Baltimore Sonnets

A Cultural Experience by Suzanne Coley Established in 1977 in the East Village, St. Mark's Bookshop is the place to go if you are looking for small press publications, foreign & domestic journals and periodicals, and books on cultural theory, dramatic art, film studies, and graphic design. St. Mark's Bookshop staff - Shauna The oldest independent bookstore in Manhattan, St. Mark's Bookshop is owned by Bob Contant and Terry McCoy. St. Mark's Bookshop, "Interesting graphic design and art books on this table." For many book artists who are beginning their small publishing presses, like myself, St. Mark's Bookshop has been a life saver.  It has been an encouraging intellectual hub where poets, artists, designers, and philosophers can meet, discuss current events, and share ideas. St. Mark's Bookshop has a very knowledgeable and personable staff who can help you locate an obscure critical theory book (that is probably on one of th...

Today, you are wiser than usual,  and also less anxious. Lucky Numbers 6, 7, 27, 33, 44, 46  

Cells étude for a limited edition artist's book by Suzanne Coley Poetry Power Punches, Main image for   Ook  - Cells , 2002 - 2014 All races accepted No discrimination here! All religions welcome Yes, we take all! Bad credit? Prison record? Just got hired? Just graduated? We will TAKE you! Life going great? Life going bad? Same thing to us, we got room. Life meet Cancer Got a complaint? Cells can’t hear Today I spent most of my day at the hospital and decided to present a series of Ooks I began back in 2002.  All the poetry has been written, all the images have been finalized, the storage unit has been emptied. . .  *Poem: Cells  ©2002 Suzanne Coley

Ideas  They come in dreams.   Neat and clean.  Finished and complex. dry point on Arches paper,  6/21/2014  You wake up and go for it.   dry point on paper, 6/21/2014 A few days later, with a little more sleep, your first engraving is done.  Your plate is ready to be printed. You pull out the ink and brayer. You go through the process of making the ink just right.  You try different consistencies and colors, like you saw in the dream.   Reality slowly begins to guide you.  You have to make a few adjustments.   You try again, and again.  A few more attempts to make it right.  You skip lunch. You still try to get something  kinda like  what you saw in your dream.  Dinner time is approaching.   You realize you are going to have to combine this process with another. Tomorrow. studio skirt, Suzanne Coley  You hang your skirt up for the next dream.

Working together Works Linocut on Chiyogami paper, 2014 Lucky numbers: 1, 5, 6, 14, 20, 24

When we put our art and our stories on public platforms, especially the Internet, we get all types of responses.  Yes, some criticism is very constructive, much needed and welcomed. Some is not.  So, I want to share this speech by Theodore Roosevelt .   "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid ...

Imprints of leaves from trees and shrubs are beautiful and make wonderful art. However, before I visited Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, whenever anyone asked me about the leaves I used I would say, " I got them down the street, around the corner, from the big tree." When you visit Hunt Institute and see their vast collections and speak with their friendly staff, you realize there is so much more to botany in art. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Duets Exhibition   Photo: by Suzanne Coley with permission watercolor by John Tyley (Antiqua/England?, fl. early 1800s) Image courtesy Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Hunt Institute has their annual Open House on Sunday, 29 June, and I look forward to seeing more rare books and speaking with their staff.

deconstruction  ( ˌdiːkənˈstrʌkʃən ) Reconstructing a book in the studio 1.   (Literary   &   Literary   Critical   Terms)   a   technique   of   literary   analysis   that   regards   meaning   as   resulting   from   the   differences   between   words   rather   than  their   reference   to   the   things   they   stand   for.   Different   meanings   are   discovered   by   taking   apart   the   structure   of   the   language   used   and   exposing   the  assumption   that   words   have   a   fixed   reference   point   beyond   themselves.  (Collins English Dictionary) I am interested in exploring how meaning is created through text and imagery.  How a word or a sign mea...

Recycling the covers of ex-library books New life for ex-library book covers. cover of artist's book I have written about paper created with the pages from ex-library books, but I haven't talked much about what I do with the covers. Depending on the condition and size, I usually strip the boards.  I cut the boards and rebind them. After binding them I paint them.  Touch: I am interested in the textures and feel of these books. These covers are being prepared for an upcoming exhibition at a local bookstore this summer. Red book created from covers of ex-library books Created from ex-library books, each will contain an original story in the form of a poem with linocuts/illustrations. This is a detail photo of the cover of the Red book.   There are about 10 more steps before each book is complete.  I will post them before the opening of the show.

Whistle while you work Luck Numbers: 5, 6, 13, 14, 20, 34 Linocut and monoprint on paper, 2014 Linocut by Suzanne Coley, 2014

Embrace your U niqueness silkscreen postcard based on ink blots by Suzanne Coley  After writing the post on ink blots , I couldn't stop thinking about their uniqueness. silkscreen postcard by Suzanne Coley Sometimes they look like spills.  Sometimes they look like controlled drawings.  Sometimes they look like human figures.  Different things to different people -- like art. Inkblot drawings for silkscreens Like art, we all have different styles, different mediums, different tastes, and different ways of telling our stories about life, love, hate, hope, gardening, cooking, sports, etc. silkscreen postcard by Suzanne Coley All of these art forms and stories are necessary to get a complete picture of the vast and diverse human experience. silkscreen postcard So Embrace your "U" - Your Uniqueness . . . your art and story are valid and necessary.

Linocut Postcards hand printed postcards on Fabriano medioevalis watercolor paper  Sentiments through the mail Hand crafted envelopes for postcards Crafted in Italy, Fabriano watercolor paper is great for postcards.  Sturdy and soft, they can be dyed  with color pigments before printing on them.  I send these deckled edged postcards through the mail without envelopes.  For a limited time I am offering them online .

First to start does not mean  Pulp, ink, glitter, by Suzanne Coley the first to cross the finish line

Inspiration from the lives and writings of poets Living in Different Mirrors,  Suzanne Coley I haven't been here for about seven hundred years, But nothing has changed . . .  God's grace still pours in the same way From unassailable heights, Still the same choirs of stars and waters, The vaults of sky are still as black, And in the same way the wind carries the seed, And the mother sings the same song. It is enduring, my Asiatic home, And there is no need to be anxious . . .  I will come back.  Blossom fence, Be full, clean reservoir.   - Anna Akhmatova From: The Poetry of Anna Akhmatova: Living in Different Mirrors by Alexandra Harrington