Nancy Culmone

Serafina, New Mexico

Raven

Raven is the theme. Texts are from: the Bible, mythology, Campbell’s The Masks of God, W.S. Merwin and others. A poem by myself describes the experience that inspired this book. The thirty-four pages are painted with matte acrylic and wheat paste, and lettered using metal pens, turkey and goose quills. Bound with painted boards and exposed spine. There are drawings and diagrams glimpsed through the paint. The diagrams, based on the “secret formula” used to plan pages in many medieval manuscripts, was rediscovered by Jan Tschichold. The page layouts shift from traditional to non-traditional. 32.5 x 25 x .5 centimeters. Created 2006.

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I focused on calligraphy, teaching and book arts after graduating from Cooper Union College of Art. My work is widely published and exhibited nationally and internationally, and is held in private and public collections including: Harvard University, Houghton Library; in special collections at Wellesley College; Reed College; Marriot Library, University of Utah; Duke University; Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Michigan. I teach workshops in the USA and Canada and at international calligraphy conferences. I spend half the year teaching and half in my studio. I love both.