Title | Toil |
Artist / Creator | Ruth Bryant |
Press Name | Bitter End Press |
Place of Publication | Iowa City, Iowa |
Publication Date | 2015 |
Process / Technique | Letterpress printed |
Structure / Binding | Accordion |
Medium / Materials | Paper weaving, Sumi ink |
Paper Stock | Sekishu, Sakamoto papers |
Number of Pages | 8 pages |
Dimensions (WxHxD) | 4.5 x 7.75 x .375 inches closed. Extends out to 34.25 inches. |
Edition Size | Edition of 5 |
Signed & Numbered | Signed and numbered edition |
Toil by Ruth Bryant
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Toil is part of a series of work that explores narrativity through paper weaving, utilizing this technique as a metaphor for storytelling. The text pops out from the page like dropped threads in a tapestry. With this book, I wanted to talk about the stories we choose for ourselves, how we tell them, and how cultural narratives come into play with the personal. As the reader progresses through the book, the sumi ink blooms gray and black, taking up more and more space in the weaving. In this way, and through the progression of the text down the page, I illustrate how ignoring difficult narratives can affect our psyches. Toil's emphasis is on the things left unsaid-or those stories for which words are inadequate.
Artist Bio
Ruth Bryant is an MFA candidate at the University of Iowa Center for the Book, having previously earned a BFA in Craft with a concentration in Book Arts from Oregon College of Art and Craft. Her current work explores issues of trauma, memory, and narrativity, and utilizes various paper weaving techniques and pop-up structures. Bryant's work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally and has been included in such publications as Analogy: An Arts and Letters Magazine and Book/Art/Object 2 .