| Title | Litanies for Mother Earth |
| Artist / Creator | Cari Ferraro |
| Place of Publication | San Jose, CA |
| Publication Date | 2010 |
| Author of Text | Alice Walker, Hesiod |
| Medium / Materials | Japanese "nori-ire-gajo" accordion style with a "sempuyo" wrapper cover. Housed in a paper slipcase. Calligraphy in gouache using broad and folded metal pens, on acrylic painted paste paper. Images made using "pochoir" method, sponges and brushes. |
| Number of Pages | 20 |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 10 x 13 x .5 inches |
| Edition Size | Unique |
This is a spacious illustrated manuscript book of three complementary texts, all devotional poems for Mother Earth. The texts are: on the recto pages, We Have a Beautiful Mother by Alice Walker, 1991, lettered in a humanist bookhand; on the verso pages, To Earth the Mother of All from the Homeric Hymns in Hesiod’s Theogony, c. 700 BCE, translated from the Greek by Evelyn White, 1914, lettered in a script devised by the artist; and in the round, a contemporary chant to Earth and the four elements sung in contemporary earthwise gatherings. In poetic content, the book shows the universality of devotion for our planet through time and space. The paintings are images of oceans, buffaloes, and the Earth Herself from inner and outer space, marked with circular swashes and phrases. The book may be stood and displayed in the round, further embodying the circle in its structure.
Artist Bio
Cari Ferraro is a calligrapher and book artist whose work explores folklore, writing, the old ways, sacred practice, and line in its many magical forms. She has a B.A. in Literature with a minor in Creative Writing, from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and has been sole proprietor since 1981 of Prose and Letters, offering calligraphy services worldwide. In 2004 she turned her attention to making books, finding in her calligraphic training a firm foundation for book design. Her work has followed and played off of that venerable tradition in her creation of modern illuminated manuscript books. Her limited edition book "The First Writing" was acquired in 2010 by the National Museum of Women in the Arts for their permanent collection. Her books are also in many private, university and other special collections libraries around the country. Her Beginner's Guide: Calligraphy and Illumination, published in 2007 as part of the Walter Foster art instruction series, continues to provide a vivid introduction to learning the art of letter and word.