Looking Out / Looking In
2021 Member's Exhibition

 

Michaelis

Catherine Alice Michaelis

https://www.catherine-alice.com/
Catherine Alice Michaelis has been making artist books for over 30 years. She works with printing presses and movable type to print on paper, fabric, film, magnets, and veneer to summon dialogs with Nature. She sews unique works on fabrics that more intimately explore gender, ageism, and memory loss.

Sola: A Mythical Story About A Real Girl

Sola: A Mythological Story About a Real Girl was commissioned by the University of Washington for the artist book show, Just One Look. My assignment was to respond to a Northwest Salish story shared by Paul Cheoketen Wagoner about a young woman’s encounter with a Merwoman to work through her experience of abandonment and need for belonging. My plan was to create through process by stewing in my own abandonment story and walk my personal labyrinthine journey to healing. Finding my way was a dark depressing time of inner searching and mapping. My artist book, Sola, chronicles my healing.

5" x 7" x .5" opens accordion style to 5"x 50"
Pressure printed on Arches Text Wove with hand set letterpress printed type.
2016

Erotica Botanica

Erotica Botanica was designed and printed during a two week time of isolation. No internet, phone, or books. Waking hours were spent in my garden, meditation, or in the studio. I wanted un-distracted time to be inward to guide my creative practice. Erotica Botanica is the result. Sensual leaf shaped pages unfold to reveal erotic verse, written as if by pollinators and flowers. Sumptuous designs of fruits, seed heads, and leaves are enlarged in intimate detail. The verses covertly describe science-based pollination techniques, inviting the viewer to contemplate the sexual desire of plants.

closed 7"h x4.5"w x .25" d open: 7" x 20" - cariable accordion stretch
Pressure printed from handcut stencils and letterpress printed using handset type.
2010