Altering pages of an antique volume of essays by Addison and Steele, (pub.1788)  I allowed glimpses of essay titles to serve as an evocative point of departure on the pages, to which I applied collage, paint, and scribbled ideas.  I stitched together the pages with silk threads and glass beads and recovered the book with silk velvet.  Eventually, after much time and travel to exhibitions around the world, the book became vulnerable to tearing and decomposition, adding a lesson in the vulnerability of aging to its appearance.

 

 

 

Found book, (5″ X 7″ X 3″) gouache, mixed media collage, beads, thread, velvet cover, Ithaca, New York, 1978-83

 

 

 

Initially I was attracted to the ruled rectangle of text, on the original pages, as a framing device for free-association application of collage and paint. Begun following the birth of my third child, I often worked on this book when I was awake at night, between 1978 and 1981.  When the pages became too fragile to handle and the binding kept falling apart, I stopped working on it. The sense of its preciousness, threatened by inevitable  disintegration, serves as is a reminder of human frailty. Here follows a selection of the 162 pages (61 spreads) that I completed.