I am now in a book

Nathalie Foy from Canada was the final contributor (besides me). She did some collage and some writing, and a little paper engineering with a dear little paper cut door opening from Ex Libris to Antarctica.

Nathalie writes: "The doorway to the chapter I am now in is a book, but a book that led me to the internet and blogging. A student gave me a copy of Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris. I began collecting books about books. Then I began buying more books than I read and I needed a way to make more of my collection. I began a blog devoted to books about books and took tentative steps towards befriending the internet. It had frightened me and it still overwhelms me, but in it I have found a nook that makes me feel at home.



The internet has exposed me to so many wonderful new worlds, but, more importantly, old worlds. There is so much hand-wringing about the death of print, but I have read so many more books because their news is digital. I have discovered books based on hand-made cards, maps, jottings. I have met people across the world and down the street. this journal, a wonderful example of community art, hand-made interaction, could not have been created without the vast internet.

"Respond" is the imperative that most captures my response to the digital world. We are pushed out from behind closed doors and join a discussion, a creation, a demonstration.

"Home" is a word more textured for me when it includes a sense of breadth and connections. Thank you for the opportunity to connect. I felt drawn to the project because it captures the wonderful paradox of the world wide web: There are infinite connections to make, and when we make them we make the world feel pleasantly smaller. Infinity, after all, is only the sum of what is possible.When possibility is realised and made concrete, it has purchase on something much closer to home. "

I think Nathalie put in Shackleton's map of Antarctica especially for me, or at least as response to my blog about the work I am making. That left half a blank page which I responded to with a map of the Arctic.

Fragile Beauty

Letterpress printer, Ampersand Duck, contributed a sweet open page like a breath of fresh air. She is Canberra based, and one of my heroes, so I was thrilled to have her contribution, which did not disappoint.

A BOOK!

After a lengthy sojourn in Asia, while I didn't know where it was, who had it or if it would ever return, Response eventually came back to me. I immediately passed it onto my collaborator in Frugal with the Brughel, an altered book project.

Bethwyn Littler is a collage artist, kindergarten teacher and mother of two living in Hamilton, not far from my place. She filled her spread with musical notation from an old song book, and some children's book illustrations and text.

If I take this book with me, and love it, I will be wise

How I love an imperative!

From Hamilton, New Zealand's largest inland city, to the other inland city of the North Island, Palmerston North. The next contributor was Helen Lehndorf, poet, crafter, mother of two boys and tutor of creative writing (I've left out quite a few other remarkable talents and pastimes, so follow the links to find out more).

My favourite part of Helen's spread is "I find anthropomorphism super-creepy. I like my tigers bootless and wild, wild wolves."


Helen sat on Response for a long time before she sent it back to me inside an enormous parcel of fabulous gifts. It would have been worth the wait even without all the gifts because I was enjoying following her busy life on the internet while she "finished writing a book... taught 120 people whow to write short stories at university... started a local Open Mike poetry evening,... sold a house then bought another one and moved into it... found out my youngest son has autism... made 100s of bunnies for five Craft fairs... and cooked a few hundred dinners."


"Right now my biggest RESPONSE to life is "whew" and "can i lie down for a bit?""

Hello from Another World

The next stop for Response was Tokyo, Japan. "Another world." "Whether they are really busy or they are pretending to be busy, in anyway they look busy."

This bright, bilingual spread includes little pull-out papers tucked into envelopes. They say 'one more life' and 'have a cup of coffee'.

The next spread is marvelous, I don't know if it was two separate contributors or one person with two styles. On the left, the orange square has been pricked with a braille like text 'the world around (or ground?) me'. There is an origami elephant and a real maple leaf. On the right, the large patterned square has been printed straight onto the book's page, I'm not sure what technique, but its beautiful.


The next spread is made with multiple sheets of carbon and coloured tissue papers. There is a carbon tracing of Metro Lines in Seoul Metropolitan Area.

Leafing through the pages of carbon and tissue we find a pig (saying Hello from Seoul!) and another tiny subway map.


None of the contributors listed in the back of the book included a Japanese or Korean address, but I think at least one of these pages was made by Ping Ping Tung who is based in Australia. If you made these pages or think you know who did, please contact me!

This is the most exciting section of the book for me, because I just don't know who contributed these pages. The book just went off on an Asian adventure and came back with subtle mysteries tucked into its pages.

I just found out... we love

Response started its journey in Melbourne, Australia. Two members of Melbourne's Craft Cartel contributed, before sending the book on its way.

Rayna Fahey bravely made the first marks on the blank page that opened the book. Her delicate text and images evoke the plankton in sea water she responds to . " I just found out that increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere lead to increased acidity in the seas and oceans. Increased acidity in te sea will eat through the fragile calcium shells of all the plankton. All the fish in the sea depend on plankton!"

The first double spread is not signed, but I think it was contributed by Rayna's friend Casey, or perhaps they made it together.

Imperative

Inside the front cover are the directions. The only direction that wasn't consistently followed was "you have two weeks to respond". It took two and a half years to fill this book. But its finally complete. I will be sharing photographs of its entirety on this blog over the coming weeks.