Reliquary Of Faith

 I just finished a new altered book for the Vt Book Arts Guild Show: Big Ideas, Small Books, an exhibit of artist books at the Emile A. Gruppe Gallery. The show will run April 17 - May 22, 2011. The opening reception will be on Sunday April 17th, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Subject matter includes both 2-D and 3-D works, smaller than 5" x 5", in all media relating to book arts, including hand-made paper, artists’ books, calligraphy etc. 

I call this book Reliquary of Faith. It's made from an old prayer book, found objects, ephemera, and a lovely old tin type photo.

ALTERED BOOKS CLASS @ ARTIST MEDIUM-SOLD OUT

This class is SOLD OUT!

Next Intro to Altered books class is 5/2 at Seminary Arts Center in Waterbury Center. More info to come!

Thanks everyone who came to the Altered Tin Shrine Demo this afternoon! What a blast that was making art on the spot in under 2 hours! Looking forward to a full day of fun at Artist Medium tomorrow!

Shrine of Mary #3

This is the shrine of Mary#3.I have this thing about the 3 Mary's. I played on this theme a little. The watch part, keeping time. The three Mary's that are physically in the assemblage. This is another one of my new concepts in altered books, where the book has no real pages to turn and it is really just for the shell. I love the cover of this book with the embossed stars When I found it at a yard sale earlier this year I knew I would have to bring out that element more.

The book had a white cover that I painted a la De Meng, serial killer red. Love this color... The inside pages are painted to look more aged.

The Mary inside I bought earlier in the year from a great etsy seller, Other People's Flowers. The owner of this shop is a terrific mixed media artist herself.  Crystal sells incredible flea market finds and embellishments for altered art.  I love her show and can spend hours musing over the delights she has there.

Embellished with scrap from an old vintage book I found on Ebay. I love the scary little bunnies and bird. The watch parts I scored at the Waterbury Flea Market. The silver tray that Mary sits in was painted as well. That one was found at a yard sale. An old wrist watch band is the closure- Now I know why I keep all this stuff. The inspiration for the closure came at the 11th hour and I had to re-glue the front and back covers to make it work.
I was lucky to put it all together in time for the Book Arts Show. Nancy Stone was laughing at me, but I still had glue stuck to my fingers at the opening, for the second year in a row.

The Messenger of Truth

This is one of the two pieces I made for the Celebration of the Book Show at the Firehouse Gallery. It opened on Friday night, and I hopped between the Burton Art Hop Reception and the Book Arts Reception.

I was working on new technique with these altered books. The are old books, that I selected because of the texture and feeling of the covers, not necessarily for their content. I decide to make them much more like the assemblage shrines I have been doing all summer- less pages and more found materials.
The Messenger of Truths holds a lot of secrets deep within it. Secrets that the viewer can weave together to create a story if you pay careful attention to all the clues. This piece is deep with symbolism. The doll hand, the old medicine bottle, the bird feather, the #13 on the playing card, almost every element has weight- including the picture on the back and the line "If Lillie will forgive me." It is pretty heavy handed. I know- I don't think
I started out with a feel story, it just came to me as I was working, liquid nails hardening to my finger. It felt like when I did the piece, "i remember you." It just sort of came out of me and a gush. I finished it in record time for an altered book, three days.

I've named the girl inside the bottle and inside the book, Lillie. She is 13.

The Messenger of Truth is a travelling man of the cloth, who is friends with Lillie's parents. One summer he comes to visit the family. It is a summer that will change Lillie for the rest of her life.

God made the bird and all the precious beautiful things on the earth.

Lillie was a good little bird.




Fly away.....