Flora and Fauna bookworks by Nettles |
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Paper Birds 4 x 8 x 1"; 12 pages. Collages of photographic etchings, laser prints, and decorative papers. Perfect bound with blue leather spine and cloth-covered boards. Bea Nettles: "After reading a book about James Audubon’s journey to Newfoundland and Labrador, I became inspired to make my own book of birds. The backgrounds are etchings that I created many years ago combined in collages with digital prints of birds I have photographed (ok, some were stuffed birds, I admit it.)" |
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Indra's Net 4 x 22" scroll. Housed in a handmade circular tube, which is covered on one end by a tyvek lid with attached glass bead. Silver bell attached to interior of lid. Housing covered with sumingashi marbled silk. Printed on cotton rag paper by an Epson printer. Scroll verso marbled using sumingashi technique. Ribbon tie closure for scroll. "Indra's Net" is a poem by Grace Noble Nettles from the book Corners: Grace and Bea Nettles. Grace Nettles, the bookmaker's mother, died in 2007. She was a teacher and a poet. Bea Nettles: "This new scroll has just been completed in an edition of nine. The tubular boxes were crafted with hand marbled silk and silver tyvek coverings. When the lid is lifted, you will ring a small silver bell. The poem is printed on a spider-web background."
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Lazy Goody Land 4 x 8 x 7.8"; 12 pages. Perfect bound in orange bookcloth with gold pigskin spine. Decorative papers throughout. Collage of photographic etchings. Bea Nettles: "This perfect bound book of collages features photographic etchings which are proof prints from two previous series: Landscapes of Innocence and Life's Lessons. It shows a journey through an imaginary land of goodies...cookies and candy...featured in a Dutch poem [“Lazy Goody Land” taken from Tales Told in Holland, Olive Miller, ed. (1926)].”
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A is for Applebiting Alligators 4.125 x 5.125"; 26 pages. Codex, staple bound, lavender paper cover. Housed in fake alligator slipcase machine stitched. Offset printed in black with lavender silkscreen additions. Printed at the Visual Studies Workshop. An alphabet book by Bea Nettles comprised of photo montages and drawings. "Z for Zillions of Zooming Zebras" $400 (Last Copy) |
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| Work from Nettles' residency at Harfnarborg Cultural Center in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland in the summer of 2007. | |
Fate, Being & Necessity 3.75 x 6 x .5", opens to 21"; 8 pages. Accordion pocket book. Hardbound in brown momi (wrinkled paper) with metallic sparkles. Twin Rocker pale blue paper with suminigashi (marbling with soft, swirling patterns) on both sides. Cards printed with an Epson printer on Ingres Antique paper, then mounted onto a high gloss silver paper. Reverse side of cards printed on a blue Japanese paper with metallic flakes. Housed in silver stenciled paper slipcase. Paper title label on front board and on slipcase. The Artist: "The Norns: Fate, Being, & Necessity are the Norse version of the three Fates represented by an old woman (past) and middle aged woman (present) and a young woman (future). Nettles first created her unique copy of this book while in residence in Iceland. This new edition allows the viewer to draw the cards out of the pockets, turn them over to reveal the role of the Norn. A passage from the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson explains how the Norns lived by the well of Uror, where they spent their days trying to preserve the sacred Ash tree." |
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Mind and Memory 4 x 8 x 1"; 16 pages. Each page is a photomontage printed on an Epson printer. Cloth-covered boards with paper title on front board. Spine bound in red fish leather. Bea Nettles: "While in Iceland last summer [2007], I made a collage book entitled Mind and Memory inspired by the story of Odin’s two ravens named Hugin and Munin, [or] mind and memory. These birds sit on his shoulders and fly out daily to return with news of the world. The original CIA "I have made a small edition of three more of this book, using Epson prints and exotic papers. The books are chunky pages bound together with strips of fish leather, a product produced in Iceland."
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Snorri's Pool 4 x 7.75 x 1.25; 14 pages. Cloth over bookboard covers with Icelandic fish skin spine. Paper title inset in front board. Collage on bookboard printed by Epson inkjet. During Nettles, residency at Hafnaborg Cultural Center in Hafnarfjördur, Iceland, in the summer of 2007, she visited and photographed several historic locations, including Snorri's Pool. The pool was constructed by 13th-century scholar-chieftain Snorri Sturluson at his home at Reykholt, west Iceland. Snorri's Pool is unusual in being man-made (normally the geothermal pools were natural) and is one of a few constructions preserved from Iceland’s medieval period. The collaged pages include excerpts by and about Sturluson, but the major focus is the feel of Iceland rendered by the craggy collages and the rocky palatte of the photographs. |
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Foss: The Legendary Waterfalls of Iceland Four hardbound 4 x 3" accordion books, each 8 pages, housed in cloth-covered box with lift-off lid (4 x 3 x 3"). Title on handmade paper on box cover. Signed inside box lid. Prints on Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte (10.4 mil thick) using the K3 Ultrachrome 8 color ink system. Opened books are 20" long. Lionel Suntop: "This mossy [colored] boxed set contains accordion books featuring four waterfalls that cascade out of the viewer’s hand. The text relates their stories and geographical facts. All of the photographs were taken by Bea Nettles in Iceland in the summer of 2007." The four falls: Barnafoss (Children's Falls); Godafoss (Gods' Falls); Gullfoss (Golden Falls); and Skógafoss (Forest Falls). |
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Four Guardians 6 x 6" closed; 18.25 x 19" open. Bound on four sides so that pages open out into a cross format. Images Epson color prints on Epson lustre photo paper. Map, a lazer cut image of Iceland with the four sites marked by gold-leafed stars. Bound in Black Rayon book cloth. Slipcased, signed, and numbered. This book was made while Nettles was in residence at Harfnäborg Cultural Center in Hafnärfjordur, Iceland. All photographs taken by Bea Nettles in Iceland (summer 2007). The text is a translation (from the original Old Norse) of Heimskringla: Norwegian Kings (Volume 3, Chapter 37) by Snorri Sturluson. Bea Nettles: "This book shows the mythical journey of the warlock, in the form of a whale, who circled Iceland to spy for Kind Harald of Norway. At every cardinal direction he was blocked by a guardian: Dragon, Eagle, Bull and Giant. These four beings are found on the back of every Icelandic krona." |
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| Documenting family has been a consistent activity throughout Nettles'work | |
Aging Gracefully 6.5 x 5" closed; extends to 12". Tunnel book of Epson prints of the artist's mother from a young girl of 5 to a woman in her 80's. Printed on acid free paper in sepia tones. Cut on a laser cutter. Bound in gold book cloth. Housed in a cloth-covered slipcase with an image of the mirror on the front. Originally published as an edition of 2 designed in black-and-white in 2001. Here images of Nettles' mother document the passage from childhood through maturity. The body changes, the roles change — school girl to bride to parent — one life. Dedicated to Nettles' mother, Grace. |
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Close to Home 10.5 x 13 x .5"; 9 single pages. Epson prints on 100% rag paper. Images originally created in 1981-2 using a 16x20 inch pinhole camera loaded with ortho film. Images then contact printed from the film onto vinyl base sheets using light sensitive pigments. Prints in this portfolio printed digitally on acid free paper. Prints housed in a drop-spine clamshell box covered in green cloth with a paper title inset on top. Signed and numbered on the box lid. Portfolio of work made by the artist in the early 1980's when she was the mother of an infant and toddler. The nine prints: Bad Laughing Frog, Bird Scissors, Caterpillar, Fish Plate, Gator Shirt, Humpty Dumpty, Dish and Spoon, Pack up your Troubles, and Snake Through the Window Dream. They chronicle the events and objects of childhood, using pinhole optics to approximate a childlike vision of the world. The original prints were made using multi-colored bichromate printing, exhibited twice in NYC, and have been published in magazines and text books. Artist’s statement from the original exhibition: "With a three-year-old daughter and an infant son, I found myself living amidst mounds of toys, clothes, and clutter. Included in the general mess were some special things that evoked fantasies of interstellar voyages, objects springing to life while grown-ups slept, nightmares creeping through the open windows. I wanted to document these items from a child's perspective...." |
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R. Suntop's Sunspots 3.75 x 5.25"; single 8 x 10" sheet folded into covers. Image printed by an Epson Ink Jet printer. Suminigashi [literally "spilled ink," traditional Japanese paper marbling] paper over boards with cloth spine. Illustrated paper title on front board. Bea Nettles: "[This books] opens to reveal a drawing of sunspots made by my daughter as a young child during the 1980s at Montessori School."
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Rachel's Holidays 7.5 x 7.75 "; 32 pages including free end pages. 15 color images scanned from the original color negatives printed using an Epson 4800 printer. Printed on cotton rag paper. Housed in lightweight paper slipcase in Christmas colors. Bound in red leather with paper title on cover. Exposed stab binding with three green leather accent strips entwined horizontally. Bea Nettles, Colophon: "I printed six sets of the images in this book in 1984 using the dye transfer process. Dye transfer printing was complicated, but worth the trouble, as it was considered one of the most permanent color printing methods. The method was discontinued with the advent of digital photography. Materials for this process no longer exist." From the introduction: "This sequence draws upon the events in my daughter Rachel's life during the 'holiday' season from Halloween through Christmas in 1983. That Thanksgiving, our family traveled to Sanibel Island, Florida, a place justifiably famous for outstanding shelling. Her memories of that trip, and the events and traditions associated with the fall and winter holiday season are the basis for the images which begin and end with Rachel lost in thought in Sanibel." |
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Family Resemblance: 5.5 x 7.5"; 57 pages. Codex grey-green cloth bound, grey end sheets. Signed inside front. Over 75 family photos, predominately black-and-white. Includes index of photos with dates and locations. Bea Nettles: "My Grandmother Noble gave me my first camera when I was ten years old. She didn't purchase it, but had received it as a bonus of some sort. It was red plastic and took wide roll film. This was in 1956, so 2006 marks the fiftieth year that I have been making portraits of my family in Florida. Photography today is so easy and cheap that it is ubiquitous. Huge quantities of pictures are created, looked at, then deleted. In the fifties, film was expensive and I can remember planning and taking almost every shot. I still have all the negatives." |
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| Another area of explorations has been in the themes of women's issues | |
Hair Loss 4 x 5.5" closed; 4 x 68" opened; 13 pages. Leather bound with slipcase. Accordion structure. Printed on acid free paper with inkjet printer. End sheets of abaca paper with embedded hair. The artist discovered in August 2002 that she had infiltrating ductal Hair Loss is a pictorial account of Bea Nettles' passage through |
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60 Old Trees [Open edition] 4.25 x 5.25"; 60 pages. Black-and-white photographs of trees from Nettles’ files. Each tree identified by place and year photographed. Clothbound with title label inset on front board. Printed on a laser printer. Created in celebration of Nettles' 60th birthday.
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60 Old Trees [Deluxe Version 1] 8.25 x 9 x 1"; 60 pages. Epson prints (uniformly 5.75” spare) on Cranes Duo. Quarter leather. Textured paper slipcase with paper title. Brown-toned Epson prints of sixty trees from Nettles’ files. Each tree identified by place and year photographed. Recently bound. Deluxe version of the smaller format 60 Old Trees produced in an open edition in 2007 for Nettles' 60th birthday. |
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60 Old Trees [Deluxe Version 2] 8 x 7.75 x .75"; 60 pages. Epson prints (uniformly 4.81” square) on Cranes Duo. Bound in wheat colored cloth. Textured-paper slipcase with copper border and paper title. Brown-toned Epson prints of sixty trees from Nettles’ files. Each tree identified by place and year photographed. Recently bound. Deluxe version of the smaller format 60 Old Trees produced in an open edition in 2007 for Nettles’ 60th birthday. This is smaller than Deluxe Version 1 and has a full cloth binding. |
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| Botanical bookworks by Bea Nettles | |
Southern Roots 4 x 8 x 1"; 12 pages. Collages of photographic etchings, laser prints, decorative papers. Perfect bound with fish-leather spine and cloth-covered boards. Bea Nettles: "I am a Florida native, so when the winter comes in the Midwest I often find myself longing for a warmer, greener place.This book is an imaginary botanical including plants from Florida, especially lotus flowers and their seedpods, which we call winkiepins."
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A Midsummer Botanical 4 x 7.75"; 12 pages. Collages of etchings, color laser prints, and decorative papers applied to 8-ply museum boards. Bound in cloth-covered boards with spine of green fish leather from Iceland. Paper title label on front board. Bea Nettles: "With all the ice and snow outside, I decided to escape by creating an imaginary voyage to collect flowering plants! This book features several unusual plants I have photographed on trips to Iceland, Florida, and the Carolinas." Among the flowering plants: windflower; golden sellum, banana blossom, greater masterwort, spiniest thistle, and blue stone crop.
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| Bea Nettles Out of Print Title: • 14 Mysteries • The Passage of the Ruby Ring |
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Page last update: 10.08.09
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