It's here!

All elements of the publication have now been delivered to Sea Loft; the bespoke A2B boxes have been carefully packed, with each now containing 30 individual items.

We are launching the project at Sea Loft, Kinghorn (Robert and Elizabeth's studio) this Thursday, 4th June from 5-8pm. Copies of the edition will be available for purchase, or for collection by Patrons. Let us know if you would like to come: info@robertcallender.co.uk

 

An editor's journey...the production of A2B : testing the box and its content

This week we received a final sample of the finished box, which will house all the items in the A2B edition ; in total there are more than 30 individual items. Tim, our designer, also made 'dummy' versions of the pieces - several books, archival prints, fold-outs, mini prints - so that we could see everything together, in the box. Subscribers will also find enclosed a DVD and limited edition intaglio print.

Below are a few pictures to show how the publication is coming together. This is a really exciting stage in the production of such a complex publication - it allows us to see what's working (and what isn't!). We can now also iron out the little things, that can inevitably only be seen when handling a physical version - even when the paper stock and bindings are not the actual finishes.

It was quite emotional for Elizabeth, to see this almost real version of the edition - she has been working on A2B since Robert's death in 2011, and had also discussed it with him before he died.

The boxes have now been ordered, and the team is making final additions and changes to the content - it is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle when working over so many different formats.

A2B has become a beautiful, rich collection - Elizabeth says much more so than Robert would ever have imagined.

With sincere thanks to all those who have supported the project over the last three and a half years, and also to those who have pre-ordered a copy of the edition in the last few weeks.

 

Part One:Coastal Collection, a limited edition print included in A2B

One of the items included in each of the 500 special edition A2B boxes is a delicate, blind-embossed, intaglio print - a fragment of the larger Coastal Collection print, which Robert made with Graal Press in 1998. Each of the new fragment prints is unique and is presented, within the A2B box, in an archival sleeve.

These are works in their own right, ready to be framed.

Robert had a long working relationship, and friendship, with master printmakers Carol Robertson and Robert Adam at Graal Press, who are very generously producing the special edition fragment prints for A2B at their print studio near Roslin, Midlothian.

Robert Adam makes some test prints from the plate of Robert Callender's Coastal Collection (1998), at Graal Press. Robert would like to stress that the plate had not been properly cleaned for printing!

Photographic shoots at Sea Loft, for A2B

Robert's archive contains a huge volume of photography and documentation, along with research materials from his long career - selections from which are being used withinA2B.

But in order to do justice to Robert's range of work - from large free-standing pieces of sculpture to delicate drawings on paper - new photography was needed.

Photographer Angus Bremner visited Sea Loft, Robert & Elizabeth's studio, at the end of 2014 and at the beginning of 2015, to shoot a large number of pieces - many of them in the surroundings in which they were created.

Find below a few pictures taken as work was prepared to be photographed.

With thanks to Rachel and Joseph for all their assistance.

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