Susan Share
Anchorage, Alaska

Susan Joy Share has made books since the mid-1970s, with a focus on their movement, sound and transformation. She has exhibited, taught and performed across the US, and is included in collections at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Anchorage Museum, and the Jaffe Center. She has worked in book conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Historical Society, and The Brooklyn Museum. Share received grants from the Rasmuson Foundation, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts. She has also created public artwork for Anchorage's 1% for Art Program.

Website: susanjoyshare.com

Midnight Sun, 2012

The book experiments with vertical/horizontal orientations and spine-edge painting. It can be viewed from any direction in several configurations. The folds of the spine are the focus. Hand-painted and solid paper signatures were sorted, compiled, and sewn to create color fields. The abstract painting depicts numerous dusk/dawn horizons influenced by the glimmering Alaskan light and landscape. Midnight Sun is a codex sewn on tinted linen tapes. Individual leaves show additional painted details. The one-inch-thick covers attract magnetically to form a circular shape. The book creates sound when manipulated and the springy binding jumps open.

Dimensions: 9 x 12 x 1.5 inches; 23 x 30.5 x 3 centimeters

Paper, crayon, acrylic, linen tape, and cord.