Camille Claudel in Bardo
Japanese Stab Binding on Chiyogami paper covers. Graphite, India Ink, Canson Mi-Teintes, Hand Photo Transfers, and Art Nouveau Calligraphy influenced by Maurice Dufrene. Olympia typewriter, 30 pages. Poems by Clarissa. Size 8.75 x 6.6" opens to 15.5". First artist book in a series of three originals dedicated to the artist, Camille Claudel. $875
While visiting Paris for nine-weeks, I was drawn to the Rodin Museum where Camille's sculptures inspired a fresh analysis of her life, resulting in the creation of this artist book.
Her sculptures thread 19th century Parisian society to our own understanding of love and life. Because of societal gender restrictions, being a female artist was difficult in the late 1800's. In addition, Camille 17, was Rodin's, 42, student, model, eventual lover, and collaborator. After ten-years, she broke away and attempted to build her own name. Rodin never deserted the first mistress, Rose Beuret, and married her one-week before her death. When I last visited the Rodin Museum, Beuret's portrait hung in the Claudel room, her ever present eyes on watch.
Perhaps Camille's spirit roams Hotel Biron's Gardens in Bardo, seeking peace and justice. Perhaps her letters written in forced asylum will be found and her bones will find eternal rest.
Sakountala
Palm Leaf Style Binding, Mixed Media, Hand Image Transfers, Original Art and Poetry, Cotton Tassel, Crocheted Loop. Size 8 x 1.75" closed, extends to 17.5". Includes box, $375.
This second artist book in a trilogy is dedicated to Camille Claudel. The Palm leaf binding originated in India, as does the legend of Sakountala, an Indian maiden who fell in love with a visiting prince. After their marriage, he returns to the castle alone. Years pass, suddenly
the prince remembers his vows, and they embrace, as in Camille's sculpture, Sakountala, 1885. Rodin broke his marriage promises to Camille. When her father died, Camille's mother and brother institutionalized her until her death, thirty-years later.
Flip my artist book and find poems as well as Rodin's sculpture, The Thought, 1895, from the D'Orsay Museum. The limited colors of the image transfers deepens the somber message that life examined through intense relationships and broken promises may cause intense joy and sorrow.
My Lithuania_Land of Myth, Amber, and Hope
Japanese Stab Binding, Mixed Media, Hand Image Transfers, India Ink, Graphite, Color Pencils, and String. Size 5.3" x 5.7". $800
Hang precious nuggets from closet rods,
toss them into a roaring fire, and
carefully collect ancient benedictions.
My art and poems honor ancestral ashes and their process of navigating life and death as organic and creative movements. I nurture the past while savoring a ripe Ohio peach, juicy for the plucking. I invite you to sit at my table with the Baltic gods: Perkunas (God of Thunder), Vacarinė (Earth Mother), andMedeine (Lady of Trees). I frolic with oak leaves and bask in the moonlight feeding my vision as the life cycle begins again. Vacarinė, resides in the fiber of my being.
I was the first in my family to marry a non-Lithuanian. Born in Germany at the end of World War II, I have never visited the mother country. This humble book offering reclaims My Lithuania, creating it awakened a national love of amber from a deep slumber and sates an inner longing. Recently, I realized that Cape Cod dunes remind of the Baltic shores, filled with scrub pines, sacred oaks, and birch trees. Allow these image transfers and poems to transport your interior and mingle with unexpected feelings. Let this book be a guide.
Join me in this timeless act of discovery and shower the ancient gods with your requests. May loving gifts eradicate sorrow. Hang amber nuggets from closet rods or allow them to warm your neck with a healing energy. Brace for sweetness. Enjoy!
Regarding sales, please contact: clarissalj@gmail.com