Friday Inspiration: I is for Eye*

*from Corita Kent "I is for Eye," a 1968 serigraph (second down from the right)

Book-a-Week: Eyes

 

This is a very experimental book. I made the paper a couple of months ago using the Japanese method of sheet forming. I had printed the eyes from a lino block on vintage paper and then imbedded the individual prints in between layers of Kozo fiber. The Kozo fiber is very strong but translucent, allowing the printed image to be visible.


I had put aside the paper until recently when I was experimenting with beeswax. I dipped the sheets in a tray of molten beeswax. Some sheets I submerged entirely, others I dipped halfway or two-thirds of the way. When they had cooled, I placed the sheets between blotter paper and ironed off the excess beeswax.

The beeswax intensified the translucency of the paper and the imbedded images. When folded and stacked, the eyes were visible through several layers. The result is a delicate, but surprisingly strong book.

Week No. 2
Untitled (Eyes)
single signature, 10 pages
handmade Kozo paper, linocuts, beeswax
7.25 x 7.25"

Eyes

The fragments of something new-- block printed eyes on vintage Japanese rice paper

These eyes remind me of a self portrait Picasso drew over a photograph by David Douglas Duncan, which looks identical to an ancient Egyptian tomb decoration found in the Museum of Fine Arts. They are also the eyes of saints from illuminated manuscripts or ancient Roman funerary portraits or many other threads that weave in and out of art history.

Playlist for a rainy day--

I Don't Want Love / The Antlers

Skip the Charades / Cold War Kids

Turning Tables / Adele

Skinny Love / Bon Iver

Country Lane / Telekinesis

Powerman / The Kinks

Dancing with Mr. D / The Rolling Stones

Because the Night / Patti Smith

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