Books in 2009

Happy Birthday Devanshi - Poetry, drawings, papercuts, etc

Dimensions:    6.75" L, 5.5" W, .5" D

Materials:    Cardstock and Bristol paper for structure, other paper, thread, printed materials for text

Structure:    Accordion pleat spine stab-sewn book

Edition of 1

Process: A book for my niece Devanshi's 13th birthday.  I wanted to use a new structure from Donna and Peter Thomas's book 'Making Books by hand' to say to her all my feelings and wishes on this important day.  The colors are bright and varied. I was trying to use many of the art styles she and I have explored together - painting, drawing with ink, popups, papercuts, and of course book-making.

A Summer of Color - Poetry and papercuts

Dimensions:    6" L, 5.25" W, .6" D

Materials:    Stonehenge paper for structure, Handmade lokta paper for paper-cuts

Structure:    Circle Accordion with soft cover

Edition of 1

Process: The poem came first.  Thinking about last summer’s crop of wildflowers and the finches that hung around all season long made me appreciate how two species can connect with each other so simply.  The wonderful colors of handmade paper were a natural choice to give the poem a visual dimension.

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Election 2008

Dimensions:    7.5" L, 5.5" W, .5" D

Materials:    Stonehenge paper for structure, Election 2008 paraphernalia - ballot, magazine articles, Barack Obama's speech on Race , etc.

Structure:    Accordion with hard cover

Edition of 1

Process: What a day 3rd Novemeber 2009 was! A historic election.  My first presidential election in the United States with a candidate I actually believed in.  Wow! I collected various paraphrenelia and printed out Obama's Race speech with for me was the critical one during the whole campaign.  The simple accordion style allowed me to see everything at once and to give a glimpse of one person's hope during this time.

On the Road Again - Altered Granta magazine of the same name

Dimensions:   

Materials:    Granta magazine of the same name, paper for collage, thread to glue pages together.

Structure:   Magazine structure (I think this is called Perfect binding?)

Edition of 1

Process:  This project started as a Granta volume comprised of a variety of travel stories.  The title and the first collage led me to my characters and the book is now on its way to being something else.  I did this as a demonstration for 'altered' book but it assumed a life of its own with characters, travel, and philosophy.

Chapter 1 - Sweater

Once upon a time, Tara began knitting her seventeenth sweater.  Bhima (the bird) watched her go click-click with the various needles and pins.  In and out, up and down - on and on she went - matching colors, wrapping the knitting, adding beads and buttons, and finally the sleeves.

 Tara:     Wow! I cannot believe it!  I am done! Only this is not a sweater anymore.  More like a colorful creation – don’t you think Bhima?

Bhima:   I am done I am done I am done

Tara:      Well – August should be happy about this – he hates my mess – these bits of wool lying around his pristine house.  And he hates me asking people for their scraps, you know what I mean?

Bhima:   August August August Gust Gust

Tara:      Do you like it ?

(August enters through the door.)

August:  Is that for you or for me?

Tara:      August! Darling! Maybe we can share it? It’s big enough – ha ha ha

Bhima:   Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

The next day.  August leaves early to do his postal rounds in a far off neighborhood.  Tara is trying on her “creation”, admiring herself in the large bedroom mirror – turning around, raising her arms, stretching this way and that, bending over.

Bhima:  Tara Tara Tara Tara

Tara:    Bhima!  Hey – I am going to run away today!  Did I tell you that?  Leave this cold cold place.

Bhima:  WHAT?

Tara:    Yup – you heard me. 

Bhima:  And leave me here?  With August?  I have grown to depend on you in the last six months.

Tara:  Bhimaaaaaaaaaa  – please!  You know I’m going to miss you, don’t you?  Even more than I’ll miss August.

Bhima:  Take me with you! Tara, my star, look, look – all you have to do is let me out of this pretty cage. 

Tara:    Bhima!! Really!!

Bhima:  Come on.  You won’t regret it.  And no need to pack a suitcase of food for me.  All the feeding this winter has made me fat and lazy.

Tara:    Look – you can hide in this sweater if we get caught

Bhima:  Tara. Relax.  This is a free country.