, interior is lined with Chiyogami paper and book cloth. Book cover of Chiyogami Blue Melville hand printed Japanese paper with 17 prints H95 x W295 mm on Hahnemuhle 100gsm rice paper bound in natural raffia. Unique. Acquired from the artist, 5 May 2021.
Photos of the work: Books On Books Collection.

The sculpture has a calligraphic and abstract effect, which the three-dimensionality of the images echoes. It is as if living hieroglyphics had been gathered from the strandline on a Tiree beach and dried.

Enclosure (2020)

Enclosure (2020)
Shona Grant
Box housing double concertina book with pockets in jaconette calico; front and back boards covered in Atlantic book cloth and endpapers of Daler Rowney fine grain 200gsm paper, with the front cover bearing a detail photograph on Bockingford Inkjet 190gsm watercolor paper. H195 x W285 x D10 mm (closed), W400 mm (open). 8 black & white photographs on Japanese Awagami 250gsm bamboo paper. Acquired from the artist, 3 February 2022.
Photos of the work: Books On Books Collection.

Grant delivers her phot0graphs of drystone walls on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides in a structure that echoes the walls and the theme of enclosure. With the photos held in pockets, their sequence can be varied as the viewer wishes, which also leads to recurrent contact with the very tactile paper used.

Fieldstone (2022)

Fieldstone (2022)
Shona Grant
Maru chitsu case containing Kangxi book. Case H220 x W 310 mm (closed); W822 mm (open). Book H216 x W300 mm. 14 folios. Acquired from the artist, 19 March 2022.
Photos of the work: Books On Books Collection.