Artists' Books
Files
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Creation Date
2018
Keywords
artists' books; blot drawing; letterpress printing; lithography; handmade paper
Description
1 volume. "Curio was designed and printed by Melanie Mauro at The University of the Arts and Heirloom Press. The text is adapted from the 1868 collection of articles, Modern Women and What Is, and Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening". This book is printed using letterpress, screenprint and lithography on paper handmade by the artist" --Colophon. Includes inkblot imagery; some screen printed using black thermo-chromic ink that turns white when heated. Edition of 5, signed and numbered by the artist. Sewn on seven raised cords and bound in full white (alum-tawed) leather. Curio is a collection of "quotidian objects" that speaks to the idea of woman as domestic curator and as weaker vessel. The bisected halves of vases, a candlestick, a chandelier, a soup tureen, and fancy glassware are rendered in mismatched pairings interspersed with inkblots that evoke, in the manner of a Rorschach Test, the trappings of middle-class existence. "My prints and artist books explore the feminine sphere. Drawing from historical texts about and by women, my works are investigations of the female body and mind, and of women's traditional domestic and societal roles. As I seek to understand the legacy of suppression, surrender, and expectation, I overlap, juxtapose and intersect images and symbols. Quotidian objects struggle against the boundaries of symmetry in an examination of the enduring concerns of women.I use handmade materials and labor-intensive processes, such as handmade paper, alternative process photography, letterpress and lithography. These materials and processes imbue my images of bone, inkblot, vessels and text with the weight of the past, illuminating the parallel between historical and contemporary womanhood"--Artist's Statement, 2018 Thesis Exhibition, University of the Arts.
RISD Fleet Library Catalog Record
Press
[Easton, Pa.] : Melanie Mauro, [2018], [Philadelphia, Pa.] : The University of the Arts ; [Easton, Pa.] : Heirloom Press
Rights
©Easton, PA: Melanie Mauro, 2018.
Materials / Techniques
screen printing; paper
Measurements
38 cm