Tiptoe Through the Cosmos is a book of nonsense that shades gradually (and partially) into meaning. The imagery seeks to merge the earth with the heavens. In the end, the book is a comic hymn to the objects and creatures of the everyday (and nature): the earthworm, the embodiment of the worthy meek, ventures into the cosmos (the flower and the heavens). The book was inspired by the artist’s garden – in particular her prized earthworms and cosmos flowers – and the song sung by the 1960s pop star Tiny Tim.
Books as Life: 2024 Member's Exhibition
Viguers
Susan Viguers
Susan Viguers is Professor Emerita at University of the Arts. On retirement, she stepped down as MFA Book Arts/Printmaking director. She came to art making late, her first career being that of a scholar and English teacher. Her artist books are in over 60 institutions in the U.S. and abroad.
Tiptoe Through the Cosmos
11"x9.5"x2"
Text: letterpress, using polymer plates. Images: plate lithography,and screenprints
The Thing Is, You Guys
The Thing Is, You Guys explores the experience of aging – embarrassing, painful, sad, comical. The brief narratives are presented in the context of blind contour self-portraits and a dirge-like ditty sung by the author/artist as a child. The idea for the book and much of the text evolved over years, but the book coalesced and found its tone and form when a family member read out loud quotations from family that amused her and that she’d jotted down. One quotation supplied the title of the book and the opening and closing passages and led to the blind contour drawings.
5"x6"
Line drawings + text: letterpress printed using polymer plates. Color fields: hand stenciled. Cover, eco prints: inkjet printed