500 Handmade Books

March 5, 2013

I am pleased to announce the inclusion of my artist book, Tangled Dreams in the upcoming Lark Crafts Publication, 500 Handmade Books Volume 2. Some of you may know that Tangled Dreams is one of several projects on which I collaborated with artist Elizabeth Sher. The book will be released to the bookstores in September of 2013.

It started with a rusty bedspring that I found in a barn and took into my studio. I noticed the intriguing patterns of its shadows playing against my studio wall and began taking a series of close-up photographs of them. This humble beginning led to three series of work: mixed media works on paper, an artist book and a video.

Tangled Dreams is one of six Edition Varie. The artist book is an accordion fold made with digital images of bedsprings layered and manipulated; the images became the basis for an examination of memory, dreams and loss. The book reflects a range of feelings found in our dreams from twists and turns, to torques, coils and agitated sensations.

Materials for the book include acrylic ink on Moab Entrada Natural 190 lb. rag paper, waxed & stained organza silk and Cave paper.

The Infinite Book

February 9, 2013

The Sometimes Books Gallery presents yet another provocative show entitled, The Infinite Book. Zea Morvitz, one of the coordinators, wrote "If we can shed our usual association of book with the paper and cloth objects stored in our libraries, and think instead of the book as a medium for recording, storing, and transmitting thoughts, words, images from one person to others now and in the future, we see that the book has taken---and will take an infinite or at least a very large number of forms: from clay slabs, ivory tablets, skin scrolls, engraved stones, to ink on paper, to audio file, to digital image on electronic device, and to forms we have not yet imagined."

"Artist books are visionary creations: books that might have been, books that may be; books that may never be, or may never take any form except as an artist book. Sometimes Books Gallery presents books from the storehouse of infinite possibilities."

I have two works in this exhibit: Live 2010 and MuseumUn 2006

Sometimes Books is open Saturdays & Sundays noon to 4pm & by appointment

Eubank Studio: 11101 Highway One, #105, Point Reyes, CA 94956

415.669.1380. sometimesbooks@gmail.com

And this exhibit is running concurrently with An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street, an exhibit of artist books and broadsides made in response to the car bombing on Al Mutanabbi Street, a street of booksellers in Baghdad in March of 2007. It is on view at Gallery Route One, in the same building complex as the Eubank Studio, site of the Sometimes Books exhibit.

the residents & a few artists we met along the way

January 7, 2013

2013 opens with "The Residency Show" at the Gatewood Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG) on January 14th through February 1st. The show features work of faculty and other artists who participated in artist residencies recently. I sent work inspired by my experiences at the Gullkistan Artist Residency in Iceland last summer.

About the work:

I walk a lot when I travel. Walking allows me to wander wherever I wish, and not be limited to "auto driven" roads. I can choose a way, a pace, and I often see more. I love how walking shifts me from an accelerated frenetic state of mind to a contemplative one. And slowing down has a way of opening up space. The artist, Richard Long, once wrote that "a walk expresses space and freedom and the knowledge of it can live in the imagination of anyone, and that is another space too."

And I found that space in Iceland last summer at the Gullkistan Artist Residency; not only because "eg' gekk mikið!", but also because I discovered that Iceland is a land with panoramic views and horizontal ribbons of sky, land, and sea. My response was elemental and primordial and it took me back to a place of "beginning"—an invigorating feeling that I want to experience again.

I went to Gullkistan with the intent of incorporating the act of walking into my artistic process. Before I left, I purchased a Garmin GPSmap 62, a device that records tracks of walks. In Iceland, I used it to collect the shapes and lines of my walks while exploring the new terrain. I accumulated many tracks. In the studio, I printed them out and displayed them on the wall. These "visual walks" were a beginning. However, I wasn't clear on how I would use their shapes and lines in a body of work.

I had heard of Iceland's "geologic wonders". I was interested in how this geology related to its constantly shifting landscape. I saw this in lava beds, glaciers, craggy scree slopes, black sand beaches, glacial carved rocks and basaltic columns. These materials create a myriad of contours and textures. I have started to explore how this topography might influence my work so that it reflects the natural tensions of the land.

The work in the exhibit is a beginning of an investigation that combines both line cuts (sections from the tracks) from a walk and the contours of the landscape. The work comes from one of six walks that I tracked in Iceland; the one here is the trek up to the summit of Mt. Laugarvatn, a mountain behind the town of the residency with views of it and beyond. The track provides evidence of a step-by-step process, like walking, and is broken into 23 sections to suggest that. The constructions, mtlaugwalkcut1, mtlaugwalkcut2, and mtlaugwalkcut3 are the result of an investigation of line and form taken from the walks.

Artwork:

The Last Hurrah

November 8, 2012

The Last Hurrah features the work of nearly 100 artists who have exhibited at Quicksilver Mine Company since the gallery opened in 1983. It is Quicksilver's final exhibit and I am honored to be a part of it. For 30 years, Khysie Horn has provided many of us a place to show our work and I am so thankful to her for that! Please come to celebrate and honor her years of service, support and the memorable and moving exhibitions that she has hosted over the years. The Last Hurrah runs from November 16 - December 31st with opening reception on Saturday, November 17, 4 - 6.

Gallery location: 6671 Front St/Hwy 116, Downtown Forestville 707.887.0799

Gallery hours: 11 - 6 daily, Closed Tues & Wed

Transformation & Re-Purpose

September 30, 2012

My work and the work of Tari Kerss will be featured in Transformation & Re-Purpose, an exhibition at the Mendocino College Gallery. Over twenty years of my work in a variety of mediums will be represented: clamshell box and book constructions, word works, books, algae works and drawings. The show runs from October 18 - November 9, 2012 with an opening reception on Thursday, October 18, 4 - 6 pm. If you are up and about in Ukiah, please stop by.

In California

August 3, 2012

Where you currently can view my artwork:

I now have some artwork on consignment at the Kala Art Institute. If in the area, you may contact Andrea Voinot at Andrea@Kala.org or call her at 510-841-7000 x206.