In the Studio

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 means one thing to one person and something completely different to another.

Drawing on the linocuts

How basic shapes can be combined and become layers of complicated meaning. 

detail of drawing on linocut

There is nothing like quiet contemplation in my studio to meditate on these questions.  

Carving a linocut

Every page has a story and a history. When I break down the structure of a book and deconstruct its sentences, its words, its letters, I still find that its basic form and history remain.

Reconstructing a book, Suzanne Coley

Remnants of what it used to be remain in its new construction.