Artist Member
Lacunae
Eco printing on mixed media paper, Amate bark paper, text done on IBM Selectric Typewriter and handwriting by the artist
4.25 x 5.75”
On the night of Dec. 23, 1888 Vincent van Gogh cut off part of his own ear. He was an artist who struggled greatly with mental health and like many artists, and he died a young person. Sometimes it seems to me that there is a myth about living a hard tumultuous life to drive creativity. My question is what might Vincent have achieved if he hadn’t suffered so? What work was left undone? What more might we have learned from him? In the gaps of time when mental illness has it grips on an artist, what is lost? The word ‘lacunae’ is defined as a gap, an empty space. What might fill the empty spaces, the gap in time when mental illness defeats creativity and we work only in survival mode? This piece explores those issues.
Sticks and Stones
Ink jet photos printed on Canson paper, Tyvek, mulberry white paper and Lokta metallic paper
Binding devised by artist: Tortoise shell Japanese binding and Exquisite Corpse binding mixed with Tyvek flexible spine for greater interactivity
10.75 x 9.5”
We as humans and especially women absorb labels and stories about ourselves that start as myths become our reality in our heads. But how true are these labels? Fat, ugly, plan, sad, angry. Many of these things are what we are not supposed to be and carry great weight, untruths that build up into deep secrets in our hearts and souls.
I started with the idea of the Exquisite Corpse binding that is often used in children’s books because it allows the reader to mix and match and see how ridiculous and arbitrary these labels are. Once exposed, these labels are just information put upon us which is the story of someone else.
Ode to OCAC
Flag book, Canson paper hand stamped
3.5 x 5.75”
Calendar of Marilyn Zorando while teaching at OCAC
This book is a playful exploration into one of my favorite forms, the flag book. This was done at the Oregon College of Art and Craft at a class taught by Marilyn Zorando. She often offered up her old Japanese calendars for use in our work. You can see in spots her notes to herself to teach class, to run errands and more.
The Oregon College of Art and Craft is no more, which was a great loss to the art community in Portland, OR. This piece is an ode to Marilyn and the Oregon College of Art and Craft. However, I purposely incorporated the element of time because life is all about change, and it ends one day. This is a small reminder to cherish each day, each moment and to always create when we can to leave a little something that tells people our stories.
Laura DeGrace
www.degrace.com/bookarts
Instagram @degracel0
BIO
Laura DeGrace is a book artist, photographer and collage artist who recently moved back to New England after a 17-year adventure in Portland, Oregon. She has a B.A. in Studio Arts from Rhode Island College with a concentration in photography. She also studied in the M.F.A Computer Art program at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. For the past 10 years, she has fed her growth in book arts with classes at Oregon College of Art and Craft and the Pacific Northwest College of Art, as well as online programs across the country. Classes have included diverse techniques including cyanotypes, paper-making, collage and more, primarily in support of her book arts work. Her work is frequently personal and often humorous, a kaleidoscope of her observations and experiences of the world.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I was first drawn to book arts while working at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. My career trajectory had led me from work as a commercial artist to being an accountant: a more stable, but significantly less creative field. Joining Oregon College of Art and Craft was a way to surround myself with art in the day-to-day of my job. I had never really considered book arts but wandering through the gallery on lunch breaks got me curious. I took a class and was quickly hooked. The experience was the rebirth of my artistic practice and the beginning of an everlasting journey towards confidence in my own work and self-expression.
My work frequently focuses on personal themes and is emotionally based, centering around the stories in my head that I ruminate on or dream about. By pulling them out of my head and putting them into form, I can explore new paths, new ways of thinking, or just finding ways to witness my own experience. While my work is personal, I also hope that it speaks to others who are perhaps exploring similar questions.
I love experimental forms of photography including eco-printing and cyanotype. I also like to experiment with different binding types. I have also developed some interesting motifs such as using an old IBM typewriter for text. I have occasionally worked with poets, as well as using my own erasure poetry and other nontraditional poetry forms.
For me, books arts is about community, often a community of women. In Portland, I was privileged enough to be part of a private book arts group run by Marilyn Zorando. The influence of Marilyn and that group cannot be measured, and I look forward to one day paying that forward in my own way.