Tony
The theme of choosing a line from a book that meant a lot to me instantly made me think of a sentence from Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I read it when I was about 11 or 12 years old and the sentence
“Queequeg now and then affectionately throwing his brown tattooed legs over mine’’ hit me like thunderbolt.
The idea was shocking and exciting at the same time and the scales fell from my eyes. It became a sort of code. Have you read Moby Dick was no longer an innocent enquiry.
I thought the flexion structure was ideal to convey a tumult of emotions and of course all pornography should arrive in a brown paper envelope!
Alison
I have been grappling with lines from Mille Regretz, a 16th century chanson attributed to Josquin des Prez, for several years now and thought I would have another stab at it. Trying to convey the feeling of multiple voices singing these beautiful and meloncholy words that float through a space (given the work would have been performed in a church) has stumped me. I have tried some three dimensional approaches and now this purely calligraphic piece, but very much stil working on it.
Gill
“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” Catcher in the Rye.
Fishtail method construction with popup children.
Isi
For the January theme “One line from a book” I chose the lyrics by Eminem from his song “lose yourself “
“Look if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?”
I particularly like this song for its tempo and obviously its great lyrics that build this growing sense of pressure, emergency and how our lives can change, in an instant, after one opportunity.
It’s an illustration of how life and our decisions slowly paint the full picture of our existences.
Joan
My response to the LAB theme in January was to make a book in response to Philip Larkin’s poem, ‘An Arundel Tomb’. I have always felt very moved by the final line “what will survive of us is love”. There are many interpretations of what Larkin intended by this line. He was not a sentimental figure. For me, it is a hope and aspiration – that when we leave this world, we will be remembered for the love we shared and not by material success. The book contains images of the 14th century tomb in Chichester Cathedral, of the Earl and Countess of Arundel, with the couple lying side by side holding hands. The cover of the book is a delicate Korean paper.
Patti
A book which had a very powerful affect on me and was there when I needed it, just after my mother died, is Grief is the thing with feathers by Max Porter (I was also lucky enough to see the play at the Barbican, starring Cillian Murphy).
The opening line is simple: “There’s a feather on my pillow” – and so it began.
I made a small, soft covered, flip book with perfect binding, showing how the feathers mounted up every day, until the pillow was almost black.
