Leigh Hyams ~ Mexico

Fish
By Leigh Hyams
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico: Leigh Hyams, 2007.

Edition of 75. 5.25 x 8"; 36 pages. Spiral bound with a double colored paper cover. Bound by Howard Munson.

Leigh Hyams: "Twenty artists from three countries flew with me to a tiny island in the Caribbean. We did a mile-long mural on an empty beach, drawing with sticks in the wet sand. We painted, drank beer, ate bananas and fish, didn't read, and talked about art. I drew underwater in the sea....

"Inspired by the fun of drawing underwater in the Caribbean, I wrote a short text followed by quirky black line drawings in ink of hundreds of fish."
$25

The Book of Dog
By Leigh Hyams
Mexico: Leigh Hyams, 2004. One-of-a-Kind.

8 x 11.25" closed; 8 x 73" extended; 10 pages. Accordion book bound in orange cloth with title handpainted on front board. Housed in red slipcase with title handwritten on spine.

The accordion-bound pages extend to display eight watercolor portraits of dogs — a collection of black-and-white mutt’s mugs against a cerulean blue. Dog stars of the Mexican sky?

Leigh Hyams on What Good is Art?: "I don¹t know what Painting is except it's bigger than the universe. It keeps expanding and deepening and if you follow it you expand and deepen. You work with your mind and your muscles and your memory, but mostly you just have to stay out on that cold edge of what you don'tt know. Funny things happen to your life when you paint. All of a sudden you are somebody else namely, your real self."
$1,800

Vida y Dulzura
By Leigh Hyams
San Miguel, Mexico: 2006. Edition of 25.

11.625 x 9.875" vertical accordion with six panels. Ink drawings serigraph printed in the city of San Miguel, Mexico. Bound in Mexican oil cloth. Paper is Arches 100% rag. Binding by Howard Munson.

The artist watercolors the background in each book, making each one unique. The ink drawings are reminiscent of "day of the dead" characters. The sentiment written by the artist in English and Spanish: "Mientras dura, vida y dulzura. / While life yet lasts — laughter and molasses."
$350

Chant Group
By Leigh Hyams
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico: Leigh Hyams, 2005. One-of-a-Kind.

6.5 x 4.2 closed; 4.2 x 28" extended; 8 leafs. Accordion fold. Yellow hard boards with brown ribbon tie closure. Water color illustrations.

Leigh Hyams: "I love Mexican folk art, especially their painted paper maché "Diablitos" - little devil figures with horns and wings and wonderful facial expressions. This wildly watercolored group of rollicking Diablitos fills an accordion-fold book bound by Howard Munson with yellow triple hardcover binding tied with a brown satin ribbon."
$950

Mexico
By Leigh Hyams
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico: Leigh Hyams, 2005. One-of-a-Kind.

7.5 x 7"; 57 pages. Color reproduction of the original ink and water color drawings. Bound hardcover in Mexican oilcloth. In slipcase with tin repousse panels. Designed and bound by Howard Munson.

Leigh Hyams: "This is a single unique copy of my original 57 page artist's book done in watercolor and inks. A casual record of my thoughts, handwritten quotes about art, paintings of wild pieces of Mexican folk art, drawings of house alters, fountains, Conchero dance performances and contemporary life in Michoacán and Guanajuato where I live."
$1,500