Lenore Tawney
I'll never forget the day that I discovered Lenore Tawney's work. I opened up a copy of her book, Signs on the Wind and it drew me right in and held on tight. Her work has enthralled and enraptured me ever since.
She is well known as a fiber artist yet it's her paper arts that I find to be the most compelling for me. She created collages, mail art, books and much, much more. The amount of work that she left behind in her 100 years of life is staggering.
I did a quiet, happy dance when this book arrived in the mail last night:
Lenore Tawney: A Retrospective (American Craft Museum) focuses on a broad array of her work (as opposed to Signs on the Wind which focuses on her collage work.) It's a bit pricey and hard to find but if you search around and are patient, a reasonable priced copy will pop up (Abebooks has several copies in paperback as well as hardcover that are affordable.)
Someone described her work as visual poetry. I can't think of a better description. Once she pulls you in, she won't let go. She'll have you reaching for a pair of scissors and collage ephemera yearning to create your own unique, work of art.
Comments