The Spirit Books at the Arnold-Part 5

In the last post I mentioned that the cradle was originally used in Spirit Book #79. It was replaced by this one that was a gift from artist Merike Van Zanten from her lakeside home and studio in Maine. It was one of a few armfuls of pieces that she delivered to my door last year.

The acorns were gathered in Stoneham, MA by Thomas Lane and his mother Christina. I trimmed the edges to make flattish buttons which were sewn to the pages with gold metallic thread. The spirals are stitched with thread and copper beads are sewn on the edges of the pages.

The paper is amate paper from Mexico. It is one of my favorites. I love its color, texture, and history. It was the paper made by the Mayans and Aztecs from the inner bark of the fig tree and is made by hand the same way today. You can view a video of the papermaking process filmed in San Pablito by Eliza Holliday here. The darker paper is Shawa paper from Bhutan.

The book is named Enduring Benevolence because both the cradle and the acorns on the pages were gifts. Enduring comes from the acorns. Oaks are symbols of longevity and endurance.

The Spirit Books are on view at the Hunnewell Building Visitor Center at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University until July 22. Gallery hours are 10 AM-5 PM everyday but Wednesday.

The Spirit Books at the Arnold-Part 4

Spirit Book #98: Lunar Meditation is a previously used cradle (for Spirit Book #79 which now has a new cradle) and a new book. The wood was saved for me by Mike at the Yard Waste Facility after my husband spoke to him and showed him a copy of my Spirit Books catalog.

The book is made from hu'un paper from Mexico. The circles are two layers of stitching with copper metallic thread. They are surrounded by small stitches and tiny glass seed beads. The idea for the empty circle seemed to just arrive but I know it was inspired by a series of posts by Mo Crow (Mo Orkiszewski) from Australia.

Mo and I have a long distance friendship that represents the good side of the internet. We probably wouldn't have had this rich interchange of art and inspiration without it. In 2013 she made a Spirit Book of the Spirit Books which used images and texts of mine along with her work in an exquisite, organic, earthy binding.

It was her last summer's series of posts, Once in a Blue Moon, that planted the circle in my head. I recommend checking out Mo's blog, It's Crow Time for some inspiration of your own from down under.

The Spirit Books are on view at the Hunnewell Building Visitor Center at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University until July 22. Gallery hours are 10 AM-5 PM everyday but Wednesday.

The Spirit Books at the Arnold-Part 3

Spirit Book #27: Absorbed Prayer greets you in the lobby of the Hunnewell Building and provides of preview of the exhibition in Visitors Center. Created in 2001, it is still one of my favorites. The cradle is made from the stems that hold the chestnut blossoms and then the conkers to the spire. In the autumn, they fall to the ground along with the conkers that my kids used to carry home every year. I gathered them along High Street in Newburyport during one of my walks.

The pages are made from Lokta paper from Nepal and the cover of Mashamba paper from Africa. The stitching is done with gold metallic thread. Glass seed beads are at the center of the spirals. At the exhibition, the Spirit Books are all in cases but there are sample papers on binder rings so you can feel the textures of the papers.

My favorite part of the Spirit Books is the stitching and my favorite patterns are spirals. I find stitching to be a kind of meditation. I draw the pattern on back of the pages and then poke holes for the stitches. When I am sewing, I know exactly where to put the needle and can relax into the slow up and down movement of my hand.

The name "Absorbed Prayer" comes from the book, Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life where the author, Roger S. Wieck, wrote: “Books of Hours reveal something about the medieval experience of absorbed prayer.” I like to think the Spirit Books reveal the same about my experience.

The Spirit Books at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, May 4–July 22
Hours: 10 AM–5 PM, closed Wednesdays
Reception: Saturday, May 19, 1–3 PM
Artist Talk, Saturday, June 2, 4 PM

The Spirit Books at the Arnold-Part 2

With Lilac Sunday at the Arnold today and our lilacs getting ready to bloom, it's the perfect time to share the story of Spirit Book #43: Renewed Wisdom. The cradle was made from lilac and blackberry roots from our garden. When we moved into our house 33 years ago, there was an overgrown stand of lilacs. Over the years we have cut down or dug out dead wood and planted some new plants, not to mention pulled or cut out the oh so many maple seedlings that took root. This piece came from a 2004 pruning session. The blackberry vines were growing in the midst of the lilacs.

The book was recycled from a previous Spirit Book. I never have a sketch or a plan. I start working and see how it evolves. Most often I am happy with the result but sometimes the finished piece just doesn't work. Usually I am able to incorporate some or all of it into another Spirit Book. The book here was made from half of a book from an earlier piece. The stitching is done with copper metallic thread and the beads on the edges are made from copper, glass, and myrrh. The paper is from Bhutan and Mexico.

I named the piece Renewed because the book was renewed from a previous incarnation. Wisdom comes from the myrrh beads. Myrrh was one of the gifts of the Wise Men to the Christ child.

The Spirit Books at the Arnold-Part 1

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to exhibit the Spirit Books at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in Boston. On the website, the Arnold's mission is described:

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University discovers and disseminates knowledge of the plant kingdom to foster greater understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of Earth’s botanical diversity and its essential value to humankind.

Over the next few months (the exhibit is on view until July 22), I’m going to write about each of the fourteen pieces in the show, starting with #99 which has a cradle made from sweetgum pods which were gathered at the Arnold.

Last fall Sheryl White, Coordinator of Visitor Engagement, took my husband and me around the Arnold to gather potential material for a new Spirit Book. I was immediately attracted to the green pods under the sweetgum trees (Liquidambar styraciflua) and collected a bag of them. They spent the winter in my studio drying to a light greenish gold.

To make the cradle, I made holes in the pods with an awl and hammer and strung them together with wire to make a sort of a nest to cradle the book. I first thought I would make the holes with a needle but the pods were surprisingly strong.

My usual process is to make the cradle first, then choose the papers and tear them to the desired size for the pages. The book uses a handmade paper from Paszkowski Papers from Ukraine (purchased on etsy) and elephant hide paper (not made from elephant hide) purchased at Talas in Brooklyn.

I do all the stitching on the pages before I sew the book together. I like to leave the cradle in a place where I can glance at it frequently and usually the pattern design comes to me, in this case, in that in-between time between waking and rising from bed.

The last step is always the title. While the number is assigned as I start to work on it, the name is given at the end. I remembered seeing images of and reading about the sweetgum in the book Seeing Trees by Nancy Ross Hugo with photographs by Robert Llewellyn. In it she wrote:

If asked to draw a gumball from memory, I'd have probably drawn something that looked like a mace--a round ball with straight, pointed spikes coming out all around it. Closer inspection reveals a fruiting structure that is much more interesting. Most of the spikes on a mature gumball actually have curved tips, like crochet hooks, which occur in pairs, like open birds' beaks, above empty seed chambers that you see as voids beneath the spikes. 

I took her reference to chambers and added the word congruity for the harmonious feel of the book lying in the cradle.