Trace time. Iowa Research Online. University of Iowa. Jill Elise Kambs University of Iowa. Theses and Dissertations. Spring 2013

Transcription

1 University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Spring 2013 Trace time Jill Elise Kambs University of Iowa Copyright 2013 Jill Elise Kambs This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: Recommended Citation Kambs, Jill Elise. "Trace time." MFA (Master of Fine Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, Follow this and additional works at: Part of the Book and Paper Commons

2 TRACE TIME by Jill Elise Kambs A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Book Arts in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa May 2013 Thesis Supervisor: Associate Professor Julia Leonard

3 Copyright by JILL ELISE KAMBS 2013 All Rights Reserved

4 Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL MASTER S THESIS This is to certify that the Master s thesis of Jill Elise Kambs has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Book Arts at the May 2013 graduation. Thesis Committee: Julia Leonard, Thesis Supervisor Timothy Barrett Sara T. Sauers Emily Martin

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF IMAGES iii IMAGES. 4 ii

6 LIST OF IMAGES Image 1. Installation view... 4 Image 2. Installation view... 5 Image 3. Installation view... 6 Image 4. Installation view... 7 Image 5. Installation view... 8 Image 6. Installation view... 9 Image 7. Installation view. 10 Image 8. Installation view. 11 Image 9. Installation view. 12 Image 10. Installation view Image 11. Installation view Image 12. Installation view Image 13. Installation view Image 14. Page from Trace Light. 17 Image 15. Pages from Trace Light 18 Image 16. Pages from Trace Light 19 Image 17. Page from Trace Light. 20 Image 18. Pages from Trace Light 21 Image 19. Pages from Trace Light 22 Image 20. Pages from Trace Light 23 Image 21. Page from Trace Light. 24 Image 22. Pages from Trace Light 25 Image 23. Page from Trace Light. 26 iii

7 Image 24. Page from Trace Light. 27 Image 25. Pages from Trace Light 28 Image 26. Page from Trace Light. 29 Image 27. Trace Water. 30 Image 28. Trace Color I 31 Image 29. Page spread from Trace Color I Image 30. Page spread from Trace Color I Image 31. Page spread from Trace Color I Image 32. Trace Color II.. 35 Image 33. Trace Color II.. 36 Image 34. Trace Color II.. 37 Image 35. Trace Color II.. 38 Image 36. Prints from Trace Color II 39 Image 37. Prints from Trace Color II 40 Image 38. Trace, Deluge Image 39. Trace, Deluge Image 40. Cover from Trace, Deluge 42 Image 41. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 43 Image 42. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 43 Image 43. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 44 Image 44. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 44 Image 45. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 45 Image 46. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 45 Image 47. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 46 iv

8 Image 48. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 46 Image 49. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 47 Image 50. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 47 Image 51. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 48 Image 52. Page spread from Trace, Deluge.. 48 v

9 1 Trace Time is an interdisciplinary book arts exhibit featuring handmade paper installations, one-of-a-kind prints and book objects, and a fine press artist s book in edition. The theme of this work focuses on the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world by examining the tension between organic lifecycles and human cultivation, control, and constraint of the environment. By following a system for tracing natural surroundings, I document environmental movement in a series of time-based sequential pieces measuring light, water, and color. Trace Light, the first piece in the exhibit, is a series of ink drawings on handmade highly beaten abaca paper. In this series, which was begun on the autumnal equinox and concluded on the winter solstice, I completed weekly studies of a Celastrus Scandens specimen located at N, W, in which I systematically traced its shadow each hour from noon to sundown. In this series of intimate hand-drawn exposures, I document both daily and seasonal changes. Working with the translucency of the paper, tracings from the same day are layered and exhibited together to show the change in light across a single day. The audience is encouraged to engage with these wall pieces in multiple dimensions. The translucent stack can be read as flat, taking in all layers at once, or it can be read physically, turning pages to see individual tracings in sequence. The entire series, which includes fourteen daily groupings, documents the change in light as well as the physical form of the subject over the course of the season. Viewing groupings from individual days one sees a record of time and place: the Earth s tilt to the sun, its revolution, lengthening shadows, movement from day to night. Viewing the series in sequence, one sees greater changes: shortening days, slimming shadows cast from bare branches, movement from fall to winter.

10 2 Trace Water, a one-of-a-kind ink drawing on handmade abaca and cotton blend paper, references a chart produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Mean Sea Level Rise from Tide Stations and Satellite Altimetry from 1870 to Present Day. Compiling information gathered from over one hundred stations, this nine by four foot drawing documents the staggering elevation in global water levels. Installed on the wall, a single, stark line charts this watery movement, which begins at waist level and rises above viewers heads. Trace Color I is a one-of-a-kind artist s book, which records autumnal decay of one maple tree on the corner of Fairchild and Lucas Streets. I began this series on the autumnal equinox by gathering leaves daily to emboss in paper. Firmly pressing leaves transfers pigment from the plant to the paper. This work is also a measurement of light, although less direct than in Trace Light. Fall color is evidence of diminishing light. Moving into winter, because there is not enough light for photosynthesis, plants begin to shut down and the green chlorophyll drains from the leaves. As the green fades away, other colors become visible colors that were present all along, just masked by the chlorophyll. The leaves in this book were pressed and are sequenced in the order they were gathered, so that the pigment offset serves as a record of fall decay. Like photograms of waning light, the prints in this book show the subtly fading color as the season moves into winter. Trace Color II is an organic print collection of leaf specimens gathered while strolling outdoors on certain sunny autumn afternoons. To be read alongside Trace Color I, this variant leaf impression series showcases more than one hundred prints made from a range of specimens. Because they are exhibited as a group of loose prints contained in a

11 3 handmade drop-spine box, the audience is encouraged to engage in tactile reading, shuffling the print order for comparison and exploring both sides of the print to contrast the colorful fronts against the blind-embossed backs. The centerpiece of the exhibit is Trace, Deluge, a letterpress printed artist s book in an edition of 25. Drawing on imagery from Trace Light and Trace Water and featuring poems from Jane Wong s collection Dendrochronolgy, this work synthesizes the overarching theme of the exhibit: nature is cyclical and regenerative while humanity is finite and destructive. Wong s poems, which alternate between two series, Trace and Deluge, are aesthetically mirrored in alternating imagery. The photopolymer printed, shadow-tracing layers mimic the open, lineated structure of the Trace poems and the linoleum printed waves parallel the dense prose structure of the Deluge poems. Wong s words trace a pattern of human ruin, which gives way to natural restoration, while the imagery traces water and light as instruments of nature s cleansing and reclamation.

12 Image 1: Installation view 4

13 Image 2: Installation view 5

14 Image 3: Installation view 6

15 Image 4: Installation view 7

16 Image 5: Installation view 8

17 Image 6: Installation view 9

18 Image 7: Installation view 10

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20 Image 9: Installation view 12

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22 Image 11: Installation view 14

23 Image 12: Installation view 15

24 Image 13: Installation view 16

25 Image 14: Page from Trace Light 17

26 Image 15: Pages from Trace Light 18

27 Image 16: Pages from Trace Light 19

28 Image 17: Page from Trace Light 20

29 Image 18: Pages from Trace Light 21

30 Image 19: Pages from Trace Light 22

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32 Image 21: Page from Trace Light 24

33 Image 22: Pages from Trace Light 25

34 Image 23: Pages from Trace Light 26

35 Image 24: Page from Trace Light 27

36 Image 25: Pages from Trace Light 28

37 Image 26: Page from Trace Light 29

38 Image 27: Trace Water 30

39 Image 28: Trace Color I 31

40 Image 29: Page spread from Trace Color I 32

41 Image 30: Page spread from Trace Color I 33

42 Image 31: Page spread from Trace Color I 34

43 Image 32: Trace Color II 35

44 Image 33: Trace Color II 36

45 Image 34: Trace Color II 37

46 Image 35: Trace Color II 38

47 Image 36: Prints from Trace Color II 39

48 Image 37: Prints from Trace Color II 40

49 Image 38: Trace, Deluge 41

50 42 Image 39: Trace, Deluge Image 40: Cover from Trace, Deluge

51 43 Image 41: Page spread from Trace, Deluge Image 42: Page spread from Trace, Deluge

52 44 Image 43: Page spread from Trace, Deluge Image 44: Page spread from Trace, Deluge

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54 46 Image 47: Page spread from Trace, Deluge Image 48: Page spread from Trace, Deluge

55 47 Image 49: Page spread from Trace, Deluge Image 50: Page spread from Trace, Deluge

56 48 Image 51: Page spread from Trace, Deluge Image 52: Page spread from Trace, Deluge