Gules

Gules, meaning reddish, begins with a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, “On a field sable, the letter ‘A’ gules.” I was motivated by both the novel and by life events to create an artist book with the theme of adultery. The concept of this limited edition artist book marries text, taken from the answers to a questionnaire I drafted about thoughts regarding adultery, with photos of subjects wearing an embroidered scarlet letter. In order to capture precise expressions I used a photo transfer process to print the image onto linoleum blocks for carving. Both block printed images and letterpress text are bound into separate books and hinged together in a do-si-do binding with oak covers.

This artist book is comprised of two Ethiopian bindings with quarter sawn oak covers lined with leather, hinged together, handmade flax and cotton paper, linoleum block prints, letterpress, and hand tinting with Acryla gouache, 2005, 12” X 9 1/4” X 2 1/8”. An edition of this artist book can be found in the Ella Strong Denison Library, Special Collections, Scripps College; Langsom Library, Special Collections, University of Cincinnati; Wells Library, Special Collections, Indiana University; J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah; Green Library, Literature Special Collection, Stanford University; Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago; and the Newberry Library.