When I heard we were doing an artist book I must say I was so excited. After taking book/paper making summer of 2019 I've been going book crazy! I've lost track of just how many I've made. But what's odd is most of the books I've produced have been of utilitarian design. Sketchbooks, notebooks, book covers for composition books. I've only made one dedicated artist book and one or two weird but still functionally utilitarian books (one I called my scrap book because I used all scraps to make it from scrap book cloth to scrap book board, it's weird).
This being said I think it would be rude of me not to mention Christopher Kardambikis' influence on my book making. He emphasizes the idea of book as sculpture, the 3D aspects that can be pushed no matter the binding, and the artist hand in even the most utilitarian book. His artwork is mostly print work with his books being collections of prints or prints made specifically for the artist book he is making. I'd like to join my more realist style with his geometric abstraction for the idea I have of the mind/spirit of the departed being welcomed or spread throughout the universe.
An artist chosen from the list was Shara Hughes
Her artwork is mostly abstract with realistic shapes forming landscapes with overlapping objects.
In this example there appears to be a passageway between the green forms on the edges of the canvas with a large yellow and red section cutting the path in two.
The reason I chose her pieces was how they showed the ability to create a pathway with simple shapes and still maintain the sense of "the forbidden and the inviting" as the MET video described.
Lastly there was a link to a selection of doors and passageways: https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/doorways-passages/Vw5xHNtgTRuG6BHb
On this curated list there were different examples of what that might look like. Some were inviting some more forbidden and others a strange but lovely mix. At the top of the list were sample questions to invite inquiry and my favorite one was "where does it lead?" I chose that question because I find the curiosity of where the door will take you the inviting part. Does this door have fascinating secrets to share behind it's form or will it take me on an adventure? While a simple statement, the first line of the text on this site "doorways are the transition point from one place to another" can be taken literally or taken as a call for metaphorical exploration.
In this way I hope to create a doorway that is scary and odd yet inviting. I think the door I've chosen can be seen as one where you know where it will take you. But I want to take the viewer on an adventure further beyond the expected with this book and doorway.
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