Tuesday, August 29, 2006

NEW PAGES FOR THE ALTERED BOOK
I am still working in the altered book format and finding it both enjoyable and challenging. It is a project that I have thought about doing for quite a long time.

The page above is an homage to t s eliot's 'Lovesong to J. Alfred Prufrock.
It uses paper, acrylic paints, fiber and beads.
Here is a close up of the right side of the mermaid page.
Beads and fibers on the bottom and along the left side.
This is the left side of the page.
I had used this image in an earlier version but was not pleased with it.
Also, uses fibers and beads and a vintage button that has the appearance of something one might find in the ocean.
My altered book celebrates the three ages of a woman's life: maiden, mother and crone.
The text on this page above reads:
"The human woman gives birth just as the earth gives birth to the plants. She gives nourishment, as the plants do. So woman magic and earth magic are the same. They are related. And the personification of the energy that gives birth to the forms and nourishes is properly female.
From the Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.
This page is the left side of a spread and is incomplete.
Here is the right side of the celebration of 'mother'.
The text reads:
"The middle aspect of the Goddess is the Mother-Queen. She Who Rules. She is always celebrated for Her fecundity. She Who GIves Birth to New Life but what about her "ruling" aspect, making decisions, taking responsibility, contributing leadership to what has been created? Middle age is a mental state. It begins when you accept your own power and are willing and proud to exercise it, by shaping your own life and contributing society at large. "
Paper, acrylics, antique lace, hand-painted dryer sheet.
This page brings together the maiden, mother and crone.
The text reads:
"Most ancient symbol systems recognized the triangle as a sign of the Goddess's Virgin-Mother-Crone trinity and at the same time as her genital "holy place", source of all life. The triangle represented the Virgin Moon Goddess called Men-Nefer, archaid deity of the first Mother-city of Memphis. The triangle itself was worshipped in much the same way that modern Christians worship the cross."
I don't think it is entirely complete.
I have re-worked this page several times and am liking it now although I think it needs some work still.
The text on this page reads,
"How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you.....a place of women where you were received and affirmed? A place where other women, perhaps somewhat older, had been affirmed before you, each in her own time, affirmed, as she struggled to become more truly herself."

6 comments:

Topaz said...

Those are beautiful! I found your link on the AB group and I'm glad I clicked on it. Thank you for sharing these with the world.

Susan Schwake said...

very very very beautiful pat! so nice to see your work here and read your words too...+

Beate Knappe said...

I like the Idea of altered books, but I do not dare myself to such a project. This is why I am to full admiration for you - also the subject is great and I would like to see it in the original. I also love very much your feeling for the poetry of the words you select in your work. So what can I say - it is very very beautiful

Caron Mosey said...

Your work is AMAZING!!! I am so impressed!

Caron Mosey
http://www.quilter.realtownblogs.com

Unknown said...

Pat!

Beautiful work! Especially loved the 3 Ages of Woman and the J. Alfred Prufrock....'In the rooms women come and go, speaking of Michaelangelo...shall I wear my trousers rolled...' He was the Portnoy of his era!

Fondly,
Dina Kerik

Pat said...

Thank you Dina, very much for your complimentary words. I have always loved Prufrock.....and the line you quote, especially. Pat