If These Walls Could Pep Talk

Interactive artist book with magnetized disc and magnets.

This book was part of the annual Alchemical Vessels exhibition at Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery – a fundraiser where 100+ DC artists are all given the same form to respond to. Some years it’s a box, others a bowl, others a piece of wood. This book was my response to the call to transform a 13-inch-diameter birch disc in accordance with the theme of “Our Common Thread – An artist’s journey through the universal truths of pain, joy, healing and living.”

From the Colophon: Sometimes I forget what I am capable of, creatively and otherwise. To remember, I hang reminders on my walls. Eventually – as I move into a new apartment or out of a window of time – I take them down, opening up space for the next.

Note: Many of the artifacts documented here hung on my walls between 2012 and 2016. Those years span my time in grad school — my first time really going after something real, and experiencing all of the doubts came with that.

Production Notes:
Materials: Wood, magnetic paint, glue, bookcloth, paper, thread, magnets
Printing: Laser on Neenah Environment

Special gratitude to Josh Whipkey for the nomination to participate in Alchemical Vessels 2018 and to Sarah Irvin for our collaboration on magnetizing this piece of wood!

Process shots: disc covered in multiple layers of magnetic paint + template tests for covering it, tests for how to cover a magnetic in paper, wrapping the disc in book cloth,