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artist
statement
daniel essig |
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Some
people use my books as journals and fill them up with words.
I
don't write in my books. For me, the books themselves are journals,
visual records of my life and work.
I am interested in traces of the past, ancient binding styles,
altered
books, distressed finishes, and found objects. Since I was six
or
seven years old, I've been collecting small objects. I have
seashells and interesting rocks that I collected at the beach
on
childhood vacations. I also have my grandfather's arrowhead
collection. He often walked the freshly plowed fields of the
central
Missouri town where spent his life, collecting these stone relics
of
the land's past inhabitants. I've stored up seedpods, rocks,
bones,
shells, bits of rusty metal, nails, animal teeth, fossils. They
represent periods in my life, even just days or moments. I keep
my
collection of objects in drawers, bottles, and boxes within
a single
small room in my house. The space has the feel of a German
Wunderkammern, a "cabinet of curiosities." I often
sit in the room
and scan my collection, seeking just the right object to inspire
a
new book or sculpture.
A symphony conductor who collects my work once told me that
he hides
my books in a basket every evening before going to bed so they
won't
be stolen during the night. Until fairly recently all books
were
prized possessions -- medieval libraries chained books to the
shelves
to prevent theft. In those days each volume was crafted with
precision, elaborately decorated and embellished with precious
stones
and metals. I aim to make my books just as precious as those
medieval
manuscripts.
All my work has a Coptic book at its heart. The binding was
first
used about the fourth century, in Ethiopia or North Africa,
or
perhaps this is just the area where the books were best preserved.
There are several distinct sewings known as Coptic. The style
I use
is known as Ethiopian. I use two needles for each length of
thread,
one on either end. I use wood covers and tunnel through the
edge of
the board to attach the text block. The historic sewing style,
wooden boards, and the type of board attachment are what distinguish
the Ethiopian style Coptic Binding. |
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resume |
Excerpted
with permission of Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. from
THE PENLAND BOOK OF HANDMADE BOOKS,
© 2004 by Lark Books, a Division of Sterling Publishing
Co. Inc. |
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