Zen and the Art of the Book

My early introduction to the book arts came from two art communities: the Penland School for the Book and Paper Arts, in North Carolina and Anderson Arts Ranch in Snowmass, Colorado. I participated in the Penland Book and Paper Arts Intensive in May of 1994. I had the opportunity to work with Ed Hutchins along with others...gained experience in basic codex book binding and learned way more than I wanted about the History of Glue.

In 1996, I participated in Zen and the Art of Bookmaking at the Anderson Arts Ranch, taught by Susan kae Grant whose work is featured in the Smithsonian as part of the Science and the Artist's Book exhibit (see link on sidebar). While in Snowmass, I began a series of limited edition palm books. These books, as the name implies, are made to fit in the palm of your hand. They include words, sayings and images as a focus for meditation, prayer and reflection.

Palm Book Series: Haiku

This is a Limited Edition Butterfly book, with hand printed original text. Walnut wood, vintage ribbon, 1.5 x 1.5.

Palm Book Series: The All Seeing Eye

The coin on this cover of this book is a lucky coin. It has good luck images from numerous cultures, and includes the inscription: The All Seeing Eye. I found it in a second hand store. If you look closely, you can see that the coin has already been rubbed for luck many times.

Walnut wood, found object, linen book cloth, 2 x 2.5

Palm Book Series: Meditation

Oak, Bone, Linen, 2 x 3

Palm Book Series: Japanese Style Stitched Miniatures

Cotton cloth, linen, rice paper, 1 x 1.5

Travel Journaling

I made this journal in preparation for a three week trip to Ireland which I took in 2003. The journal is filled with written entries, photos, postcards, rubbings, watercolor sketches and emphemera from my travels which I entered both during and after the trip.

Leather, nails, found objects, 5 x 7.

Unmade Art

I have some cabinets with long, shallow drawers that are just right for tucking away bits and pieces of things I think might someday end up in a found object art assemblage. I like to pull open the drawers and consider the possibilities....

Pocket Journal

2.5 x 3.5, leather, book cloth, linen, bone, found text

Writer's Journal

6 x 6, leather, found objects collage

The taking of this photo was aided by my cat, Kitkat. His toes are in perfect focus, but I think he threw off eveything else.

Writer's Journal Too

5 x 5, leather, linen, found text

The Tools

Most of these vintage bookmaking tools I've picked up at flea markets and antique shops. I came across several prize ones at a weekend market in Lincolnshire, England, when I was visting my friend Karen. Her dad thought I was nuts for spending so much money on such crude looking tools. And he made fun of me for my southern American accent. Apparently, when I say the word "tools," it has two syllables....too-uls.

The Inspiration

This was my mother's journal. She made it when she was in college in 1938. It's a lovely volume, hand stitched and bound, about 4 x 6. She wrote poems in it, ranging from when she was seventeen to when she was seventy. She used to keep it in her dresser drawer, and when I was little I would ask for permission to take it out and look at it. It seemed to hold such power and charm for me. Still does.

About the Odes....

I have always loved the initimate worlds of shadow boxes and dioramas. I was first introduced to the world of the shadow box when I was very young. In my early play years, my two older sisters would depart each day for school and leave me lonely and longing for companionship. My mother often kept me occupied by handing me an old shoe box, scissors, paper, pictures, glue and encouraging me to build secret worlds which could only be viewed through the smallest of peep holes. The following shadow boxes contain visual poems. I like the idea of intersecting literary forms, such as the ode, with visual forms such as collage assemblage. Each shadow box is an ode to something. According to my Funk and Wagnall's, an ode is a lyric poem which celebrates something in lofty and serious tones.

(The Shadow Box Series and the Lesser Angels Series both appeared in a show at the Mudhouse Gallery, Springfield, Missouri, December 2005 to February 2006. Prices for pieces range from $75.00 to $200.00. If you are interested in purchasing a piece, you can contact me by e-mail at jvanarke@drury.edu).

Ode to Double Shot Mondays

Found Object Mixed Media Collage, private collection

Ode to the Good Dog

Found Object Mixed Media Collage, private collection

Ode to the Happy Runner

Found Object Mixed Media Collage, private collection

Ode to the Crisp White Shirt

Found Object Mixed Media Collage, private collection

About the Lesser Angels....

Quite a few years ago (almost thirty), while traveling in London, I found The Abridged Compendium of Lesser Angels at the bottom of a pile of old books in an open air market near Picadilly. If you've been there, you know how market fairs appear one day in a narrow, nameless alley and disappear the next.

The book has no publishing date, nor does it have a named author--just an anonymous staff of diligent and sincere catalogers referred to as Editors at Large. Some time early in the last century, these Editors at Large attempted to identify several of the Lesser Angels for whatever benefits such a directory might provide.

A compendium is a catalogue. To abridge a compendium is to shorten it. Thus--The Abridged Compendium of Lesser Angels. I think the editors had every intention of compiling The Compleat Compendium of Lesser Angels, but became so overwhelmed with the sheer number of Lesser Angels and their myriad tasks, that they truncated their efforts.

Naturally, a catalogue about Lesser Angels would be abridged since theirs is the secondary, even tertiary work of the world. They go about, quiet and unnoticed, toiling away at the most obscure, menial jobs, like making sure letters with postage due still get delivered, or overseeing the sweep second hand on your watch. What follows is a small sampling of the known population of Lesser Angels.

(This show ran from December 2005 to February 2006, at the Mudhouse Gallery in Springfield, Missouri.)