United States Art in Embassies

Livre d' artiste

Department of State Art in Embassies Program

Invisible by Suzanne Coley

I love book arts because

the tactile nature of

handmade books invokes

exploration and interaction

by inviting the

viewer to turn each

page and explore the images,

textures, and words of a

visually narrative world

orchestrated by the life

of an artist.

Invisible was one of three artist's books selected

When I was selected for the program

one of the first questions the curators

had was, Can they be touched?

Absolutely, was my response.

I wanted my books to be read,

the pages touched,

and viewed in the palm

of the reader's hand.

I created sturdy, durable

matching clamshell boxes

to house the books and

allow personal handling

without gloves.

I also began to create more

durable covers to allow for

natural wear and tear.

Detail of box texture

I experimented with several different

gel mediums as textures before

working with thick modeling paste.

Modeling paste was the most

flexible and allowed for

the types of sculptural

effects I wanted to achieve.

Page 5 of Invisible

With Invisible, I used iconic silhouettes,

and transformed them

into unrecognizable geometric frames

with acrylic paints,

handmade paper and glitter.

The poetry explores how beauty

is depicted through the media (externally)

and by individuals (internally).

Comments

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