Episode 10: Unreadable Books

Today’s episode is all about unreadable books. What does it mean to read? How do we garner read meaning from text written in a language that we do not understand? Today we will talk about the process of reading, and I have some fun historical and contemporary examples of indecipherable books. We will go into the mysterious Voynich Manuscript, the surreal Codex Seraphinianus, and contemporary unreadable works by book artists Heather Peters and Timothy Ely. 

Links:
Coyote Bones Press / Keri Schroeder
The Paper Carnival
Voynich Manuscript
Codex Seraphinianus
Heather Peters
Timothy Ely
Full Show Transcript
 

Episode 7: An Interview with Lyall Harris

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with book artist Lyall Harris. Unfortunately, due to some technical difficulties, I was unable to release the episode before the opening of Lyall and Patricia Silva’s exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library in June. It took some time and YouTube tutorials, but I managed to clean up the audio to make it somewhat listenable, and I do believe that the content in the conversation truly outweighs my shortcomings with recording. The other good news is that Lyall and Patricia’s exhibition is still going on view and there will be a panel discussion on creative collaboration on September 9, 2017. 

Lyall Harris is a book artist, writer and painter who lives and works in Charlottesville, VA, and Florence, Italy. Lyall's artwork has been exhibited in more than one hundred solo and juried group shows and recognized with over twenty awards. She has been the recipient of fellowships at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, NALL Foundation in Vence, France, and San Francisco's Grabhorn Institute. Lyall is also the co-founder and co-editor of The Sigh Press literary and art journal in Florence, Italy.

Meeting Places/Luoghi d’incontro is the collaborative work by Lyall and Florence, Italy-based book artist and printmaker Patricia Silva. After having met in Florence, Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva embarked on a series of twelve collaborative book art projects since 2014.The artists set constraints for the process, both of materials and time, which forced them to work in an immediate, intuitive and exploratory way. The varied work addresses issues and histories from their shared and layered perspectives as artists, mothers, daughters, wives, and expats in a changing and complex environment.

Meeting Places is now on view at the San Francisco Public Library through September 14, 2017.

Links and Additional Info:

Lyall Harris

The Sigh Press

Meeting Places/Luoghi d’incontro collaborative work by Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva is on view at the San Francisco Public Library through September 14, 2017.

Books in the Wild

Episode 5: The Sleeper Hoax Booklet

For his 90th birthday in February 1913, renowned British naturalist and evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace received a mysterious package containing a small booklet called Shall We Have Common Sense. This booklet, dated 1849, contained essays on evolution through natural selection and germ theory. If this booklet is authentic, it precedes Darwin and Wallace’s publications on evolution by a decade, and Louis Pasteur’s writings on germ theory by nearly two decades.

Is it a genuine remarkable discovery?  Is it an elaborate and confusing hoax? Join in on the investigation as we explore some intriguing characters like the eccentric atheist George Washington Sleeper, British naturalists Alfred Russel Wallace and Edward B. Poulton, and a mysterious little booklet that could change the history of evolutionary theory.

For More Information Visit our Reading List

If you have additional information you'd like to share about the typeface for this booklet, George Sleeper, or The Linnean Society, please contact me!

www.booksinthewild.com

Brought to you by Coyote Bones Press

Episode 3: Artist Talk with Julie Chen

Every Moment in a Book: Three Decades of Work by Julie Chen is now on view at the Allen Library Special Collections at University of Washington through June 30, 2017. On March 16th, a reception and artist talk was held and I was lucky enough to attend and record the momentous event.

Julie Chen is a renowned book artist and professor of book art at Mills College. Thirty years ago, Julie founded Flying Fish Press, a publisher of limited-edition artists' books, in Berkeley California and has remained at the forefront of the book art world since. Julie's books are innovative and impeccably crafted, thoughtful and sincerely moving. She has been an inspiration, mentor, and generous educator to many -  myself included. I am so very excited to have been present and have the opportunity to see Julie's retrospective exhibition in Seattle, and to hear her inspiring talk (which I am also excited about sharing with you!)

Note: There are moments in the talk that reference particular works of art. Because I felt that there were still many points that would be of interest to listeners. I have added images of works that were referenced (along with the time that they are referenced in the talk) to the Reading List page.