Exhibition Dates: September 30 - December 13, 2024
Open Case Event: Sunday, October 20th from 1:00-3:00pm
Join us on Sunday, October 20th to listen to selected artists from this exhibition. The artists include: Belinda Hill, Debbi Commodore, Lucia Harrison, Deborah Greenwood, Suze Woolf, Ray Zill, and Rachel Watson.
Playful and profound, the Puget Sound Book Artists 13th Annual Members’ Exhibition on the theme of Time Travel will be exhibited at The Evergreen State College Library, in Olympia, from September 29–December 13, 2024 with an open case event on Sunday, October 20, 2024, 1:00pm-3:00pm. On display will be a total of fifty-five artist books from forty-two different artists representing all parts of the Puget Sound and the western United States.
Ann Storey, exhibit team chair, stated: “It is always a wonderful surprise to see how creative people interpret and play with an exhibit theme. The topic of Time Travel seemed to be especially resonant and sparked imaginative leaps across both time and space. After our recent experience of lock-down, when we couldn’t travel physically but managed to travel metaphorically, and when we confronted time in the form of facing our mortality, we have such interesting ideas to draw from in creating the artist books in this show."
Some of these books time travel to the past to celebrate the strength and grace of ancestors, while others look back- wards for a different reason—to question received wisdom. Judy Cook takes a more humorous approach by illustrating vignettes from her high school Home Economics class—the time when a runaway electric mixer sprayed chocolate frosting around the classroom and girls were taught how to gracefully exit cars Judy Cook, Frosting Frenzy, A Home Economics Memory Susan Aurand takes an original, science-based approach, stating “When I thought about this theme, it came to me that bits of us (the atoms in our bodies, the air molecules we breathe) are part of a continuous circulation of matter and energy moving among all living things…This idea fascinates me and makes me wonder about experiences that bits of me have had as other beings.” Her unique assemblage helps to make visible these esoteric ideas—a bridge between the visible and invisible.
Abbie Birmingham touches on both science and geology. She created an evocative piece that originated with a poem, Raven, and then meditated on the dramatic landscape of the channeled scablands of eastern Washington. Her poem begins, “The faces in the cliff are silent,|Riddle of ice, fire and flood.|Encrypted. Then decoded|By the ones who slowly walk the land…” Birmingham alludes to the tremendous ice age floods that sculpted this landscape and the dawning understanding of this phenomenon within the scientific community. Other artists draw inspiration from nature. This could be celebratory or to issue a warning about our destruction of wildlife and habitat. For example, Jan Dove explains her entry Don’t Go, by saying “I’m living in a time when even the trees must travel to find a place to survive.
Sally Alger, President of the Puget Sound Book Artists states: “Each year in our members’ exhibit the Puget Sound Book Artists show us all how to explore ideas about books and art. The depth of thinking… and the fun of making books is very infectious.”
This year’s exhibit team consists of Belinda Hill, PSBA board member, artist and educator; Carrie Larson, Judy Cook, and Diane Miller, artists and writers; and is chaired by Ann Storey, PhD, art historian and artist, faculty emerita of The Evergreen State College. The exhibit will be hosted on the main floor of the Daniel J. Evens Library at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The library is open Sundays through Fridays and closed for major holidays.
While you are visiting the library, be sure to check out the James F. Holly Rare Books Room, which houses a unique collection of artist books and is managed by PSBA member Ray Zill. The Rare Books Room collection is open to drop-in visits from 12:00pm-5:000pm Sunday through Friday.
For more information on the exhibit, please contact: Lucia Harrison at harrisol@evergreen.edu or Ray Zill at ray.zill@evergreen.edu For more information on Puget Sound Book Artists, please visit our website: https://pugetsoundbookartists.wildapricot.org/
0 Comments.