Title | Quercus alba |
Subtitle | 38ø 02' 17.6" N 78ø 28' 30.71" W |
Artist / Creator | Lotta Helleberg |
Artist's Nationality | United States |
Place of Publication | Charlottesville, Virginia |
Publication Date | 2015 |
Process / Technique | Eco-printed oak leaves (contact print), ink jet printed text and photography |
Structure / Binding | Blizzard/crown structure, pamphlet stitch, fabric wrap cover |
Medium / Materials | Wool and silk organza fabric, linen thread, wool string |
Paper Stock | Somerset cotton, mulberry, and handmade cotton rag paper |
Number of Pages | 56 pages |
Dimensions (WxHxD) | 8 x 7 x .75 inches |
Edition Size | Variable edition of 3 |
Quercus alba is a homage to the century old white oak that grows a few steps beyond our back door. It towers above and its branches span across our roofline. It provides shade and shelter. It has watched our two boys grow up and witnessed joys and sorrows. It is ever present and majestic. The book also celebrates our ecology and the environment as a whole, and the role and responsibility we humans hold to protect and foster it. The structure is inspired by Hedi Kyle's Blizzard Book. I love how the binding can hide and reveal content, depending on how the pages attach. The book incorporates eco-prints, a contact printing method where the plants release their own pigments. The prints, made from the oak's fallen leaves, appear throughout. Eco-printed pages are altered with pages of writing and photography. The book is wrapped in thick wool, simulating a blanket, almost like repayment for shelter and protection bestowed upon us over time.
Artist Bio
Lotta Helleberg is a Swedish-born artist based in Charlottesville, Virginia. For more than a decade, Helleberg has experimented with printmaking, and most recently focused on eco-printing, relief processes, and local plant-based dyes to render works that both document and celebrate her immediate surroundings. The preciousness of the environment and the role humans play in shaping it, greatly influences her pieces. Her unconventional artist books and textiles have been featured in dozens of solo and group exhibitions across the Mid-Atlantic region, and Canada.