Although I teach in the Printmaking Program I do not always have the opportunity to meet and work with all of the printmaking students. I do try to see their senior shows, though, and am often surprised when I see bookwork (although I shouldn't be, since my colleague Nance O'Banion teaches a bookmaking class as well). In any case, I wandered into Arielle Coupe's senior show, felt her love of printmaking immediately, and was thrilled to see how she made several series of intaglio prints into flip books. Each image was printed by hand, one at a time: a huge amount of work. The title of the exhibit, "Pocketable" alluded to her miniature tableaus set up on the walls with rough wooden shelves acting as underlines to her tiny work.
Her title, guest book, two prints, and two hanging books
(yes, she climbed up there!):
She hung some of the prints in larger frames, as you can see, above,
but it is easier to see the images in these cropped photos:
A sweet shelf:
One of the hanging flip books (hand colored, I think),
bound with screwposts:
A student in my current class told me that Arielle once gave a presentation on Dieter Roth, which might have been her inspiration for hanging the books from the ceiling. His show, shown in the book Dieter Roth Books + Multiples: Catalogue Raisonne shows
a picture of his books displayed likewise.
Dieter Roth's Exhibition: "Books and Graphics," Hayward Gallery, London 1973
(page 126)
Arielle, too, made use of light and shadow.
She used the shelves and little familiar objects to provide
a context, a frame, or anchor
in our reality
for her imaginative and otherworldly prints.
I can't help but want to start arranging little scenes
creating new little realities around the house…
Thanks, Arielle!
Arielle Coupe's show was on exhibit February 17-23, 2013
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