Sunlight, Chicago, 2007

Collaboration with Heidi Louise McKye

Bound letterpress and laser printing on handmade papers, edition of 30

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About Sunlight:

Sunlight is the result of a collaboration between California poet Heidi Louise McKye and Chicago book artist Drew Luan Matott. The book is comprised of three poems that McKye wrote regarding her mother's struggle with schizophrenia, which ultimately ended with her suicide in October 2005. The poems are arranged in reverse time order, leading the viewer from the end to the beginning.

Research regarding possible artist book forms was done using the Charles E. Young Research Library at UCLA and the Joan Flasch Collection at School of Art Institute of Chicago. Based on that research a sequence of media, text and imagery was developed as a means to best express the emotional content of McKye's original writings.

The paper for the book was handmade at Chicago's Center for Book and Paper Arts using 20 lbs of linen, 6lbs of bleached abaca and 4lbs of Arizona common reed plant. The printing was also done at CCBPA; for the text a Vandercook Universal IV was used and for the images a HP laser printer was used. The book was hand bound at St. Lawrence University and is composed of 8 signatures and a hard cover supportive binding with rough dimensions of 9 x 10 x 1".