Saturday, November 8, 2008

A Family Story my mother told me




Text: My great grandmother, Mary Ann Morahan was born in 1865 in New Jersey. Both her parents were born in Ireland and immigrated in the 1860s.

At 14, she worked as a servant. She married Geroge Johnson in 1885 and moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey. They had two boys and two girls.

Her husband sent the boys to college; they became engineers. Although he could afford it, he refused to pay for the girls to Elizabeth Normal School, the local teacher's.

She took home mattresses to sew in the parlor to earn the money to send the girls to school. Her husband was so embarrassed by the situation that he relented and paid for both daughters to go to college.

They were my great aunts Edna and Ella, who were school teachers until they retired.

Artist Statement: My mother did indeed tell me this story about her grandmother sewing mattresses. The story underscores the power of education and my great grandmother's determination for her daughters to have the same opportunities as her sons. She is just one of many strong-willed women in my family.

The pages are plaster and gauze, using the wire-edge method of binding (although it's bamboo skewers instead of wire).

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Parrot Saints






2008. This is 2 inches wide by 2-1/2 inches tall. Edition of 2.


Here is another example of my signature artist book. The pages are recycled sample tiles. The parrot pictures are cut from bird magazines and books. The page edges are covered in copper tape, The binding on the spine is copper-painted tyvek.

In October 2008, this book is in the Modest (in Scale) exhibit at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

Souvenir





2008. This is 5 inches by 4 inches. This is an edition of 4.

I made this pop-up in response to the 2008 Kentucky Derby.

House




2008. This is 3 inches wide by 5 inches tall. This is an edition of 2.

After I learned the wire-edge binding method, I played around with the geometric shapes I could make. I made a pyramid, then a box. Then I realized I could divide the top of the box in two to make a child's- drawing house. I covered the panels with pages from a building construction book. Then I painted it and added the child's-drawing windows and door. I wrote sentences about the parts of the house and put them on the appropriate panels of the building.

In October 2008, this book is in the Modest (in Scale) exhibit at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

I Look at Florida






2008. This is about 7 inches wide by 5 inches tall. Edition of 3.

That's me there on the flap on the right side of the book. You can flap me over any of the pages of the book, so I'm looking at the photo with you. In October 2008, this book will be in the Feathers, Fins & Foliage Exhibition at the LeMoyne Center for Art in Tallahassee, Florida.

Florida Flora Box







2008. This box is 4 inches by 4 inches by 4 inches. Edition of 3.


I live in Oregon and I go to Florida every year for a couple of weeks to visit my family. I visit public gardens and take lots of photos of the tropic plants. They seem so exotic compared to the evergreen forests in Oregon. The book is bound using the wire-edge binding method. The squares are joined so that you can form a 3-D box.

In October 2008, one copy of this book will be in the Feathers, Fins & Foliage Exhibition at the LeMoyne Center for Art in Tallahassee, Florida. In October 2008, another copy of this book is in the Modest (in Scale) exhibit at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

Florida Saints




2008. This is 1-3/4 inches wide by 2-3/4 inches tall. Edition of 3.

This is a collaboration with Laura Lou Bashlor, who photographed the birds. The pages are recycled sample tiles. The page edges are covered in copper tape, The binding on the spine is copper-painted tyvek.

In October 2008, this book will be in the Feathers, Fins & Foliage Exhibition at the LeMoyne Center for Art in Tallahassee, Florida.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Little Saints/Book of Saints




2008. This is the first of what I think of as my signature artist book. The pages are made of laminate (think Formica) sample tiles. The parrot pictures are cut from bird magazines and books. The page edges are covered in copper tape, The binding on the spine is copper-painted tyvek.

The more I looked at the tile samples, the more they looked like icon backgrounds. I often incorporate birds in my work. When I put parrot pictures on the samples, I saw them as little saints. I continue to make different versions of this book.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Haste




2007. This is a synonym-antonym book that was found on the street. I used a lot of acrylic medium to fix the pages and then painted them with acrylic paint. In November 2008 this book will be in the Dog-Eared: Revealing the contents of Artists' Books show at the Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts at Purdue University.