I re-named my studio 1/2 Measure Studio after leaving a large studio space in Utah in June 2015 for a smaller studio in the best house ever. I now, enjoy its size and comfort, but, I never settled in Boise, Idaho.
The onerous fees of owning a house and all it entails is stopping my husband and me from seeing the world. So, we chose traveling instead of a brick and mortar house, we will be on the road for the next year. I might need to re-name my studio again, but will I have one?
We travel to foreign places, we travel in and around our hometown, we also journey in our mind’s eye, during the long hours in our studios as we create our imaginary worlds. In my mind, I often wander across the nation back home. We all find different ways to express our voyages.
To celebrate a new way of thinking of “home” which I long for, I have found artists who have touched upon the subject of “Travel”.
Artist Natalie McGrorty created Traveling Light back in 2008. This artists' book is about home and the memories we carry with us. Threads traverse house-shaped pages, enclosed within a miniature vanity case. These threads represent memories contained within 'time-frames' of experience. Words running from A-Z describe ideas of what 'home' is.
Natalie’s book Traveling Light is part of the Emory University in Atlanta’s collection if you would like to view it in person.
Marlene MacCallum created Nine Elevated Views, this experimental work grew out of research into artists’ publishing and was inspired by the culminating group workshop held at Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. The prototype for this piece was a collaboration incorporating a group letterpress text project led by Clifton Meador and folded structures introduced by Scott McCarney.
Upon returning home from this workshop, I reworked the piece, printing the image with a base layer of inkjet and then four subsequent photolithographic printings. The text is printed in handset letterpress. The image is constructed by using photographs of the view from each of the nine station stops of the elevated train in Chicago’s Loop. At each stop, I stepped out and made a photograph. I then took these photos and layered them together. This new image is reminiscent of the visual experience of looking out the window as we moved along the tracks. Two brief statements wind their way down the image, intersect and exit into the image. The folded structure references the skyscrapers that dominate the landscape and the unfolding structure is an impossible guide to this portion of the city.
© 2014 Marlene MacCallum, Nine Elevated Views, case bound folded paper book work, 17.3 cm x 7.7 cm x 1.5 cm
© 2014 Marlene MacCallum, Nine Elevated Views, view of first opening, inkjet, lithography and letterpress, 17.3 cm x 14.65 cm
© 2014 Marlene MacCallum, Nine Elevated Views, view of center opening of book, inkjet, lithography and letterpress, 17.3 cm x 16.5 cm
© 2014 Marlene MacCallum, Nine Elevated Views, view of book block extended sideways, 17.3 cm x 29.3 cm
© 2014 Marlene MacCallum, Nine Elevated Views, view of book block extended sideways and opened up partially
© 2014 Marlene MacCallum, Nine Elevated Views, view of book block fully extended, 40.8 cm x 29.3 cm
Sharon Sharp remained captivated by Kentucky’s remarkable cave system and its complex history after her trip to Mammoth Cave National Park. Sharon served as Mammoth Cave National Park’s Artist-in-Residence in 2009 and created a set of artist’s books for donation to the park after her residency experience. Her artists’ book Depth Perception: Mapmaking Legacies at Mammoth Cave is a one-of-a-kind artist’s book created in 2011.
Virtually every week, my mind wanders back to that setting, its environmental richness, and the people whose lives have been shaped by experiences there.
Depth Perception: Mapmaking Legacies at Mammoth Cave is a sculptural, multi-part book that celebrates two early mappers of Mammoth Cave's labyrinthine passages: Stephen Bishop, an enslaved African American guide who, in the mid-1800s, gained international fame; and Max Kämper, a German civil engineer who, with the guide Ed Bishop (Stephen’s nephew), explored further and devised new mapping approaches in the early 1900s. These explorers are still honored at today's National Park, which encompasses the world's longest cave. Historic map portions and my cave-interior photographs accent text on the central section’s interior and exterior. Details about Stephen Bishop and Max Kämper appear in small fold-out books on each end of the large structure, which represents the cave system’s majestic realms.
© 2011, photo by Tommy White; Depth Perception: Mapmaking Legacies at Mammoth Cave by Sharon Sharp is 8.75 inches H x 6.5 inches W, 42 inches when fully opened
© 2011, photo by Tommy White; Depth Perception: Mapmaking Legacies at Mammoth Cave by Sharon Sharp is spired accordions sewn back-to-back, with fold-down end sections and pop-up features
© 2011, photo by Tommy White; Depth Perception: Mapmaking Legacies at Mammoth Cave by Sharon Sharp is created using Canson Mi-Teintes, metallic-flecked unryu, textured Strathmore, kozo with mango leaves, and Southworth papers
© 2011, photo by Tommy White; Depth Perception: Mapmaking Legacies at Mammoth Cave by Sharon Sharp, archival inkjet prints for text, map portions, and original photos; colored-pencil highlights on photos; Irish linen thread; binder’s board and magnets
Join me in celebrating. Go travel and explore your experiences!