A WIZARD’S WAGON OF WORDS, WISDOM AND WONDER

all rights reserved by the artist © 2015

all rights reserved by the artist © 2015

                              

The above image is of another piece, 
A WIZARD’S WAGON OF WORDS, WISDOM AND WONDER, which stands about 5.5" tall by 4" X 4.5" that was exhibited at Northwinds Arts Center during the duration of Coming Unbound: Book As Sculpture, in April 2013, with 11 artists: Renee Bush, Mary-Ellen Campbell, Linda Jarvis, Gloria Lamson, Counsel Langley, Carolyn Law, Shane Miller, Jean-Marie Tarascio, Rebecca Welti, Joan Wenske, and Helga Winter, which of course has come and gone now, sorry if you missed seeing it...it was a wonderful show (please refer to previous posts for more information and see a glimpse of the show via this video by Daneau Video Productions). 

Three pieces, including this piece above, A WIZARD’S WAGON OF WORDS, WISDOM AND WONDER and JOURNALS OF A WANDERING TRAVELER and REFUGE WITHIN, both featured in previous posts below, will be on exhibit through July at the grand opening of the newly and beautifully remodeled Jefferson County Library in Port Hadlock, WA which will take place June 3rd and a grand opening celebration will be held Sunday, June 9 from 2 - 5 pm.  The event will feature local performers Harmonica Pocket, the Chimacum High School Jazz Band, Jim Nyby and the Unexpected Brass Band, and Franco Bertucci and James Porter of Locust Street Taxi. 

Other pieces that will be on exhibit at the Jefferson County Library will be small works by a friend and fellow artist, Shane Miller, also shown at the Coming Unbound: Book As Sculpture at Northwinds Arts Center. See these works as well as others on her blog site, Uncommonworks. Come by to see our work, our new Library and join the fun of the grand opening!

Remember you can click on the photos for larger images. 

JOURNALS OF A WANDERING TRAVELER

This is one of four pieces I crafted for the book show, Coming Unbound: Book As Sculpture, at Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend. I titled it JOURNALS OF A WANDERING TRAVELER. The roof is made from a dear, small book I happened to have 2 of so I sacrificed one to put a roof on my small, wheeled, mobile shelter. I usually do not like to mutilate books as I feel they are a precious and important part of our culture, of our human experience, but adding this small book to this piece felt OK or maybe I am just rationalizing....
The small journals (below) that slide into the hollow cavity on the front of the shelter are 2 that I made especially for this piece.

The dimensions of this piece are approximately 8" X 4" X 4". Click on photos for larger image.
Thanks for checking in and be sure to come back to see another piece from this show I will be posting in the near future.

REMEMBER to click on the photos for a larger image.

JOURNALS OF A WANDERING TRAVELER

 

all rights reserved by the artist © 2015

 

This is another piece for the COMING UNBOUND: BOOK AS SCULPTURE show that is opening this Saturday, April 6th at Northwind Arts Center that I mentioned in my previous post.  I wish I had taken some photos of the small journals as I was creating them. It was a fun process and the first time I have built a book using signatures. It is quite a process and makes me respect books and bookmakers even more now.

This piece is one I call JOURNALS OF A WANDERING TRAVELER. It is approximately 7" tall and 4" X 4" when the journals aren't pulled out at all.

Remember you can click on the photo for a larger image.

And thank you for coming back to see what comes forth from my studio in the woods.

BOOKS AND BEYOND

all rights reserved by the artist © 2015

all rights reserved by the artist © 2015

After a long quiet time of few or no words or visuals, I am once again here to greet you from the birthing canal of the Spring Equinox...the signs of spring are everywhere and I feel like I am rebirthing from, not quite dormancy, but perhaps a slothish winter retreat. But with more sunny days, buds are being pushed open with emerging flowers, there's the uprising of underground sleeping plant life and, of course, the heart full twitters of returning birds seeking mates while flittering about collecting remnants for garnering their nests, I am happily embracing it all with open arms and senses. 

Of late I have been gestating ideas for a BOOK show which opens April 6th at the Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend. With the nearing D Day (Delivery Day) on April 2nd and I am diligently at work on numerous pieces simultaneously and recently completed this one above, REFUGE WITHIN. 

My relationship with books has been a vehicle of sorts in which I am taken away from my daily life providing a gateway to imagination within a world of words.  Bringing the idea of books into a sculptural concept, to tell a story without words, has stretched my creativity provoking a way to visualize books as a metaphor. In my first approach (below, REFUGE WITHIN) I found that fabricating a book to resemble a tree as a safe haven was profoundly symbolic to me. 

Books have a way of taking us places in our creative aspects very much like art does. This project, titled Coming Unbound: Book As Sculpture, presented me with some challenges by testing my inventiveness. My use of natural and found elements lent themselves well to create and express books in a sculptural art form which expanded my artistic sensibilities and has opened up my imagination much like opening a book.

The cover of the book was made using some bark covered plywood given to me by a multi-facted, fellow artist friend, Ron. I darkened the edges to blend witlh the color of the bark. The pages were assembled with old computer paper I cut to the desired size, then cutout the niche to house the nest I fashioned out of lichen. I made and painted a polymer clay egg to rest in the lichen. I then tea dyed the pages to give them an antiquated feel and look. And what is a tree without branches...so I set foot outside my studio door into our moist woods and gleaned some old, dead Salal branches, scraped off the bark and discovered a dark surface that continued the cohesiveness of overall color.

If you are in the Port Townsend area April 6th drop into the Northwind Arts Center for the opening 5:30 to 8pm. It will be hanging through April 29th.  Visit the Northwind Arts Center for more information.

REMEMBER to click on the photos for a larger image.