A scarce little gem from Carol Schwartzott

(Carol Schwartzott) A Brief History of the Basket. Text, design, illustration and binding by Carol Schwartzott. Lilliput Press. Niagara Falls. New York. 1998. Accordion fold book. 4.25″ x 3.75″. Computer generated type. Hand-colored illustrations, with additional actual examples of materials used, such as raffia, bark, colored string, wood, bark, grasses and stems. Bound in multi-colored strips of woven papers and paint over board; front, back, and spine all different. Two brown twigs with string (one outside and one inside) hold the text paper to the front board. Yellow cloth drop-back box lined with Japanese papers, paper title label on spine. An edition of 30 signed and numbered copies. Fine.

No related posts.

(Schwartzott, Carol) Spix’s Macaw: The Race to Save the World’s Rarest Bird. [By] Tony Juniper. Atria Books. New York. London. 2003. 6 color plate pages. 287p, includes Index. Illustrated dust jacket. Book – 8.75″ x 6″. Box – 10.75″ x 8.75″ x 3.5″. Laid in a special box by Carol Schwartzott. Book laid in upper tray of box. The tray is printed with details about the Macaw – what it looks like; it’s history, its population and its habitat. The tray has low built-up sides which are decorated with floral paper. Beneath the tray is a three-dimensional scene of macaws on a branch; a row of various stamps which illustrated macaws is at the bottom of the scene. Below this, in a separate compartment are seven small glass bottles, each filled with various items of different colors – nuts, seed, moulted feathers, dried moss, twigs, etc. The wooden box itself is painted two shades of gray and has a rectangular inset on the lid, which contains a map of the area macaws are found, a mock stamp with a bird perched on it, and a glass top. No. 3 in an edition of 7 boxes. The tray is signed, dated and numbered in pencil by Schwartzott. Fine.

Laid in is a sheet from Carol Schwartzott giving details of the materials used, her concept and techniques in making this work. She writes that she likes to “think of it as a contemporary ‘time machine’ that visualizes the environment and habit’s of Spix’s Macaw, [as] endangered and extinct in the wild bird [world.]”

“A modern curiosity cabinet.”

No related posts.

(Schwartzott, Carol) Mirror. Artist’s book designed and made by Carol Schwartzott. Ithaca. 1999. 10.5″ x 6″. Five sections of folded pages, stitched into an accordion-folded concertina binding. Pages are a combination of mylar, Chirogami, paste and fine Japanese paper. Techniques used for type and illustration are inkjet, Xerox, and gocco printing that are altered through cutting and handpainting. Covers of silver matt-board which is gocco-printed in silver. Pale green cloth dropback box with mirror inside bottom; paper title label with small mirror on spine. No. 5 in an edition of 6 signed copies. Fine.

Schwartzott writes: “Developing this book within the Japanese theme also made it want to be simple and understated … presenting to the viewer a reflection of beauty using the Japanese print …” An interesting structure for a beautiful book.

Related posts:

1. Ken Campbell — Father’s Hook: Songs from a Living Son
2. Campbell, Ken — Father’s Hook
3. Broaddus, John Eric – Seasons of the Pine

(Schwartzott, Carol) Josef Albers: Revelation Through Constraint. Designed, printed and bound by Carol Schwartzott. Niagara Falls. NY. 1997. Accordion fold. 7.25″ x 7.25″. Letterpress printed in New Century Schoolbook & Bauhaus on Somerset Rag with monoprinted color. Cut-outs and fold-outs throughout, all in different colors. Sewn 8 page folder inserted inside fold-out back page containing Bibliography, Footnotes and Colophon. Lilac cloth boards with title in relief on spine; green and lilac paper squares decorating front board. Green cloth board protective envelope-type boxing. No. 4 in an edition of 10 signed copies. Fine.

A well-designed and attractive book inspired by Albers’ use of color, with a relevant text.

Related posts:

1. Broaddus, John Eric – Seasons of the Pine
2. Broaddus, John Eric – Green Cow
3. Campbell, Ken – A Knife Romance

(Schwartzott, Carol) The Old Bamboo Hewer: A Japanese Romance of the Tenth Century. Artist’s book by Carol Schwartzott. [Freeville. New York. 2000.] n.p. 13” x 7.75” x 1.625”. Made with a combination of Japanese papers, some are chirogami or of printed design, others have been decorated by the artist; these include paste, stencil, water marbling, handmade Japanese papers, linen and mitsumade combinations. Letterpress printed from plates, with some of the Kendo decorative initials gold leafed or gilded. Illustrations started as linoleum cuts in black and white, and were hand-colored and collaged to represent small hanging scrolls, using watercolor, gouache, acrylic paint, gold and silver lead. Accordion fold book in tan-blue Japanese cloth with endpapers of paste/stencil and block printed motifs. Decorative paper label on frontboard. Laid in a board box with sliding door, covered and lined in a combination of decorative papers.Inset at the bottom of the box is a piece of bamboo, serving as a divider for the two replications of the actu­al texts in Japanese and English. These are soft bound with variations of paper on their covers. No. 6 in an edition of 10 signed copies. Fine.

Schwartzott states that she is a strong believer in the philosophy that a book should not only be beautiful, but should contain some sort of information. Those who know and collect her books can confirm that this is the case with all her work. This book is a delight. Schwartzott decided to include the facsimiles of both the English and Japanese versions as she felt the footnotes are very interesting and helpful, and for those that can read Japanese, the subtle nuances of that language are available.

No related posts.

(Carol Schwartzott) Concept Color. Jacob’s Ladder format book by Carol Schwartzott. [Freeville. NY.] 2006. 4″ x 4″.Printed on Rives BFK and with colorful collages mounted on acid free boards, tied together with an assortment of colorful ribbon, the book is about color. A paper wrapper houses the book and as each layer unfolds it provides a shortdescription of color. One in an edition of 20 signed copies. Fine.

Concept Color flips to reveal fragments of text and color shapes. An adventure in color, the book uses the Jacob’s Ladder structure, a book technique developed during the 1800s. The ladder must be picked up at the end and held in a horizontal position to release the first section, which then tumbles down into the next, continuing until it reaches the bottom. Reversing the direction brings the ladder back to its original position.

Related posts:

1. For the Love of All Things Damaged, artist’s book/object from Kerry McAleer-Keeler
2. Monika Rohrmus — I GING
3. Pinned Down, from artist Kerry McAleer-Keeler

(Carol Schwartzott) Ola Mola: The Kuna of San Blas. Artist’s book by Carol Schwartzott. [Freeville.New York. 2004.] Accordion fold. 5.25” x 7.25”. Designed and bound by Carol Schwartzott. Printed at Blacks Corner Letterpress in black, gray and red on Zerkall Text. Type faces used are Miro by P22 Type, Skia and Geometric 231. Five stitched folios contain four double pages,and include text and fourteen black and white illustrations. The folios are connected with four double fold pages. Each black fold displays a colorful, 5 layer, cut-paper illustration. The black Japanese cloth binding contains an insert of an actual Mola sample – appliquéd cloth with embroidery. Matching black slipcase with red paper title label on spine. One in an edition of 50 signed copies. Fine.

“Ola Mola introduces the history, geography, religion, customs and aesthetic of the Kuna Indians of the San Blas Archipelago, a group of some 300 islands off the coast of Panama. The Mola, a simple female garment, is fashioned out of two stitched and appliqued cloth layers front and back, with an addition of sleeves and yoke. This fabric panel will often contain historical designs representing the identity of Kuna women in sociological and ethnological ways. My book is an attempt to follow the scholarly study of the garment, from the earliest contact to recent critical feminist views.

“As an artist I tend to concentrate within the art and aesthetic areas of what I study. I collected my first Mola in 1970, and as a ‘sewer’ I have always been fascinated by their innovative and skillful construction, as well as the wonderfully simple, yet complex imagery. I wanted my little book to show their detail, the textures formed by layering and the lush and vibrant use of color. I began the illustrations by scanning fabric, then considered photographing them or using actual samples. At one point I had a wild notion of sewing
my own.

“As the project moved along many techniques were employed and discarded. Finally, I decided on cut paper. Cutting the tiny, intricate patterns would be easy for one book, but what about 50? To the rescue came my daughter Gretel, an industrial designer working in an architects office. She suggested the interesting solution of laser-cutting. So, with her dedicated help … the colored illustration became my own stylized interpretations of classic mola design.” – Schwartzott in the Prospectus.

Related posts:

1. High Tide Press — An Architectural Bestiary Black & White Version
2. Keith Dietrich
3. Campbell, Ken – Firedogs

(Carol Schwartzott) The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Translation Edward FitzGerald. Freeville. New York. 2007. n.p. 11″ x 7″. First Edition 1859. Text pages printed on an Epson 2000 on Mohawk Via vellum using archival pigmented inks. Illustration portfolios are on Moab Enrade, with the original art scanned and printed on an Epson 2000 P. This same illustration is then overprinted with a linocut to produce opacity and pattern. Additional applications of paint, colored pencil and graphite are used to heighten color and detail. Each is finished with gold and silver leaf. The lasercuts are on Glama natural clear vellum, with archways of repeat patterns printed on an etching press using polymer plates. The marbled dividers are of Kozuke Japanese paper hand-marbled. The cover is laser cut bookboard, painted and fauxed. Underneath is the label with a handpainted colored background that sits behind the die-cuts of the window. Book bound in pale green Japanese bookcloth. Dropback box of matching green cloth, lined in Ingres Rag paper, handprinted using a collagraph created from the positive shapes from archway of cover. One in an edition of 25 copies, signed by Schwartzott. New.

Schwartzott writes: “This edition of the Rubaiyat uses the 1st edition of FitzGerald’s translations. Although it is not considered the best of the translations, it is the original. The completion of this book ends my journey of almost ten years. Interestingly, as I worked on its design and reason I really felt it become a more timely piece. For me the Rubaiyat encapsulates the beauty, intellect and mysticism of the Persian world. How lovely to focus on what a culture brings to others instead of the brutality, fear, anger, and enormous sadness that the war in Iraq has conjured up and bestowed upon all of us. I wanted the book to be calm, serene, ethereal, peaceful, tranquil. I chose a quiet solution for the typography, the layers of the illustration portfolios peel away like veils, and little dots of color here and there, along with the gold and silver leaf represent the jeweled covers and illuminated miniatures of rare Persian books. Since marbling was an art invented and developed by the Persians, I used it for a segment divider. A simple binding and protective box completes the presentation.”

Related posts:

1. Pindar’s Pythian VIII, from book artist Dean Dass
2. Horizons of Babel, from book artist Keith Dietrich
3. The Age of Partial Objects, by book artist Dean Dass