History of a Felling
San Diego: Anne Covell, 2019. Number 12 of 18 copies signed and numbered by the artist. Anne Covell is a book artist and hand papermaker living in San Diego, CA. She has studied Asian and Western papermaking techniques with Timothy Barrett, and has taught for numerous professional organizations including the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory, Penland School of Crafts, and the University of Georgia study abroad program in Cortona, Italy, among others. Her work has been exhibited internationally and can be seen in a growing list of private collections, special collections libraries, and museums worldwide. Anne writes: "History of a Felling was first conceived during the winter of 2014 while at the Penland School of Crafts on a winter residency in letterpress. The images were made on-site from polymer plates created from film ink hand-painted on Yupo paper. The project was filed away while the concept evolved into a body of work that would become Covell’s graduate thesis, “Towards a Just Landscape,” in 2015. In the intervening years, the US/Mexico border would draw global attention for the deeply contentious debate over the compulsion to secure the southern border though the construction of a border wall. It seemed a particularly poignant time, by comparison, to revisit the history of the US/Canada border felling, and so the project came out of storage. In many ways the southern and northern US border conflicts remain as isolated as their geographical latitudes; however, their ethical and environmental costs deserve equal scrutiny. Over 150 years later, the deforestation continues. Nature inevitably begins to rebound - trees, shrubs, and grasses grow - and every six years the swath is cleared through exhaustive manual labor." Anne has created a lovely tunnel book that opens to reveal a multi-layered forest of delicate trees printed in light brown on a cream background of Sakamoto paper. The images were printed from photopolymer plates made from original drawings by the artist. Housed in a brown cloth portfolio with a discussion and description of this book. In fine condition. 5.75 x 4.75 x .5 inches (closed) 5.75 x 4.75 x 18 inches (open). ARTISTSB/012121. More