| Title | California Can Book |
| Artist / Creator | Mary-Ellen Campbell |
| Place of Publication | Sparrow Bush, NY |
| Publication Date | 2010 |
| Medium / Materials | Aluminum cans, wire, pop tops |
| Number of Pages | 30 can pages |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 13 x 13 x 5 inches |
| Edition Size | Unique |
California Can Book by Mary-Ellen Campbell -SOLD!
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While on a residency in California I took daily walks. I observed cans being thrown from cars every day. These were spoiling the incredible landscape of the High Sierras. I began collecting the cans when I walked both to clean up the environment and to give myself materials to work with. The graphics on the colorful cans reminded me of colorful California, the springy wires with the pop-tops created a fun feeling that parodied a certain image of the state. But the flattened cans were obviously road kill and polluting the natural environment.
Artist Bio
Mary-Ellen Campbell lives in Manhattan and maintains a studio in rural NY. She was a Full Professor in Communication Design in the Art Department at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, NJ., for thirty-four years. She has taught Book Arts workshops across the US and abroad. Her education includes a BA in Art Education, St. John's University, NY, an MA in Art Practice from Michigan State University, and an MFA in Printmaking from Pratt Institute, NY. As a multidisciplinary artist who does graphics, painting, sculpture, printmaking, book arts, and mixed media work, she has had 16 national/international solo exhibitions and over 75 group and invitational exhibitions including those in NY, NJ and national galleries and in Thailand and Nicaragua. An avid international traveler and teacher, she has been a visiting lecturer at Huazhong U, China, Universidas Centroamericana, Nicaragua, The Universities of Cape Town, Pretoria and South Africa and at five Universities in Thailand. In 2004-05 she was awarded the Fulbright Scholar Grant to Thailand. Mary-Ellen won 11 residencies to do Book Arts since 2007 in Finland, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Costa Rica, Colorado, N. Carolina, California and Minnesota creating more than 60 books. She is currently working on several editions of her books of poetry.