Studio D'Ambrosio ~ Arizona

Martha on Copper Mountain
Martha on Copper Mountain.
Sculptural book by Joseph D'Ambrosio.

A tribute to friend and fellow artist, Martha Jacobsen and her now-deceased husband, Leo. Drawn to the high places, Martha & Leo left their home atop a Beverly Hills road for a mountain in the Joshua Tree desert of Southern California. Not long after moving, Leo died and Martha was left alone in the challenging and at times inhospitable desert environs. In rhyming verse D'Ambrosio tells the story. But it is the mountain-shaped book itself and the sculpted pages where the real tale and tribute lies.

D'Ambrosio has formed a hexagonally-based pyramid reminiscent of a teepee—mountain as dwelling. The jointure of rods that binds the book creates a corrugated effect along the "spine" like the rocky sides of a mountain. The dimpled, Ostrich-grained leather book cover encloses the pages like a cloak. Inside, we meet Martha and the mountain called Copper; indeed the spirit of each becomes as one. The angled flat top of the book results in quadrilateral pages. Each spread is unique in design, each recto page is actually a tray into which the artist has built a form. One page is a layered progression of three steps up the mountain with paper buds depicting stone and gravel. Another page uses gravel itself to form the base of the mountain. A papier-maché form of a woman joyfully ascending, a star-scape of plastic pearls, and a paper-bud portrait of Martha herself further illustrate. This was a labor-intensive labor of love. Travelling with the artist into the essence of Martha, we find ourselves in the heart of the mountain as the final spread and back cover open out like wings.

Letterpress text. Book sits on a hexagonal base covered in grey marble cloth suggesting granite. A plexiglas case (9.5 inches high x 11 inches in diameter) fits onto the base to protect and display the book. Edition of 25.
$1500

Oaxaca and the Saguaro Cactus
By Joe D'Ambrosio.

A retelling of the Zapotec legend of how the great saguaro first came to flower. Letterpress. Generously illustrated. Exquisite pop-ups of the maiden goddess and the quetzal bird. Two editions. Both feature a "collapsing spine" which allows the book to open flatter than most. In the edition of 125 signed copies, 25 are bound in leather, housed in a clamshell box, and contain inclusions not in the regular edition. The remaining copies are bound in suede cloth and presented in a raffia-tied folder.
$225