Rosetta's Gravel

Rosetta's Gravel - Artist Book - First page to left - cover to right - evertson©20010

_I just finished a second accordion book to submit to the Creative Art Workshop’s artist book exhibition. I was reminded how much they function as maps. The folded style is suited to that sort of need for compactness and yet have the ability to stretch out to see the whole journey if necessary.

Rosetta's Gravel - Artist Book - last page toward center - evertson©2010

_My new piece, Rosetta’s Gravel, while not as easily defined as a map, seemed to have other qualities that lent itself to that folding pattern. I was thinking of a dictionary as I began building up the images used for the book. The images are based on the handstamps I’ve been working through placed in grids and assigned “meaning” or associations. The stamp symbols are personal yet many of them have universal aspects to them. They have not been conceived of in a particular order, but are carved as they come; mostly unconsciously.

_I’ve laid them out that way in the book as well. Composed perhaps; as they are not in an alphabetic or thematic order and appear quite jumbled, much the way the desire to make a particular image manifests.

_I began the book by calling it an Apocrypha. Hidden things from the Greek, but also with a subtext of uncertain authority. The last page come from the realization that this collection, in this format is acting more like a musical composition than dictionary.

_The show is juried by renowned book artist Heidi Kyle, whose work I've admired long before I tried my hand at artist books. Keeping fingers crossed on the selection process.

Crude - Multimedia, copper mesh, metal toys and hubcap - evertson©2010

_Another piece, a multi media sculpture, that I began last year finally came to completion. The Landfill Arts hubcap sat on workbench for several months while other projects came and went. Some thoughts on it coalesced last week and I finished it and shipped it to Ken Marquis who curates the project. Other posts on this piece.

_Ken has a wonderful site set up for viewing the submissions to this project. This link takes you to the beginning of the slides. Mine is on page 11.