Wander
Weston, CT: Ellen Schiffman, 2023. Ellen Schiffman has worked as a professional artist for over 30 years in her Connecticut studio. She is a multimedia artist working in a range of modalities including fiber art, collage, sculpture, photography, printing, cyanotype, eco printing and, most recently, book art. She often combines multiple media in a single piece. Throughout her career, she has been an avid explorer of both material and technique, often including found objects and everyday humble items in her pieces. Serendipity and surprise are hallmarks of her singular work. She has exhibited her work nationwide, including numerous museum shows and solo exhibits. She has received multiple awards for her work and has been featured in online and print publications, including several books.
Her work reflects a fascination with texture, pattern, color, organic shapes, sculptural forms, the majesty of nature, and the beauty of imperfection.
The pandemic shut-down provided Ellen with an abundance of time to explore and experiment with some media that were new to her. She started making books during this time. She felt an immediate connection with the materials and the techniques of this compelling art form and found the process of making books a meditative balm for stressful times. Books have allowed her the opportunity to present her work in new and exciting ways. She celebrates the fact, unlike most other forms of art, the viewer gets to touch and interact with a book, thereby becoming an active participant in the process of the book becoming a meaningful piece of art. She frequently uses her books to present a body of related art work, while just as often she uses them as vehicles to capture the essence of memorable places, issues and moments in time. As the worst of the pandemic has subsided, Ellen has continued her book making journey, exhibiting her books in notable book art exhibits nationwide.
Ellen describes the interesting meander structure she used for this book. "A meander book is a type of concertina made by folding a single sheet of paper sideways, upside-down and backwards, creating many delightful iterations, both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional.” This book is composed of original nature photographs reduced to black and white, and printed on red paper on one side and white on the other. It can be laid out flat, exposing either the red side or the white, or it can be folded willy-nilly to expose some of each. It is engaging conversation piece of bookmaking fun. The nature photographs used for this book are affixed to stiff red paper boards. The images printed the white side have decorative red threads that emphasize the black and white image. The book is housed in a custom-made box with light gray cloth covers and red cloth sides to the box, with black and white images affixed. Box cover has black and white image and title label. It closes with a red ribbon. In near fine condition. Book measures 5 x 5 inches; Box is 5.75 x 5.75 inches. Unpaginated. ARTB/071524. Near Fine.
Item #37366
Price: $425.00