"Dust to Dust and Somewhere in Between"

The cover of my book

 

 The first page in the book 

Below is my accordion book made with powder blue 100%rag printing paper.

Hi Downtowners,

It is so exciting and inspiring to be apart of this project, just got the first book. Mine is on its way.

The cover of my book is from a series created during a Residency in Ireland entitled “Dust to Dust and Somewhere in Between”.   

It was created with carbon black acrylic paint on BFK printing paper. The paper was saturated with scaling hot water then drops of paint were carefully added. The paper was left to dry by the intensity of the sun shining through the skylight. The sun was very much apart of the creative process because the washes were alive, moving, bleeding and mixing until the sun dried the paper, which is when the creating stopped. It was always a pleasant surprise to come back to the studio to see what happened.

“Dust to Dust” came out of the connection I felt with nature during my stay in Ireland. I often felt as if I were in an enchanted forest with intoxicating views of cliffs, rocky shores, rolling hills and ocean views.  

Being so in awe of nature made me feel minute in comparison and scale. In other words we came from nature and we eventually will go back to nature hence the expression dust to dust.

The second part of the title “Somewhere in between” represents us, as we are that dash, that lives between the day we were born and the day we die.

It is up to us to make that dash profound. The dust to dust is just a reminder of how important it is to live in the moment and to cherish our families and friends. It starts with us, when we strive to be the best that we can be, open our hearts to people who are less fortunate and perform random acts of kindness, we can make a difference and the world a better place “Somewhere in between”.

Missed the boat, but........

Ah Rats!

And again, I missed the boat and didn't catch the memo that said to post your book's first entry! So, instead, here is the gist of my book:

The theme is:  MOVE, what is it for you?

The above is a drawing from my little girl, Luka.  Her drawings will always catch me in that 'ah, that's awesome' momma moment.  Love my kids art, it keeps me going and doing what I do here in the classroom for mine and other kids as well.

Art on everyone!

Jo's book

Here are some pictures of my book ...

I made a triangular book and the theme is "A Game of Chance". I have included a set of dice and a list of instructions to generate the artwork. 

Jen's 1st post

Theme: Front & Back
Use the front & backside for each of your entries. 
You can probably use as many pages as you want as there's more than enough space. 

**apologies for the upside down photos. 

Julie's 1st Post

Hi Downtowners
I am really excited and nervous to post the photos of my book.
 I have chosen 'Connection' as my title.
For me it was while looking at old family photos I could see the lovely and loving connection between my mother and her only sister, throughout their lives, whether they sat in the sun or waltzed at a family wedding. One of my favourite photographs of my two younger daughters is of them waltzing spontaneously in the evening sun on the roof of a hostel in Arequipa. As young teenagers I seem to focus on their bickering but realise when I see that photo that they too have that lovely connection.
I collaged the photos and screen printed them onto paper-porcelain clay which I cut up to look like old serrated post-card books. The heart is a reference to old Spanish post cards of Flamenco dancers with their embroidered dresses.
I look forward to being part of this exciting creative process. I am not sure if I have put in enough pages, but use as many or few as you like.
Bye for now
Xxx Julie

Eric's "book"... wait a second?

First entry in Eric's POCKET "book", Feb. 2, 2014

So, it all started back in Amsterdam... Petr had this super rad shirt with an upside-down pocket on it, and I got to thinkin': what if my "book" for this rotation wasn't really a book in the traditional sense? 

So, I am sending around a white t-shirt, and it's up to y'all to sew a pocket onto it as your entries. 

This project is intended to yield a shirt that has never existed before, and cannot be recreated by machines.

• I intend to wear this shirt at ECIS 2014 in Nice, the whole time. This means I hope that I won't get injured by what you sew onto it. Otherwise, feel free to dream up what a "pocket" could look like, be made out of, contain, etc? Go bananas: you can put them on the inside, outside, arms....
• In case you can't tell from this terrible selfie, I totally suck at sewing. The most technically advanced thing you can't see in this image is that I backed the pocket up on the inside with pellon, so that the shirt doesn't get too wavy (I guess it's hard to sew turgid materials onto soft materials, like t-shirt?). I included some in the package for you to use if you want. I don't expect perfection, just originality.
• You can sew other stuff onto the shirt, tassels, beads, etc. that echo off your pocket or others' pockets.
• If you want to brush up on your sewing skills, Google how to do it correctly, otherwise, just go for it!