| Title | Cartographical Incantations |
| Artist / Creator | Casey Gardner |
| Press Name | Set in Motion Press |
| Artist's Nationality | United States |
| Place of Publication | Berkeley, California |
| Publication Date | 2015 |
| Process / Technique | Letterpress, inkjet |
| Structure / Binding | Accordion with sewn-in folios |
| Medium / Materials | Map fragments are from photographs taken by the artist of Age of Discovery Dutch maps found in a library in Amsterdam |
| Paper Stock | Nepalese hand-screened Lokta and Hahnemuhle Ingres papers |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 6.5 x 10 x 1 inches closed. Extends out to 120 inches. |
| Edition Size | Edition of 25 |
| Signed & Numbered | Signed and numbered edition |
Cartographical Incantations by Casey Gardner -LIBRARIAN'S CHOICE AWARD!
Sold
A book of cartographical unfoldings, tessellated map fragments, and beasts of the imagination. Pages open to reflected images of historical map details from the Dutch Age of Discovery. Turn the book over, and the patterns become more complex, abstracting the repetition and reflection many journeys entail. Text includes wayfarer invocations and wayfinding instructions, with mapmaking histories relating to a time when the unknown could be imbued with magical qualities. Also included is a traveller's tale of chance and choice. The story begins with a door opening and continues to hinge on the word perhaps relating the either/or possibilities that occur and move back and forth on journeys. A forgotten map presents the traveller with options at various crossroads while venturing forth into unpredictable landscapes. Each folio opens to a tableau of a map fragment joined in reverse symmetry, as if the landscape has more to reveal upon reflection.
Artist Bio
Casey Gardner has a deep affinity for Wanderlust. Between her two degrees, she spent eight months traveling the world solo. Maps figure prominently in much of her work. Casey worked as a journalist before studying printmaking & graphic design at California College of the Arts. In making books, she approaches a subject from many directions and levels of inquiry. Her pages open to a landscape of options and layers of detail for the reader to navigate. Through analytical probing and outlandish premises, she creates a world of language and imagery, inviting the reader to travel into her books along varied routes that render new destinations with each reading. She lives in Berkeley, CA, running Set in Motion Press with a Vandercook in her backyard. Her book, Matter, Antimatter, and So Forth was selected as a finalist for the 2015 Minnesota Book Art Award. Her work is in several university and special collections.