Sharing a Shelf with a Hero

Maybe you’ve already heard the story of Alex Colville (iconic Canadian artist) opening my very first art show at Acadia University all those years ago…well, I never imagined then that our paintings would be sharing a bookshelf together as cover art one day…never in my wildest! 

Yet here they are, mine on Christy Ann Conlin‘s novel, The Memento and Colville’s on Nino Ricci‘s, Sleep, in Chapters Indigo bookstores Can Lit displays across Canada!  The rest of the company is not to shabby either – authors like Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel and Mona Awad. As if I needed another reason to go into a book store and look for Canadian Literature!

Jody Alexander – Keep: Modern Library

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - photo Marie Cameron - 2016


Shakerag Hollow, Kyoto, Santa Cruz

Jody Alexander‘s Keep: Modern Library, on exhibit at the R. Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz, is a thoughtful and finely crafted transformation of the skins of vintage library books which have been withdrawn from circulation into textile inspired two and three dimensional art pieces that could only come out of an intimate knowledge and a deep understanding of our emotional attachment to these books as objects and our response to the ongoing process of their obsolescence.

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - book skin swatches - photo Marie Cameron - 2016


Book skin swatches and call numbers.

The very “skinning” of the book covers seems to me a redemptive process, hanging on, not to the words and ideas of the books themselves, which may have become outdated or superfluous, but to the remnants of our collective physical experience of them,  the bits of gilded fonts becoming abstract “art marks”, the texture and feel of the linen, the retro hues, faded and worn over time, stained with our handling – soil from our carelessness, oil from out fingers and maybe even our very DNA.  These books have been stamped with the library’s own lexicon of call numbers, due dates and recommendations: KEEP, REQUIRES FURTHER CLEANING, DISCARD. Librarian’s knowledge.

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Spilled Hot Chocolate (detail) - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Spilled Hot Chocolate

Skins are incorporated into swaths of stained, stamped and elaborately stitched European linen, inspired by the symbols Alexander discovered in a library cataloging book (which acted as her muse throughout the project) and by the utilitarian Japanese technique of boro, or “rags”, where that which is ripped or damaged is mended to further it’s life.

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Higbee (detail 2) - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Close up detail from Higbee showing some boro techniques.

In her talk and book, Keep, Alexander shares a quote from Kei Kawasaki that refers to the philosophy behind boro… “there is an old Japanese saying that you shouldn’t throw away any piece of cloth big enough to wrap three beans”.

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Three Bean Rule - photo Marie Cameron - 2016


Pigments and the three bean rule.

Alexander’s process  (which had even involved dragging some of her work through mud and lakes as farflung as Shakerag Hollow, Kyoto and Santa Cruz) results in sublime abstract textiles that practically breathe with new life. Beyond a tribute to their past as well loved library books, they have morphed into another artistic plane that somehow says something touching and meaningful about out better natures.

I can’t help but think of the metamorphosis of a butterfly, but where focus is on the cocoon that is shed and honored and transformed once more…

ody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - 91385, Maxwell, Bias - photo Marie Cameron 2016


91385 Maxwell Bias.

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Maxwell (detail 2) - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Maxwell (detail)

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Maxwell (detail) - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Maxwell (detail)

This last Saturday the Jody Alexander gave a talk about her work at the gallery to a large and engaged crowd (where I gained all this insight into her art and her process).

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Talk 3 - photo Marie Cameron - 2016


Keep Talk

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Talk 5- photo Marie Cameron - 2016


Keep Talk Audience

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Talk 4 - photo Marie Cameron -2016


Full House

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Missing Dress - photo Marie Cameron - 2016          Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - blue -green library books - photo Marie Cameron - 2016         Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - first piece in the series -  photo Marie Cameron - 2016

Empty dress hanger, Stack of vintage books, Alexander’s first textile book for Keep.

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - with Shannon Amidon - photo Marie Cameron - 2016


Jody Alexander with Shannon Amidon, both members of Bay Area Book Artists.

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Talk 2 - photo Marie Cameron - 2016


Viewing Installation

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Essential - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Essential

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Higbee (detail 1) - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Higbee (detail)

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Main Stacks - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Main Stacks

Jody Alexander - Keep Modern Library - R. Blitzer Gallery - Main Stacks (detail) - photo Marie Cameron 2016


Main Stacks (detail)

Jody Alexander and Marie Cameron  - Modern Library - photo Shannon Amidon 2016


Me with my copy of Keep and artist Jody Alexander in her fabulous dress.

There’s a lovely, signed, limited edition book, Keep, inspired by the exhibit -10% of the sales from this book will be donated to the Santa Cruz Public Library for the acquisition of books for the children’s collection – that’s just how Rydell Award Recipient, Jody Alexander rolls! You can get yours at www.jalexbooks.com.

The Dragonfly and the Wasp

Today I tried to save a dragonfly from a wasp in what turned out to be a mortal encounter. After shooing the wasp away, I picked it up from under the foxglove and took it to my studio. The dragonfly did not recover like I hoped it might.

There were a few other arrivals to my studio today too.  I had won a few little religious books with a forget-me-not motif in an auction and they seemed to be a fitting backdrop for the dragonfly.

Dragonfly and Gold Dust - photo Marie Cameron 2015

That’s “Gold Dust” …. I love the combination of this very structured insect with these antique floral books embossed in gold. It takes me back a century, at least.  Tomorrow I’ll post the dragonfly, foxglove and demitasse photos that come next.