'a knot dense and beautiful':
Textile artist's book, Lauren Callis
Lightscatter Press’s mission is literary multimodal publishing, which means we design experiences for the readers of the books we publish, using multiple modes of communication. For UNDERSHORE, we received a project grant from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, which allowed us to commission a work from artist Lauren Callis, painter and fiber artist. In response to UNDERSHORE, Callis proposed, prototyped, and designed a textile book, making concrete the textural, tactile, and textile domains that the poems draw upon. This accomplishes a kind of ‘regesturing’ of the poems, a tactile embodiment of the poems as material memory, visible in this different mode. This gallery creates a digital record of Callis's beautiful book.
Book cover, made of olive green wool, with the words 'a knot dense and beautiful' embroidered in pink thread. The cover is edged in lilac colored edging tape.
This page is made of fabric, brown, printed with white flowers. Additional flowers are sewn on, made of the same fabric with quilting battening making them dimensional. The artist's hands touch the page.
This image shows artist Lauren Callis holding the finished book, 'a knot dense and beautiful.' She is in a studio setting. She wears a rose-pink coat and is smiling.
Book cover, made of olive green wool, with the words 'a knot dense and beautiful' embroidered in pink thread. The cover is edged in lilac colored edging tape.
About Lauren Callis
Artist Statement
A feature of humanity is to communicate for the purpose of action. Through words and language we seek safety, find meaning, and build relationships as a way to move forward. My art practice has long focused on the other ways, beyond words, that we use communication to reflect. Through materials, I seek to make meaning in ways I have found words too narrow to achieve. Materials are my language. In layers of watercolor, stitches on top of silk, or tufts of wool, my aim is to use dynamic processes to champion the multihued parts of humanity in the service of reflection. When identifying the categories of my training---whether it be as a painter, fiber artist or art therapist---I have found a home in the material intelligence my practice offers as I communicate the themes I’m reflecting on.
To develop an artifact for UNDERSHORE, I began by finding a material language for the text. Kelly's work used generous sensory language, and I knew there needed to be a space for each tactile experience to be felt and seen. Creating a textile book felt like an answer to that need: highlighting individual poems' materialities while creating a necessary immersion into UNDERSHORE's world. My process dedicated time to finding a palette, deciding which materials needed manipulation and which did not, and considering my impressions of the poems. I wanted to create a sense of time and its role within grief. I attempted to describe that time as it occurs---unpredictably, tiredly, shockingly. UNDERSHORE invited me into another world and this book offered me a place to stay a while.
Lauren’s work has been shown across the midwest, employing the practices of oil, watercolor, and fiber arts. She received an MFA in Art Therapy from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and a BA in Art Therapy from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Lauren is an art therapist in Minneapolis and founder and executive director of Curiosity Studio.
"a knot dense & beautiful": Lauren Callis & Kelly Hoffer in (virtual) conversation
