Gender Issues Books No Longer Available for Sale
List of titles: for description, click on title.
- Big Black Bag
- Bad Girls Good
- Bound by Convention
- Bound by Convention 2
- Breasts
- Big Black Bag
- Colour Me Dutiful
- Double Wedding Ring
- For Best Results
- Hairy Legs
- High Heels
- Leaky Stories
- Little House / Happy House
- Little House: Volumes One and Two
- My God… Ain't She Long!
- Playbook
- Powder Puff Pink
- There Once Was a Little Girl/Boy
- Tied to Her Apron Strings
- Untitled (Book of Hours)
- Wandering Foot (Migration)
- WRONG!
Bad Girls Good
Reading the mixed-up stories about being bad or good, and seeing mixed-up story-book illustrations of good and bad girls, blurs the distinctions between the two states. This corps exquise book, with the pages trisected, is photo-copied on Rolland New Life Opaque, pre-printed pale pink. The covers are clear vinyl; it's bound with brass fasteners.
1995, North Bay. 19 pages.(8 1/2 x 5 1/2″) Edition of 90. Collection: University of Calgary, National Library and Archives Canada, National Gallery of Canada Library, many private collections.
Photo Credit:
David Brown
Big Black Bag
A black paper purse OR a machine-sewn black felt bag holds loose pages of varying sizes. Each bright pink page has a list of the contents of one woman's purse on one side; a photo-copied image of one of the objects is on the other side. These range from pens and pencils to a zucchini!
1988, Toronto. 28 pages. (5 1/2 x 8″) Edition of 28. National Library and Archives, University of Calgary.
Bound by Convention
Paper corset photo-copied (b&w) from an antique with pink rubber-stamped text between pink lines of machine stitching (verso) is rolled in a box. Various women shared stories of being forced to wear constraining clothing for social reasons.
1989, Toronto. Scroll. (30 X 25.5″) Edition of 10. Collection: University of Calgary, Pauline Jewett Institute, Women's and Gender Studies, Carleton University.
Bound by Convention 2
Six life-sized plywood cutout "gingerbread cookies" are rubber-stamped with texts from a variety of women about the constraints of being newly weds, mothers and older wives. Their pink rubber-gloved hands are tied behind their backs with their apron strings.
1993, North Bay. 6 pages. (5 foot 10 inches X approximately 10 feet when open) Unique. Collection: University of Calgary.
Breasts
Cast paper bras with nipples are rubber-stamped with women's stories about breasts and body-image. Thanks to Sandy Berninger for making the plaster cast. Sadly, Sandy died of breast cancer a few years ago.
1983, Detroit. 10 pages. (7.5 x 12 x 10″) Edition of 3.
Colour Me Dutiful
Why do women wear make-up? How does it make them feel? Make-up stories are rubber-stamped in pink, turquoise, black and red to imitate eye-brows, eye-shadow, lipstick and blush. The handmade paper pages fit in an oval box with a cast-paper face on top. The face is mine: my friend Sandy Berninger cast my face, my breasts (see Breasts, above) and my feet (see High Heels below) while I was at Wayne State University.
1986, Toronto. 28 pages. (6 3/4 x 4 3/4″) Edition of six. Collection: Texas Tech University.
Double Wedding Ring (Can You Hear Me?)
Underneath their Double Wedding Ring quilt, Barbie and Ken lie in bed and talk—but are they really listening to each other? Do they speak the same language? This Double Wedding Ring quiltwas made by Vera Neilson, of Carleton Place, in Ontario. It is in the collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, in Kingston. Photocopied in black and white on Domtar Plainfield Offset, Double Wedding Ring is bound on both sides, in the Japanese style, with a centre opening. Opening first one side and then the other, the reader follows the conversation.
1992, North Bay. 16 pages. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2″) Edition of 100. Collection: National Library and Archives Canada
For Best Results
Fashion magazine images and headlines are collaged onto a handmade paper accordion in a snarky critique of the magazines themselves..
1993, North Bay. ? pages. (8.5 x 7 x .75″) Unique. Collection: Library, National Gallery of Canada.
Hairy Legs
Life-sized leg-shaped pages made of cotton/linen pulp with hair embedded are rubber-stamped with women's comments on shaving or otherwise removing leg hair—or not.
1982, Detroit. 7 pages. (30 x 12″) Edition of 10. Collection: Library, National Gallery of Canada, Library and Archives Canada.
Photo Credit:
Archives Canada
High Heels
Cast paper shoe/feet (i.e. shoes with toes) are filled with multiple insoles, letter-press printed with text about the joys/pains of wearing high heels. Pair of shoes housed in a shoebox.
1983, Detroit. 16 pages. (Size 9-B shoes in a box: 12.75 x 7.25 x 4″) Edition of 4. Collection: University of Guelph, Library and Archives Canada.
Leaky Stories
Sanitary napkins, fabricated from Japanese paper, are rubber-stamped in red, with embarassing stories about menstruation.
1985, Toronto. 10? pages. (Box: 8.5 x 5 x 3.25″) Edition of 8. Collection: Art Gallery of Ontario, Library and Archives Canada.
Little House / Happy House
Each page is like a quilt square, pieced with the “Little House” traditional quilt pattern. Women's stories, about being abused by their husbands, are printed on acetate which overlays the handmade paper.
2004, North Bay. 6 pages. (8 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1″) unique. Scott Library, York University.
Little House: Volumes One and Two
Two similar books (same format, but different text) with anonymous women's stories about being sexually abused as girls, in their own homes. Each page is a quilt square, pieced with the “Little House” traditional quilt pattern. The squares are stiffened and each book opens up to form a three-dimensional house.
2004, North Bay. 6 pages. (9 x 9 x 1″) Each unique. Collection: University of Calgary.
My God… Ain't She Long!
Three sets of paper dolls are letter-press printed with women's experiences of being short, medium or tall. Handmade paper in a paper-covered folder..
1984, Detroit. 22 pages in all: 5, 8, & 9. (8.5 x 4 x 1″) Edition of 25. Collection: Library and Archives Canada, Art Institute of Chicago.
Photo Credit:
David Brown
Playbook
Flipping back and forth, exchanging heads, torsos and thighs is fun. It also demonstrates how interchangeable are fashion and pornographic photography. This corps exquise book, photo-copied in black and white on Exeter pH neutral paper, has a black rubber cover bound with three metal studs.
1989, Toronto. 12 pages. (7 3/4 x 5 1/2″) Edition of 20. Collection: Library and Archives Canada.
Photo Credit:
David Brown
Powder Puff Pink
A little round pink box encloses a pink powder puff and 12 round hand-made paper pages with stories about pink and femininity.The text is letter-press printed; the paper made by the artist from cotton fabrics. Stories were collected from women I knew.
1984, Detroit. 12 pages. (4 x 1.25″) Edition of 22. Collection: Library and Archives Canada, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio.
There Once Was a Little Girl/Boy
Sixteen hand-made paper outfits for babies and toddlers were sewn with real findings and rubber-stamped with nursery rhymes about girls and women, and boys and men.
1989, Toronto. 16 pages. (life-sized infants to 6X) Unique. Collection: Library and Archives Canada.
Tied to her Apron Strings
Five aprons, with stories about aprons, collected from five women. The text is hand-written on ribbons sewn beside the rick-rack trim that was already there.
1994, North Bay. 5 pages. (life-sized aprons) Unique. Collection: University of Calgary.
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Untitled (Book of Hours)
Poetry and biblical texts are rubber-stamped, and images of the Great Goddess and the Virgin Mary are transferred onto a scroll made from leather and satin, housed in a box with a metalwork cross/grille top.
1995, North Bay. Scroll. (7.5 ″ x 17' long) Unique. Collection: University of Alberta.
Wandering Foot
This quilted book opens up in a meandering way like a ripped road map. Photo-copied maps are appliquéd in the Wandering Foot quilt pattern. Traditionally this pattern was not used on a boy's bed; it was feared he'd grow up to be a wanderer. The rubber-stamped text is various women's stories about being forced to move to follow a husband's job.
1992, North Bay. 14 pages. (8 x 8 x 4″) Unique. Collection: the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario.
WRONG!
The text is rubber-stamped on pink and blue handmade flax paper, folded to represent baby blankets.
1996, North Bay. 4 pages. (12 x 6″) Edition of 5. Collections: Duke University, Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA, University of Calgary.
Reading the mixed-up stories about being bad or good, and seeing mixed-up story-book illustrations of good and bad girls, blurs the distinctions between the two states. This corps exquise book, with the pages trisected, is photo-copied on Rolland New Life Opaque, pre-printed pale pink. The covers are clear vinyl; it's bound with brass fasteners.
1995, North Bay. 19 pages.(8 1/2 x 5 1/2″) Edition of 90. Collection: University of Calgary, National Library and Archives Canada, National Gallery of Canada Library, many private collections.
Photo Credit:David Brown
A black paper purse OR a machine-sewn black felt bag holds loose pages of varying sizes. Each bright pink page has a list of the contents of one woman's purse on one side; a photo-copied image of one of the objects is on the other side. These range from pens and pencils to a zucchini!
1988, Toronto. 28 pages. (5 1/2 x 8″) Edition of 28. National Library and Archives, University of Calgary.
Paper corset photo-copied (b&w) from an antique with pink rubber-stamped text between pink lines of machine stitching (verso) is rolled in a box. Various women shared stories of being forced to wear constraining clothing for social reasons.
1989, Toronto. Scroll. (30 X 25.5″) Edition of 10. Collection: University of Calgary, Pauline Jewett Institute, Women's and Gender Studies, Carleton University.
Six life-sized plywood cutout "gingerbread cookies" are rubber-stamped with texts from a variety of women about the constraints of being newly weds, mothers and older wives. Their pink rubber-gloved hands are tied behind their backs with their apron strings.
1993, North Bay. 6 pages. (5 foot 10 inches X approximately 10 feet when open) Unique. Collection: University of Calgary.
Cast paper bras with nipples are rubber-stamped with women's stories about breasts and body-image. Thanks to Sandy Berninger for making the plaster cast. Sadly, Sandy died of breast cancer a few years ago.
1983, Detroit. 10 pages. (7.5 x 12 x 10″) Edition of 3.
Why do women wear make-up? How does it make them feel? Make-up stories are rubber-stamped in pink, turquoise, black and red to imitate eye-brows, eye-shadow, lipstick and blush. The handmade paper pages fit in an oval box with a cast-paper face on top. The face is mine: my friend Sandy Berninger cast my face, my breasts (see Breasts, above) and my feet (see High Heels below) while I was at Wayne State University.
1986, Toronto. 28 pages. (6 3/4 x 4 3/4″) Edition of six. Collection: Texas Tech University.
Underneath their Double Wedding Ring quilt, Barbie and Ken lie in bed and talk—but are they really listening to each other? Do they speak the same language? This Double Wedding Ring quiltwas made by Vera Neilson, of Carleton Place, in Ontario. It is in the collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, in Kingston. Photocopied in black and white on Domtar Plainfield Offset, Double Wedding Ring is bound on both sides, in the Japanese style, with a centre opening. Opening first one side and then the other, the reader follows the conversation.
1992, North Bay. 16 pages. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2″) Edition of 100. Collection: National Library and Archives Canada
For Best Results
Fashion magazine images and headlines are collaged onto a handmade paper accordion in a snarky critique of the magazines themselves..
1993, North Bay. ? pages. (8.5 x 7 x .75″) Unique. Collection: Library, National Gallery of Canada.
Hairy Legs
Life-sized leg-shaped pages made of cotton/linen pulp with hair embedded are rubber-stamped with women's comments on shaving or otherwise removing leg hair—or not.
1982, Detroit. 7 pages. (30 x 12″) Edition of 10. Collection: Library, National Gallery of Canada, Library and Archives Canada.
Photo Credit:Archives Canada
Cast paper shoe/feet (i.e. shoes with toes) are filled with multiple insoles, letter-press printed with text about the joys/pains of wearing high heels. Pair of shoes housed in a shoebox.
1983, Detroit. 16 pages. (Size 9-B shoes in a box: 12.75 x 7.25 x 4″) Edition of 4. Collection: University of Guelph, Library and Archives Canada.
Sanitary napkins, fabricated from Japanese paper, are rubber-stamped in red, with embarassing stories about menstruation.
1985, Toronto. 10? pages. (Box: 8.5 x 5 x 3.25″) Edition of 8. Collection: Art Gallery of Ontario, Library and Archives Canada.
Each page is like a quilt square, pieced with the “Little House” traditional quilt pattern. Women's stories, about being abused by their husbands, are printed on acetate which overlays the handmade paper.
2004, North Bay. 6 pages. (8 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1″) unique. Scott Library, York University.
Two similar books (same format, but different text) with anonymous women's stories about being sexually abused as girls, in their own homes. Each page is a quilt square, pieced with the “Little House” traditional quilt pattern. The squares are stiffened and each book opens up to form a three-dimensional house.
2004, North Bay. 6 pages. (9 x 9 x 1″) Each unique. Collection: University of Calgary.
My God… Ain't She Long!
Three sets of paper dolls are letter-press printed with women's experiences of being short, medium or tall. Handmade paper in a paper-covered folder..
1984, Detroit. 22 pages in all: 5, 8, & 9. (8.5 x 4 x 1″) Edition of 25. Collection: Library and Archives Canada, Art Institute of Chicago.
Photo Credit:David Brown
Flipping back and forth, exchanging heads, torsos and thighs is fun. It also demonstrates how interchangeable are fashion and pornographic photography. This corps exquise book, photo-copied in black and white on Exeter pH neutral paper, has a black rubber cover bound with three metal studs.
1989, Toronto. 12 pages. (7 3/4 x 5 1/2″) Edition of 20. Collection: Library and Archives Canada.
Photo Credit:David Brown
A little round pink box encloses a pink powder puff and 12 round hand-made paper pages with stories about pink and femininity.The text is letter-press printed; the paper made by the artist from cotton fabrics. Stories were collected from women I knew.
1984, Detroit. 12 pages. (4 x 1.25″) Edition of 22. Collection: Library and Archives Canada, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio.
Sixteen hand-made paper outfits for babies and toddlers were sewn with real findings and rubber-stamped with nursery rhymes about girls and women, and boys and men.
1989, Toronto. 16 pages. (life-sized infants to 6X) Unique. Collection: Library and Archives Canada.
Five aprons, with stories about aprons, collected from five women. The text is hand-written on ribbons sewn beside the rick-rack trim that was already there.
1994, North Bay. 5 pages. (life-sized aprons) Unique. Collection: University of Calgary.
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Poetry and biblical texts are rubber-stamped, and images of the Great Goddess and the Virgin Mary are transferred onto a scroll made from leather and satin, housed in a box with a metalwork cross/grille top.
1995, North Bay. Scroll. (7.5 ″ x 17' long) Unique. Collection: University of Alberta.
This quilted book opens up in a meandering way like a ripped road map. Photo-copied maps are appliquéd in the Wandering Foot quilt pattern. Traditionally this pattern was not used on a boy's bed; it was feared he'd grow up to be a wanderer. The rubber-stamped text is various women's stories about being forced to move to follow a husband's job.
1992, North Bay. 14 pages. (8 x 8 x 4″) Unique. Collection: the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario.
The text is rubber-stamped on pink and blue handmade flax paper, folded to represent baby blankets.
1996, North Bay. 4 pages. (12 x 6″) Edition of 5. Collections: Duke University, Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA, University of Calgary.
