Copepodilia Collectanea
Jenner, CA: Salt Point Press, 2022. Number 6 of 20 copies signed and numbered by the artist. Salt Point Press is the imprint of Gail Wight. Her handmade books focus on the resilient yet precarious flora and fauna that live at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in the southern territories of the Pacific Northwest. They explore hybrid practices combining new mediums and technologies with the traditional craft of bookbinding. Wight works in experimental media focusing on issues of biology, the history of scientific theory and technology. She is currently Associate Professor at Stanford University Department of Art and Art History and Director of Graduate Studies in Studio Art and Experimental Media Arts. Copepodilia Collectanea presents an imaginary menagerie of copepods – minuscule aquatic crustaceans – created using seaweed pressings. High resolution pigment prints of the pressings retain the textures and dimensionality of the original pressings. Text by Melanie Stiassny, ichthyologist at the American Museum of Natural History, introduces the fundamentals of copepod life. The book is structured as an accordion and in a paper wrapper with multi-colored images of plants, with white title and artist name to front cover It is housed in a sectioned clamshell box. The clamshell box is constructed of archival book board covered with pigment prints of plants on Moenkopi kozo, with a cream colored linen backstrip. Each box contains a unique piece of seaweed from the Pacific coastline in northern California.The archival pigment prints are on Canson Infinity Aquarelle, and the letterpress pages at the beginning and end of the book are printed on Rives BFK with mulberry hinges. When opened, the entire book stretches to nearly 33 inches. In fine condition. The box measures 8 x 8 x 3 inches. Unpaginated [80 pages]. Fine. More