Eastern Regional CBBAG Exhibit (2003)

Geoffrey Hewett | Tara Bryan | Stephanie Dean-Moore | Robin Muller | Virginia McArdle | Joe Landry

	Interview With My See Through Demons Medium: typewriter, letterpress, watercolour, pen ink, Mylar, glueage, photocopy, pencil, pencil crayons, rubber stamp Dimensions: length 29 cm x width 22 cm x height 2.5 cm Assisted by: Karen Hewett, Photography by Robert Fudge

Artist's Statement

Book arts epitomizes the continually evolving expression and communication that has developed and nurtured humans for ages of history and had the most poignant input to the human condition. Beauty and roughness go hand-in-hand as we watch the trivialization of information in our desensitized society. Hand created bookworks, design, printing, and binding will continue to be the highest form of visual art because they have a message as well as being the message. Book artists are fortunate to have all possible mediums on our pallet. I can think of no art form that cannot be incorporated into a bookwork.

The artists book draws the written, spoken, illustrative, textural, sculptural elements of our world into a symbiotic complete entity to further our quest for perfection and sometimes get very close to it.

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De tout temps, les arts du livre représentent l'apport le plus poignant à la condition humaine, faisant évoluer continuellement l'expression et la communication qui ont aidé à développer et à nourrir l'humanité. Dans notre société désensibilisée, la beauté et la laideur se côtoient, nous constantons la trivialisation de l'information. Les livres créés à la main : le sujet, l'impression et la reliure continueront d'être l'art visuel le plus complet, car les lives d'artiste sont le message et le transmettent.

Quant à nous, artistes, nous avons tous les moyens techniques à notre disposition. Tous les arts, toutes les techniques peuvent être incorporés dans un livre d'artiste fait à la main. Sur papier, nous composons une entité symbiotique avec l'écriture, la parole, l'image, la texture et la beauté de notre monde afin de continuer notre poursuite de la perfection et parfois de la frôler de trés prés.

	Bonne Bay Concertina line image of Bonne Bay from the Lookout above Woody Point (in Gros Morne National Park) with a short poem by the artist. Letterpress printed on handmade paper, in slipcase. 2002. 3"x2 1/8"x1/2" closed, 3"x 45" extended. Edition 50.
	In the Hands of the Wind Sixteen linocuts of Newfoundland landscapes by Ann Bowman and Tara Bryan. Letterpress printed on Arches text paper with Flax paper cover, banana paper endsheets and bone clasp closure. 1995. 4.25" x 6.25". Edition 85.
	Henry and Rose Go To Camp Henry and Rose Go To Camp is the creation of Tara Bryan and Duncan Major. Starting with a group of small cuts found languishing at walking bird press, the artists created a story around them. Illustrated with the found cuts and original drawings, the book recounts the quirky adventure of a brother and sister at Camp Bete-n-eau. The book is letterpress and Gocco printed on Environment text paper and hand-bound in a miniature concertina format. The covers and slipcase are handmade paper from Papeterie St. Armand. Henry and Rose Go To Camp is a limited edition of 75 copies, each one signed by both artists. 2 7/8" x 2 7/8" x 3/8"

Artist's Statement
I love the tactile experience of handling a book- the intimacy is quite different from the experience of looking at a painting. The mental process of making books is also quite different from the act of painting, challenging a different part of my brain and giving me a chance to use beautiful paper in work the viewer can touch. Every project is a new challenge, and I seem to have a knack for getting myself into uncharted territory. I try to include surprises so the viewer is rewarded for exploring my work, and I love to see the books enjoyed.

Collaboration is also very important to me, although the books included in this exhibition are my own work. None of it would have been done without the great teaching and inspiration of people like Ed Hutchins, Carol Barton, Hedi Kyle, and a string of others whose work has inspired me to make books.

www.tarabryan.com

	Interpreting the Fern (1999) Hollow back book created with a handknit silk chemise, japanese papers and hand silkscreened images of ferns on unbleached cotton, embroidered with silk thread. This meditative piece explores the artist's relationship and exploration of the natural world through various textile and book arts techniques.
	Recipes for Motherhood (1999) Created out of sterling silver and Paduak wood, “Recipes For Motherhood” is a piece worn across the body on a long silver chain, with intricate pierced details in metal riveted on to the book’s wooden cover. Within this volume are snippits of verse and rhyme from my childhood, with which a new mother could entertain at a moment’s notice. As a mother-to-be, it suited my modern needs for a girdle-inspired book, with a contemporary twist.
	The Dragonfly Book (2003) The first in the series of “Bug Books”, the Dragonfly Book explores the beauty of form and of nature through the medium of the book. Created with copper wings, stitched with metallic thread, the feelings of flight and movement are created as the book is opened. The body is crocheted with metallic ribbon, then reinforced and sculpted with copper wires. The pages are handcut of Japanese papers, hidden from sight until the wings are “spread”.

Artist's Statement

There is a place, an intimate place that extends beyond the personal, yet whose boundaries protect one from the public. It is a place of safety, of hope, of personal exploration. It communicates to the public yet protects the individual from the harshness of contemporary society.

My work strives to find that place within us all; to create a centre of contemplation and intimacy for both the artist and the viewer. It attempts to draw one into the spirit and the essence of being an individual, in a world that promotes conformity and the packaging of identities.

The Book has been a source of communication for thousands of years. It has been an object of value, of importance, of wealth, to its societies. In its own right, it has been infused with power: the power of knowledge, of possession, of growth. Yet during this period in our society, when information has been mechanised, people are returning to books as a source of intimate interaction and reflective solitude.

Textiles are a unifying force throughout the ages of humankind; they are a basic element that we have all shared throughout our existence. They have an intimacy, a security, a personal element that comforts us, keeps us warm and protected. They are an element that we all possess within our daily existence, regardless of socioeconomic status.

My work attempts to blur the lines, the definitions, between the personal, intellectual experiences we have with books, and the intimate, protective relationships we have with textiles. Playing with these elements, and incorporating precious metals that carry with them new elements of the precious, the books that I create aim to extend the viewer beyond "the Book" as a package for information. I aim to take the viewer to an intimate place where personal discovery and ideas can be challenged in a public forum.

	Four Quartets Hand blocked Typographic detail with Gold leaf of "Four Quartets", brown goatskin with Gold Leaf.
	Box Tray Box tray and detail of box.
	Beuys felt wrap

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