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JUSTARIP Press ~
New Jersey |
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Bookworks influenced by the sayings of Lao Tzu |
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Notes from E 4 books, each 2.75 x 3.5" and 4 leaves, are housed in recesses of a collaged three-dimensional octahedron (12 x 12"), which is ingeniously bound with a Jacob's ladder. This lies in a collaged 13.25 x 13.25 x 1.5" lidded box. Maryann Riker: "A three-dimensional octahedron utilizing a Jacob's ladder hinge mechanism lies opens with four small books hidden in recesses revealing notes of wisdom from the renowned and well-loved poet, Emily Dickinson. The book folds up and back onto itself to create small rooms that provide garden-like views for the reader to mentally rest in. Another twist and fold creates shelter-like structures that one can retreat and contemplate Ms. Dickinson's nuggets of wisdom. Both sides reveal images of gardens and ponds that Ms. Dickinson so loved to view and write about." Emily Dickinson: "The soul should always stand ajar ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." |
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| These bookworks were influenced by the sayings and work of Lao Tzu, a philosopher of ancient China and an important figure in Taoism. | |
Balance 4.375 x 4.2" x 1.375". Mixed media sculptural work with found objects and collage. Cloth-covered box with paper collage lid and edges. Top cover opens to a single opening: recto a shadow box with pull-out drawer. Maryann Riker: "This piece influenced by this philosophical nugget from the Tao incorporates that which is seeking and that which is known.That which is seen and that which is hidden. And, it is the balance that is struck." Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching: "Ever desireless, one can see the mystery; ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations. And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding." |
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Looking Again 2 5.375 x 4.5 x 2". Mixed media sculptural work with collage and found objects. Cloth covered box with paper collage lid and edges. Top cover opens to page with window opening, which lifts to reveal shadow box. Maryann Riker: "The immutable cycle of life is what it is...life, no life, life. All things come and they go. Life materializes in a variety of forms but at some point ends. Coming and going seems to be a temporary condition...but look again...it the ultimate constant because it never ceases." Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching: "Things flourish, each by each, only to return to the Source ... to what is and what is to be." |
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| Riker creates house-shaped books that can unfold and rotate 360 degrees for various views and angles. | |
In the Company of... 7 x 5 x 2.5" decoupaged box accented with beads, feathers, mirrors, and flowery pink wallpaper. Riker is a mixed media artist whose handmade books are sculptural and visual. This work does have a spine, pages that turn, and text (but in the form of images rather than words). Maryann Riker: "Soft whispers, subtle hues, and scented bouquets fill this artists' book with the images of a woman reclining in confidence. She offers us a world of roses and looking glasses..We can see her as she wants us to see her, looking out at the world without fear, beckoning us to join her in this safe abode." |
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| Bookworks with shadow boxes | |
The Eye Has It 2.25 x 3.5 x 1.625” two panel accordion attached to shadow box. Collage and found objects. Maryann Riker: "Watching, waiting for the moment. Hiding and observing to see what will transpire is the inspiration for this work. Moments that require action or moments that require holding back ... the watcher does not always act when needed and waits too long to take action ... or the watcher patiently hangs back for the 'perfect moment.' But will that 'perfect moment' ever arrive? Is the watcher afraid to transform to be ready for the 'perfect moment'?" |
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Blue Horizons 5.375 x 4.5 x 2". Mixed media sculptural work with collage and found objects. Cloth covered box with paper collage lid and edges. Top cover opens to page with window opening, which lifts to reveal shadow box. Maryann Riker: "Being creative means trusting your inner calling, ignoring criticism, judgment and releasing resistance to one's natural talents. Without fail, it reveals its presence...without fail it journeys to its own perfection...and then the creative muse whispers to the creator to let go. As one gazes towards the blue horizons, one realizes to just sit there right now...don't do a thing...just rest...and it shall follow."
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| Maryann Riker: "For the past several years my work has centered on a personal exploration of my relationships with my mother and my aunt who were early feminists. I have also researched how the media influenced the American family and the American suburbs in the post-war era. I internalized this research and the resulting body of work is the visual narrative." | |
Women Work 5 x 6.25 x 3” house shaped sculptural book. Jacob's ladder hinge binding. Opens 360 degrees. Decoupage; found objects. Maryann Riker: "A person articulates as female in part through the material objects and images that frame her daily activities. 'Gender' is the set of behavioral norms and expectations that members of a given society attribute to the physical differences between women and men. In other words, the making of a woman is a social process. Sociologist have studied the influence of domestic technology on women’s time use. A 1965-66 national survey of suburban households found that employed wives devoted an average of 26 hours per week to their domestic duties as compared to 55 hours by non-employed women. In 1920, unemployed housewives spent 52 hours a week on domestic chores compared to 55 hours in the mid-1960’s. So, did these new domestic servants such as the iron and washing machine help the modern housewife to have more leisure time as advertising had promised? Or had the standards of domestic cleanliness risen to encompass more time in achieving these goals? Ah, aren’t ideals wonderful?" |
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| Maryann Riker creates books that are wearable jewelry such as bracelets and necklaces. She uses this method to explore role identity and societal relationships. | |
Handbook 1.1.25 x 1.625" accordion miniature book with 6 pages attached to faux pearl bracelet. Laid in 5.25 x 1.875 x 5.125” paper-and-cloth covered box. Maryann Riker: "Another tongue-in-cheek approach to a wearable/unwearable miniature book attached to a string of pearls that is a bracelet. This style bracelet was frequently worn during the lifetimes of the women artists whose hands are portrayed in this accordion-foldout book. It was from their hand that their fame became known in their time and later through feminist art critics who re-discovered their works and careers." Hands of women show in this book: $155 |
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The Necklace Book or How To Lose Your Head 7.5 x 1.875 x 7.25” box opens to reveal pearl necklace with a miniature book (2 x 2.25") with accordion-foldout. Maryann Riker: "A wearable/unwearable miniature book depicts the portraits of three royal women who became queens and lost their heads over the man they married. A tongue-in-cheek piece that is a miniature book attached to a strand of pearls that is styled after the necklaces worn by the women who lost their heads. A warning to women: be careful who you fall in love with—you may lose your head over him!" Women who lost their heads depicted in this book: $225 |
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Page last update: 10.01.09
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