Painted Pages: Reading Color I
Denim, acrylic paint, hemp cord, board.
Multiple signature binding, each signature composed of a single bifolium.
Cover imagery created by students unloading their paint brushes on to the denim surface, at the end of a class where they painted their own canvas book covers. The resulting painting was ‘captured”, adhered to boards, and used as the collaborative cover of this book.
And a river ran through it. The End.
For now…
Walking with Sculpture 3
A walk through the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park on a moody late November afternoon…
What Sights / Sights
“The land along McCormick Blvd. and the north channel of the Chicago River that runs though the Village of Skokie is owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. This land had been sorely neglected for a number of years, and by the mid-80’s had become a community eyesore. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District developed guidelines and wanted suggestions for its improvement. The Village of Skokie came forward with plans to turn the area into a recreational park with biking and jogging paths and picnic areas. At the same time, a group of private citizens proposed using the park to display large scale contemporary sculptures.” — http://sculpturepark.org/park-history/
Sighting / Siting.
Just landed…
or, ready to take off?
Hello.
Hello to you too.
Relationships and contemplation.
It’s all about relating…
Walking with Sculpture 2
A walk through the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park on a moody late November afternoon…
“The land along McCormick Blvd. and the north channel of the Chicago River that runs though the Village of Skokie is owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. This land had been sorely neglected for a number of years, and by the mid-80’s had become a community eyesore. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District developed guidelines and wanted suggestions for its improvement. The Village of Skokie came forward with plans to turn the area into a recreational park with biking and jogging paths and picnic areas. At the same time, a group of private citizens proposed using the park to display large-scale contemporary sculptures.” — http://sculpturepark.org/park-history/
Giving new meaning to the phrase…“Walking with Sculpture”…with, through, among and around.
Walking with Sculpture 1
A walk through the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park on a moody late November afternoon…
“The land along McCormick Blvd. and the north channel of the Chicago River that runs though the Village of Skokie is owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. This land had been sorely neglected for a number of years, and by the mid-80’s had become a community eyesore. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District developed guidelines and wanted suggestions for its improvement. The Village of Skokie came forward with plans to turn the area into a recreational park with biking and jogging paths and picnic areas. At the same time, a group of private citizens proposed using the park to display large scale contemporary sculptures.” — http://sculpturepark.org/park-history/
The sculptures augment, and are augmented by, nature’s moody moments.
Pushing the Envelope
Using the form of the envelope to create an artist’s book can be evocative, provocative, crafty, conceptual, fun, somber, expressive, “artistic”, creative, engaging, and baffling. As with many artists’ books, the question can be raised, “What are these for? What is their purpose? Are they meant to be read, observed and perused, handled, shown behind glass?” And in the case of the envelope book “…sent through the mail?”
I don’t presume to answer these questions, and can imagine another post which delves more deeply into them. In this one, my intent is to share a few of my own envelop books, the materials used in them, some of the motivation, thinking and feeling behind them, and let the observer draw their own conclusions, and perhaps becoming inpsired to explore, and even create one of their own.
Note: in this post, we see books created in the form of an envelope…as opposed to books created from existing envelopes, which is a whole other story. Also, hemp cord was used to bind the sewn books, and acid-free UHU glue sticks were used as the adhesive for anything glued on all the books depicted.
Cutting, Folding, Stamping, Sewing…
In this book, the basic form is cut and folded, and a single signature is sewn into the last fold with a pamphlet stitch. A single rubber stamp image stamped in varying ways is used to develop and adorn the piece, and delicate handmade paper containing plant material adds a finishing touch to the pages.
Lone Stories Connect…Discover “I Think I Can”…It’s Everything
In the piece above, the basic structure is cut and folded from a sketchbook cover, and the pages created by a concertina/accordion folded paper strip glued into its next to last section.. The collaged elements, ranging from printed material cut from magazines, personal writing, repurposed corrugated paper, ribbon scrap and copied illustration images, tell a story of pain and isolation with the potential of redemption through connection and story.
Painfully Animal
This mini book opens on four sides, with pages sewn in a single signature into one fold. Soft handmade paper is used both for adornment and pages, attached with a running stitch which is threaded back into the sewing holes so that the two ends can be tied together. The single message greets the viewer right in the center. What does it mean? Well, ponder it for awhile, and notice your associations with the phrase, “Painfully Animal”. What does the term evoke for You?
Mixed Media Envelope Book: Work in Progress
This mixed media message piece has been underway, along with a number of bookish siblings, for over two years. It’s structure is cut and folded, like the first envelope book depicted in this post, and it’s graph paper pages stacked into a single signature, and sewn into the end fold with a running stitch as described above. The painstaking, step-by-step process of developing the book’s content requires time and focused attention.
Every bit of image and text must feel ‘right’ in how it looks, what it evokes and where it is placed in the book. The ‘story’ that emerges, however non-linear, is discovered in the doing as much by the artist, as it may be later by the observer. Time itself is one of the most significant materials used, as such a piece can’t be rushed.
In these works, many aspects of the creative process come into play: patience and impulse, technique and tension, methods and materials, effort and evocation.
The medium of the envelope book may be on a mission to become a missive to the outside world from the maker’s heart and soul, hands and head. If it gets a little heady, or crafty in-between, well, that might be just another aspect of this long strange trip we’re on.
E-Lumen-8: Part 2 Take 1
I recently participated in a holiday gift show, and created a collection of my “Artissima Lumens” (painted light switch covers) to show and sell.
In that spirit, I decided to document the process, and also create a sort of show and tell.
In posting, I decided to move “backwards” in time…starting with the finished creations, and then showing how they were made, start to finish, er, finish to start.
Star Burst
Both the fascination and the frustration, ah-challenge, of painting on such a small canvas is, just that. Light switch plates are such a small canvas, especially the “rocker” style light switch plate.
No, we are not talking Mick Jagger here…we are talking the type of frame-like light switch plate that has a rectangular opening designed to surround a rocker style light switch. The “canvas” area exists in just that small frame.
Ivy Trail
So why do it?
Why take on such a potentially frustratingly limited space for creativity?
I See the Moon
Well…the challenge and allure of creating a miniature, for one thing. It is fascinating to see what can be done on a limited surface space…with the limitations imposed both by the form and the function of the object.
How does one “use’ the opening as part of the composition? Knowing, of course, that the light switch itself will change position continually as it is used for what it is designed to be used for: let there be light!
E-Lumen-8 your Life!
Do the “Lumens” then become tiny pieces of performance art? “E-Lumen-8-ed’ not only by the burst of light when the switch is flicked, but also by the intentional movement of the client/owner/user when they reach out, and press, push, flick or rock that light switch?
Does the user become an unwitting collaborator in the “performance’ when they complete the action necessary to get use from an essentially utilitarian object?
An object that is surrounded by the embellished work that remains stationary, and yet is enlivened by the action it surrounds, like a miniature theater?
Does the user then become the performer?
Does the “Artissima Lumen” function merely as a frame for the utilitarian light switch, or does it employ the switch itself as a moving part of the whole? Does it employ the user as performer by engaging him or her to complete a necessary action?
Lotza Lumens
Such questions of form and function, concept and adornment, use and decor, object and action, creator and performer…may underlie some of our very motivation to create.
They won’t be answered in or by this post…but they are fascinating to contemplate!
Artissima - Blog of ArtiFactory Studio 