Water is Life

***** UPDATE *****
This book sold at the Thumb Area Artist's Exhibition at the Starkweather Art Center!
Happy that it found a new home!

Although the title for this artbook was initially inspired by #NODAPL and the protests at Standing Rock, I ended up focusing on my interactions with water and the emotional connection we all have with the ocean. I've always been drawn to the water even though I do not consider myself a competent swimmer. There is just something comforting in the sound of lapping waves.

I repurposed an old photo album by covering all the pages with old maps cropped down to the world's oceans and put a coat of gesso over them to tone down the image. I found some interesting handmade papers with a watery feel to use on the covers. Rubberstamps, tissue paper prints, stenciling, image transfers and gel medium embossing were all used to help tell the story. On facing pages, I used paper with a printed wooden plank image to represent a seaside dock or boardwalk and left room to insert the found poetry I created to support the intention of the book.

Framing the top and bottom with actual shells, I found a way to use the photo openings in the pages to create windows to look through as the viewer dives into the book. I played around with Golden's Clear Tar Gel to give the final piece a watery wet look by dripping it down the front cover and onto some tulle mesh on the inside pages.

I've captioned some of the photos with the found poetry texts. I've always enjoyed rearranging words and phrases to create something entirely new.

Forces of wind and currents
swirl up an irrepressible joy
of strange turquoise sensations
and happy sapphire wanderings.

Thunderclaps rolling across the sky
heave deep sighs and
a glittering jewel falls
to finish the mystery
beneath the sea
connecting every shade of blue

The beach was strewn
with a miscellaneous collection
of abandoned shell homes
and bleached white bones,
fragments smoothed by
the sand and sea

The wind and the waves
awaken a sense of euphoria
found in the ever changing
variations of light glittering
on the surface of the sand.

The strange fascination
that everything is connected
by the emptiness of the ocean's heart
and the inexplicable memory
of whispered stories mingle
with salty tears.

Summer days on the wide beach
spent gathering up earth bones and
small stones marked with mysterious
etchings and held most sacred.

Listening to the sea
stretch into a deep breath,
the extraordinary peace of life
in full tide
illuminates the intersection
where washed by the waves,
emotions float into the heart
and tears overflow.