Coleen Curry
Coleen Curry received a Fine Binding Diploma from the American Academy of Bookbinding in 2009. She has led binding and leather treatment workshops since 2014 in the U.S. and Australia. Curry currently teaches at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Colorado. She is past President of the Hand Bookbinders of California and serves on the Board of the San Francisco Center for the Book as Vice Chair. Her award-winning work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private and public collections, such as the Bancroft Library, Boston Athenaeum and Bainbridge Museum of Art.
Winner: The Helen Warren DeGolyer Award for American Bookbinding
Example Binding:
Madani, Rachida. Illustrated by Anick Butre´
Ce qui aurait pu demeurer silence.
Neuilly, France: Al Manar, 2015.
Full calfskin laced on boards binding with edge-to-edge calfskin doublures. Leather is hand-dyed yellow and brown with overtones of bronze acrylic paint and decorated with image transfers and embossing. Three colors of gold leaf applied, sanded and burnished. Gold leaf applied using the "Sunago" technique to all edges. Japanese silk embroidered endbands. Calf split fly leaves with hand-dyed paper end sections. Handwritten title stamped in gold on recto cover. Ce qui aurait pu demeurer silence (What could have remained silent) is a book of words on words, scrutinizing the page. Madani's poetry explores what happens between the will to write and the gesture of writing; between the pen and the page; between the impatience to say, and the demand of silence. Rich painterly aquatints inspired my choice to layer yellow and brown dyes in varying tones and saturations. Image transfers were used to add textures and words. This layering of color, words, textures, and gold motivate the reader to perceive the words yet not actually read them. Curry was inspired to create a tactile experience to feel the words, without expressing them, to catch glimpses through the gold, only to have them pass, in silence.
Design Description
Curry's proposal is to craft a full leather binding sewn on five cords with boards laced-in and edge-to-edge hinged leather doublures. The leather would be undyed calfskin, selected for its smoothness. The calfskin will be hand dyed in multiple layers, using spirit and aniline pigments. The palette is to be predominantly green, red, and yellow tones. Portions of Walker's silhouettes, and a selection of Morrison's poems will be applied using reverse transfer onto the leather. Three colors of gold leaf to be applied, sanded and burnished with final embossing using a texture etched plate. Double core end bands to be embroidered using red and chartreuse Italian silk thread on harp sting cores.
Five Poems will be titled "Chinois" style down the spine. The fly leaves will be black suede with a surface treatment to create texture. The design inspiration is fueled by Morrison's poems and her engagement with the themes and ideas at the forefront: love, mortality, empowerment, and the complex relationship between women and desire. The poem “Eve Remembering”, has a dream-like, non-linear feel and cherishes memories of lost innocence with choice words such as "lost its green", "fire red", and "I bit sweet power to the core". The palette proposed gives rise to love, energy, and female empowerment. Walker's silhouettes are powerful and work in unison with the poems. I met with the printer of Five Poems, Peter Koch, and he described receiving the paper cut silhouettes from Walker to be used in the book. One was of a woman tossing a banana peel behind her, which was Walker's response to “Eve Remembering”. When asked why it was a banana peel and not an apple, Walker replied "it's history to slip up on." This circles back to elements that blend with Morrison's concern with history and slavery, and the role women play, and why this image was selected for a reverse transfer.
