Alisa Banks Studio News

Studio News

Spring/Summer 2022

Hello, and happy summer!

I hope you’re carving time out of these warmer months to rest a bit and reflect. That said, I thought it would be nice to share reflections of my latest studio activities.

Adventures

Last year I began research for several projects all related in some way to plants, including papermaking, ink making, dyeing, and perfumery. Spring 2022 began with a trip to Louisiana to attend a 3-day plant identification class with a botanist who operates a B&B with his lovely wife near the Kisatchie National Forest. This was a first for me – slogging through bog, fields, and forest and foraging on the side of highways. I encountered a coral snake and a rat snake and managed not to panic. I nearly stepped on the coral snake during a morning trip in the bog. “Red touch yellow, kill a fellow…” the saying goes, but I wasn’t hearing any of that! Fortunately, it lay still and ignored me. The air that day was cooler and the sun was overcast in the bog. This made for a stunning display of a field of blooming yellow pitcher plants. I learned a LOT about Louisiana plants, and it was also illuminating to get a peek into a naturalist’s way of life.

Blooming pitcher plants (Sarracenia alata)

After class, I drove down near Baton Rouge for a few days to visit my ancestors’ former farmstead. While a primary goal was to conduct project research, another was to identify as many plants on the site as possible. This will no doubt take several seasons, but I managed to make a good start. I am fortunate to have a cousin and family friend who made the trek with me and were great company. This site is long and narrow and features open fields, wooded areas, a pond, a bog, and an adjacent swamp. Midway and back in the wooded area is much cooler than the forward fields and woods, and I find myself missing the sky, birdsong, and breezes.

Ti Lak (Little Lake) - a pond that looms large in ancestral lore.

Above: Passing by the swamp. Below: Copper Iris (Iris fulva), Thistle (Cirsium horridulum), and Buttercup (Rannunculus fascicularis)

In addition to workshops, field visits, and reading, I completed short courses on plant structure, botanical illustration, and botanical Latin. I’m ever grateful for online learning! As I write this, it is becoming clear to me just how much of a long game these projects are. Naturally, as time passes, other projects become woven in.

Self

In the midst of all this activity, I managed to complete Self, my latest book project, one that is wholly unrelated to plants.

The idea for Self, a flip book with clamshell covers, occurred during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the world began (or seemed to begin) reeling from uncertainty, casualty, and racial reckonings. Impassioned conversations occurred in daily life as well as in the media, and violent protests were widespread.

It struck me that it seemed as though we all wanted to “talk it out” – sometimes trying to make sense of it all, sometimes trying to solve, trying to connect or reconnect, trying to care for self and loved ones – but there seemed to be less listening. I began to examine my response to information and to my interactions with others more closely and jotted down a few notes to help examine, position, and care for self, particularly in ways that have the potential to open up possibilities for dialog.

We have the ability to initiate conversation, to resist, to speak out, to consider, to share, and to listen. Self began as an exercise in self-examination, which can serve as a reminder that the power to choose resides in each of us.

Workshop

There are still a few spots left in The Book Art Dummy, a week-long workshop that I’ll be facilitating at the Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW) in Rosendale, New York, August 22 - 26.

The workshop will focus on the development of original content to create a dummy for a book arts project. A dummy is a mock-up or model of a book, and is created when a significant portion of the project has been resolved. The dummy functions as a general model for the final project.

Participants will identify a project through a series of exercises, and create their book dummy during the workshop. We’ll move from ideation and writing, and then to design, budgeting, and building. Attendees can expect to leave the workshop with at least one project identified, a corresponding dummy and budget projection, and a notebook of ideas, writing exercises, and handouts.

Rosendale is located in the Hudson Valley, and I am certainly looking forward to taking a break from our successive days of 100+ degree Texas heat! I hope to see you there.

Learn more about the workshop and WSW here.

On View

Changing the Conversation

Wrongful Termination will be on view in Changing the Conversation, an exhibition of “artist books, zines, and broadsides (that seek) to encourage conversations that challenge long held beliefs, ideals, and ideas facing our society. The exhibit will cover multiple topics that will leave each reader with an expanded knowledge of the social justice issues we face in our past, present, and future.”

The exhibition will take place August 22 through December 16, 2022 at the Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington.

Speaking

Political Bodies: Agency and Intention

Edges - Lace Braid

I am looking forward to presenting Political Bodies: Agency and Intention, a virtual talk that will open the exhibition Changing the Conversation, at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. I’ll discuss the politics of otherness and the potential of the artist book to encourage conversations that facilitate meaningful social change through shared stories. The talk is scheduled for Thursday, August 25th at 4 PM PST. The event is free, but registration is required. Registration information will be posted on social media (Instagram and Facebook) and in the News section of my website.

Whatever your plans for summer, enjoy, stay safe, and keep cool!

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Kind Regards ~alisa