I WOULD GIVE TO YOU THE MOON AND STARS

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I WOULD GIVE TO YOU THE MOON AND STARS is a book I made for the exhibition called CARPE LIBRUM: THE ART OF THE BOOK. This exhibition was at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts on Bainbridge Island in Washington state for the month of April 2015. Thirty three pacific northwest book artists were invited to be in this show and I was so pleased to be included. My little 'hand' book' is photo etched brass....the pages are inkjet printed with archival inks on BFK Rives paper and the overall measurements, with the book closed, are 4" x 7".


This is the back of the book.



I often dream up ideas for my art at night while I am sleeping ... and sometimes I dream of a particular gallery that I like to visit. I don't have a clue if this gallery actually exists ... all I know, is that in my dream, it is at the top of an outdoor escalator and that when you get off of the escalator you turn left and there is the gallery. I have been there many times while I sleep and would so love to visit this place in a waking state. Sometimes, just after I wake, I am visited by my word muse ... phrases or individual words or whole poems spill out of me. This doesn't happen nearly as often as I wish it would ... but a few months ago my word muse did visit and this poem is the result. These words are the basis for my little illustrated book, I WOULD GIVE TO YOU THE MOON AND STARS.

I WOULD GIVE TO YOU THE MOON AND STARS
by shane miller

i would give to you the moon and stars
and all the planets, too,
the comets and the asteroids
i would gladly give to you

the black holes and the nebulae
to hold as long as you live ...
i would give them all to you
if they were mine to give

and yet, i know the space required
to hold a galaxy ... is HUGE ...
... and problems might arise
like star dust and gravity

with that in mind i have to say,
though my options now seem few,
the galaxy must stay aloft
and this book will have to do

Here are a few of the illustrations I created for the book ... CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

FLOATING

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FLOATING is one of the books I currently have on exhibit at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts on Bainbridge Island in Washington state. It is part of the show titled CARPE LIBRUM: THE ART OF THE BOOK, curated by Cynthia Sears and Hidde Van Duym. You can read more about this exhibit in the previous post. You can view this work at the gallery through April 26th.


inside front cover

The metal covers for FLOATING are photo etched brass and the images are inkjet printed with archival inks on BFK Rives paper. The book measures 7" x 11" when closed.

Recently one morning I was thinking about dreams and how sometimes in my dreams I have the ability to fly. Upon closer examination of this I realized that I am not so much flying as I am floating. With that thought, words immediately filled my head and I went scrambling for pencil and paper to capture them before they were gone. Those captured words make up the text of this book.

I've heard people say that when they dream, they can fly like a bird ... by constant flapping of their arm-like wings or by coasting in circles like the red tail hawk over my pasture.

I try to picture this and the wondrous feeling of the wind in my face and my hair blowing out behind me, but it is a difficult image for me to conjure. I think this is because I know I am more of a floater than a flyer.

In my dreams I hover where the wall meets the ceiling ... just where the near invisible spider webs hide.

I float just at the top of the trees that act as sentinels on either side of the dirt road.

The sky is my ocean as I drift with a school of fish just above the water.

I am like low lying clouds content with slow movement and the ability to cast fuzzy edged shadows on the earth below.

Floating gives one time to contemplate the surroundings ... to notice the smallest detail ... to acclimate to the new terrain.

In my dreams, as I float, I am often aware that this is miraculous somehow ... that I need to remember this technique so that I can try it in my awake state.

I drop a breadcrumb right here so I can remember how to do this ...

... how to hold my mouth just right ... the proper arrangement of my arms and legs ... the attitude of my mind ... I drop more breadcrumbs.

The 'know how' stays with me for a while ...

... even as I start to stir ...

... even as my exploring spirit re-enters my body ...

... but the string attached to my fluttering eyelids tips the bowl and the 'knowing how" spills out and evaporates like water on a hot sidewalk.

I turn to find ravenous sparrows eating my dropped breadcrumbs ...

... perhaps tonight they will dream they can float.


This image in on the inside of the back cover.


back cover

All the images in FLOATING are photo based. I often like to use vintage photos in my art and I searched and searched through thousands of images looking for women who looked like they were floating or who I could manipulate in a way to make them appear as though they were floating. The couple of images I found, and tried to use, looked more like the women were falling from the sky instead of peacefully floating. After much hand wringing, I decided to take my own photos and have more control over body placement. This is where my friend, Zo, comes into the picture ... literally. I borrowed a night shirt from my good friend, Lynn Anju, and invited Zo over for a photo shoot. The night shirt was a little short so I had to stretch it out via photoshop in every image. The photo shoot was so much fun....figuring out ways to make Zo appear as though she was floating. Here is an image showing some of the high tech floating techniques we used ... Zo stretched out on a galvanized tub with a saw horse under her feet for support.





Zo was enthusiastic and charming through the whole ordeal and would have been more than willing to put on a harness and get strung up between the douglas firs ... if only I had a harness.

I definitely wanted the floating figures to be women and I pictured them with long flowing hair ... dream like. Zo's hair is about 1 1/2 inches long and is not exactly the look I was going for. I ended up making my life quite a bit more difficult by photoshopping my hair onto Zo. The process of working with the photographic images over the days and weeks got a little confusing for me and occasionally the lines between Zo and myself would blur and I would lose track as to which one of us it was that I was working on in the photo ... a very odd feeling.

Here are some of the images ... photoshopped and sent through many filters to get the look I wanted ... somewhere between a photograph and an illustration. Be sure to click on an image to see it larger.
























This is am example of the font and page layout for the text.


I turn to find ravenous sparrows eating my dropped breadcrumbs ... perhaps tonight they will dream they can float.

BOOK ARTISTS TALK AT BAINBRIDGE ISLAND MUSEUM OF ART

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On December 13th I was invited, along with Carolyn Terry and Chele Shepard, to give a talk at the Sherry Grover Gallery that is housed within the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. This is a beautiful space within the museum that houses Cynthia Sears' private collection of artist made books. With the gorgeous cherry display cases and some of the best examples of artists made books in the country, it is easy to find inspiration here. Cynthia Sears, seated at the far end of the table, suggested this gathering and encouraged us to talk about artist made books that we have in progress. It was such a fun event and a reminder to me that even if you had a whole room full of book artists, everyone has their own perspective ... of experience that led them to the subject matter ... of materials they like to use ... of techniques that work best for them ... etc.


Chele, wearing glasses in the middle of the photo, talked about a book (three small books actually) that use microfiche as pages ... this is one of her favorite materials for building books. In this type of book, stencils are often part of Chele's language. Another style book Chele makes is as personal as you can get. Using her daily journal pages (a big stack ... many years worth) as the basis for the work, Chele types them into the computer and then uses various software to scramble the words so that they are disguised in a code-like way. Sometimes this code is printed on top of the hand written text making it all 'not quite readable'....but almost.


Carolyn Terry, for years, has wanted to create a fictitious journal type book. She has a project in the works about a woman biologist/explorer who lived in the late 1800's. Within the journal will be sketches and drawings of observations and letters, written and received, that will help carry the story. To make everything seem as real as possible, Carolyn is researching and experimenting with aging paper... early envelope construction ... and even practicing penmanship that resembles examples of writing from that period. A second book Carolyn has in progress will be an ABC type book with beautifully illustrated alphabet pages that represent words borrowed from a military dictionary. Carolyn has chosen a harsh dichotomy on purpose ... one sure to stir conversation ... and to make the complacent uncomfortable.


(this photo courtesy of Laura Silverstein)
On a lighter note, I talked about a small book I am working on titled I WOULD GIVE TO YOU THE MOON AND STARS. This book will have an etched metal brass cover and is in the shape of a cutout hand. I won't say too much about it here because in another month it will be on display at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts for their February show titled THE MOON AND THE STARS. I will blog about it when that show opens. On the end of the table you can see a few of my books. Cynthia was kind enough to take my Oak Leaf Haiku book, the Garden Book and THE CLOUD COLLECTOR out of the display case so I could show them and talk about their components. I also told my story of how I came to book arts through the back door ... via metal sculpture and my narrative art boxes. Actually, that seems like a whole other topic for a blog entry ... maybe I will write about that soon.

Anyway ... a good time was had by all. A big THANK YOU to Cynthia Sears for organizing this event and to all who came to hear our stories and in turn shared their thoughts and kind words with us.

PS...just a note that Carolyn, Chele and I meet every month, along with our artist friend, Victoria Mournean, to talk about book arts ... art in general ... painting ... upcoming opportunities ... inspiration ... how to get unstuck when we find ourselves stuck ... and so much more. Carolyn and Chele are also musicians and occasionally, at the end of the meeting, we are treated to a little fiddle or accordion music sometimes accompanied by a stand up bass ...... sheer bliss.

HAIKU

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This is another book I had in the COMING UNBOUND: BOOK AS SCULPTURE show at Northwind Gallery in Port Townsend, WA. It is a small book of haikus. As you probably know, a haiku is a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables in three lines of five, seven and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. I love this form of poetry and the natural restraints that come with the parameters. This style definitely keeps one from getting too wordy. You are forced to examine each word....really, each syllable.... and get rid of frills and fluff and distill your intention down to the basics. I have written haikus for years...often tapping out syllables on my thigh while mowing with my tractor, Bliss. I usually jot the haikus down in my sketchbook before I forget them but sometimes I find the requisite three lines written on the back of an envelope....or on a corner of a paper towel....or occasionally written on the wall. Making this book was a good excuse to gather all my haikus from hither and yon and get them rounded up in one location. This HAIKU book is photo etched copper and is approximately 5.5" x 4".


(BACK VIEW)


(INSIDE VIEW)

Here are just a few of my haikus....written throughout the four seasons.

Wrapped in wood stove warmth
the steaming water escapes
like small birds singing

coyote prances
like a dancer on tip-toes
along the fence row

I awoke to song
one high note and four lower
birds welcoming dawn

Is heaven above
beyond the constellations
or below our feet?

thwack and dry ripping
the sound of firewood splitting
music for cold hearts

backlit by the sun
three hawks waltz across my sky
their tails glowing red

droplets perch like jewels
an early solomon seal
an uncommon crown

Under my gas cap
a most succulent spider
takes up residence

Three baby chipmunks
surprise me in the woodpile
all of us wide-eyed

COMING UNBOUND: BOOK AS SCULPTURE

NORTHWIND ART CENTER....PORT TOWNSEND, WA

OPENING: April 5, 2013

Curator: Jean-Marie Tarascio


GARDEN BOOK by Shane Miller
(click on image to enlarge)

April 5
Noon - Show Opens
April 6
5:30 to 8 pm - Opening Reception
April 14
1:00 pm - Art Talk
April 29
5:00 pm - Show Closes

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS :
Renee Bush
Mary-Ellen Campbell
Linda Jarvis
Gloria Lamson
Counsel Langley
Carolyn Law
Shane Miller
Jean-Marie Tarascio
Rebecca Welti
Joan Wenske
Helga Winter



Throughout its remarkable history the book has been a means to transporting ideas, messages, and thoughts. It has been an intriguing vehicle for reflection and communication, a formidable object. It has been banned, burned, collected, censored, hidden, sworn upon, quoted, treasured, adorned, discarded, chained, praised, and threatened with extinction.

In the art exhibit Coming Unbound eleven artists explore the concept of "book" as inspiration in unique and personalized ways to convey their artistic messages. For more pictures of the artwork and artists biographies please see Northwindarts.org.