Find two artists’ books that you feel demonstrate an interesting relationship between their form and content through the materials that the artist has chosen to use. Reflect on these books in your learning log.
Sandra Turley – This Original Self
“It’s about self-discovery. It’s a study of identity… The images of a face are barely visible on some pages, and sharper on others.”
In ‘This Original Self‘ Sandra Turley explores portraits of people that are screen-printed onto satin devore. According to Wikipedia, devore printing is a technique that uses a chemical process to dissolve the cellulose fibres. By using this process she has created transparent images that appear to be burnt into the fibres.
Research has led me to find out that Turley has used leaves of stiff white paper that have centre cutouts with the satin fabric inserts inside. This series looks at the self and a missing past associated with adoption and the juxtaposing of solid white paper and delicate, transparent satin prints really conveys a feeling of temporality, uncertainty and missing pieces. Overall, it makes you connect with the fragility of personal identity.
The book is accordion bound in boards covered with cloth. The cloths are also tea stained. I think the decision to create an accordion bound design might be a way to illustrate the stretching out of time and identity in one thread. In this context, it reminds me of the Moirai of Greek mythology. Using cloth and tea staining it adds more tangibility and a stronger evocation of the past and the passing of time.
Suze Woolf
“The form and the materials are the story.”
In contrast to Sandra Turley’s work, Suze Woolf’s approach is usually less conceptual. A lot of her artist books are celebrations of natural materials and very visual and direct. As she says herself, the form and materials are the story. This one uses a digital print of one of her paintings. The cover is made of Garnet-sandpaper which adds an extra tactile dimension. Sandstone is often used as a building material for steps so it is great idea to create a 3d pop up design to convey this like she has.
For this book Woolf has used snowflake obsidian covers and matboard pages. The case is made of wood, casein paint and shoe polish. This really feels like a beautiful ornamental piece of art. I like how the ‘rock’ sits in a case – which makes it seem that more precious and important. The pages in the ‘rock’ emphasise the geological aspect of the design.
Suze Woolf has also created an ongoing series of books that look at the effects of certain bark beetle species on Western forests. This series is called ‘Bark Beetle Books‘ and there are currently 34 volumes. I would recommend looking at all of them as she has approached the concept in a variety of ways. This is more conceptual than the other two examples of her work that I have used but it is equally tactile and abundant in natural material.
References
Women’s Studio Workshop. 2020. This original self. [ONLINE] Available at: https://wsworkshop.org/collection/this-original-self/. [Accessed 22 October 2020].
VCU News. 2015. More than words: 16 of the most interesting and unusual items in VCU’s Book Art Collection. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.news.vcu.edu/community/More_than_words. [Accessed 22 October 2020].
U-M Library Digital Collections. 2020. This original self / [Sandra Turley].. [ONLINE] Available at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mlibrary1ic/x-011500006/011500006_1?lasttype=allmedia;lastview=reslist;resnum=782;size=50;sort=m_flm;start=751;subview=detail;view=entry. [Accessed 22 October 2020].
SUZE WOOLF fine art. 2020. Book of Sandstone. [ONLINE] Available at: https://suzewoolf-fineart.com/index.php/galleries/artistbooksother/169-bookofsandstone. [Accessed 22 October 2020].
SUZE WOOLF fine art. 2020. Rockbound Book: Snowline. [ONLINE] Available at: https://suzewoolf-fineart.com/index.php/galleries/artistbooksother/180-rockboundbook-snowline. [Accessed 22 October 2020].
SUZE WOOLF fine art. 2020. Bark Beetle Books – Vols. I – XXXII. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.suzewoolf-fineart.com/index.php/galleries/artistbooksother/200-bark-beetle-books. [Accessed 22 October 2020].
Daniel's OCA Blog: Book Design 1 
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