T R A C E
shift-lab: K a t i e B a l d w i n , D e n i s e B o o k w a l t e r, S a r a h B r y a n t, M a c y C h a d w i c k , T r i c i a T r e a c y
Trace: a collaborative exhibition by the members of Shift-Lab Katie Baldwin, Denise Bookwalter, Sarah Br yant, Macy Chadwick, Tricia Treacy February 1 - February 28, 2017 Reception for the artists: Saturday, February 4, 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Photo Credits: Shift-Lab, Trace book photos: Sarah Bryant Process Photos: Katie Baldwin Newspaper photo: Kellee Morgado Newspaper design assistance: Kellee Morgado Direct inquiries to: Seager Gray Gallery 108 Throckmorton Avenue Mill Valley, CA 94941 415-384-8288 seagergray.com
All rights reserved. Catalog can be purchased through the gallery for $20 plus handling and shipping. Email us at art@seagergray.com
T R A C E Trace is an artist book consisting 5 folded books and a map in which each artist explores a particular landscape with an eye toward the “traces� of human activity and the effect upon the land. Extending beyond the book object, each artist has created artworks in a variety of media to accompany their explorations. In addition, we are pleased to show one-of-a-kind works by each of the artists.
sss Statement Shift-Lab is a collective of five artists: Katie Baldwin (Huntsville, AL), Denise Bookwalter (Tallahassee, FL), Sarah Bryant (Tuscaloosa, AL), Macy Chadwick (Oakland, CA), and Tricia Treacy (Boone, NC). The collective began in 2013 as a platform for collaborative inquiry. We are propelled by the use of digital and analog technology in our communication and collaboration. All five artists collaborate on projects that often include books and multiples while maintaining individual creative studio practices. In our new project titled Trace, we explore the technology and aesthetics of mapping while responding to the traces of human activity left on the landscape. Individually, we investigated: an arsenal, a clay mine, a marina, a walking path, and a ski resort. Our sensory experiences navigating a landscape in real time are reinterpreted through symbols, sequences, and sounds in the exhibition. Trace is a set of maps: a large collaborative map and five smaller maps by each individual artist, that fold into single sheet books. A series of framed prints, printed ephemera, a digitally printed newspaper, and sound file accompany the work. Trace utilizes a range of media including embroidery, letterpress, risograph, processing software, screenprint, and video/audio capture.
Shift-Lab, Trace, 2016, letterpress, screenprint, woodcut, 6 x 8 in (closed), edition of 30
sss
Katie Baldwin: Redstone Arsenal, Alabama A 3,700 acre fenced-in Army post, formerly a chemical weapons manufacturing facility for World War II. As a civilian, I could not go into the Arsenal. However, I walked along the fence that lies along the perimeter of the land. Sarah Bryant: Brighton Marina, UK The largest marina in Europe, a strange space between land and sea. I immersed myself for months in the quiet rhythm of the place, and later revisited through newspaper clippings, promotional materials and public notices dating to its design and construction in the 60’s and 70’s. Printed using chalk from the surrounding cliffs. Denise Bookwalter: Ochlocknee Clay Mine, Georgia A surface mine in southeast Georgia that mines absorbent clay used for chemical processing and kitty litter. The clay is found in deposits trending northwest across the Florida panhandle into southern Georgia. I traveled 43.8 miles from my home to tour the mine, the same trip my husband takes across the state line every weekday. Macy Chadwick: Sage Path, Taos, New Mexico A changing topography of cracked dirt, enormous ant hills, rings of grasses where cows once grazed, gnarled sticks, bright green grasses and a variety of different sagebrush. On this virtually untouched land, I breathed in the wide open spaces and looked for patterns and repeated shapes in the landscape. Tricia Treacy: Sugar Mountain, North Carolina With 115 skiable acres over 20 runs, an elevation of 5300 feet at the summit, 4100 at the base, I mapped the demolition of the land during the construction of a new high speed lift.
Katie Baldwin, Trace, 2016, 16 x 24 in
Katie Baldwin, Trace (detail), 2016, 16 x 24 in
Sarah Bryant Trace, 2016 12 x 16 in
Sarah Bryant, Trace (detail), 2016, 12 x 16 in
Denise Bookwalter, Trace, 2016, 12 x 34 in
Denise Bookwalter Trace (detail), 2016 12 x 34 in
Macy Chadwick, Trace, 2016, 14 x 24 in
Macy Chadwick, Trace (detail), 2016, 14 x 24 in
Tricia Treacy, Trace, 2016, 18 x 24 in
Tricia Treacy, Trace (detail), 2016, 18 x 24 in
Shift-Lab, Trace Map, open, 2016
Shift-Lab, Trace Newspaper, digitally printed, 14.75 x 20.5 inches, edition of 100
Katie Baldwin, Process Work #1, 2016, ink on paper, 8 x 8 in
Katie Baldwin, Process Work #2, 2016, french knots on wool, 8 x 8 in
sss Katie Baldwin Katie Baldwin produces artist books and prints investigating text, image, and the way in which narratives are built. She has exhibited extensively and her work can be found in collections including the Library of Congress in Washington DC. She has received grant funding through several organizations to travel internationally as an artist in residence. Baldwin received her MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She served as Victor Hammer Fellow at Wells College 2011—2013 and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama Huntsville.
Katie Baldwin, Process Work #3, 2016, ink on paper, 8 x 8 in
Katie Baldwin Chaff, 2016 woodblock and screenprint 16 x 12 in edition: 3
Katie Baldwin The River, 2016 woodblock and screenprint 16 x 12 in edition: 3
Denise Bookwalter, Process Work #1, 2016, laserprint on transparency, 12 x 10.5 in
Denise Bookwalter, Process Work #2, 2016, screenprint on paper, 12 x 13 in
sss Denise Bookwalter Denise Bookwalter is a printmaker and book artist. She grew up with her four sisters in Ohio, received her BA from Northwestern University, MA from University of Illinois and MFA in Printmaking from Indiana University. Her work can be found in numerous national and international collections including Museum Meermanno, The House of the Book in the Hague, Netherlands. She has been awarded numerous grants including a grant through Columbia College and the National Endowment for the Arts for her collaborative book Rain/fall with artist, Meg Mitchell. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Art Department at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she is Area Head of Printmaking and Director of Small Craft Advisory Press.
Denise Bookwalter, Process Work #3 (Inkblots), 2016, pastel inkblots, 11 x 13 in
Denise Bookwalter Domestic Stratigraphic Section with Laundry, 2016 screenprint on fabric 16 x 12 in edition: 3
Denise Bookwalter My Mine, 2016 screenprint on fabric 16 x 12 in edition: 3
Sarah Bryant, Process Work #1, 2016, cut paper, 13.5 x 9 in
Sarah Bryant, Process Work #2, 2016, pressure print, 6 x 8 in
sss Sarah Bryant Sarah Bryant produces artist books and prints under her imprint Big Jump Press. Her work can be found in dozens of collections including The Yale Arts Library, The Houghton Library at Harvard University, The New York Public Library, and The Darling Bio-Medical Library at UCLA. Her work has received a number of awards, including the MCBA Prize in 2011. Bryant received her MFA from the University of Alabama in 2008. She served as the Victor Hammer Fellow at Wells College from 2008 to 2011 and currently teaches book arts at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Sarah Bryant, Process Work #3 (Absent Boats), 2016, cut paper, 11 x 13 in
Sarah Bryant Every Day I Wake Up in These Surroundings, 2016 linoleum and metal type 16 x 12 in edition: 10
Sarah Bryant They will be on Land Reclaimed from the Sea, 2016 linoleum and metal type 16 x 12 in edition: 10
Macy Chadwick, Process Work #1 (Folding River), 2016, letterpress and linoleum print, 11 x 11 in
Macy Chadwick, Process Work #2 (Plaid), 2016, letterpress and linoleum print, 11 x 11 in
sss Macy Chadwick Macy Chadwick publishes artist’s books and limited-edition prints under the imprint In Cahoots Press. She strives to reveal that which is unspoken: to make tangible the ephemeral, to make visual our human experience and interactions. Her work is in prominent collections in the US and abroad, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Yale University Special Collections, University of Washington Seattle, and the Jack Ginsberg Collection in South Africa. Chadwick received her MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is currently on the faculty at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Macy Chadwick, Process Work #3 (Meditation), 2016, letterpress and linoleum print, 10 x 8 in
Macy Chadwick Trace: Coordinates, 2016 letterpress and linoleum print 16 x 12 in edition: 10
Macy Chadwick Trace: Sticks, 2016 letterpress and linoleum print 16 x 12 in edition: 10
Tricia Treacy, Process Work #1, 2016, letterpress, 10.25 x 12.5 in
Tricia Treacy, Process Work #2, 2016 riso and letterpress, 13.25 x 9 in
sss Tricia Treacy Tricia Treacy is an interdisciplinary designer that works collaboratively in the areas of design, language, typography, and experimental book and print design. Her book and print work can be found in over forty collections and has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. She was awarded a project grant from the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design in 2014 and Design Fellowship from DesignInquiry in 2015. Treacy received her MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and she is an Assistant Professor of Design at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.
Tricia Treacy, Process Work #3, 2016, riso and letterpress, 11 x 9 in
Tricia Treacy 36.129541, -81.869944, 2016 risograph and letterpress 16 x 12 in edition: 3
Tricia Treacy Process the Water, 2016 risograph and letterpress 16 x 12 in edition: 3
Unique Works by each Artist
sss Katie Baldwin Fog with Valley Woodblock, glass prism, cotton embroidery and silk, 2017 5 x 7 x 2.75 inches Tan box with embroidery, silk sheets and prism enclosed. Edition: 1/1
sss Denise Bookwalter Across State Lines Screenprint, fabric and thread, 2017 12 x 9 x 1 inches Edition: 1/1
sss Sarah Bryant a place, the ground mulberry paper, graph paper, cork, gesso, gold leaf, poplar, book cloth, mount board, 2017 5.5 x 4.25 x 1.25 inches Edition: 1/1
sss Macy Chadwick Traces letterpress printed book, Gampi Shi paper, split boards binding, 2017 5 x 12 x .5 inches Edition: 1/1
sss Tricia Treacy background conversation risograph, letterpress, tape, drawing, 2017 7 x 9 inches Edition: 10
Shift-lab is a collective formed in 2014 inspired by Katie Baldwin, Denise Bookwalter, Sarah Bryant, Macy Chadwick, and Tricia Treacy to instigate collaborative studio practices. Their work has been exhibited across the country and is collected by over a dozen major collections. Their mixed perspectives on topics such as place, topography, visual storytelling, sleeplessness, language, and use of technologies charts their evolving creative practice. Their projects take the form of books, printed matter, mixed media, installations, and performances. Zines are available for purchase at Printed Matter in New York. Collections Mary Austin Book Arts Collection, San Francisco, CA; Carleton College Special Collections (Gould Library), Northfield MI; Dartmouth College Special Collection, Hanover, NH; Jack Ginsburg Book Arts Collection, South Africa; Michigan State University Special Collections, East Lansing, MI; Mills College Special Collections, Oakland, CA; MIT Institute Archives + Special Collections, Cambridge, MA; Reed College, Special Collections, Portland, OR; Rhode Island School of Design Special Collections, Providence, RI; SCAD (Jen Library Archives + Special Collections), Atlanta, GA; Swarthmore College Special Collections, Swarthmore, PA; Temple University Special Collections, Philadelphia, PA; The University of the Arts Special Collection, Philadelphia, PA; University of California Special Collections, Santa Barbara, CA; University of California Special Collections, Santa Cruz, CA; University of Iowa Special Collections, Iowa City, IA; University of Utah, Marriott Library Special Collections, Salt Lake City, UT; University of Washington, Special Collections + Rare Books, Seattle, WA; University of Wisconsion-Milwaukee Special Collections, Milwaukee, WI; Washington University Special Print Collections, St. Louis, MS; Yale University (The Art of the Book Collection), New Haven, CT Grants/Awards Printeresting Micro Grant (2014)
Exhibitions + Speaking Engagements Trace, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, February 2017 Codex International Book Fair, Richmond, CA, February 2017 Trace , Sandy 23 Gallery, Portland, OR, March/April 2016 The Contained Narrative: Defining the Contemporary Artist’s Book, curated by Cathy Ryan, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN, April —July 2015 A to Zine, Roger Williams Gallery, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Amherst, MA, March 2015—April 2015 Philadelphia Art Book Fair, the Annex on Filbert, April 2, 2015 Codex International Book Fair & Symposium, Richmond, CA, February, 2015 Approximate Exactitude: the Diagram and the Book , curated by Sarah Smith, Emporium Gallery Showcase, Knoxville, TN, March 2015 The Book as Art, Expanding the Limit, Gallery, Atlanta, GA, September 2014 Art Institute of Atlanta Shift, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA, February—April 2014 in-code, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA, March 29, 2014 in-code, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, January 4, 2014 Bibliography “The Book as Art,” Rossman, Jae, included in The New Companion to the History of the Book. Edited by Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose. Wiley, 2017 Collaborative Practices, Katie Baldwin and Tricia Treacy, Journal of Artists Books vol 36, Columbia College Chicago, 2014 Cover to Cover: A Report on the Biennial Conference of the College Book Arts Association, Samuel Teixeira, Journal of Artists Books vol 35, Columbia College Chicago, 2014