Eclipse

I make books because they allow me to put my feelings and impressions about an experience into a visual and tactile context. I can hold the book in my hands and revisit an experience that was meaningful. For ECLIPSE I wanted to make a book that could speak to the experience of seeing cave paintings that are beautiful, mysterious, and tragic. ECLIPSE refers to the destruction of the early Chumash Indian culture but also to one of the central images in the cave that experts judge is a representation of the solar eclipse of November 24, 1677. 

This has been a wonderfully interesting book to make. How to make a book that allows the reader to feel that they are inside the cave with the Chumash paintings? Formatting each page to be progressively longer allows you to see all of the images at once and as you lift each page, more of the cave is revealed. I used Photoshop to rotate, crop and adjust colors—the photos came from two cameras. This book has been an exercise in improvisation. Lesson: Don't drill the holes into the boards and papers until you have figured out the stitching pattern. I used a simple Japanese stab binding to hold the book together but couldn't work out a way to hold the top cover to the binding of the structure. So, I used leather leftover from the upholstery of my husband's hand-crafted Morris chair. It was easier to cut and glue that I thought it would be. But, it still left the matter of three holes drilled into the top board, so I used linen thread to sew on beads and I rather like the results. Materials used: Moab Entrada papers, Epson CX6000 printer, linen thread, redwood "lumber", leather, beads.

Greta Leads Me to My Next Book

Greta is our nickname for our car GPS. I thought the automated voice was a man's voice but Rollie said it a woman's voice—just really deep. So, Greta it is, for Greta Garbo, who, by the way, didn't say "I want to be alone" but "I want to be left alone". At any rate, the GPS takes us where we can be left alone. I thought it was silly to get a GPS because we KNOW how to find our way to Nebraska or San Diego for Pete's sake. Well, it turns out that Greta takes us on adventures because she has her own mind about how to get from A to B. The discovery of the Chumash Cave Paintings turned out to be one of those adventures. Driving north of Santa Barbara we were told to exit from HWY 101 to HWY 154 over the mountains.Thirty something miles versus fifty something miles. OK. No snow so let's go. Miles into the drive we spotted "Painted Cave Road" and according to my Roadside History of California there is a cave with the most spectacular American Indian cave paintings in the US.

These priceless paintings were done by the Chumash Indians who have lived in the area for thousands of years.Likely done by shamans or priests they may have been trying to seek spiritual strength or to influence supernatural beings and forces. They used charcoal, powdered shells, and red ochre for their paints. The meaning of the paintings was lost along with the destruction of their way of life. It is suggested that the large circle represents a solar eclipse that occurred in 1677 AD. These will be the subject of the next book I make for my book arts guild exchange titled, "Accidental Art". Well, it WAS an accident that we found them. 
To find out more visit the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.