The House of Mo[u]rning

Folded concertina book made from pine and thin plywood, hinges, 

black elastic thread, metal grommets and acrylic paint.

The Glorious Melancholy of Urgency

 Time off today from reading anthology submissions to work on a personal artist book project.

Text:

The Glorious Melancholy of Urgency

.... now where were we my little one? ...

ah yes, the self proclaimed Radiant Sophont Dynasty. Yes they came to power shortly after the Third Singularity Return, when again humanity had had enough of the virtual and once more claimed organic form. This dynasty lasted a little over one millennium and was responsible for coalescing the will of the inner planets into a singular voice. Though they did not actively mine the previous eon's cache of intellectual wealth, they did…. 

here the voice paused....

Red as Blood and White as Bone

I've created this narrative book object for Theodora Goss (one of my current favorite writers) 

for her story - "Red as Blood and White as Bone" (click to read). I'll be presenting it to her hopefully at the Nebula Conference this weekend.

The box, measuring about 5.5" to a side, is constructed of pine and whitewashed. Within the box is a lining of faux black wolf fur and it contains an ikon made from brass, wolf teeth, bone and glass, a necklace of ruby colored glass and a small leather-bound book of the story with leather cord binding.

I hope she likes it. I tried to make it small enough for her to take home with her.

The Lady Astronaut of Mars

This is a new artist book based on the story 'The Lady Astronaut of Mars' by Mary Robinette Kowal (read it here - https://www.tor.com/2013/09/11/the-lady-astronaut-of-mars/).

I've done book versions of Mary's stories before. This one is a surprise for her and will be presented at the 2018 Nebula Awards.

The box is made of maple and cedar (I like how the cedar striping makes on think of the landscape of Mars). It measures 4" x 8.5" x 1.5". The NASA logo on top is metal (actually a lapel pin) as is the clasp and hinges. Inside are 27 antique IBM punchcards from the 1950s that had the text of the story printed on them. I used a 1950s period IBM font for the text and I like the ways the punchcard holes interact with it.

I hope Mary will be pleased with it. I do like her stories. They provide a vivid challenge to a handmade book artist.

click to embiggen

The Mouth of Celestia

I finally finished the two copy edition of this handmade book today titled:

"The Mouth of Celestia: The Measure of Loss" 

Part of my measurement series of art pieces.

Last year I had gathered weather aged leaves from the cemetery I like to walk in. I was fascinated by how the aging had broken down the cells of the leaves so that they almost appeared to be written on by an unknown hand. An encyclopdia of the universe unreadable/unrecitable.

I wrote the accompanying poem late last year and had the photos printed up yesterday.

7.5" x 11", canson paper, 24 pages with photo prints.

I may yet build boxes for the books to go in and with a small storage space for some of the actual leaves.

Handmade Wheel of Fortune

I've been sitting on photos of this project for a few weeks now until I was sure the recipient received her copy. I've wanted to get back to doing handmade books of favorite stories I do not have in printed form. I did the cover of this story for the Netherlands translated printing of it - The Wheel of Fortune by Steph Swainston - but do not have the anthology it appeared in in english.

Pine covers with concertina folded pages, nearly 15 feet long when unfolded. An edition of two - one for her and one for me.

next book to tackle is this one - http://www.tor.com/2014/08/20/seven-commentaries-on-an-imperfect-land-ruthanna-emrys/

well worth your time to read

Aftermath now available

I've recently published another book with the author Steph Swainston titled Aftermath. This picks up on the narrative in her new novel Fair Rebel and also has more behind the scenes background info on the Fourlands. She is a wonderful and compelling writer. The book is available unsigned as well as in a limited signed and numbered version.

Looking forward to doing more books with her.

Find a copy here - http://aanpress.com/aanorder.html

Curiosities for the Collector

I am currently part of a group show here in Pittsburgh at the Jask Gallery. Last night was the opening. The show runs through January 24th and you can find more information here.

For now, let's take a tour of my area of the gallery.

papercrafting

how i am spending my saturday

5 conceptual gardens : 5 days : 2/3

i finished last night's book too late to photograph it properly. 

so today i have a double post of conceptual garden books 2 and 3

(click on the images for a zoomed view)

book 2 is titled "Two Gardens"

(envelopes, thread, ribbon, labels, plant matter 4" x 9" x 9")

is a do-si-do accordion bound envelope book that snapshots the June 19th archive 

of my garden and claire's

each catalog holds 10 items from our respective gardens. mine is mostly flowers, hers is mostly edible plants (which i found to be an interesting dichotomy).

[hers - sage, blackberry, tarragon, fig, soil, spearmint, strawberry, wormwood, 

chinese lantern and parsley]

[mine - rose, hydrangea, grass, lemon verbena, peony, stones, soil, cilantro, 

chives, butterfly bush]

each envelope is labeled with the plant material, the date and 

the latitude and longitude of our respective gardens.

book 3 is titled "Nihon Teien"

(leather, thread, oak, soil)

this is a palm leaf or slat format book with an attached leather wrap.

the book is a very abstracted japanese garden. each of the oak slats contains the japanese name of a common plant found in these gardens

etsy shop

i now have an Etsy storefront to sell some of my one of a kind artist books

have a look here - http://www.etsy.com/shop/AirNothingnessPress - and browse awhile. new book will continue to be entered as a make them and photograph them

seawrack, a book

a small artist book i finished today using some paper i had dipped in the indigo dye which warped quite beautifully and was very evocative of the ocean.

not that i have much of a relationship with the ocean. those i prefer are the tortured coasts of maine and brittany and the like. rough seas, storms and salt

i paired the pages with some simple wood slats and hemp cord and some beads i had (glass, bone and ceramic)

japanese/inuit/eskimo culture, expressions and symbols of elements at work

work in progress 6

the final artist book is nearing completion. this one is for the ancient moon priestess (and named first known astronomer) who is also probably the first recorded poet and the earliest named woman in recorded history - Enhudeanna

over forty of her poems survive to the present time which is saying much for poetry over 4000 years old. one of the appears in the ring of text in the piece.

the book has several numeral references. there are 29 pages in the book, corresponding to the lunar cycle and the piece of thread used to wrap the lapus lazuli sphere is 177 feet long, or 100 royal cubits or 1 'cord measure' which is mentioned in the poem

i chose this particular poem for the piece for the references it makes to science.

work in progress 5

A photo compilation of the 6th artist book for my upcoming show. This book is titled - The Dyer's Hand and is about Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin who correctly posited the elemental makeup of the sun in the 1920s. 15" x 22" - paper, oil pastel and indigo dye

i think the subtle washes of indigo dye are quite fascinating

work in progress 4

the final 2 books in their WIP states
The Dyer's Hand (for Cecila Payne-Gaposchkin, who first proposed that the sun is primarily made of hydrogen and helium)this book measures 15" x 22" and will have its lower half dipped in the shibori dye on saturday (hoping the thick paper i am using will withstand a quick dunk without warping too much). if all goes as planned the dye will bleed up into the paper and oxidize to a dark blue.

and a book for Enhudeanna which so far consists of 29 pages of circles, each precisely cut 1mm smaller than the previous page

more on this book once i figure it out

work in progress 3

book no. 5 is now complete. it is entitled - "Photo 51 or A Hand We Are Dealt"

this book is on rosalind franklin who discovered DNA is in a double helix pattern due to her famous "photo 51". watson and crick appropriated her photo and research and got the nobel prize instead of her.

this book has some details not readily apparent

it is a deck of 51 cards representing 'photo 51'

there are 4 sets of 11 cards each of the A, T, G, C elements that make up DNA

making 2 sets of 22 cards pairs which represent 22 of the 23 human chromosomes
the 23rd pair are the sex chromosomes represented by the XX and XY cards

there is a lens embedded in the front cover of the book structure which allows the cover to act as a camera of sorts representing her x-ray crystallography work

when the deck of cards is enclosed in the wooden cover, it aligns so you can see '51' through the lens

works in progress 2

the fourth book/object for the June gallery show is now finished.

finally all clicked last night when i got the idea to make a featherduster which fills up the space in the bell jar nicely as well as being symbolic of the domestic role of women at the time and because Williamina Fleming was Pickering's maid before he hired her to catalog stars.

and yes that is an actual 1891 Liberty Seated Quarter which i got at the coin shop downtown on thursday.

works in progress

I will be part of a 2-artist show at Gallerie Chiz in June. The theme is 'passion'. Here are the current works in progress (4 of 7 books/objects) (click on images for a larger view)

"Binding Energy" - Lise Meitner

"Pickering's Women" - Williamina Fleming and Annie Jump Cannon

"The Complexities of Pitchblende" - Marie Curie

"Unfoldment" - Hypatia of Alexandria

All of the books are about women scientists who made significant contributions to the knowledge of the world and were often overlooked, shunned or uncredited by their male counterparts/collaborators

The other three works will be about Rosalind Franklin, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and EnHedu'anna

long live bookstores

Why yes those would be my books on display at an actual living breathing independent bookstore near Pittsburgh. The Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley to be precise.

If you are in Sewickley, or near Sewickley, or passing through Sewickley or thinking 'hey today is a nice sunny day for a drive ... where should we go ... oh I read on a blog about this great bookstore in Sewickley why don't we go there', go in and buy something from the bookseller peoples there. And yes I do follow my own advice. I've already spent half the money I made in sales to them by buying new books there.

Oh and maybe mention I sent you. Then perhaps they will buy more of my books and I can buy more of theirs and so on and so forth.

validation

nothing like having your name on the wall of your gallery show