{"id":8962,"date":"2014-12-22T01:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T06:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=8962"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:03:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:03:28","slug":"book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-bryant-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/22\/book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-bryant-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Artist of the Month: Sarah Bryant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Simulations-SarahBryant\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I really enjoyed this week’s response\u00a0by Sarah Bryant<\/a>\u00a0on her inspiration and creative process behind Simulations on a Two-dimensional Grid<\/em><\/a>. You can read about it below, but first the specs. Simulations<\/em>\u00a0was created in 2013 in an edition of ten. Zerkall paper is used for\u00a0the pages and have been manipulated with letterpress printing, hand-drawn imagery, wax and folding. The loose pages are bound up in a waxed paper wrapper also decorated with hand-drawn imagery.<\/p>\n

\"Simulations2-SarahBryant\"<\/a> \"Simulations3-SarahBryant\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Two sources of inspiration are behind this artist book: Barb Tetenbaum\u2019s Aritst Book Idealation Deck<\/a> and David Allen\u2019s 2011 dissertation. Can you talk about how these two pieces came together as a guide for the concept of this artist book?
\n<\/strong>So in late 2012, Barb Tetenbaum invited me to participate in a show using a set of cards that she and Julie Chen<\/a> had developed over several years called \u201cThe Artist Book Ideation Deck.\u201d The deck has categories for structure, paper, layout, technique, text, image, color, and description. It also has \u201cadjective\u201d cards. Barb and Julie drew random hands from this deck for all of the artists who would be making a book for the show. My hand went as follows:<\/p>\n

Imagery: none<\/em>
\nStructure: unbound\/boxed <\/em>
\nText: collaborate with writer\/poet\/other <\/em>
\nLayout: across folds<\/em>
\nColor: favorite<\/em>
\nTechnical: hand drawn, painted\/collaged, etc. <\/em>
\nPaper: pre-treated, crumpled, painted, pasted, etc<\/em>.
\nDescribe: narrative<\/em>
\nAdjectives: personal, scientific, ordinary, complicated, colorful<\/em><\/p>\n

Dave Allen and I had been talking at this point about collaborating on a book, (this was just before his visit to the UK and the beginning of our Figure Study<\/em> project,) so I turned to him for some text. He sent me a few excerpts from his PhD thesis for the University of Michigan and I selected this one: Simulations on a two-dimensional grid reveal that if the conditions are met to\u00a0destabilize\u00a0the spatially homogenous equilibrium then individual patches cycle out of phase with their neighbors. At any particular time the grid has a checkerboard-like structure (Figure 2.1), and through time individual patches exhibit a two-cycle. <\/em><\/p>\n

We worked together to pair it down to the following: Simulations on a two-dimensional grid reveal that if conditions are met to destabilize the equilibrium, individuals cycle out of phase with their neighbors. <\/em>This felt more like a universal text, open-ended enough to invite us in and call for different interpretations.<\/p>\n

Once the text was selected, it was time to work with it and knead it into a book using the external prompts that came from the Ideation Deck. I used a series of folds, expanding from sheet to sheet, to disturb a grid made up of holes and lines. I loved this project, it forced me to do some new things that I surely wouldn\u2019t have attempted without a set of instructions. Waxing the pages, for example. Also the loose sheet format that I have adopted for two subsequent projects.<\/p>\n

Several people have pointed out that my book is not strictly following the guidelines set by the deck. It does have imagery, for example, even if that imagery is minimal. And of course this is true. But the deck is meant to generate ideas, and so I considered the cards as prompts rather than unbreakable rules. You can still get the decks<\/a>, by the way. I use mine all the time in classes or just to get my mind moving.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Setting limitations for a project can bring unique\u00a0challenges and even heighten creativity. I was so thrilled to learn about Tetenbaum and Chen’s Idealation Deck. I may need to get my own copy and begin exploring artist books again.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to read a more in-depth description of Simulations<\/em>, check out Heather Doyle-Maier’s\u00a0review on the Abecedarian Gallery Blog<\/a>, where she\u00a0describes the tactile qualities of the book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really enjoyed this week’s response\u00a0by Sarah Bryant\u00a0on her inspiration and creative process behind Simulations on a Two-dimensional Grid. You can read about it below, but first the specs. Simulations\u00a0was created in 2013 in an edition of ten. Zerkall paper is used for\u00a0the pages and have been manipulated with letterpress printing, hand-drawn imagery, wax and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[677,68,681],"tags":[680,1675,1674,1660,678,1665,1111,1659,1673],"class_list":["post-8962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-artist-of-the-month","category-bookbinding","category-feature-artist-book-of-the-week","tag-artist-book","tag-artist-book-idealation-deck","tag-barb-tetenbaum","tag-big-jump-press","tag-book-art","tag-dave-allen","tag-julie-chen","tag-sarah-bryant","tag-simulations-on-a-two-dimensional-grid"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2ky","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8905,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-bryant\/","url_meta":{"origin":8962,"position":0},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Sarah Bryant","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"December 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2010, Sarah Bryant completed Biography, which\u00a0explores of the alternative roles played by the chemical elements found in the human body.\u00a0Each element is represented as a specific colored rectangle, which are used in various diagrams throughout the book. As you progress through the book the diagrams become less clear and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9008,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/29\/book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-bryant-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":8962,"position":1},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Sarah Bryant","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"December 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Sarah Bryant is apart of the five-person collaborative group Shift-Lab, which she discusses more in-depth below.\u00a0The image above shows the full spread of their first collaborative project, Shift, which was created in 2014 in an edition of 20. Each of the five artists created a small letterpress printed book that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/ShiftInPosition3-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/ShiftInPosition3-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/ShiftInPosition3-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/ShiftInPosition3-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8953,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/15\/book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-bryant-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":8962,"position":2},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Sarah Bryant","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"December 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For the traveling exhibit Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, Sarah Bryant crafted Al-Mutanabbi Street to memorialize those who lost there lives to a car bomb on March 5, 2007. Bound between two boards is an entangled ribbon of red paper letterpress printed with an incomplete list of names. This altered accordion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/AlMutanabbiStreet4-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/AlMutanabbiStreet4-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/AlMutanabbiStreet4-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4898,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/18\/book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-mcdermott-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":8962,"position":3},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Sarah McDermott","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2010, Sarah McDermott completed Compendium of Domestic Incidents as her thesis from the University of Alabama. Sarah worked in collaboration with friend and writer Joanna Ruocco to continue an investigation on the intersection between the book arts and writing communities.\u00a0 Sarah has worked previously with Joanna, illustrating covers for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/compendiumgirls-sarahmcdermott.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4782,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/11\/book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-mcdermott-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":8962,"position":4},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Sarah McDermott","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Memories can be tricky. 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