Artist books are works of art in book form. I find it a distinctly satisfying challenge to develop a creative idea in book form. The physical structure of a book invites viewers to experience the content in an unusually interactive way. Each book is made with a range of processes and media chosen specifically to express aspects of the content. These may include drawing, printmaking and painting skills, collage and more. Of course, the book itself may challenge the traditional expectation of what a book might be.
Some are editioned and a few are unique.
For more images please click the image or title of the book.
SEA AND THE UNSEEN
2017-21; edition of 16
Sea and the Unseen is a simple accordion structure made from a double-sided print with windows cut into each panel. The trash side is a screen print from a collograph of trash. The marine life is a reduction cut printed on a Vandercook letterpress. Both prints are layered over poured acrylic. The cover is also printed from the linoleum block with nearly invisible ink on handmade paper. The porthole has a small window of mica. The few words merely list a sampling of common plastics that have gathered as everlasting trash in the earth’s bodies of water. The viewer is encouraged to try to “see” through the layers, open and close the windows to overwhelm the marine life with increasingly larger amounts of trash.
OF WATER IN THE WOODS
2017
Of Water in the Woods is a unique book made for the 2017 BookOpolis exhibition themed Dream A Book. I have had a recurring dream which shifts several times from a raging, flooding grove in the woods where I walked with a friend to another segment where I was swimming in a clear stream alongside an alligator. My companions and I are not afraid throughout this dream. The book is painted panels with a couple of loose, lacy pages alluding to the dream state. Its covers have a bit of hand cut trees for some see through areas and fold to enclose the inside panels like a box.
Acrylic on Arches Cover, milk paint on book board – sanded and waxed, lace paper + some mystery papers
THE DIABOLICAL EVOLUTION OF THE CHICKEN
2014; edition of 23
The Chicken feeds us – and, in soup form, even feeds our soul. But what have we done to the chicken? The human habit of manipulating our own food sources traces back over eons and across cultures.
Quite moveable, this book squawks, scratches, and falls within the confines of a fence-like accordion structure with hexagon pages set on wooden dowels. The text is letterpress printed as a loose timeline reproduced from my handwriting. Based in fact, the text selectively skims thousands of years of chicken history, closing with the final days of the tragically short life of a modern hybridized meat bird. Centered on the timeline is a popup of one of these compromised creatures. On a lighter note – printed along the reverse, are many common sayings inspired by chickens.
Inspired by a statement about modern hybrid chickens being bred to live a mere 5-7 weeks I found great references for the timeline in a Smithsonian magazine article. Other online sources provided the sayings.
letterpress, linoleum block relief, dry point, acrylic, silver painted accents, pochoir, wooden dowels; Stonehenge, Lokta
BROKEN CODE
2013; variable edition of 20
Broken Code focuses on the beauty of nature and how genetic modification cuts up the DNA of natural beings. Using the flag or flutter book structure to reconstruct the cut up pages of a print of a summery garden the book also lists scientific reports of chemical use which is interconnected to the GMO plants in heavy rotation in farms around the world. This text is also cut up. The entire book displays everything in a somewhat disturbed and fractured form. The book is about 4 x 4″ closed expanding to about 15″. edition is sold out.
The book is made from a 6-color linoleum block print, flags utilize painted paper and digitally printed text on Nideggan. Covers are bookboard with distressed milk paint.
The print, issued as Noisy Garden, is still available.
LOOKIT MOTHER NATURE ON THE RUN
2012
The book comprises a series of connected panels with lush, colorful painting on one side and a montage of black and white drawing, painting and collaged bits on the other. Get lost in the gorgeous lush life nature offers up especially in the warm months when the garden is loud and wild. Flip the panels to the other side which is purposefully devoid of color and life, depicting a mash up of references to broken DNA, confused people, GMO plants exhibiting their genetic modifications in sur-reality. The panels are connected with hinges and the front panel has a mica window with a few corn kernels. As an opened piece it must hang to reveal both sides. This book preceded the creation of Broken Code.
Bookboard, milk paint, wax, acrylic paint, screenprints, inks, stamps, transfers, tyvek, chopsticks, mica, corn, nails.
FAUBOURG NAN MAIN BON DIEU
2012; edition of 8
collaboration with Gwen Diehn
Faubourg nan Main Bon Dieu references the Bayou St John neighborhood of New Orleans. There was a time when, unbeknownst to each other, the artists were both living in this area. Experiencing it in entirely different ways due to age, lifestyle and geographic heritage they met decades later to find inspiration in this common ground.
The covers are bookboard painted with milk paint, distressed and waxed. The book pages are woodcut prints on handmade willow paper, hand-colored and bound in a circular accordion fold that pulls out to stand alone. Closed, the folded accordion is set inside a gate fold which is secured with bone.
Wandering and walking – the exterior: New Orleans’ Bayou St John and the adjacent higher ground of Esplanade Ridge have been well-travelled paths for commerce and leisure throughout history. Indians once used the bayou for travel and later, local slaves took their forbidden voudou rituals out to the bayou and the surrounding woods. As Europeans populated the city, churches and schools took root in the neighborhood and the rituals and icons of modern culture took their place along these paths.
Lighting a candle – the interior: The prominence of Catholicism affects everyday life in New Orleans for all residents. Voudou rituals while less visible remain influential with roots tracing back to early Africans brought in as slaves. Naturally these early groups overlapped and their revered saints and spirits as well as ceremonies honoring life’s events reflect this shared space. The unique geographic history and cultural integration are to this day a part of the culture of New Orleans and influence many holidays and celebrations.
PARALLAX
2010; edition of two
collaboration with Gwen Diehn
Digital prints of map art cut into strips for double-sided accordion fold; map of neighborhood with turkish fold inside; mounted on bookboard
The images portray each artists paths and wanderings through the neighborhood they lived in the 1970s. One of the oldest populated parts of the New Orleans area it has many features including St. Louis Cemetery #1, the Fairgrounds Racetrack, Bayou St John, City Park and the New Orleans Museum of Art.
AMERICAN BISON
2010: edition of 25
This is a simple book about the freedom of American Bison in Yellowstone National Park located in Wyoming and Montana USA. I developed this book to sell in support of the Buffalo Field Campaign in West Yellowstone, MT, USA. Chronologically set, the book features quotes from different people about the loss of bison. The artwork also references the decline of bison population over two centuries of human expansion across the American West. Original drawings are reproduced using linocuts and scratch negatives as well as photopolymer plates for printing on press. The type is handset. The binding is a double pamphlet with a Lokta paper cover.