Artist Member – Exhibitions Committee
Evening Primrose
Eight
Pygmy Water Lily
Rebecca Goodale 
BIO
Rebecca Goodale makes unique and limited edition books many with sculptural components. Her current project, Threatened and Endangered, is a series of artist’s books about Maine’s rare plants and animals. She has created over 80 titles on this subject during the past twenty years. Occasionally she is distracted by more common species like the spiders and birds in her own backyard, or the extinct, or some natural and human-caused catastrophes, or the success stories in managing habitat loss and dwindling species.
Her work is in numerous collections including Bowdoin College Library; The Maine Women Writers Collection; The Boston Athenaeum, New York Public Library; Herron Art Library, IN; Hawai’i State Art Museum; and the White House Ornament Collection. She is the Program Coordinator for the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts, University of Southern Maine, as well as Faculty Director of the University of Southern Maine’s Summer Book Arts Program.
Rebecca is also known for her many collaborative book projects and installations with other artists and for her large printed wall pieces which she refers to as wall(paper). She is represented by the Turtle Gallery in Deer Isle and by Vamp and Tramp Booksellers in Birmingham, AL. She was awarded the title of Maine Master Craft Artist in 2014.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
One summer morning in 1999 I was surprised to see a stunned kingfisher on the sidewalk in front of a local Goodwill store. The bird sat quietly in the shade of the shopping plaza and gradually a small crowd of people gathered.
In an effort to emphasize the concern I felt for that kingfisher, I decided to begin a project on January 1, 2000. This body of work (over 80 titles- to date) has taken shape as a series of artist’s books about the plants and animals currently listed as threatened or endangered by the State of Maine. At this time there are more than 200 plants listed and nearly 50 animals. My intention was not to become a scientific illustrator; instead I wanted to inspire sensitivity for these rare species by using my background in book arts and textile design to interpret what I saw with color, pattern, rhythm, and transition.
Each book is made with a particular purpose. Some books are about a single species, some are personal narratives, and others are about interrelated groups or habitat. The earlier books in the series seem to inform the books that have followed. By working thematically, I am able to develop a vocabulary of methods, materials, and forms that support the creation of new work. As I test new structures for one idea, I will discover a form more suitable for another concept. The paper samples that I pore over for one book lead me to a new material that works well for something else. Sometimes I am designing the next two or three books before I have finished the one at hand.