Nov 13, 2017 Book of the Week — November: A Map

“this is how it is
longing sets in as days shorten
and nights, well,
nights shoulder their way
right into day.
it helps to have a sense of humor,
a big stack of cordwood,
skis waiting for snow,
a book and a chair,
some paper to draw on,
cloth to stitch
with thread:
threads to tie it all
together,
november.”

November: A Map
Velma Bolyard
Canton, New York: Caliban Press, 2015
N7433.4 B662 N6 2015

Artist’s statement from the colophon: “…I gathered flora from the bared down countryside. Using the fruits, nuts, seeds, flowers, leaves, twigs, fungi and metals: copper, aluminum, steel, iron, and the hard water from my well, I contact- or eco- printed them in my kitchen. The colors, patterns, resists and pigments are transferred to the paper by means of heat, water, and pressure after being bundled into a big pot and cooked. After, they are unbundled, rinsed, and pressed dry: alchemy. They are a hortus siccus, a dry garden, an herbal map of my home.”

One folded sheet presented in a windowed, sewn sleeve. Letterpress printed by Mark McMurray and Velma Bolyard on Arches using a 180-year-old Washington Hoe press. Edition of forty-one copies, signed and numbered by the artist and printer. Rare Books copy is no. 37.

View the original article on the OpenBook Blog