[private] portfolio

this is my entry for the biblio art award 2012, offered annually by blarney books

it took weeks of thinking, dyeing, collage, stitching and assembling …it was originally a book (great expectations by charles dickens), which was sent to me in a brown paper bag so that you didn’t know what you were getting …

while working on this, i sort of became estella havisham, so that this became her portfolio

here is the front, which includes pages from the book which have been fused onto wool felt and then embellished with pastel rubbings, dye paint, foiling, machine stitch and hand embroidery –

the back was made using an old wallpaper sample on one side, and book text pages and collage on the other; this is the wallpaper side –

this photo shows all the items laid out on our antique carved hall seat –

here are the little quilts i put inside the portfolio, each made from a single book page, fused onto felt as before, and embellished as for the cover, but also torn and drawn with ink pen –

this portfolio has been my focus for almost 2 months, and became quite emotional for me, as I pondered estella’s and pip’s experiences

i realized that what they actually suffered was a form of child abuse

did they, especially estella, ever recover …

not for sale