It is quiet here in summer. Most of my neighbors are away and the university students don’t return until September. Everyday I work in the studio and the garden. In the afternoons enjoy listening to BBC PROMS online from July through September. Every year there is such a remarkable range of music and performers and the episodes are archived for easy access. In July, writers Mark and Robin, from the UK, back in the US for a summer on the Maine coast, visited the studio for a binding day and a paste paper day in July. Here they are showing their bound books. It is always a pleasure seeing them each summer when they return to the Maine coast. We pick up our conversations where we left off and share our writing over tea and lunch. My current work involves getting ready for a retrospective show, which will be held at the Glickman Family Library at the University of Maine, Great Reading Room, from January 28 through April 30, 2019. The exhibition will show over 40 of my books plus wall pieces. The lecture and exhibition reception is Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at 4pm. Here is a photo of the working plan notebook and my wall schematic. My friend, Kathy, a behaviorist, is kindly helping me keep on track.
Thanks for reading this post. Enjoy the rest of your summer. Nancy
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![]() Hope, 2018, MS #114, 14.5 h x 10.75 w x 2.5 d inches. Description: This box houses a hand lettered copy of Emily Dickinson’s poem 254, c. 1861, “Hope is the things with feathers. . .” and a flower illustration composed of fabric and paper snowflakes. Materials: The artist’s gouache lettering on Katie MacGregor handmade paper and hand-cut paper snowflake illustration on batik fabric. Recently I was asked why I have been making and using snowflakes in my bookwork and installations. I apologize for the long answer. First: In January of 2013 a call was put out to send 20 snowflakes to the elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, to welcome the children back to school and honor the 20, six and seven year children, who were murdered on December 4, 2012. That year I decided to cut a snowflake for each person killed by gun violence in this country. Although I have cut thousands of snowflakes over the past 5 years, I cannot keep up with the nearly 13,000 gun homicides that occur each year in the United States. Whatever your opinion, it bears thinking about. Second: I am interested in math and geometry in art, especially in the Gospel books created between 600 and 1000 CE. Early scribes used their knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem and simple geometrical tools to develop a characteristic style of decoration that integrated complex interlacing geometric designs. This style of illumination succinctly illustrated the early Christian principle of God’s existence everywhere, from the smallest microcosm to the largest macrocosm. A hand-cut snowflake exhibits similar traits. A square of paper of any size, when folded into triangles and having shapes cut out of it will create a lacey 6-sided design. The resulting repetition of geometrical designs and variations are endless. On the Formation of Snow, 2018, MS #115, 20 pages, book measures 12 h x 9 w inches, box measures 13.75 h x 10 w x 2.25 d inches. Description: I pledge allegiance to the land of snow! Here in the north during the winter months I create hand-cut snowflakes from paper and scissors and use them in artwork such as the handmade paper in this book. The binding is a three colored ‘snow’ flag. The book text explains how snow is formed and its importance in redistributing water around the globe to sustain all life on earth. Materials: Watercolor and gouache on Katie MacGregor handmade papers. The artist’s hand-cut snowflakes were embedded into the white papers during the papermaking process. The artist’s binding is composed of handmade papers covered in transparent fabric and embroidered snowflakes. Joelle Webber created the dark blue fabric covered box. The book rests on a compartment with a sliding piece of plexiglass under which is a collection of hand-cut snowflakes. Thank you for reading this blog.
Nancy My 2,000 plant specimens have been sorted, labeled, boxed and passed on to a New England university herbarium where they will be cared for properly. Over the last 3 years I have enjoyed sifting through the plants collected as early as 1817, pondering the many environments around the globe they came from and researching the hundreds of botanists represented in the collection. I am grateful to the herbarium for taking them, thank you. ![]() A GREEN THOUGHT Height 14 ½ inches by width 9 3/8 inches, 43 pages, manuscript #113 The lettering is completed in watercolor and gouache. The illustrations and book cover are created with watercolor, gouache, pastel, paste, fabric and decorative thread on Arches text wove and Katie MacGregor papers. Joelle Webber of Mermaid Bindery bound the book and box. The title is taken from stanza 6 of The Garden by Andrew Marvel (1621-1678). ‘Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, Withdraws into its happiness; The mind, that ocean where each kind Does straight its own resemblance find; Yet it creates, transcending these, Far other worlds, and other seas; Annihilating all that’s made To a green thought in a green shade.’ The text for A GREEN THOUGHT contains poetry/prose by Andrew Marvell, Li Po, and Brian Capon, along with a discussion of the color ‘green’ told by the artist. Topics include: the origin of the word ‘green’, the function of the pigment chlorophyll found in green plants, and the importance of green in our surroundings. ![]() Green is the love of nature and plants are life. Completed late summer and posted at Christmas 2017. Nancy Ruth Leavitt Stillwater, Maine The garden is lush and green from the cold and wet spring – a condition that plants love. In spring one is engulfed by the garden, cleaning up leaves and twigs, pruning, weeding, edging, carrying away refuse, mulching, deadheading blossoms - it is endless.
This year my goal has been to identify all of my perennials with genus species names and the native range of the plants. With an estimate of over 275 perennials, over 80% of the plants are from somewhere else. This has inspired my garden name, “An Immigrant Garden, welcome to a collection of plants from around the world." The immigration and migration of plants has been happening since the beginning of photosynthesis. It takes 100 hours for the garden to look good enough before I can sit back and enjoy the verdant splendor. In this brief moment of the few longest days of the year I want to be a stone in my garden – just sitting still in solitude and peace. Thank you for reading this, Nancy ![]() There are approximately 850 snowflakes distributed in this snowflake installation. The hanging installation consists of 540 hand-cut snowflakes and the remaining 310 snowflakes are found in the altar vestments, musical instruments, hymnals, bibles, window ledges, tables, and collection plates. This installation is composed of 540 hand-cut snowflakes made from 250 sheets (19 by 25 inches) of Finch opaque white paper. The snowflakes were sewn into 60 lines with 700 feet of white all-purpose sewing thread and hung from 6 lines (150 feet of fishing line) and tied onto 2 four-foot metal strips attached into the molding on either side of the sanctuary. The work hangs over 13 feet above the floor and is approximately 8 feet wide by 5 ½ feet in height and 40 inches in depth. A garden is a living collaboration of nature and art. Composed of numerous shapes and volumes of plants, it is a tapestry of green woven from a variety of leaf textures and colors. Flowers are lovely but secondary to the importance of the color green. It takes approximately 100 hours of weeding, digging, edging, and mulching to get the garden ready for the annual Peony Garden Tour in June. Over 100 garden enthusiasts toured the gardens this year and now we head into high summer. The garden is beautiful and a wonder to behold.
Thanks for viewing this blog. Nancy ![]() The garden: Once the snow melts and plants start to push up through the soil the garden becomes my work. As hard as I try to stay inside and work, I am pulled to the ever-changing green tapestry of my garden. Things happen fast in our short growing season and I confess that I don’t want to miss any of it. Early June is a flush of blue blossoms. Fragrant peonies arrive in mid to late June. July is delphiniums, roses, and lilies. New work, MS 108: Love Sonnets, 2014, size: 11 by 4.5 inches (h x w). Lettering and painting by artist. A book commission from one young lover to another, features a love poem realized in the favorite colors of the recipient, turquoise and earth tones. The hand lettered poetry travels from the foot to the head of the book with sewn in cut leave pages. The poem speaks of the innate feelings of love and the intertwining of thoughts and hearts. The text was lettered in gouache on arches text wove paper. Painted and leaf images cut out of Katie MacGregor's paper before sewing into the accordion fold book. Snippets of the lettering can be seen through the round holes and edges of the leaves. The binding is composed of two layers of MacGregor paper. The inner is a painted gold paper, which has a painted leaf cut cover wrapped around it. The book is held in a dark turquoise box lined with painted papers, which was made by Joelle Webber of Mermaid Bindery. ![]() For all of the perceived convenience and ease of using a computer, for this lowly user, it has been a herculean task to navigate and complete this simple weebly website. But, here it is, completed to the best of my ability and I look forward to updating is on a regular basis. Many thanks to Danno and Joelle for their kind assistanceMy blog entries will be contained herein and archives of my blog may be accessed at: www.nancyruthleavitt.wordpress.com. Thank you for tuning in. Nancy Leavitt nancy@nancyleavitt.com. |
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