Books of Hours

In order explore the time and effects of day and night on perception, I completed several books of hours that utilize observational drawing. The rising and setting sun offers a general guide to direction and creates the rhythm of day and night, with time measured in increments that correspond to its motion. The motif of a circle guides my selection of sites, becoming both a clock face and a compass rose whose circumference I traverse over the course of a 24-hour period, drawing the landscape for three hours at a time from eight points that correspond to the cardinal and ordinal directions. Like historical books of hours with prayers that evoke time of day, I complete each composition during its appropriate interval. In addition to the set of eight cliché verre prints, each book incorporates text describing observations and contemplations recorded while drawing throughout the day and night. The changing conditions of illumination influence the level of detail and contrast rendered on the surface of the plates, and as the darkness obscures the landscape from view, the compositions are drawn more from memory and imagination than direct observation. This project explores how time of day influences perception, technique, and concentration, and how these traces of the creation of the images tie that print not only to a place, but also to a time.

 

Book of Hours: Sheep Exclosure2015, cyanotype on Hosho, woodcut on canvas edged in leather, bound in a scroll approximately 12 x 144 inches unrolledBook of Hours: Tire Trough
2015, cyanotype on Hosho, woodcut on canvas edged in leather, bound in a scroll approximately 12 x 144 inches unrolled

Book of Hours: Sheep Exclosure2015, cyanotype on Hosho, woodcut on canvas edged in sheep’s wool, bound in a scroll approximately 12 x 144 inches unrolled

Book of Hours: Sheep Exclosure
2015, cyanotype on Hosho, woodcut on canvas edged in sheep’s wool, bound in a scroll approximately 12 x 144 inches unrolled

 

Book of Hours: Tipi Circle2015, cyanotype prints on Incisioni, bound in an 8-page accordion book, digitally printed canvas cover, 11 x 14 inches closedBook of Hours: Tipi Circle
2015, cyanotype prints on Incisioni, bound in an eight-page accordion book, digitally printed canvas cover, 11 x 14 inches closed