Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
The book and photo print as experiential objects
I've just completed a handmade folio edition of wood nymph.
I'm interested in the physicality of books and photographs and in moving them off the wall, shelf and screen into one's hands.
For me, the handcrafted artist book is a 'living' object, offered by the artist-writer to the reader in order to be felt, touched and viewed. It can be an experience whereby one discovers new layers of meaning while engaging physically with the content, the format and the components.
The same applies to a photographic print, often trapped behind a mat and glass, contained within a frame and nailed to a wall—out of reach of the viewer. I have explored various ways of making my photographic prints more tactile and visual, by printing on Japanese washi paper, infusing them with wax, or creating mixed media encaustic images. These translucent pieces capture light and can be viewed suspended, hung away from the wall. They can be touched since they are not confined to frames or trapped behind glass. The pieces can also move with air currents and change as the ambient light does.
The issue, however, especially if one is not really into gallery showings, is what to do with the inventory of prints one produces, other than give them away to friends?
For me, one answer is to create small photographic prints (e.g., 5" x 5"), with or without encaustic. These less expensive images can be part of an artist's book, shared with and touched by friends and colleagues (e.g., ATC style). One can provide a small simple easel to display these miniature pieces.
My recent wood nymph folio case is one example of such a multi sensory experiential piece.
I'm interested in the physicality of books and photographs and in moving them off the wall, shelf and screen into one's hands.
For me, the handcrafted artist book is a 'living' object, offered by the artist-writer to the reader in order to be felt, touched and viewed. It can be an experience whereby one discovers new layers of meaning while engaging physically with the content, the format and the components.
The same applies to a photographic print, often trapped behind a mat and glass, contained within a frame and nailed to a wall—out of reach of the viewer. I have explored various ways of making my photographic prints more tactile and visual, by printing on Japanese washi paper, infusing them with wax, or creating mixed media encaustic images. These translucent pieces capture light and can be viewed suspended, hung away from the wall. They can be touched since they are not confined to frames or trapped behind glass. The pieces can also move with air currents and change as the ambient light does.
The issue, however, especially if one is not really into gallery showings, is what to do with the inventory of prints one produces, other than give them away to friends?
For me, one answer is to create small photographic prints (e.g., 5" x 5"), with or without encaustic. These less expensive images can be part of an artist's book, shared with and touched by friends and colleagues (e.g., ATC style). One can provide a small simple easel to display these miniature pieces.
My recent wood nymph folio case is one example of such a multi sensory experiential piece.
Encaustic heat table
James and I fabricated an encaustic heat table so that I can gently heat up the beeswax and apply it with a brush to thin Japanese paper. We used an IKEA KOMPLEMENT drawer inside of which I secured four porcelain lamp bases, lining the whole inside of the drawer with foil insulation. A dimmer switch allows me to control the temperature that is emitted from the four 100 W incandescent bulbs that heat up the aluminum sheet. The energy expended by the bulbs is much less than that which would be consumed by an electric griddle.
Wax infused Japanese paper becomes quite translucent, a quality I am interested in exploring with my mixed media photographs. This process will be used as well for the pages of the accordion book (flutterbook) I am currently working on.
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| Inside the heat table |
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| Anodized aluminum sheet covering the box (approx. 24" x 30"). Note the dimmer switch to control the heat intensity. |
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| Wax melting in tin will be brushed onto the surface of the aluminum plate and will soak into the paper, making it translucent. |
Handmade book project
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| Initial explorations on a handmade book |
After much research and material sourcing, I have started on a handmade bookmaking project. It will editioned book (possibly 2-3 copies). The working title is Artist and Hamadryad, an original poem on transformation revolving around a wood nymph who inhabits a birch tree and an artist-muse.
The poem will be layed out, then printed on Japanese unryu washi paper, accompanied with photos. The pages will then be infused with wax, becoming translucent, then the photos will be enhanced with oil stick pigments and embedded natural items such as leaves and metal flakes.
I will also create a series of "loup" masks with various waxed washi papers over a plaster face cast of a friend.
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