PROJECTS
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Thinking Through Making: Problem finding (in-progress)
Lee Shearman Lecturer in Illustration Jac Batey Associate Professor in Illustration This exhibition brought together elements of the collaborative practices of Jac Batey and Lee Shearman exploring how drawing, printing, binding, and display can operate as intertwined methods of research. Through experimental book structures, bespoke templates, and documented making processes, the project investigates how artists’ books function as dynamic, performative forms of illustration. Read More
At the centre of the work is an inquiry into materiality, constraint, and narrative: How does a book’s structure – its folds, bindings, layers and mechanisms – shape the ideas it carries? What new possibilities surface when illustrators adopt or rework book-arts methods? And how might restriction through spatial limitation foster rather than limit creative exploration?
The exhibition also examines the role of display and documentation in expanding the experience of book works. Video documentation reveals the construction of artists’ books TapestryTapestry and Piano LessonsPiano Lessons, highlighting the processes, decisions, and craft behind the work. Physical models, sketchbooks, prototypes, and devices of display demonstrate how book structures can be reimagined as spatial, tactile, and temporal illustrations. This work proposes a view of illustration as an embodied, material, and pedagogical practice, where making becomes a way of uncovering questions, generating insight, and testing ideas through action. Batey and Shearman’s collaborative bookwork Morass is a response to Charles Dickens’s quotes about avarice. The work imagines the language of greed beginning in the Bank of England, before moving down through a fictional underground railway and then downwards still further into a version of Hell. 
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TAPESTRY (гобелен)
Miniature Concertina-folded artists' book Lee Shearman 35 x 45mm limited edition artists book. Consisting of 13 foot long hole-punched paper strip, accordion-folded into a 120-page book, and wrapped in a printed paper band. When the pages are removed from the covers they can be wound through a 15-note mechanical music box, sounding notes. Handstamped and numbered, Hastings (2020) First exhibited in Love and Music M.E. Slatykov Schedrin Museum Kirov, Russia (2020) Read More
Making of 'Tapestry' гобелен (5 mins) For my artists' book I wanted to explore the The Bayeux Tapestry - and experiment with how specific elements of it could inform the content. I began by sketching out ideas and using a scale colour reproduction of The Bayeux Tapestry as reference listed all the visual elements that appear -such as human figures, animals, trees, buildings and ships. The original Bayeux Tapestry is a 70 metre long embroidery made during the 11th Century, and it depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, and The Battle of Hastings. It is complex and layered and I was interested in isolating specific areas, to experiment using simple shapes to abstract the visual elements of the tapestry. Using tracing paper over the printed reproduction I marked every instance on the tapestry where there was a human figure. In total there are 626 human figures scattered across three horizontal zones of the tapestry, and I thought the spacing and position of the heads would translate well into sound and rhythm, offering a wide range of musical notes. To transform the visuals into sound, I decided to create an bookwork that could be played through a 15 note mechanical music box, which also meant that I could use my favoured book-making format — the miniature concertina. To begin, I scanned in the 1/7th scale colour reproduction of The Bayeux Tapestry, and using Adobe Indesign resized it to fit across a template consisting of four A4 sheets. I marked out with dots the exact position of all 626 heads. It was these dots that once punched out as holes would sound as musical notes when wound through the mechanical music box. I printed the template onto 4 A4 sheets of 180gsm card choosing cantaloupe-coloured card in reference to another type of punch card- the ones used in the Jacquard Loom machine. After scoring the lap joint, I cropped down each of the A4 sheets and folded each section into eight. I then cut these into individual strips. Using a metal punch tool I perforated three-mm holes into the 15 strips of paper.Once all 626 holes were punched, I glued the strips together to form a single 13.3 foot strip. It was this hole-punched strip that became a musical score. As the paper strip is fed into the music box and passes between the cylinder and comb the holes sound the notes. You can hear a recording of these musical notes in the background of this film. To make the book covers, I cut a strip backcloth, and marked out spaces for the book board. I glued each piece of book-board to the cloth and cut them out. I then cut off the corners, glued and turning in the edges to form the finished book cover. After gluing a book cover to each end of the 120-page concertina, I wrapped the finished book in a printed band. |
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MOVING TO MARS SERIES
Arrive, Survive & Thrive A series of three handmade miniature books created for the Design Museum's shop to coincide with the Moving to Mars exhibition - an immersive experience exploring the Martian landscape and rethinking the design of daily life. Featuring new illustration by artist Lee Shearman and poetry by Pip Rowson, each of the three books - Arrive & Explore, Survive & Expand and Thrive & Exploit - focuses on a different stage of a potential relocation to the red planet. Each book is giclee printed on 180 gsm Xativa paper with rayon and card hardbound covers. Dimensions: 35mm x 50mm x 14mm (closed) 35 x 50 x 1088mm (unfurled). Printed by the amazing Martel Colour Print in St. Leonards-on-Sea. |
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ENGINEERIUM POP-UP BOOK
A miniature sculptural pop-up book collage made out of illustrations selected from a 1960's edition of Young People's Science Encyclopedia. |
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POP UP DIORAMA II by LEE SHEARMAN
A pop-up diorama collage book made out of illustrations selected from a 1960's edition of Young People's Science Encyclopedia. |
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POP UP DIORAMA III by LEE SHEARMAN
A dual window landscape diorama pop-up book made out of illustrations selected from a 1960's edition of Young People's Science Encyclopedia. |
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HIS SON ELROY '4 x 4' CD SET
Back in 2003 Borbonesa & Hollow Haircut Records released His Son Elroy's album '4 x 4'. This year Micro Library Books is reissuing the complete album of four discs in a new limited edition package. |
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POP UP DIORAMA I by LEE SHEARMAN
A pop-up diorama collage made out of illustrations selected from a 1960's edition of Young People's Science Encyclopedia. |
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MICRO LIBRARY POP-UP DIORAMA
A handmade diorama bookwork that incorporate movable pop-up, collaged and hand printed elements. |
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