Judith Serling-Sturm ~ Ohio

Artist statement: “My interest in book arts began as a bookbinding apprentice. I was captivated by exposed bindings, the effort of ‘keeping it together’ assuming a position equal in beauty, in strength, in voice, to structure and content. Working in both traditional and non-traditional book forms, I explore the way in which materials, structure, surface design techniques, bindings, and text communicate and add nuance to content. “This funky niche of book arts in the wider art world requires a unique engagement. Working within this form, I often surprise myself by discovering new understandings of the world around us. Better yet, I am left with more to discover …..”

Click here for the YouTube link: The Art Show, Judith Serling-Strum

Unarmed in America
by Judith Serling-Sturm
Cincinnati, Ohio: Judith Serling-Sturm. One-of-a-Kind.

12.5”H x 10.25”W x 4”D closed, extends to 10”H x 102”W. Textile in scroll structure. Mixed media, including a bullet artist found while walking to work. Rolled and laid in wooden box with title on cover. Box hinged with leather straps.

Judith Serling-Sturm: "21:1 is the official statistic of young, unarmed black men to young, unarmed white men shot and killed by police as contrasted with the number of young unarmed white men who suffered that same fate. Many statistics back this up, and much analysis attempts to explain this but ‘Unarmed in America’ addressed individual lives. This is what 21:1 looks like.

“I have sewn these lives onto a muslin shroud amongst explanations, analysis, and the 21st psalm in asemic writing.

“There is no shortage of explanations for this fact, and these explanations are frequently embraced by one ideological group or another at the expense of the constructive conversations we must have.

“I think about this every time my white sons go out with their black friends, knowing that even as they walk together they walk into two very different worlds. I hope ‘Unarmed in America’, helps all of us see the statistic 21:1 in human terms."
$2,000

A Walk in the Woods
byJudith Serling-Sturm
Cincinnati, Ohio: Judith Serling-Sturm. One-of-a-Kind.

18" long, 7" wide; 5.5" high. Materials: handmade papers, natural and unnatural elements, found items, linen thread, tree trunk fragment. Initialed by the artist.

Judith Serling-Sturm: "This collection of natural - and unnatural - elements tells its own story of what the earth gives us - and how we humans reciprocate.

Further artist comments: "In my work, in both traditional and ‘non-traditional’ form, binding techniques, book structure, materials and content are equal players in the communication of an idea."
(SOLD)