JFW in Central Booking Exhibition Nov. 7- Jan. 12
I’m one of the participating artists in Central Booking’s upcoming “The Medicine Show,” which opens with a reception on November 7, 6-8 pm at 21 Ludlow Street, New York, NY 10002. The exhibition runs through January 14, 2014, Thursday-Sunday, 12-6pm.
John Frederick Walker: Flayed Book (Red Man), 2011 / mixed media and collage on book covers, 9.5 x 15 x 1.25 inches
JFW discusses rhino horn trade on HuffPost live
I appeared on HuffPost Live’s “GreenBrief with Josh Zepps” program to discuss South Africa’s decision to seek permission from CITES to sell some of its rhino horn stockpile. The country hopes to undermine the black market in this product, valued for its presumed medicinal value in Asia, and also to raise funds to conserve this animal, now plagued by poaching. South Africa is home to 73 per cent of the world’s rhinos, including over 90% of white rhinos, which it brought back from near extinction last century.
Click here.
The rhino horn segment starts at 17:18 and runs to 26:08.
JFW exhibition at Hotchkiss Library of Sharon June 1 – July 31
Lost Codex, 2012, 15x23x2 inches, altered book / mixed media
JFW Center for Book Arts Interview
I was interviewed by Kate Burns for the Center for Book Arts’s blog as part of its Friday Insight series. The interview can be found here, along with images of recent work.
JFW ivory interview on Austrian Broadcasting Corporation
Elephant poaching has been much discussed recently in global media, and at the just-concluding CITES conference in Bangkok, for good reason — elephant killings are at an alarming high.
I was interviewed by Chris Cummins on Austrian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio station FM4, which has an English language news magazine program called “Reality Check.” The piece is “The Ivory Wars,” and I’m included in the 15 minute podcast (starting at 12:30 minutes into it), and also in the story that accompanied it. Click here for the podcast/story, which covers the crisis, and what might be done to address it.
JFW at Eastern Connecticut State University
I’ve just installed my exhibition “John Frederick Walker: The Altered Book,” at Eastern Connecticut State University’s J. Eugene Smith Library, and will be giving a lecture and studio workshop there on September 10th. The exhibition is on view through September 30th.
Artist & Author John Frederick Walker to Visit Eastern – September 10, 2012Locked Down Lepidopteran (2011). The insect order Lepidoptera includes butterflies and moths, whose mounted forms are often evoked in the artist’s work. Walker’s frequent use of bolts to lock down pages, rendering their contents inaccessible, references loss of information..Eastern Connecticut State UniversityJ. Eugene Smith Library83 Windham StreetWillimantic, CT 06226.
JFW in Center for Books Arts Exhibition July 6 – September 10
- Sudden Emergence of the Southern Hemisphere Mixed media over altered book 14.25″ x 22″ x 4.5″ 2006
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I’m one of the artists whose work (shown above) is included in “Multiple, Limited, Unique: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Center for Book Arts” in New York. The exhibition was organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director, Jen Larson, Collections Specialist, and the Collections Committee.
“For the past two years, the Center for Book Arts has been involved in a Collections Initiative, which involves the in-depth cataloguing and preservation of our extensive collection of artist books, prints, catalogues, and ephemera. This exhibition marks the culmination of the three-year Collections Initiative. The exhibition will offer an overview of the history and development of book arts in the 20th century, and examine the role of the institution in both nurturing and promoting innovative artists and preserving traditional artistic practices.”
A catalog with essays by Johanna Drucker, Erin Riley-Lopez, Amanda Stevenson and Tony White will be published in conjunction with the show, which is on view July 6 – September 10, 2011 at 28 West 27th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY and travels to Atlanta, Minneapolis, Houston, San Francisco and other venues.
JFW at Ober Gallery May 7-June 5
The Ober Gallery in Kent, Connecticut will exhibit my mixed-media “Bookworks” from May 7 to June 5, 2011. It’s my first solo exhibit in five years.
Elephant Folio, 2011. Mixed media
The works on exhibit all derive from actual books, or book fragments, radically altered. “In each case,” Kathryn Boughton wrote in her 2006 Litchfield County Times profile, “what remains becomes an armature for Mr. Walker’s drawing, a process that transforms these objects into original and evocative forms.”
JFW interviewed in The Seattle Times
Sandi Doughton, science reporter for The Seattle Times, has a story in the paper today, “Sale of elephant-tusk stockpiles may encourage poaching, experts worry.” I was interviewed for the piece, which appears one day in advance of the opening of the CITES meeting in Doha, Qatar, at which Tanzania and Zambia’s proposals to sell their ivory stockpiles will be hotly debated. Doughton writes, “Walker argues ivory sales in countries where elephant populations are healthy may be the best way to ensure the species’ survival. ‘You do not have to kill elephants to get their ivory,’ he said. ‘Elephants die … and they leave behind these gleaming tusks.'”
The story could not be more timely. Read the entire article here.
JFW interview on Safaritalk
Matthew Wilkinson, who runs the website Safaritalk from his base in Portugal, interviewed me at length on ivory issues (click here for the complete interview). The site has a number of forums and blogs where people who share a passion for African wildlife conservation can engage in discussions with people in the field and find out about worthwhile projects—and how to support them.
John Frederick Walker 
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