Jonathan Ward is an artist, designer and publisher whose work centres mainly around the bookform and the production of artists’books. He worked for the Dutch artists’book publisher Plaatsmaken for four years before returning to the UK and establishing his own design and publishing company, MakingSpace, which has been trading successfully since 1995. He has exhibited his work and curated group shows in Europe, Mexico and the USA including ‘Inside Cover’ which involved the commissioning of twenty new artists’books by twenty-six European artists and designers. His own work reflects his fascination with childhood memories, his quirky sense of humour and observations on the human condition. He enjoys using a variety of materials and substrates in the production of his publications, especially when they support and enhance the viewer’s tactile and visual reading of the work.
Previous and current posts
From 1997 - 2000 employed as Visiting Research Fellow for Artists’books by the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
Owner and manager of design and print publishing practice ‘MakingSpace’ on the Isle of Wight which has been trading since 1995.
Currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at the University of the West of England at Bristol.
Further Relevant Work Experience
Guest Speaker - IMPACT 12 - International Printmaking Conference, Bristol 2023
Co-ordinator - Five Finger Group Exhibition, Allianz Francaise, Bologna 2015/16
Leader - The Big Draw - Ryde, Isle of Wight, 2015
Winner of the 2012 Birgit Skiold Award for Excellence in Artists’books at LABF, Whitechapel Gallery, London 2012
External Examiner PhD, University of Brighton, 2009-12.
Co-curator - ‘Memento’, European Socrates funded multi-academy arts project - 2010/11
Co-curator - ‘Zeg het’, European Socrates funded multi-academy arts project - 2009
Guest Speaker - Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut, 2004
Guest Speaker – San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, USA, 2003
Guest Speaker – San Francisco Arts Institute, San Francisco, USA, 2003
Curator - Inside Cover, London Print Studio, Dean Clough Galleries and others.
Editor - Inside Cover Catalogue - ISBN 1 900999 13 7.
AHRB Small Grant Award for researching and writing - The Artists’book in Process, a critical analysis on the making of an artists’book - ISBN 0 9536076 3 1.
Guest Speaker - Designerschoice Conference, Dublin, 2001.
Guest Speaker - Impact International Printmaking Conference, RWA Bristol, 1999.
Designer and Binder of ’Art Works’ for Christie’s and Arts Dyslexia Trust, 1998.
Co-ordinator - MULTIPLE, Socrates Funded European Arts Educational Project, 1997/8.
Guest Speaker - Guild of Designer Bookbinders, London, 1997.
Selected Exhibitions
2023 Pages Reset - Brotherton Library, Leeds
2018 ‘Turkeys, Rockets and Superpigs - 30 years of JPP Christmas Cards’, Northern Print, Newcastle
2016 ‘Poetic Science’ - Allianz Francaise Building, Bologna
2015 ‘HOME’ - Sir Kenneth Green Library, All Saints Library MMU, Manchester
2014 ‘Shock & Awe’, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2014 Arte Libris, Barcelona
2014 Building Memories: The Art of Remembering, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2013 Press & Release’, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
2013 ‘Reading Spaces’, Arts Council Grant Funded exhibition, as part of Ryde Festival - Ryde Library
2012 LABF, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2012 Kaleid 2012, London.
2011 ‘Travelling Motionless’, Michael West Gallery, Quay Arts Centre, Newport, IOW.
2010 Little wonder... Kaleid Gallery, London.
2009 The Grand Plasto-Baader-Books, Kaleid Gallery, London.
2008 Off the Page - Greenhouse Gallery, St Peter Port, Guernsey.
2007-8 Boxing Clever - Touring Exhibition including the following venues:
Hewlett-Packard Labs, San Diego, USA. Pratt Institute, New York, USA.
Impact Conference, Berlin, Germany.
RWA, Bristol and Foyer Gallery, UWE, Bristol.
2005 Inside Cover - Special Collections Wing, FAU, Miami, USA.
2004 Inside Cover - PABA Gallery, New Haven, Connecticutt, USA.
2004 I, Book - van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, Holland.
2003 Inside Cover - Center for the Book, San Francisco, USA.
2003 Landscape Reflections - Michael West Gallery, Newport, IOW.
2002 Inside Cover - Centre LAC, Limoges, France.
2001 Inside Cover - Richard Hamilton Gallery, Oxford.
2001 ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ - Centre for Bookarts, New York.
2000 Artists’books for the Millennium - Billington Gallery, Montana, USA.
2000 Inside Cover - LPS Gallery, London and Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax.
2000 Secrets - Meijer van Eisinga Gallery, den Haag, Holland.
1999 Biennale 1999 - Centre des Livres d’Artistes, Limousin, France.
1999 Books by Artists - UWE Bristol.
1999 Books As Art - Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery, Cheltenham.
1998 24/24 - Bristol City Museum, Bristol.
1997 24/24 - Cabanas Institute, Guadalahara, Mexico.
1997 Kunst RAI 97 - Amsterdam, Holland.
1997 10 Years of Mini-Prints, Bankside Gallery - London.
1996 Bound to Happen - Hardware Gallery, London.
1996 Cover to Cover - London Print Workshop, London.
1996 Zelfportret - Bureau Zeegezicht, Arnhem, Holland.
1996 Art 96 - Business Design Centre, London.
1996 Artists’Books at the Tate - Tate Gallery, London.
1995 Besmetten, Hollandsche Spoorweg - Nijmegen, Holland.
1995 Reizen per Kunstenaar - Goes, Zeeland, Holland.
Work in Collections
Museum of Modern Art Library, New York.
New York Public Library, New York.
Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut.
Louisiana State University Library.
Brooklyn Museum, New York.
Joan Flasch Collection, Chicago, Illinois.
Centre for British Art, Yale, Connecticut.
Tate Britain, London.
Victoria & Albert Museum, NAL Special Collections, London.
All Saints Library, Manchester.
Chelsea College of Art & Design, Learning Resources Collection, London.
Museum van het Boek, den Haag, The Netherlands.
van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
Gelderse Bibliotheek van Kunstenaarsboeken, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Private collections in The USA, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and UK.
Articles and Publications
Pages Reset - Wild Pansy Press 2023 ISBN 978-1-900687-87-4, pgs 20-25 and pg 59
Collections - 'Turkeys, Rockets and Superpigs' - Printmaking Today - Vol.27 No.4 Winter 2018
Varoom Lab - Labnotes: Illustrating “Home”, http://www.varoom-mag.com/?p=4091
Little wonder... Kaledieditions 2010 ISBN 978 0 9564204 1 1.
Spoonfed Review 04/01/2010 - http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/spooners/tom-699/jonathan-ward-little-wonder-at-kaleid-editions-2125/
Shelf Life - Grafik 180, December 2009 issue, pgs 54-55.
Taking Stock - Brill Books 2009 ISBN 978 1 906274 09 2
Brass Speaking Tubes - What if...? Island Esplanades 2006 ISBN 1 900999 23 4 pgs 1-2 & 49-50.
Inside Cover at SFCB - Ampersand Magazine, Spring Issue 2003 pgs 2-39.
Inside Cover - cmykrgb, ISBN 0 9541286 0 5, pgs. 221-239.
Landscape Narrative Scrolls - Landscape Reflections Catalogue ISBN 1 900999 17 X pg. 15.
Doing it by the Book - Art Review, Prints 2000 Supplement, pgs. 20-21.
Inside Cover - Graphics International, Issue 80, pgs.14-16.
The Artists’book in Process, a critical analysis on the making of an artists’book - pub. Impact Press ISBN 0 9536076 3 1
This is not a book - EYE Magazine Spring Issue, Vol.7 No.27, pgs.48-55.
Visiting Lecturing/Speaking 1993 - 2017
Leeds Metropolitan University
Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Art & Design
London Guildhall University
Leeds College of Art & Design
Loughborough College of Art & Design
Oxford Brookes University
Manchester Metropolitan University
University of Westminster
UArts, Philadelphia, USA
Art Institute, San Francisco, USA.
Mills College, Berkley, California, USA
Connecticut College, New London, Ct. USA
AKI Akademie voor de Beeldende Kunst, Enschede, Holland
Academie des Arts Decoratifs, Strasbourg, France .
Reading University
North Staffordshire University
University of Kingston
UWE Bristol, Centre for Fine Print Research
The London Institute: Camberwell College of Arts
University of Portsmouth,
University of Leeds
University of Brighton
Recent Isle of Wight Projects
2010/11 Project Leader/Designer of ‘Parade’ publication for NatWest Island Games Opening Ceremony Parade
2007-8 Creative Partnerships Scheme/Isle of Wight Extended Schools Programme
Course Leader and Design Co-ordinator for National Publication for Extended Schools Practice
2006 Arts Council of Great Britain/Learning & Skills Council Course Leader for
Adult Learning and Design Coordinator for ‘Carnival Island’ publication
Previous and current posts
From 1997 - 2000 employed as Visiting Research Fellow for Artists’books by the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
Owner and manager of design and print publishing practice ‘MakingSpace’ on the Isle of Wight which has been trading since 1995.
Currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in Illustration at the University of the West of England at Bristol.
Further Relevant Work Experience
Guest Speaker - IMPACT 12 - International Printmaking Conference, Bristol 2023
Co-ordinator - Five Finger Group Exhibition, Allianz Francaise, Bologna 2015/16
Leader - The Big Draw - Ryde, Isle of Wight, 2015
Winner of the 2012 Birgit Skiold Award for Excellence in Artists’books at LABF, Whitechapel Gallery, London 2012
External Examiner PhD, University of Brighton, 2009-12.
Co-curator - ‘Memento’, European Socrates funded multi-academy arts project - 2010/11
Co-curator - ‘Zeg het’, European Socrates funded multi-academy arts project - 2009
Guest Speaker - Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut, 2004
Guest Speaker – San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, USA, 2003
Guest Speaker – San Francisco Arts Institute, San Francisco, USA, 2003
Curator - Inside Cover, London Print Studio, Dean Clough Galleries and others.
Editor - Inside Cover Catalogue - ISBN 1 900999 13 7.
AHRB Small Grant Award for researching and writing - The Artists’book in Process, a critical analysis on the making of an artists’book - ISBN 0 9536076 3 1.
Guest Speaker - Designerschoice Conference, Dublin, 2001.
Guest Speaker - Impact International Printmaking Conference, RWA Bristol, 1999.
Designer and Binder of ’Art Works’ for Christie’s and Arts Dyslexia Trust, 1998.
Co-ordinator - MULTIPLE, Socrates Funded European Arts Educational Project, 1997/8.
Guest Speaker - Guild of Designer Bookbinders, London, 1997.
Selected Exhibitions
2023 Pages Reset - Brotherton Library, Leeds
2018 ‘Turkeys, Rockets and Superpigs - 30 years of JPP Christmas Cards’, Northern Print, Newcastle
2016 ‘Poetic Science’ - Allianz Francaise Building, Bologna
2015 ‘HOME’ - Sir Kenneth Green Library, All Saints Library MMU, Manchester
2014 ‘Shock & Awe’, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2014 Arte Libris, Barcelona
2014 Building Memories: The Art of Remembering, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2013 Press & Release’, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
2013 ‘Reading Spaces’, Arts Council Grant Funded exhibition, as part of Ryde Festival - Ryde Library
2012 LABF, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2012 Kaleid 2012, London.
2011 ‘Travelling Motionless’, Michael West Gallery, Quay Arts Centre, Newport, IOW.
2010 Little wonder... Kaleid Gallery, London.
2009 The Grand Plasto-Baader-Books, Kaleid Gallery, London.
2008 Off the Page - Greenhouse Gallery, St Peter Port, Guernsey.
2007-8 Boxing Clever - Touring Exhibition including the following venues:
Hewlett-Packard Labs, San Diego, USA. Pratt Institute, New York, USA.
Impact Conference, Berlin, Germany.
RWA, Bristol and Foyer Gallery, UWE, Bristol.
2005 Inside Cover - Special Collections Wing, FAU, Miami, USA.
2004 Inside Cover - PABA Gallery, New Haven, Connecticutt, USA.
2004 I, Book - van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, Holland.
2003 Inside Cover - Center for the Book, San Francisco, USA.
2003 Landscape Reflections - Michael West Gallery, Newport, IOW.
2002 Inside Cover - Centre LAC, Limoges, France.
2001 Inside Cover - Richard Hamilton Gallery, Oxford.
2001 ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ - Centre for Bookarts, New York.
2000 Artists’books for the Millennium - Billington Gallery, Montana, USA.
2000 Inside Cover - LPS Gallery, London and Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax.
2000 Secrets - Meijer van Eisinga Gallery, den Haag, Holland.
1999 Biennale 1999 - Centre des Livres d’Artistes, Limousin, France.
1999 Books by Artists - UWE Bristol.
1999 Books As Art - Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery, Cheltenham.
1998 24/24 - Bristol City Museum, Bristol.
1997 24/24 - Cabanas Institute, Guadalahara, Mexico.
1997 Kunst RAI 97 - Amsterdam, Holland.
1997 10 Years of Mini-Prints, Bankside Gallery - London.
1996 Bound to Happen - Hardware Gallery, London.
1996 Cover to Cover - London Print Workshop, London.
1996 Zelfportret - Bureau Zeegezicht, Arnhem, Holland.
1996 Art 96 - Business Design Centre, London.
1996 Artists’Books at the Tate - Tate Gallery, London.
1995 Besmetten, Hollandsche Spoorweg - Nijmegen, Holland.
1995 Reizen per Kunstenaar - Goes, Zeeland, Holland.
Work in Collections
Museum of Modern Art Library, New York.
New York Public Library, New York.
Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut.
Louisiana State University Library.
Brooklyn Museum, New York.
Joan Flasch Collection, Chicago, Illinois.
Centre for British Art, Yale, Connecticut.
Tate Britain, London.
Victoria & Albert Museum, NAL Special Collections, London.
All Saints Library, Manchester.
Chelsea College of Art & Design, Learning Resources Collection, London.
Museum van het Boek, den Haag, The Netherlands.
van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
Gelderse Bibliotheek van Kunstenaarsboeken, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Private collections in The USA, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and UK.
Articles and Publications
Pages Reset - Wild Pansy Press 2023 ISBN 978-1-900687-87-4, pgs 20-25 and pg 59
Collections - 'Turkeys, Rockets and Superpigs' - Printmaking Today - Vol.27 No.4 Winter 2018
Varoom Lab - Labnotes: Illustrating “Home”, http://www.varoom-mag.com/?p=4091
Little wonder... Kaledieditions 2010 ISBN 978 0 9564204 1 1.
Spoonfed Review 04/01/2010 - http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/spooners/tom-699/jonathan-ward-little-wonder-at-kaleid-editions-2125/
Shelf Life - Grafik 180, December 2009 issue, pgs 54-55.
Taking Stock - Brill Books 2009 ISBN 978 1 906274 09 2
Brass Speaking Tubes - What if...? Island Esplanades 2006 ISBN 1 900999 23 4 pgs 1-2 & 49-50.
Inside Cover at SFCB - Ampersand Magazine, Spring Issue 2003 pgs 2-39.
Inside Cover - cmykrgb, ISBN 0 9541286 0 5, pgs. 221-239.
Landscape Narrative Scrolls - Landscape Reflections Catalogue ISBN 1 900999 17 X pg. 15.
Doing it by the Book - Art Review, Prints 2000 Supplement, pgs. 20-21.
Inside Cover - Graphics International, Issue 80, pgs.14-16.
The Artists’book in Process, a critical analysis on the making of an artists’book - pub. Impact Press ISBN 0 9536076 3 1
This is not a book - EYE Magazine Spring Issue, Vol.7 No.27, pgs.48-55.
Visiting Lecturing/Speaking 1993 - 2017
Leeds Metropolitan University
Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Art & Design
London Guildhall University
Leeds College of Art & Design
Loughborough College of Art & Design
Oxford Brookes University
Manchester Metropolitan University
University of Westminster
UArts, Philadelphia, USA
Art Institute, San Francisco, USA.
Mills College, Berkley, California, USA
Connecticut College, New London, Ct. USA
AKI Akademie voor de Beeldende Kunst, Enschede, Holland
Academie des Arts Decoratifs, Strasbourg, France .
Reading University
North Staffordshire University
University of Kingston
UWE Bristol, Centre for Fine Print Research
The London Institute: Camberwell College of Arts
University of Portsmouth,
University of Leeds
University of Brighton
Recent Isle of Wight Projects
2010/11 Project Leader/Designer of ‘Parade’ publication for NatWest Island Games Opening Ceremony Parade
2007-8 Creative Partnerships Scheme/Isle of Wight Extended Schools Programme
Course Leader and Design Co-ordinator for National Publication for Extended Schools Practice
2006 Arts Council of Great Britain/Learning & Skills Council Course Leader for
Adult Learning and Design Coordinator for ‘Carnival Island’ publication