NoteWorthy
NoteWorthy
Artist book 2022-2023
Unique unbound artist book comprising eight double-sided 254x254mm/10x10” gatefold monoprints presented in a 280x280mm embossed solander box.
State Library of Victoria “Tate Adams Memorial Residency at Baldessin Press & Studio” Fellowship Project.
Figure 1: NoteWorthy double-sided gatefold monoprint (2 of 8) inside detail, Zo Damage 2022-2023
NoteWorthy presents a visual history of live music culture in Melbourne, representing the complex interconnections of music performance and communities as a series of non-figurative monoprints prints on paper.
Melbourne musicians Raul Sanchez (Magic Dirt/River of Snakes/Midnight Woolf), Jem Moloney (DEAD), Rhys Campbell (Future Suck), Grace Gibson (Future Suck/Blonde Revolver), Katie Scott (Howl At The Moon), Jason Fuller (Goatsound Studios/Blood Duster/The Ruiner/Burn The Hostages), Kim Volkman (X/Kim Volkman and the Whiskey Priests) and Zoe Hunting (Premium Fantasy) collaborated in the project’s making.
The musicians and I used broken and discarded musical equipment – including microphone heads, guitar pick-ups, cracked cymbals and guitar strings – as etching tools to create a web of interweaving marks in two 800x600mm copper plates (Figures 2 and 3).
Figure 2: Raul Sanchez (Magic Dirt/River of Snakes/Midnight Woolf) makes marks on copper plates using broken instrument parts as etching tools. Raul also used a pickup from a guitar he broke during a live music performance
Figure 3: Katie Scott (Howl At The Moon) makes marks on the copper plates using broken instrument parts as etching tools. Katie also brought a pencil to use as an etching tool, the markings from which represent where her songwriting begins
To create the artist book, I made prints by first printing from one of the copper plates and then over-printing the same sheet of paper with the second plate. The complex web of interconnected marks (as seen in Figures 1 and 5-9) reflects the endurance and resilience of the music and the artists who create and perform it.
NoteWorthy comprises eight unique double-sided 254x254mm gatefold monoprints, each representing the octave range of eight notes in a musical scale and, akin to a multiple 12” album release, are presented unbound in a stunning black 280x280mm solander (clamshell) box with white embossing.
Developed at Baldessin Studios in St Andrews and informed the vast resources of State Library Victoria and my professional and personal connections within the music industry, the project not only reflects the ongoing sustainability and health of live music culture in the post-pandemic era but, most importantly, contributes to related debates in music industry sectors from the position of the live music community.
Figure 4: NoteWorthy gatefold monoprint (3 of 8), outside front, Zo Damage 2022-2023
Figure 5: NoteWorthy gatefold monoprint (3 of 8), inside reveal (stage 1), Zo Damage 2022-2023
Figure 6: NoteWorthy gatefold monoprint (3 of 8), inside reveal (stage 2), Zo Damage 2022-2023
Figure 7: NoteWorthy gatefold monoprint (3 of 8), inside reveal (stage 3), Zo Damage 2022-2023
Figure 8: NoteWorthy gatefold monoprint (3 of 8), inside reveal (stage 3), Zo Damage 2022-2023
Special thanks to Baldessin Press & Studio and the State Library Victoria for their support and generous resources. Thanks also to the musicians for their invaluable contributions to the project. In addition, I would like to thank Three Phase Rehearsal Studios in Brunswick, which allowed me to explore their storeroom of broken instruments and musical equipment to utilise as etching tools in the creation of this project.