TO KNOW THIS PLACE

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This artist book was inspired by a walk I used to take almost daily in a woods near my home in Brown County, Indiana. I love those woods. I would walk the creek and observe the tiny changes that are apparent when you learn a place well. In 2018, I developed a chronic illness, Scleroderma, which made walking in those woods more and more difficult, and eventually nearly impossible. This book was created to celebrate and remember my relationship with this one particular place, but it is also a celebration of nature –part field guide, part nature journal, part scrapbook, part repository of memory.

The original artist book is comprised of a series of collaged quilts, each made on a base of muslin fabric which I stained with mud from those woods. Gel plate printed papers were layered on the fabric, then machine quilted to make the background. The plants, mushrooms and animals in the foreground were made by drawing with the sewing machine using free-motion stitching, then painting with acrylics, then drawing with the sewing machine once more. Finally, details were added –hand-embroidered moss or fallen leaves from eco-dyed recycled coffee filters. Each quilt was mounted to a page of Canson mi-tientes paper. “Specimen tags” were created, and entries typed on an old Royal typewriter I found at a local antique mall. The last page features one of my original poems. The book took more than two years to create. The final artist book incorporates all of my artistic identities – fiber artist, paper quilter, hand bookbinder, nature journaler and poet.

Click here to watch a video of the book in action.