Kasha Katuwe is my newest artist book, and the first book I have editioned (outside of my Book Bombs' projects with Mary Tasillo) in a few years. For a larger image, click on the picture. The name is in Keresan, and means "White Cliffs," and is the indigenous name for Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico. The memory of its colors, textures, and formations was the inspiration for this book.
During this project, which has involved long quiet hours of embroidery (approximately four days of embroidery per book, in an edition of five), I've had plenty of time to think. I've always known I'm attracted to handmade paper because of it's material quality and how it can invoke nature. In the past year, I've become more and more interested in harvesting and processing plants directly, and this idea has become more and more prominent. What I realized during this project is I am most drawn to the contrast between handmade paper, representative of nature, and markmaking, evocative of the human presence. Particularly marks that can only be made by the hand of the human - drawing, hand carved woodblocks, embroidery.
I should give a shout-out here to Graham Watson of Leaf Song Studio, who is partially responsible for this book. I had challenged him to a book-off of sorts, in an edition of five, to be completed by the end of February. Neither of us quite made the deadline, but we did finish the challenge. I'll have a post about his book soon!
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