Wrap Me Up in Always
Artist's Statment for Final Visual Project
LIT3383 with Dr. Lisa M Logan
3 December 2004
This project came about from a discussion that I had with Dr. Logan a while back. The topic was ‘zines and Dr. Logan mentioned that there was a time period when women kept commonplace books, which normally had lines of poetry or full poems they enjoyed, written by themselves, their friends or published poets, lists of current events and occasionally images as well. The idea that something that was popular so long ago was again becoming a thriving subculture interested me greatly. When it was mentioned that there might be a final creative project offered I jumped at the chance. I wanted to make a current version of a historic looking commonplace book. I wanted it to contain an excerpt of some of the stories that we had covered throughout the class, including either political cartoons produced or current events occurring during the time period that the literature was written, representing a commonplace book that ranged in date from 1678 to 1836.
The theme under consideration is not one that we specifically discussed in class. Being a history major, unlike most of the students in the class, I had a different view of most of the readings that we completed. Though I would consider everything we read as literature, I considered each first and foremost as a historical document. Once I discovered the year when the piece was published, I put myself into that specific time period in an attempt to read the piece accurately without prejudices picked up from the current time period I exist in. I believe that it is very important to be able to first judge something by the time period it is written in to understand the motivations for the characters and also by the current time period in order to understand how the past is different yet the same as what is occurring now.
The reason behind the projects presentation is because I wanted to make people think in the same way I do in regards to the historical placement and context of the literature. By using specific fonts and simple layouts, I believe one is able to put themselves into the time period better. The additional use of political comics from the time periods and historical current events allows the viewer to ‘get in the mood’ to read the excerpts of text that is presented. The use of vellum with text over the images allows you to take in the entire page at once, or separate the various aspects of the project to your discretion. The hand binding leads to a sense of authenticity and shows exactly how much effort and care was placed into each of the commonplace books that were created by earlier women. The brown twine holding the book closed wraps all of the text into one piece, showing that these women writers have things in common, that this is a product of early America and these women are Americans.
I am incredibly pleased with how the project turned out. The images of the political cartoons did not come out as crisp as I had hoped, but when viewed beneath the vellum, a nice haze appears, allowing a clearer viewing of the images. I managed to find the perfect paper for inner and outer covers, as well as the body of the book, and the vellum provided a nice touch. I am incredibly pleased with the binding, as well. The eyelets lend a large amount of strength and durability to the project, but the shade that they are produced in does not detract from the presentation. The binding material looks like a length of trim that you would find on a well-to-do woman’s dress and the simple closure looks like a spare bit of kitchen twine, lending to the idea of a book pieced together at home. The inner decorative accents appear almost like metal buttons or drawer pulls that again add to the pieced together appearance. The wax seal at the top of the front cover is a small bit of personalization to mark this completed book as mine.
It was a challenge to envision how to draw together the final project from the beginning materials, however, I do believe the finished project shows the ingenuity that early women writers used in initially presenting their projects. From diaries, to narratives, to letters, to poems, the project I have completed showcases the variety of art that these early Americans created. I wanted to produce something that looks homemade and cared for but at the same time presented the air of sophistication that a learned woman would possess. I think that I have succeeded in the endeavor.
I chose the five authors/works because of my association with them upon first and subsequent readings and also because of the various time periods and topics that each selection covered. However, through the course of this project, I found myself looking more closely at the text, trying to pry it apart and get at it from more levels that I have ever attempted to analyze literature. In attempting to figure out how to visually represent these texts, I found myself wondering about or contemplating more and more often the motivations of the women that wrote these separate pieces and how I could stylistically tie them together.
Bradstreet received pens and vellum because of the time period she was writing in; the torched history appears in reverence to “Upon the Burning of Our House.”
Bailey received an austere presentation with a sinister typeface based upon the subject of her text: a painful, stripping experience with a few mementos, or strengths, saved: the brass bits surrounding the text.
Foster received a frivolous typeface to show Eliza’s original banality with the vellum showing what was expected of women on the left page and what was occurring during the time period on the right, illustrating the various warring bits of personality that women of the time were expected to control.
Sedgwick receives the simplest presentation, much more effective, in my opinion, after the opulence of Foster. The presentation for Sedgwick includes one treasured piece at the top of the page; a representation of the friendships shown within the text and representing exactly how much they were treasured. The events located on the right page allow one to understand why Sedgwick was influenced to write about the subject matter that she did.
Monk receives a Gothic presentation, representing the subject matter and style of her fictitious text. The vellum in this display allows the viewer to see situations involved in the text and also understand the anti-Catholic sentiment and view not often thought of anti-Catholic propaganda.
In completing this project, I find I have a new view of the texts and also of the process of creating a book. I never previously gave much thought for why I do things the way I do, I just instinctively decided, “Yes, this looks right,” and continued working. This assignment not only allowed me to produce a final project that I am incredibly proud of in reference to content and pleased with visually, but it allowed me to understand my own creative process a lot more fully. It also gave me closer understanding of the literature. I hope that my project will allow people to understand the texts’ significance in relation to the time period it was produced in. I hope that the combination of visual presentation as a whole and as separate sections, along with the political cartoons and current events will allow a reader to see where the texts fit in relation to the larger historical picture.
Works Cited
Bradstreet, Anne. “The Author to her Book.” Representative Poetry Online. Ed. Ian Lancashire. 2003. University of Toronto English Library. Dec 2004.
Taves, Anne., ed. The Memoirs of Abigail Abbot Bailey. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989.
Foster, Hannah W. The Coquette. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Monk, Maria. "The Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery." Veil of Fear: Nineteenth-Century Convent Tales. Ed. Nancy Lusignan Shultz. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1999. 15-137.
Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. Hope Leslie. New York: Penguin, 1998
Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur M., ed. "The Almanac of American History." Barnes & Nobles Books: Greenwich, CT, 1993. American History 1600-1700. 2005.
Avalon Project at Yale. 1996-2003 The Lillian Goldman Law Library in Memory of Sol Goldman.
Nelson, J. Maria Monk Reconsidered. 2003. Dec 2004.
All contents copyright Elizabeth Tibbert 2005.