Surveillance

I’m delighted to announce the release of my recent artists’ book that considers our privacy and freedom in a social and democratic world.

© 2021 Louise Levergneux. Surveillance, a tunnel book, 7 x 5.25 x 1.5 inches (18 x 13 x 4cm).

© 2021 Louise Levergneux. Surveillance, a tunnel book, 7 x 5.25 x 1.5 inches (18 x 13 x 4cm).

« Surveillance » presents the direct result of a three-year collection of security warning sign photos. The key concept started in the summer of 2017 while traversing the US from Boise, Idaho, to Gatineau, Québec. I felt my every move being watched, while travelling across the country. I became more sensitive and aware of the level of surveillance forced upon me. It wasn't that the surveillance was personal, but universal, that presented a dilemma for me. However, it became apparent Google was tracking my digital journey as I researched online. I noticed advertisements from my latest searches as Google kept tabs with bread crumbs history and presented personalized promotional links on the screen. Who’s watching?

© 2017 Louise Levergneux. Original warning sign photo.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux. Original warning sign photo.

Generally, my book ideas come after being blitzed by a subject matter or a visual stimulus. I surprise myself by photographing a similar subject over and over again, till the collection of photos provide the incentive to research in depth what captured my attention.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Original warning sign photo taken in San Antonio, Texas.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Original warning sign photo taken in San Antonio, Texas.

Next, various scenarios are played by writing or reviewing photos. I operate with the five principal questions of strategy, which helps to clarify the idea. Habitually these questions are resolved through my thought processes in the early hours of the morning. Once the idea has permeated through, I gather all my photos into Photoshop and the fun begins. This is my tool to design. The software provides to me the freedom to experiment and photography as a medium inspires me.

Next comes the planning of content, size of the page, composition, colours, the materials, structure and binding of the book... It takes a while to digest all these components and start publishing. For me, the structure is what takes the longest to decide and implement.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Figuring out the binding and electronics in Natalie Freed’s studio in Austin, Texas.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Figuring out the binding and electronics in Natalie Freed’s studio in Austin, Texas.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. A copy of the front cover for the tunnel book, laser cut by Sarah Pike from Free Fall Laser in Adams, Massachusetts.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. A copy of the front cover for the tunnel book, laser cut by Sarah Pike from Free Fall Laser in Adams, Massachusetts.

« Surveillance » was one of the most complicated projects I created. I needed the help of other artists who were knowledgeable in their fields for the book to come together. While visiting Olivia Primanis at The Harry Ransom Center in 2018, the idea of adding electronics to the book came to mind. Olivia suggested Natalie Freed as a contact, who was giving a workshop at the Austin Book Arts Center at the time. Working with Natalie remained a delightful experience, and our meetings brought many possibilities to the forefront and solidified the type of binding. Another conversation during a studio visit with Thomas Parker Williams in Philadelphia, provided me the opportunity to communicate with Sarah Pike from Free Fall Laser in North Adams, Massachusetts. I could not fathom the idea of cutting the windows of the cover page and holes necessary to attach the camera and wires on the book board. Oh, I tried! But this job was better executed by a laser cutter.

© 2020 Louise Levergneux. The pages of the tunnel book printed and ready to assemble.

© 2020 Louise Levergneux. The pages of the tunnel book printed and ready to assemble.

Once the components and structure were in place, I concentrated on the five pages of the tunnel book. The fun continued in the world of Photoshop. Printing double sided layouts remain a lengthy process. Registration needs to be checked at least twice before printing the actual image. The printer settings, printer profiles, and the colour handling should be correctly chosen for the type paper used; printers are relatively complex, and they don’t always cooperate. When my Epson works smoothly, the images that roll out are beautiful with crisp and bright colours. I enjoy printing with an Epson Stylus Photo R3000; what you see is what you get — meaning — my images print exactly as they are perceived on the computer screen.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Cutting to size the book board for the binding of Surveillance.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Cutting to size the book board for the binding of Surveillance.

The least fun of my projects is using glue! It's is all over the place. I’m lucky a book is completed without any glue on the cloth! Once the binding, the switch, the colophon, the cover image, the structure were all in place, the end was near. The pleasure of seeing all the components come together is fantastic. Now, I can invite the viewer into a world where personal freedom is infringed by the bombardment of warning signs. Once inside, the viewer’s privacy is usurped once more by a photo captured without permission.

When an artists’ book comes to completion in an effective way, the feeling of accomplishment is tremendous. I can say, done, and it feels great!

Since the project is complete my focus is now on promoting and distributing « Surveillance ». I hope you can take pleasure in the finished product. Enjoy!

As always, thanks for your interest by reading my blog posts.

© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Inside view.

Austin.5

There is a considerable amount of art to see and visit in Austin, Texas. A few weeks ago I was at the Austin Book Arts Center located in studio #114 in Flatbed Press building. While I was meeting with Linda Anderson, Mary Baughman stopped by to say hello. We met last year, when she created introduction opportunities to other artists in the area.

© 2018 Linda Anderson. Michael Sutton, Louise Levergneux, Mary Baughman, outside the Austin Book Art Center, Austin, Texas.

© 2018 Linda Anderson. Michael Sutton, Louise Levergneux, Mary Baughman, outside the Austin Book Art Center, Austin, Texas.

Mary’s career spanned 40 years at the University of Texas, most of that time caring for unique books at the Ransom Center. Teaching book arts for children has convinced her that children who learn to love books continue to treasure reading and writing, and will support the libraries of the future. Mary is additionally a associate of the Lone Star chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, a founding member of Austin Book Workers, and one of the originators of the Book Arts Fair held for 20+ years at Laguna Gloria Art Museum.

If you are a conservator you might be interested in reading on how Mary spearheaded the effort at the Ransom Center by creating insect ID flashcards.

After my time with Linda, Mary accompanied me around Flatbeb Press, founded in 1989 by Katherine Brimberry and Mark L. Smith. The facility includes not only Flatbeb’s shop, offices, and galleries, but also eleven tenants. The mix of visual-arts professionals provides a "24/7" creative synergy in the building.

Gallery Shoal Creek, CAMIBA Art,

Austin Book Arts Center,

L_A_N D Architects,

Hubbard Birchler Studio,

Daniel Arredondo Studio,

Smith and Hawley, NJ Weaver Studio,

Recspec Design Studio,

Jacqueline May Studio and Troy Brauntuch Studio.


© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Ericka Walker, exhibition of lithographs and screen prints.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Ericka Walker, exhibition of lithographs and screen prints.

While walking around the galleries, I witnessed Influence an exhibition of recent works by Nova Scotia based artist Ericka Walker, who was born in Hartford, Wisconsin, US.

Her large-scale multi-color lithographs draw on the vibrant history of propaganda, printed ephemera, and advertising from twentieth century Europe and North America. Ericka's work exposes nostalgia as an ongoing rhetorical device in a contemporary sociopolitical climate that clings savagely to destructive birthrights and colonial residues. As a self described “Daughter of Colonialism,” Walker considers the history of her parent nation, her host country, and to her own family’s involvement in settlement, agriculture, industry, and military service as enterprises that are far more complex than any slogan or advertisement can acclaim.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.

© 2018 Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.

© 2018 Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.

© 2018 Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.

© 2018 Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.

© 2018 Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.

© 2018 Ericka Walker, lithograph and screen print.


As I roamed the hallways the exhibition Language of Flowers engaged my eye. This show presents Brooklyn based, West Virginia native, Martin Mazorra’s botanical woodcut and letterpress prints that maintain the Victorian tradition of the language of flowers. Historically, flowers were a means to send coded messages that were otherwise unspoken in public. Specific flowers communicated distinct postures or sentiments. In Mazorra’s Language of Flowers, the choices of particular flowers or bouquets, along with provocative text are a contemporary interpretation to this tradition of cautious exchange.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Louise Levergneux. Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

Martin Mazorra is a Brooklyn based artist originally from West Virginia. He works chiefly in the medium of woodcut and letterpress, in a range of scales from small books, prints on paper, and on canvas, to site specific print-based installations.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

© 2018 Martin Mazorra, woodcut with movable type.

Whenever you can, join me in visiting exhibition in your area.


The Harry Ransom Center

The structure of the Harry Ransom Center building is alluring. My camera came out of my bag and I began shooting. I wanted to take photos of the etched glass images of the first-floor plazas—trying to recognize the images became a game!

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, right plaza etched glass of the Harry Ransom Center, Gloria Swanson, Edward Steichen, 1924

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, left plaza etched glass of the Harry Ransom Center, Austin, Storyboard from Gone with the Wind, 1939

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, left plaza etched glass of the Harry Ransom Center, Austin, Storyboard from Gone with the Wind, 1939

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, right plaza etched glass of the Harry Ransom Center, Austin, Horse in Motion, Eadweard Muybridge, ca 1886

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, right plaza etched glass of the Harry Ransom Center, Austin, Horse in Motion, Eadweard Muybridge, ca 1886

Olivia Primanis invited me to a second French lunch. I enjoyed dialoguing thoughts and ideas in my native tongue. French conversations stimulate a different rapport. This get-together gave me the chance to visit the Conservation Departments of the Harry Ransom Center.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, we started with the Book Conservation Lab where we met the week before for my presentation of my artists’ books

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, we started with the Book Conservation Lab where we met the week before for my presentation of my artists’ books

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Olivia Primanis working at her station in the Book Conservation Lab

Then we stepped into the Paper Conservation Lab where this year’s intern Kimberly Kwan was working. I met Ken Grant, Head of Paper Lab, Preservation and Conservation and Jane Boyd, Conservator of the Paper Lab.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Kimberly Kwan and Jane Boyd in the Paper Conservation Lab

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Ken Grant and Kimberly Kwan in the Paper Conservation Lab

The third lab was the Photograph Conservation, I found it interesting to see the equipment used by the staff to accomplish assignments.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Photograph Conservation Lab

Last, but not least, I visited the Preservation Lab, where I was introduced to the different collections that are maintained and kept. Genevieve Pierce, Preservation Technician, was informative and knowledgeable.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Genevieve Pierce in the Preservation Lab working on boxes for a specific collection

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, Genevieve Pierce in the Preservation Lab working on boxes for a specific collection

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, the other side of the Preservation Lab

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, the other side of the Preservation Lab

This was a great exploration, I’m looking forward to perusing the Books Arts Collection in depth next year.

© 2017 Louise Levergneux, my last gaze at the Harry Ransom Center before leaving Austin