| Title | Trinity |
| Subtitle | A dream book |
| Artist / Creator | Valerie Hird |
| Artist's Nationality | United States |
| Place of Publication | Burlington, VT |
| Publication Date | 2010 |
| Author of Text | Valerie Hird |
| Process / Technique | Cone Editions of Topsham VT printed the edition using archival inks on BFK printing paper |
| Number of Images | 20 |
| Structure / Binding | The book form has 4 progressively sized folded pages each with introductory text on one side and image on the other. The 3-sided shape of the front and back, glued together form one, two sided, cross-shaped piece. Each side folds over another to form a case for 15 loose narrative, unnumbered tarot cards and colophon. (10 of which are seen in samples 6 and 7) |
| Medium / Materials | Archival inks, PVA archival glue, silver leaf |
| Paper Stock | BFK printing paper |
| Number of Pages | 24 |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 3.625 x 4.625 x .625 inches closed. |
| Edition Size | Limited Edition of 20 |
| Signed & Numbered | Signed & Numbered Edition |
Trinity is a book about a dream. The manuscript, originally commissioned by the Brooklyn Art Library, presents a series of illustrations from the perspective of a dreamer dreaming of a dream. Its structure envelops, protects and hides its content until unfolded layer by layer. The image elements describe a remote island, a child maturing, and their manipulation of, and merging with, the island's natural and man-made surroundings. Presented like a deck of tarot cards, each enigmatic archetype presents a different element in a loose narrative which – much like our dreams - invites the viewer to reshuffle, re-cast and imagine their own version of the story.
It seemed necessary when envisioning how to construct this book, that it carry the character of my dreams, vivid, colorful but disjointed. The elements needed the ability to be re-imagined and re-ordered as can happen when lucid dreaming. So it was with intent that the narrative cards are unnumbered leaving the order of events to its owner/narrator.
Although the book is presented with introductory text only, the back cover includes a link to the full transcription of my version of the dream narrative. The following is an excerpt from the introductory text on pages 1-4...
"My mind like everyone else’s is a sorcerer. Its dreams break into my waking world and wrap themselves around my days. Because dreams are worlds of the possible, the smallest atom may have wings and stir into motion. Slight gestures unfold with the qualities of musical notes. Narrative threads weave together and unravel in an effortless labyrinth of personalities and landscapes. But I had one dream like no other, a dream that was in every way unique. It had a beginning, middle and end that returned with me - in its entirety - into my waking world."
Artist Bio
Valerie Hird is a multi-media visual artist who lives and works between Vermont, New York, and the MENA regions. Her work explores cultural mythologies and the impact they have on self-perception and communities. She's spent years moving across cultures (the Near and Middle East, Central Asia, and Andalusia, Spain) exploring the porous borders between reality and myth. She is fascinated by the way stories are retold, evolving to slip easily between fact, fiction, and metaphor. Lately she's begun exploring her own ‘Biomythology’, digging into the uneasy intersection between America’s published histories and personal memory, using the popular literature, movies and news media that have influenced her. Using stories familiar to many, she destabilizes them, reaching simultaneously backward and forward along their narrative timelines to suggest interpretation is never singular, but multiple, embracing past assumptions, present perspectives, and future speculations.Hird received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design 1977 and an MFA from Vermont College 2007. She is represented by the Nohra Haime Gallery, 500 West 21st New York, NY 10011, NH Galeria, Cartagena, Colombia and the Furchgott Sourdiff Gallery, Shelburne, VT. Retired Professor of Art, Saint Michaels College, and Professor of Visual Linguistics, CORE Division, Champlain College, in Vermont. (2000-2019)
Hird’s recent solo exhibitions include (2022) THE GARDEN OF ABSOLUTE TRUTHS, The Studios of Key West, Key West, FL., Burlington Center for the Arts, Burlington, VT., (2021) WHAT DID HAPPEN TO ALICE – MY AVATAR at the Nohra Haime Gallery, NYC, 2021.
Group exhibitions include: MASSMoCA (Sol LeWitt) Portsmouth Museum, Tampa Art Museum, DIVA in Paris, American University of Dubai, Global Center for Drawing, Melbourne, Australia and at the American Center, University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan.
Hird’s recent awards include (2022) Aesthetica Art Prize, shortlisted, WHAT DID HAPPEN TO ALICE? Animated video, (2022) Finalist, Berlin Shorts Award, THE UNATTENDED MOMENT, animated video (2021) Best Shorts Humanitarian Award for WHAT DID HAPPEN TO ALICE? Animated video, (2021) Finalist Toronto Indie Film Festival of Cift for THE UNATTENDED MOMENT animated video, Outstanding Excellence award from WRPN Shorts Global Film Festival (2020) Awards in Animation and Women Filmmakers by IMDb Best Shorts, Montreal Independent Film Festival, LA’s jellyFEST and WRPN Women’s Film Festivals