Plans

Andrea Peterson
The image shows a plan brown cover with the title plans stitched small in the bottom right corner. The image also shows four spreads from the book. The first spread is a light green spread with a cornstalk connected to a stove top by a snaking hot pink line. The second spread is kraft paper brown with six white ovals bordered by pink arranged one above he other next to white puzzle pieces a line drawing and a grey mass. The third spread is bright yellow with a block printed flower, line drawing

Plans

Mixed handmade papers and pulp techniques with ink and graphite, 12” x 9” x 0.5”

The image shows a plan brown cover with the title plans stitched small in the bottom right corner. The image also shows four spreads from the book. The first spread is a light green spread with a cornstalk connected to a stove top by a snaking hot pink line. The second spread is kraft paper brown with six white ovals bordered by pink arranged one above he other next to white puzzle pieces a line drawing and a grey mass. The third spread is bright yellow with a block printed flower, line drawing

Sea to Land

Andrea Peterson
A ceramic shell houses a circular book folded in half whose crinkled edges extend just past the lip of the shell. A second image shows the book removed from the shell now opened out into a crumpled circle of abaca papers.

Before We Were Born: Sea to Land

Abaca with inclusions, ink, woodfired ceramic, 6.5” x 10.5”  x 2.5” book pulled out and open 7” diameter

Before We Were Born: Sea to Land is part of a series of works reflecting observed ecological interactions and concerns. This work is a playful journey imagining the primordial soup that coalesced in the oceans and proceeded to evolve as land dwelling species. The pages are made with abaca and have actual plant and animal parts included inside their construction that have reminded me of water plants or animals. The relief images are created from many inspirations including Ernst Haeckel’s work on radiolarians,“ Nature has created an inexhaustible wealth of wondrous forms whose beauty and diversity way exceed anything that has been created by man.”

A ceramic shell houses a circular book folded in half whose crinkled edges extend just past the lip of the shell. A second image shows the book removed from the shell now opened out into a crumpled circle of abaca papers.

Nest

Andrea Peterson
A light-weight, handmade paper accordion book flutters downward from a bird's nest in "Before We Were Born: Nest" by Andrea Peterson. The thin pages of the book contain drawings; the bottom of the nest, a mammilian jawbone, a daisy, and a root. A glass three-clawed stand holds the nest in its perch above a white table.

Before We Were Born: Nest

Found nest, abaca, graphite, glass, 12” x 5”

Before We Were Born: Nest is part of a series of artists books reflecting on observed ecological interactions. The underlying theme is the occurrences that have been happening within the natural world for eons in a symbiotic pattern of life cycles that have adapted to create mutual existence. This book is drawn of graphite on abaca paper and placed in a nest with a hand sculpted glass base. The nest was abandoned near a paper studio in which the bird wove paper scraps and fiber that had escaped from the studio that must have kept her eggs warm.

A light-weight, handmade paper accordion book flutters downward from a bird's nest in "Before We Were Born: Nest" by Andrea Peterson. The thin pages of the book contain drawings; the bottom of the nest, a mammilian jawbone, a daisy, and a root. A glass three-clawed stand holds the nest in its perch above a white table.

Union

Andrea Peterson
Woodcuts of human and plant shapes juxtapose with background sketches of building diagrams in the four spreads of the artist's book "Union" by Andrea Peterson. The first spread is a dark green leaf shape and a pink curve over a stovetop. The second, pink and white ovals and puzzle pieces and a gray shape like a human heart over a porch diagram. Third, a sunflower and a reaching hand-like shape over a yellow background with roof-like beams. Last, a hardwood floor with mold-like forms reaching over beams.

Union

Hand made papers, graphite, letterpress, inkjet, linen thread, 23’ x ½” x 16”

​​​​​​​Union is a book that took a year and half to complete. The book’s drawings were done on sight at Warren Woods State Park, Three Oaks, MI. Many drawings were completed over the summer of 2011 and 2012.

The book is constructed of a variety of handmade papers. The drawings were done on cotton rag with a purposeful paste design. The brown and tan pages were composed of daylily leaf, wheat straw, and hay, giant ragweed fibers the line drawings are sewn with linen thread. The cover is made from hay fiber, the blue end sheet is neighbor’s blue jeans, and the purple end sheet is made from abaca.

 

Woodcuts of human and plant shapes juxtapose with background sketches of building diagrams in the four spreads of the artist's book "Union" by Andrea Peterson. The first spread is a dark green leaf shape and a pink curve over a stovetop. The second, pink and white ovals and puzzle pieces and a gray shape like a human heart over a porch diagram. Third, a sunflower and a reaching hand-like shape over a yellow background with roof-like beams. Last, a hardwood floor with mold-like forms reaching over beams.
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