Heather Saunders has interviewed Lise about this series of environment/health artist's books. See this entry on Heather's blog, Artist in Transit.
Uneven Earth:A lively interview about my environmental artist's books series, by Cassandra Kuyhenhoven, a Ph.D. student at Queen's University in Kingston.
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This large tunnel book is made of toxic PVC piping, to resemble a child's crib. There are pink and blue onesies representing girl and boy babies, and the hand-printed text panels on the sides speak about various toxins in a baby's environment.
2011, Kingston. 5 pages. (50 x 31 x 60″) Unique. Destroyed because of downsizing.
Each mesh bag/page contains one day’s garbage; each book has a week’s worth. The text deals with the effect of garbage on our health.
2007, North Bay. 7 pages. (12 1/2″ x 10 1/4″ (diameter)) Edition of 5. Collections: California Polytechnic State University, King Library; National Library and Archives Canada; University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Libraries, Special Collections; University of Calgary Library, Special Collections; University of Washington Library, Special Collections.
Happy Memories uses the artist’s family photos to illustrate Dr. Heather Jamieson’s story of the relationship between growing up in a mining community and her current work studying environmental degradation caused by mining.
2009, North Bay. 10 pages. (11 1/4 x 15 x 1″) Edition of 10. Collections: National Library and Archives Canada, Texas Tech University, Yale University, Haas Fine Arts Library, University of California, Santa Barbara, Davidson Special Collections Library, University of Washington Special Collections Library, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario.
Home Sweet Home
Each of the 12 rooms in this quilted pop-up dollhouse-like book has toxins indicated by large red numbers. These correspond to information in pamphlets hidden in pockets on each page.
2009, North Bay. 4 spreads. (38″ x 12″ x 3″ ) Unique. Baylor University, Central Library, Artist Book Collection, Waco. Texas.
Each of the 12 rooms in this quilted pop-up dollhouse-like book has toxins indicated by large red numbers. These correspond to information in pamphlets hidden in pockets on each page.
2009, North Bay. 4 spreads. (38″ x 12″ x 3″ ) Unique. Baylor University, Central Library, Artist Book Collection, Waco. Texas.
Northern Ontario highways are lined with rock cuts, sometimes covered with graffiti. This pop-up rock cut morphs into the artist’s scarred body. Watercolour, painted on acid-free paper.
2006, North Bay. 1 page. (9 7/8 x 6 7/8 x 1″) Edition of 3. Three private collectors.
The text in this abstract pop-up book, from poet Diane Dawber's book “Lifting the Bull: Overcoming Chronic Back Pain, Fibromyalgia and Environmental Illness”, describes four kinds of pain. The pop-ups are spiky and painful looking; one of them makes a grating sound.
2007, North Bay. 6 pop-up spreads. (10.5 x 7.5 x 2″) Edition of 10. Collection: UCLA Darling Bio-Medical Library, York University Library, University of Washington Special Collections, Savannah College of Art and Design, National Library and Archives of Canada, Whitworth University Cowels Library, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, W.D. Jordan Special Collections.
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One of the artist’s aims in this environmental series is to recycle and reuse materials and ideas: the cover of this piece is the last remaining face cast that was leftover from Colour Me Dutiful (see the ARCHIVES-Gender page.)
2008, North Bay. 12 pages. (6 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 3″) Unique. Collection: UCLA Biomedical Library.
Food pops off plates on this table-top sized book made of tablecloths. The text about toxins in our food is hand-printed on the napkins.
2011, Kingston. 8 spreads. (approx. 10″ x 10″ x 5″: opens to 40″ square) Eccentric edition of 7. Collections: Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia,Yale University, Haas Fine Arts Library, UCLA Biomedical Library, Indiana University, Fine Arts Library, Artists Books Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.
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