I Made an Artist Book!

Longtime readers of my posts know that for years I walked to work during my career as an adult oncology infusion nurse and then as an oncology nurse navigator. Walking provided an easy way to center my thoughts, both coming and going. It was good for my health, and for the health of our planet by lessening my carbon footprint.

In 2018, which turned out to be the last full year of my nursing career, walking to work became an opportunity to create an art project. There was a tree I passed daily with a large knothole. It ignited my imagination. I began leaving weekly gifts in its knothole, documenting the gifts, how long they remained, and things that were left in their place. I illustrated the subsequent journal with ink and watercolor illustrations. It was a way to build art-making into my work a day life.

The project took on a life of its own, however. Through the year, interactions with people in the tree’s neighborhood occurred. The tree became a place of shared experiences. Most significantly, my observations of the tree led to profound personal growth. 

Last year, I realized the journal was more meaningful than I originally imagined. This led me to enroll in a couple of writing workshops, and a scientific watercolor illustration class with the intention of making an artist book.

Then something remarkable happened. I won a week-long residency at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, including the use of their Ray Trayle printing press. Oregon’s Ray Trayle built over 60 printing presses during his lifetime. The opportunity to use this historic press in the making the illustrations for my “tree journal” was too good to pass up. 

This opportunity created the need to brush up on my monotype print making skills, and learn how to set up a printmaking studio, requiring more workshops, before going to Sitka.

Last spring, I pulled eleven monotype print illustrations off of the historic Ray Trayle press. Then over the summer, I designed and hand carved nearly 50 rubber stamps used to name the months of the year and illustrate some of the objects I left in the tree. 

Before I hand bind the original book ( book binding was yet another workshop I took) I’ve had it scanned so I can have commercially printed copies made of what has become the most complex art project I’ve undertaken. 

Last week I received a proof of the book, and am working with the printer to finalize it for printing. I should have printed copies in time for Christmas.

While the details are not yet established, my artist book, How to Befriend a Tree: A Journal of Self-Reflection While Walking to Work, will likely become the center of an art exhibition sometime next year.