Pinterest is an online pinboard.
Organize and share things you love.
"And There was Light" Estel Berman Every culture holds some legend for the origins of the earth and humanity. The biblical narrative of Genesis provides a powerful poetic drama with six days of work and a seventh day for rest and reflection. In the eons since then, humankind has achieved significant advances: defining the relationships of the moon, sun, and stars as the passage of time, exploring the world in the search for spices, and acknowledging that the multitude of races and religions of the world hold more similarities than differences. “And there was light” is a book that opens to reveal seven hinged pages. On one side, the pages illustrate the biblical narrative – progressing through the six days of creation to the seventh and final day of rest. On the other side, each page illustrates an analogous theme of secular achievements and creation by mankind -- from enlightenment and logic to the scientific and engineering feats of humanity. For each page, the biblical event on one side relates to the secular theme on the other side. The final page, the day of rest, has a doorway-like niche within which the Spice Box rests. The Spice Box container is modeled after a contemporary door, inspired by historical Spice Boxes that mimicked the architecture of their time. The curtain on the reverse side of the Spice Box is pierced to allow the scent of the spice to permeate the air. As a portal between the personal inner sanctum of peace and the world beyond, the Spice Box helps us to pause and reflect amidst the rush of modern living.
1 comment
Duster 2 By Robbin Ami Silverberg New York: Dobbin Books, 2001. Second Edition of 42. 30 x 2 x 2". Letterpress printed by Peter Kruty Editions on abaca/rag papers. Materials used include wood and waxed flax cord. Robbin Ami Silverberg: "When I was in Japan in 1998, I found a dusting brush actually made from the pages of a cut up book. In response to this almost confounding choice of disposable materials, I manufactured my own edition of dusters. The text reflects on this astounding use of a book & the philosophical issues [that is, recycling versus censorship] a book-cum-duster can only elicit."
Golden Apples By Miriam Schaer with text by W. B. Yeats Brooklyn, New York: Miriam Schaer, 2005. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 23 x 4" sculpture using opera gloves. Attached to the palm of the left hand a 2 x 1.75", 9-page miniature book, an accordion structure in apple-shaped pages on which is the digitally printed W. B. Yeats' text, an excerpt from "The Song of the Wandering Aengus." Sculpture housed in linen clamshell box. Miriam Schaer: "Golden Apples ponders the quest for love. It was created originally for the installation Chapel of Uncommon Prayer. Created entirely of books and book objects using hand shapes and gloves, created using traditional book binding techniques in a non-traditional way, the exhibition explores the personal relationship to prayer and devotion, in a world with increasingly difficult, often unanswerable questions." Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands. I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.
Bodies of Knowledge (Male/Female) By Miriam Schaer Brooklyn, New York: Miriam Schaer, 2002. One-of-a-Kind. Consists of two plastic figures, a male and a female, each with a separate stand. Materials: dye, linen thread, text pages from Atlas of Surgical Operations. Housed in 16 x 14 x 5.5" compartmentalized custom linen clamshell box. Figures and stands store separately. Female: a clear plastic female body (16 x 7 x 6.5", The Visible Woman by Renwal, maker of plastic model kits) stands in a 5" circular plastic stand. A removable book, 4.5 x 2.5 x.5" with 13 leaves extracted from The Atlas of Surgical Operations, is inset in chest cavity. Cut pieces of other pages from The Atlas . fill the rest of the transparent body. Male: the same as the Female except the figure is 1 inch taller (i.e. 17") and there are only 10 leaves in the inset book (more brawn, less brain). Miriam Schaer: "The Atlas of Surgical Operations, which belonged to my late father, is the basis of this work. Filled with detailed drawings and descriptions of surgical procedures, I was able to fill in blanks of my father's mysterious work life. Typical of his generation (and profession), he was removed, yet always present in my life. I came to realize the processes of book binding and surgery have much in common: cutting and sewing to make something whole. "The chests open to reveal the small books that explore the idea of gender, and incorporate drawings of male and female sex organs from the original Atlas."
Hands of Josephus: Part III By Miriam Schaer Brooklyn, New York: Miriam Schaer, 2008. One-of-a-Kind. 6 x 10 x 5"; 462 pages. Appropriated text from the works of Flavius Josephus. Materials: beads, wire hand form. Each page, cut in the shape of a hand, is sewn onto multiple beaded cords, then attached to wire hand forms, which are encrusted with beads. Housed in 8.5 x 13 x 4" linen clamshell box. Miriam Schaer: "Hands of Josephus is a series of altered books, created from a broken down copy of Flavius Josephus's Twenty books of The Jewish Antiquities, The Life of Josephus and the Jewish Wars. Josephus was a 1st-century Jewish historian and apologist who survived and recorded the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. His works give an important insight into 1st-century Judaism, while raising questions about who owns history. The hand of the victor, it seems, always controls . every version of truth. There are five books in this series, created from the original volumes."
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER: The interior of this book is made of pages from many religious prayers and textbooks: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddist, Hindu texts are a few that are represented in the book. I cut into each of the pages graphic icons of other religions to create an imaginary "dialogue" among different faiths, which focuses on the similarity in their positive thoughts rather than the differences.
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER: The interior of this book is made of pages from many religious prayers and textbooks: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddist, Hindu texts are a few that are represented in the book. I cut into each of the pages graphic icons of other religions to create an imaginary "dialogue" among different faiths, which focuses on the similarity in their positive thoughts rather than the differences.
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER: The interior of this book is made of pages from many religious prayers and textbooks: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddist, Hindu texts are a few that are represented in the book. I cut into each of the pages graphic icons of other religions to create an imaginary "dialogue" among different faiths, which focuses on the similarity in their positive thoughts rather than the differences.
1 like 1 repin
Egg-plant ©2002 mixed-media, altered artists book, pp. 5 and 6 8 1/4" x 5 1/4" x 2 1/2"
Fetching pins…
![Duster 2 By Robbin Ami Silverberg New York: Dobbin Books, 2001. Second Edition of 42. 30 x 2 x 2". Letterpress printed by Peter Kruty Editions on abaca/rag papers. Materials used include wood and waxed flax cord. Robbin Ami Silverberg: "When I was in Japan in 1998, I found a dusting brush actually made from the pages of a cut up book. In response to this almost confounding choice of disposable materials, I manufactured my own edition of dusters. The text reflects on this astounding use of a book & the philosophical issues [that is, recycling versus censorship] a book-cum-duster can only elicit."](http://media-cache3.pinterest.com/upload/6896205649030060_coJjycfE_b.jpg)
Harriete Berman Can you fix my name in your description. It is Harriete Estel Berman