Carol Schwartzott

Beyond Ichthyology: Selected Artistic Adventures

Beyond Ichthyology is based on the natural history texts that accompanied the great age of exploration and discovery from 1750 to 1830. Scientific names of fish and famous illustrators accompany each of the six pamphlets and collages contained in the book. The collages were individually built and stitched onto paper and decorated with images that were altered with colored pencils, archival markers and paint. The text of the book was reduced to a minimum to create pages that would provide interesting typography and art.

The book is housed in a wooden, glass-lidded Cabinet of Curiosities that contains vials and other small artifacts associated with fish.

Press: Lilliput Press
Date: 2005
Number and Edition: 2 of 5 with Cabinet of Curiosities
Size: 15” x 11”

 

A Brief History of the Fan

This piece, designed and constructed by Carol Schwartzott, features a cylindrical box that contains a miniature book entitled, A Brief History of the Fan. The miniature book provides a definition of the fan, plus a detailed history of it from 3200 BCE to the 1900s vaudeville fan dance star Sally Rand. A short bibliography of primary sources on the fan is also included.

The other end of the cylindrical box contains a stand, which holds the fan and several cardboard dividers describing different ways and symbolisms of holding and moving the fan. The piece was created using Yohko Japanese paper and was printed on an Epson 2000 printer.

Press: Lilliput Press
Date: 2003
Number and Edition: 18 of 30
Size: 8” x 2”

 

Concept Color

Concept Color, a book about experiencing color, flips to reveal fragments of text and various colored shapes. Designed as a Jacob's ladder structure, the book is grasped at one end and held in a horizontal position to release the first section, which then tumbles down into the next section, continuing until it reaches the bottom. Reversing the direction brings the ladder back to its original position.

Artist Carol Schwartzott said: "Color is a dominant factor in my work. In 1996 I completed Color Book, a five-part one-off major piece based on five colors. Following that came Restraint Through Revelation, a book about Bauhaus master Josef Albers and his amazing and knowledgeable journey into color as both designer and educator.”

Press: Lilliput Press
Date: 2006
Number and Edition: 5 of 20
Size: 4” x 4.5”

 

Haiku Poems: Two

An expandable accordion structure of nine folios, Haiku Poems: Two is housed in a box covered and lined in Japanese dyed papers with a tie closure made of a wooden dowel and waxed linen thread. Gill Sans and ITC Kendo typefaces were used on various papers including Japanese chiyogami, hand-dyed Japanese papers, Indian papers and archival papers. Hand decorating techniques such as stencil, stamp, gocco-printing and dyeing were also used.

Artist Carol Schwartzott said: “A book for me is like a journey, along the way the road twists and turns, and sometimes I get lost, but my aim is to arrive at my destination and enjoy the trip along the way.”

Press: Lilliput Press
Date: 2005
Number and Edition: 37 of 50
Size: 5.5” x 5”

 

Kimono/Kosode

In Kimono/Kosode, Artist Carol Schwartzott depicts the many graceful layers of traditional Japanese dress. The book employs a repeated design of a cut-out kimono shape and tri-fold panels covered with Japanese Chiyogami papers. Kimono/Kosode has a hinged construction of basswood dowels with six rigid sections, each forming one tri-fold page.

The book can lie flat but when displayed on its edge with the pages open, a tiny multidimensional theater appears and the kimono becomes a window. Each tri-fold section also contains a text giving a brief history of the kimono. The brief histories are letterpress printed on hand-dyed Japanese Yohko paper that floats against a matte board surface.

Press: Lilliput Press
Date: 2002
Number and Edition: 51 of 125
Size: 10.5” x 6”

 

Passage

“Once an Oak tree grew on this land
And after a hundred years passed one hundred great rings wrapped around each other…
It was a secret well hidden.” (An excerpt from Passage by Carol Schwartzott)

Passage is an accordion fold, letterpress printed book that reflects on the artist’s purchase of a large piece of land. Fourteen intricate, hand-cut illustrations are featured on the right-hand pages of each two-fold spread. The cover is Fabriano Roma folded over boards with a letterpress title and cut away designs. The text is set in ITC Vintage/P22 Da Vinci typefaces, and the book is housed in a hand-dyed Thai paper slipcase.

Press: Lilliput Press
Date: 2002
Number and Edition: 10 of 30
Size: 7” x 6.5”