Arrested Ephemera: Haiga: 45 Haiku poems interpreted in etching and collage
By (Author) Ellen Peckham
Paper Crown Press
Paper Crown Press
22nd March 2016
United States
General
Non Fiction
The Arts: treatments and subjects
Gender studies: women and girls
Individual artists, art monographs
Prints and printmaking
Hardback
120
Width 220mm, Height 302mm
Arrested Ephemera: Haiga is a collection of 45 haiku poems, the art which contains them and all 21 of the unique collaged covers from the collectors limited editions. In Arrested Ephemera: Haiga Peckham honors the classic form (traditional Japanese presentation of poetry within an image) with a modern twist using etching and chine-coll rather than ink wash or woodcut.
Richly printed in Asia, the book is a compilation of three hand-printed collections of seven volumes each created between 2008-2013. Oversized (23X16) with letterpress texts and bound by Judith Ivry in New York using silk to mount the collages, the originals are very expensive. Paper Crown Press now makes them available in a single 4A edition with full-color, full-page illustrations at a fraction of the cost and in a size appropriate to library shelves; a generous book to be treasured and gifted.
Peckhams inspiration for the series was drawn from her time spent in Montauk, Long Island one winter while she was recovering from a great loss. During that time everything suggested haiku; gulls cries, calligraphic seaweed, and she began to search for abstract images to contain her responses to ever-changing and impersonal nature. The books title, Arrested Ephemera: Haiga, is a jeu de mots that playfully invites the reader to reflect on the moment that informs each piece. The books cover, the collage Sunrise was chosen from the third volume of the originals and the escaping balloon on the back cover winks at Peckhams printmakers mark or chop.