2014! Since I met textile artist Kirsten Ingemar last April (we shared tutors quarters in the beautiful Blue Mountains), I have been eco-dyeing papers for grounds for my calligraphy. I have fully immersed myself in dyeing and am bubbling with enthusiasm as I trial more and more. I like to experiment. I am not one who particularly copies or follows someone else's creative journey so I experiment a lot and I take research notes dye-pot after dye-pot. Needless to say, I have a plethora of papers. So, to my ALaW for 2014.
I have chosen my first alphabet to be sense of place. All the papers come from my "plethora bundle" and are dyed using plant materials from my garden. For a calligrapher type is so alluring. I purchased these woodblocks (some of you may have seen them before), all varying in shape size and alphabet, from an antique store tucked away up the Derwent River in New Norfolk. As a connection to both the land here (the plant dyeing) and the people who came here to Tasmania many generations ago (the type) ... I offer my ALaW sense of place through this the leaf letter book. I hope you enjoy it unfold ...
I chose my first letter at random!
It was a Q.
Q is such an amazing letter, it is so sumptuous that I decided my first four letters for the four weeks of January would be QUEO, the Latin word for to be able! I felt this very appropriate for two reasons: firstly, I am aging (aren't we all) and as I think about that, the aging process, I am very grateful to be able to create art. I am not hung up on ageing but I ponder age ... a lot! Secondly; to be able is something we are all fortunate to have as an innate power. We are able to do whatever it is we set our minds to. For now it is my contribution to the wonderful ALaW project ... thanks Fiona!
I placed the practice Q around the page to find the right balance.
Then did the same with the others
E detail
I know that shop in New Norfolk G… :-) I love how you have captured place so perfectly - the letters and the pages are grounded in place and the whole thing will look just beautiful!
ReplyDeletec'est juste incroyable le cheminement de chacun pour arriver à "placer" ces lettres...j'adore les poinçons d'imprimerie
ReplyDeleteJ'aime le type et l'éco-teinture. Je profite de ce sentiment d'appartenance. Il me fait penser plus sérieusement à mon chemin à travers la vie. Merci pour votre beau commentaire.
DeleteJ'espère que ce message traduit par le sentiment que je tiens à exprimer. :-)
Thank you Fiona, I love New Norfolk, full of antique shops and an derelict insane asylum with the most amazing buildings. My place ... over time has changed. There was a time my place was where I grew up. Then my place lay between the bosom of the limestone plains. Some of my place was anchored in the glass house mountains and now I have come to a place that is not really my place at all but I am giving it a good shot ... but ... I have the mother of all mountains looking after me.
ReplyDeleteShe is indeed the mother of all mountains…she imposes herself on the daily landscape I recall - alway looking up to see what she was doing…I feel lucky to have found my place...
Delete! This is incredible !
ReplyDeleteThese pieces are just beautiful
ReplyDeleteThank you Finn and thank you too Sabi. I just like keeping my mind and my hands occupied. I think I have obsessive compulsive hands :-)
ReplyDeleteI love how both the integral design & the letters are hand-printed - they are coming out very nicely. I enjoyed reading the background on the project too. Looking forward to following along as your alphabet unfolds...
ReplyDelete