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Deborah Greenwood ~ Washington |
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| Deborah Greenwood studied art at the Columbus College of Art and Design. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Ohio Dominican College. She earned her Ph.D. from Pacifica Graduate Institute in mythology with emphasis in depth psychology. Currently she is studying archetypal patterns with the Assisi Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont. She is interested in the various means people use to express ideas, dreams and stories. | |
| Sequel By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2014. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 4"; 10 page accordion fold, double-sided. Designed, cut, glued, and hand-sewn by the artist. Laid in cloth and paper hard wraparound case with button and tie closure. Signed by the artist. Deborah Greenwood, colophon: "My latest series of work has led me to new levels of repurposing. The paper used in this book is made of processed plant leaves: daffodil, cattail, crocosmia, and day lily. The images printed on the paper are made up of seed drawings taken from vintage science plates that have been arranged into patterns. Linoleum plates were used to print the background colors. Colored etchings from polymer plates were then layered on top. The machine stitching in the piece contributes to the overall design of the book but also supports is structure. I like to create collage books so that the composition on the front plays a role in what develops on the backside of the book. I printed on both sides of the paper to achieve that end. This adds an element of spontaneity to the work. "The first book in the series is titled 'Sewing Seeds.' It is made with the natural colors of the dried plants and black ink. It struck me as I was finishing this book that it was a 'sequel,' a continuation of the work that had begun with the conception of the first. The thought stuck and became the title." $1,000 |
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Deborah Greenwood: "It is not always easy to describe the interplay of sensibilities that brings ones work together. I would say that the books I make are a combination of the planned (extremely planned) side of things and the unexpected. There is something about the 'charm' of the excessive in my work. People often at first ask me how much time it took? - or how did I do it! And, actually it takes quite a bit of time to execute. However, with this intense activity, the sorting and figuring and gluing something else is happening at a not wholly conscious level to bring the pieces together. I like this part of doing my work very much." "I may start out with a concept or idea, but it soon finds its own path. Kind of like the metaphor I used while working on my window shade books when waterfall postcards began to appear everywhere I went. It seemed like the water (the destiny, potential) in these images was seeking its own level of expression as I worked. I think that by using the materials that I do, those that reflect something out of my time frame, an element of something larger than my experience comes through." |
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| Magic By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2009. Series Variant. 7 x 5.25" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Housed in commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Laid in folded envelope of card stock with collage accents and velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "I found a stereoscopic card with the image of this girl in an antique shop. It reminded me of The Princess and the Frog, a well known fairy tale. But as Donald Kalsched and Alan Jones point out in reference to Carl Jung's work, 'once upon a time does not mean ''once'' in history but refers to events that occur in eternal time, always, and everywhere.' It is a story about transformation, about accepting ones imperfections and receiving the inner embrace." $ 350 |
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Christina Johnson 7 x 5.25" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Laid in hinged commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Housed in folded envelope of card stock with velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "Behind every man is a woman, the old saying goes. The destinies of the farmer and his wife are intertwined. Someone dubbed this image, Mrs. God speaking of her gifts of creation." |
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Peppermint Awning 6.75 x 1.5 x 2" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Housed in hinged paper covered box. Laid in folded envelope of card stock with velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "This work receives its name from a small decorative awning in one of the postcard fragments making up the border of the book. The woman in the image is completely covered with clothing from head to foot. Only her handsome face is turned toward the camera. In spite of the modesty of the time, she wears the skin of a fox, complete with head and tail around her neck, merely a decorative element or a more telling sign. I played with instinctual and natural elements, rock spires against human invention."
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| Deborah Greenwood: "The series grew out of an encounter with Victorian scrapbooks. I was drawn to the less structured, unpremeditated method of some collectors, their books seeming random and expressive of the unconscious. A curious harmony began to take shape between unrelated images that interacted in ways not intended. "I am interested in primary forms, what can be exposed and presented within the limits of visual constraint. The circle creates a field of constraint, conforming and pulling into unity disparate elements. The process of collage is fascinating as working with unrelated elements provokes the unexpected, sometimes with pleasure, sometimes otherwise. "The three pieces I created have common elements: vintage sheet music, piano roll paper, and they are similar in size, method used, and binding style. Each is composed with spheres. Yet each book took on a different character depending on the colors I chose and the rules I made for each. I like working in series. It allows me to go deeply into an idea. "I used a reverse pleat binding with two purposes in mind. The structure allowed me to compose books with individual pages combined with a binding that would lay flat so the overall design of the two adjoining pages could be seen together. The single page format permitted me to play off one of my continuing schemes, that of not only exposing the front side of things but also the backside. "The collages are composed of vintage sheet music and piano roll paper. The binding is an accordion fold making it possible to turn the pages easily without wear and tear on the page itself. The fold is the axis on which the page turns. The bottom of the boxes are covered bookboard, the top is heavy weight paper. The bottom of the box slides out to reveal the book inside. Sewing plus Golden's Matte Medium [a acrylic and polymer emulsion] reinforce the vintage materials, but they also play a roll in the overall design and appearance of the book." |
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| Deborah Greenwood Out of Print Title: | |
Birdie 7 x 5.25" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Laid in hinged commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Housed in folded envelope of card stock with velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "On the back side of the book is an illustration of the optical illusion called a thaumatrope. The disk on the string has an image on each side. A common demonstration of this illusion is a bird and a cage. When the disk spins, the bird only appears to be in a cage." |
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Circular 10.875 x 5.125"; 16 pages. Double sided fold structure. Materials: vintage postcards, pages from old diaries, ephemera. Collage. Housed in collaged envelope with Velcro closures. Deborah Greenwood: "It is composed of vintage postcards, writings from old diaries and various pieces of ephemera. This book marks a turning point in my process. While I have always enjoyed recycling and recombining images, I began using postcards as a raw material, relying more on the over all impact of the cards color and hue rather than the particular image." |
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Dream Boat 7 x 5.25" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string Deborah Greenwood: "Dream Boat is part of a series of window shade books. It is made from old postcards, handwritten scripts, ephemera, and computer generated images. The inspiration for this series of books came from Roland Barthes' book, Camera Lucida. Barthes believes that some photographs, by their nature, are close to 'haiku.' It is by experiencing them over time that they reveal themselves with amusement or shock. By juxtaposing 'real |
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ellipses 3.75 x 10"; 10 pages. Double-sided accordion structure. Materials: vintage postcards, ephemera. Collage. In paper slipcase. Laid in four-flap wrap with velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "[ellipses] is made from old postcards, letters, and printed book pages. The individual elements of correspondence that came together to become this book were originally meant to communicate something personal or convey an idea. I enjoy using previously used materials to make new objects with entirely different meanings. "ellipses is composed, almost entirely of skies found in postcards: sun filled, moon filled, some the color of sunsets, others reflected in ponds, or seen through tree branches, or from behind a postmark. I wanted the back sides of the postcards to be visible, revealing the structure of the work. The pieces are held together with small strips of paper to achieve that end." |
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Floating Worlds Re-imagined 7.5 x 11.5"; 8 leaves. Collages with vintage sheet music and piano roll paper. Machine stitching. Reverse pleat binding. Stiff front and back cover of similar collages. Laid in box tray with matching collage sleeve. Signed and dated by the artist. Deborah Greenwood: "Floating Worlds Re-imagined is made up of title pages from music referring to China and Japan and sheet music with images of nature. I ended up describing this book in terms of re-imagination because as I worked with the images, I realized that the perspective presented in these materials reflected more of the American culture from the 1930's and 1940's." |
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| For Only You By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2013. One-of-a-kind, Series Variant. 7.5 x 11.5"; 8 leaves. Collages with vintage sheet music and piano roll paper. Machine stitching. Reverse pleat binding. Stiff front and back cover of similar collages. Laid in box tray with matching collage sleeve. Signed and dated by the artist. Deborah Greenwood: "For Only You I chose the colors of purple and yellow simply because I had never used them before. I decided that I would play with the idea of front and back by flipping some of the circles throughout the book's composition. I also added a rule, no overlapping or touching of circles. By happenstance, figures of men and women appeared in this book. Human figures had not entered the first work to any degree. When the book was finished it didn't feel right. Relationship had become part of the book. I added transparent spheres to connect the circles." (SOLD) |
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Impressions 4 x 6"; 28 leaves (one blank, colophon, 24 illustrations). Monoprints. Handmade paper by the artist. Bound in handmade papers with cloth spine and paper tile label on front board. Signed and dated by the artist. Deborah Greenwood, colophon: "Although this small book records the images as well as both the common and scientific names of a variety of Northwest natives, it is not meant to be a handbook. Instead, it is a poetic study of these plants as they have moved me in their natural settings. As when dappled sunlight breaks through the darkened forest, making them shape-shift as the steady outlines of leaves and petals dance under its influence. Sometimes weather can conjure a spell. The forest seen through rain, mist or snow, allows us to glimpse the ethereal in nature. "About the Process: Plants were cut and pressed to use in a monoprint technique created by Fran Merritt, the founder of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Later refined by Sharon McCarthy. A concentrated plate of gelatin was inked and plants were printed on handmade paper from recycled plants materials and Japanese fibers created in my studio." |
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Mandorla 4.875 x 11.75"; 10 pages. Double-sided accordion structure. Materials: vintage postcards, ephemera. Collage. Wrapped in handmade envelope with raffia tie closure. Laid in matching four-flap wrap with velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "[Mandorla] is composed of vintage postcards and various pieces of ephemera. In order to expose both sides of the postcard, the image on the front and the written message on the back, thin strips of paper or ephemera and glue were used to piece together the composition to achieve this end. "The emphasis is on the mandorla, an almond shape that results when two circles or worlds interact. The mandorla is an archetypal form that has been used to symbolize the interaction and interdependence of opposing forces." |
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Messenger 4.25 x 6.25"; 21 unnumbered pages. Double-accordion structure. Pages fold into the attached cover. Materials: ephemera, postcards, copper, and paper. Printed bleached, folded, stained, sewn, and waxed. Bound with paper; thread over metal covers with button and thread closure. Housed in folded envelope with Velcro sure. Colophon applied to interior of envelope. Colophon also printed and laid in. Folding instructions laid in. Deborah Greenwood, colophon: "This book was conceived of as part of a show titled The Book as Art: Hand2Hand. Book artists were asked to make sculptural books, tunnel books, pop-ups or pop-outs, books with pull flaps, or altered books. Moveable and interactive elements were encouraged with the idea of bringing the books out from behind the glass and letting the audience feel and handle the books. "Birds are a familiar part of urban living. They thrive in the forest as well as the city. In myth and fairytale they are often messengers connected to supernatural or divine worlds. by their very presence, some offer advice or predict long lives. Others are ambassadors traveling from one domain to another, delivering newborn souls into the arms of their waiting parents. Not all are benevolent, when some show-up, the trouble begins. They are bad omens, carriers of unfortunate circumstances. I used letters and other common forms of the written word along with postcards, featuring parks, forests, and other gathering spots for birds and people, to try and flesh out my idea. Because of their commonness, we don't often think of the bird's supernatural history, and yet, when they appear at our birdbath or feeder we feel something of that wonder, still." |
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Nature 7 x 5.25"; hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string Deborah Greenwood: "Nature is part of a series of window shade books. It is made from old postcards, handwritten scripts, ephemera andcomputer-generated images. The inspiration for this series of books came from Roland Barthes' book, Camera Lucida. Barthes believes that some photographs, by their nature, are close to 'haiku.' It is by experiencingthem over time that they reveal themselves with amusement or shock. Byjuxtaposing 'real life' photo-postcards with other cards depicting elements of nature - a waterfall, pond, park lake or tree - a dialogue occurs between the images the that makes us look again and a visual poetry begins." |
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| Rose By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2008. Series Variant. 6.75 x 4.875" hanging panel with 8 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Laid in hinged commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Housed in folded envelope of card stock printed with a marbled pattern. Velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "I frequent antique malls, ephemera fairs, and secondhand stores in search of postcards and photographs. This photograph of a young girl in a gown is unusual. I like the roses pinned to her dress and the way she looks out at the viewer. There was no text or postmark to give a hint of who this might be or what the costume might relate to. But with a little research, I found that the postcard bears the sign of a producer of chloride paper, also known as gaslight paper because it could be developed indoors under gaslight rather than requiring exposure to the suns rays. The paper was used between 1911 and 1921 and helps date the image. "I reproduced the photograph so I could give it a hand-colored look and emphasize the roses by making them pink on a blue background. I was reminded of a French term, mise en abyme, which originally meant, "to be placed in an abyss," a situation that is ultimately unknowable. Later, the term referred to a mirroring or 'play within a play.' I placed the girl on a stage. "For years I had set aside two postcards: a painting and a photograph, both views of Italy. I liked them too much. The reflections in the canals of Venice and the mist of a wooded landscape seemed to carry my feelings about the unknown origin and history of the girl in the photograph. The one whose eyes seemed to be reaching out forever for an observer. "On the back of the book, I made a an actual play of mise en abyme, the image of a rose drifting over a blue background, reflecting another and then another rose." (SOLD) |
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| Saltimbique By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2009. Series Variant. 6.75 x 4.875" hanging panel with 9 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Laid in hinged commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Housed in folded envelope of card stock printed with a marbled pattern. Velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "A saltimbique is described as an acrobat, an entertainer, or a performer. I chose this for my title rather than 'clown' or 'harlequin' because these appellations carry with them the connotation of slapstick and buffoonery. "Body language speaks loudly. Although this postcard depicting a young girl and her dog has charm, I felt it also held a subdued and darker character. It is as if the show is over. Night has descended. The dog stands between the girl’s legs as a guardian. The crop in the child’s hand is not raised in animation but has dropped to her side and is motionless. Both the girl and the animal look to the side as if to receive a sign or some direction. "If in some way they are related to clowns, they would be connected to the “Auguste tradition,” fools who are recipients of comic play rather than instigators. "Translating this to the elements of psyche, I contemplated the differences of day and night, conscious and unconscious, the quality of innocence and its opposite, the inner critic. The unseen and marginalized sides of self bring with them both positive and negative aspects, the commingling of these facets contribute to our sensitivities, insights, and offerings." (SOLD) |
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| Shoes By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2008. Series Variant. 6.75 x 4.875" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Housed in hinged commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Laid in in folded envelope of card stock with velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "With multiple viewings, one begins to notice not only what is present but also what is missing. The method of taking a photograph when this image was recorded required the subject to remain completely still while the shutter was open. However, one can imagine the lively dancing that must have accompanied the sound of the drum." (SOLD) |
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| Sisters By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2008. Series variant. 7 x 5.25" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Housed in commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Laid in folded envelope of card stock with collage accents of stamps and postcards. Velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "The fragment of a postcard relating the frustration of a family member at not receiving news from home stimulated this image:'If you and mother are not going to write to me, I will write to you....' Perhaps it relates to two sisters, one who chose to travel and the other to stay at home with mother. Although separated by miles of silence, a dialogue remains." (SOLD) |
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Souvenir 7 x 5.25" hanging panel with 9 slats. Palm leaf structure with string Deborah Greenwood: "The inspiration for this series of books came from Rolan Barthe's book Camera Lucida. He believes that some photographs by their nature are close to 'Haiku.' It is by experiencing them over time that they reveal themselves with amusement or shock. I enjoy working with media that are not always predictable as they play on chance combinations and the feeling of the unexpected." |
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| Two Hearts By Deborah Greenwood Tacoma, Washington: Deborah Greenwood, 2008. Series Variant. 7 x 5.25" hanging panel with 10 slats. Palm leaf structure with string binding. Materials: old postcards, ephemera, computer-generated images. Housed in commercial lightweight metal box with embellishments. Laid in folded envelope of card stock with collage accents and velcro closure. Deborah Greenwood: "This was one of the first books to be made in the series. Inexpensive 'real life' photographs on postcards could send the visual message that, although at a distance, friends and family are doing well. Something about this young man, holding his hat in his hand, brought images of destiny shaped by countless ancestors. On the back, a man is in alchemical furnace. He has two hearts: one relates to his own destiny and the other holds the hopes and dreams of those in the past." (SOLD) |
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Page last update: 12.07.2024
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