ELEMENTS OF NATURE, A HANDMADE ART BOOK...

My submission for Seth Apter's (The Altered Page) open art call is finished and has flown away to New York!  I sort of wish I could have stowed away with it, it might be fun to hang around in Seth's mail box and see all that cool art pouring in.  On second thought maybe not, that might seem a little creepy and stalker-like.  Anyway, my contribution to his challenge was a mixed media handmade book, Elements of Nature...

My project started out with some hand dyed fabric, a pile of rusty found objects, and a vague idea of creating a fat book that met the specifications of a 5 in. x 5 in. square piece of art that answered one of the following questions:

1. The Artistic Ingredient: If your artwork could talk, what would it say?

 2. Passion in Action: Who has had the most impact on your creative life?

 3. Secrets Revealed: What is one thing you have never shared with the creative community?

You could choose 1, 2 or all 3 of the questions and answer them individually.  The answer(s) to the question(s) were to be in words which could be written, typed, drawn, sewn, painted, etc. and those participating were encouraged to make the piece visually interesting.

 

 

I chose to concentrate mostly on question one but I think I was able to weave a little of two and three in there also.  My little book measures 5 in. x 5 in. square and is about 2 1/2 in. thick.  Each element was lovingly hand crafted, all pages were hand dyed, as well as the cover being completely handmade.  I have made art books before but nothing on this scale or done book binding to this extent. 

  

The cover has its own little removable book too.  It was made to resemble an old falling apart nature journal...

 

 I will let my book speak for itself using little excerpts of the text that I wrote for the book.
I wrote this from the books point of view, what it would say if it could speak:

(Warning, photo rich post!  Since I will never see this little book friend again I documented it well.)

 "If I were to speak in the native tongue of man rather than in my natural visual form I would tell you of the passion behind the person who wrought me into being..." 

 "I extol the warmth of the simmering summer sun..."

 " I express the purity of the atmosphere on full moonlit star studded nights..."  

 

 

 "I express the verdure of the forests that cover the hills and hollows of her home through both color and symbol..."

 "I express the intricacy and detail with which she likes to create..."

"I express creative freedom and artistic adventure where the inception of new ideas are formed and begin being worked out..."

"I express the emerging artist who is slowing working her way out of her insulated cocoon and testing her new found wings..."

 "...Creator has spread all of creation before her and it is a glorious and golden world, everything tinged with its own unique texture, shape, size, and its own gorgeous hue. The natural world is her artist pallet of choice, her greatest influence, and her deepest joy..." 

 

The End...

 Thank you for viewing my submission, I will let you know any news I hear on it.

I hope you all enjoy a beauty filled weekend!

Blessings,

Sandy