livre d'artiste

Artist book.  Canadian.

I’m missing my book club in Seattle today (they are reading Following Fifi by John Crocker who writes about what he learned from working with Jane Goodall and her chimps)  but think I’ll do a different book report anyway...

Recently I happily found on the sale table in the Galiano Island bookstore a boxed, commercial but artist supervised 1997 copy of “the Journals of Susanna Moodie”-  poems by Margaret Atwood and serigraphs by Charles Pachter. These two Canadian artists met as teenagers at a summer nature camp.  He calls her “Peggy,”  They became good friends and produced  5 collaborative handmade artists books in the 60s (the beginnings of Canadian artists ‘books!)…before this one which was a hand printed edition of 120  in 1980.   Margaret had become obsessed with the 2 books of Susanna Moodie, perhaps Canada’s most famous immigrant who came from England to this hostile land in Ontario in 1832 and wrote about her wilderness experience and then a town, mostly as an outsider.   MA wasn’t impressed with Susanna’s writing, had a haunting dream, and then wrote her own version.   Charles Pachter is a well known Canadian artist who was also haunted by the past of Susanna Moody—much of his work is about national identity.   I was tickled to find he’d painted so many moose which I love, including Queen Elizabeth on a moose.     his moose factory click on "art" painting.  Another page in the Journals. ..they're all different(extra)

Susanna also did some imprecise  reporting on the 1843 convicted murderess Grace Marks so this is where Margaret’s  book “Alias Grace” comes from.   I’d never actually read that but I have now. Loved it.   Of course she made up the ending as no one really knows what happened to Grace who was pardoned after 30 years.
This “journals” is not a book where the images try to illustrate the text, but are an integral  part of the work of art, attempting to complete and complement the poems.  
The Visual and the Verbal artist together.   the Livre d’artiste.  Love Love this art form!

A windy start to the day that turned very nice….long walk…(extra ..Maple on her view perch..can you see an eagle flying below and to the left?)    ran into 4 ladies on the top road..Jehovah’s witnesses…(good luck…:-)   and then no excuses could keep me from the “garden” -restoring it after the BC Hydro backhoe was here ....I have a black thumb so have to use lots of arty things in place of plants..,.but then my back needed to be horizontal for a little while.:-)

3rd extra...card for DIL birthday

whew...