My alma mater used to have an annual book show, inviting students and alumni to contribute. Though there were books by Martha Stewart and Erica Jong on display, for the most part it was visual artists who contributed, so what was considered a book was loosely defined. I think this wooden box book was my best work for the series.
[Full disclosure: they may still have an annual book show, but I have not been invited. If I've been excluded, I blame the below self portrait that I sent as my contribution to a non-book gallery show in honor of the then new college president. It turns out they didn't hang the drawing because they thought it was too scary. It seems pretty unprofessional to me that they didn't let me know when they received the drawing that they didn't want to include it. It turns out they didn't anticipate my showing up for the opening. Oops. Well, we got it up in the show. At least for the few hours I was there!]
Anyway, back to the book.
I designed the box and a friend generously made it for me. For the pages, I made five. Each page represents a member of my family. I used objects collected from nature as well as treasures from my supply of clutter. I hadn't made anything like this before, and I haven't really since. I love it, though, and would like to try something like this again. So that's my excuse for keeping all various sorts of rusty things and ribbon around.
page 1
page 1, close up
page 2
page 2, close up
page 3
page 3, close up
page 4
page 4, close up
page 5
page 5, close upPeace.
