Layers: The Art Life of Carolyn Shattuck
ARTIST’s BOOK REVIEW by Gabriella Radujko
New England Book Artists are excited to share another member’s book. Layers is part catalogue, memoir and survey of Carolyn Shattuck’s art practice.
“Starting Something” is Carolyn’s way of taking the reader by the hand, traveling back in time to her childhood where her interest in fabric lead to an appreciation of color, texture and the experience that is art making. Disarmingly, she describes her struggle with “the language of paint.”
A still life “that moves” becomes the intentional effect for this painting close-up of tumblers and small glass pitcher on tablecloth, capturing the artist’s wish “to pursue transparency with an opaque substance like paint.”
Another shift in Carolyn’s practice is time-stamped when she transitions from silkscreen printing to the “spontaneity” of the monotype. Light and shadow mingle, along with texture, pattern, layer upon layer.
The repeated wood-block like patterns give a dragonfly’s wings tissue paper qualities allowing invisible light to stream in from below, a collage technique used to great effect, in contrast to the flatness of the sun-faced portrait on the left.
Her new approach to printmaking included the introduction of fiber dyes in addition to well-honed marking techniques and more complex layering. Carolyn also explores various stitches, hinges and experiments with unconventional materials like fishing line and phone wires. On the right, The Urn Book, the first artist book she made public.
Art on paper in book art form.
The interlocking energy of several art book types as assemblage.
The back cover with the artist “in her element.”
Layers gives a wonderful visual narrative to Carolyn’s journey as an artist, as well as inspiration for expanding creativity.
Please email Carolyn directly to purchase
$20 – includes US shipping