Trash book without any trash - from Nancy Bell Scott

[Marie Wintzer]

 

Trash books are undoubtedly the big thing right now. Nancy very kindly wanted to send me one, but she also knows that I am not that much into trashpo. What she managed to make here is a trash book that contains only treasures. I have to say, I was blown away by her work. Every page is absolutely exquisite. I can't even start listing all the textures, the techniques, the variety of cut outs, the layers, the colors. It's just mesmerizing. I hope the pictures will speak for themselves and give you an idea of the beauty of that work. Nancy, I don't even know how to thank you. But thank you!! (let's see what I can send you back...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marie Wintzer]

You're so kind, Nancy. A fainting couch :-))))))) I just fell off MY couch right now!

[Nancy Bell Scott]

I believe you, Marie, and it's food for thought--that it was put together for someone I assumed was not trashpo-oriented (at least in name), and thus apparently non-obvious trash materials were chosen. Yet in some way they still turned out to be obvious, maybe even especially so when, for example, DK describes it as a grittier and more raw book than usual from Maine. Hmmmmmm. You send that thing, Marie! Plain and silly? I don't buy that for a second. If you're thinking volume, that has nothing to do with non-plain and non-silly. One of the first works I encountered here was a book you made for Thom, and his blog of it was the first blog I read--I was swooning over here. Needed a fainting couch and didn't have one! That old book cover you sent me a month or two ago was probably someone's idea of trash, yes? It's a treasure, and you must know it. You wouldn't have sent it otherwise, and as you know that's how it was received. Have fun at booktown tomorrow....

[Marie Wintzer]

Wow, a lot of comments to wake up to this morning, you are my genki people alright :-)

Nancy, I didn't make it up, you did write that :-)) before receiving this book I also made one for you (not a trash book) but when I look at it now it looks so plain and silly :-( aw, I might send it anyway...

Queen Keys has indeed put a lot of pressure on my shoulders with her choice piece. I prepared something for you DK but I'm not sure it is trashy enough :-) but I'm sure it is a kind of trash you never got in your mail.

DV, you are right. If old crumbly books are trash, then most of my things are trashpo (oh nooooooo). In fact I'm going back to booktown tomorrow to get more trash!

[De Villo Sloan]

I mentioned on my blog that some of Marie's books using old Japanese material she finds at book stores and the way she assembles them do have some elements of Trashpo. I think I'm seeing some consensus that key areas involve choice of materials and arrangement. The arrangement thing is a little slippery: I think maybe trashpo is bit non-linear, leaves certain things to chance. Because of the Jim Leftwich connection to vispo, Trashpo does have some connection to language. You'll notice most Trashpo naturally has some language in it. That removes it from the realm of pure visual art, collage or assemblage. I think it might actually be a hybrid of literary and visual art forms - even sculpture because of the 3-d nature of Trashpo. I do think Trashpo exists as something distinct from other forms, and thus can't be dismissed as another fad.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Thank you, and that word goes with the road that seems to be underfoot at the moment, if "road" is the right word since looking ahead is not a big talent of mine.

Marie, are you going to take the plunge? Thing is, Marie does such beautiful and raw work already. That wonderful delicateness. I'd miss it.

[DKeys]

NBS, I'm noticing your trashbooks getting grittier and this has a raw quality that I just love. The pressure is on Marie--we all want to see your take on trashpo:)  thanks for posting!

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi Marie, now that I've finished my "Trashpoetics" I think Nancy's work here does have serious relevance to Trashpo aesthetics. People are definitely remarking how beautiful this is. And yes, Jim Leftwich built poetry into the name. Again, I'm struck by the poetry of Nancy's book.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Thanks kindly, Katerina, and you are very welcome. This one has so much tissue paper because you'd said recently you had a hard time getting it, which reminded me of a phase a couple of years ago when I stained a big stack of it, sometimes layered with string in between or whatever--and then found almost no ways to use it in my regular collage (just here and there). It was a relief to find a way to really use it, in chunks.

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Nancy's boekie to me, has beautiful layers of tissue paper, colors and textures...AND poetry. But having added old tickets, bar code pieces, receipts, etc....things that we usually "toss" in the trash, but instead make into art books...then it is TRASHPO! (And beautiful poetry it is indeed! Thank you, Nancy!)

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Wow, what an interesting discussion going on here and I didn't know it! Thanks, Marie, for doing a wonderful blog, and for all the very nice comments. What an uplift, you guys are great. "Sophisticated" is rarely or never used around me, so I don't believe it--should have stuck in that piece of a Triscuit box that was on the table. It's funny, I don't remember writing to Marie that there's nothing i consider trash in this book--there is a ton of trash in the studio, things that "normal" people would most definitely consider trash or worthy of the garbage can. Must have known Marie wouldn't see it that way, so wrote that.

Here's the odd thing (for me) about these books: They take almost no time to do. They come together faster than anything else, and I mean ANYthing, including one small postcard or an experimental asemic piece. Everything takes me a long time, except the books. I can only think Diane's book concept appealed to me so completely that something automatic takes over and I do my own kind with the years' worth of stuff here and with mind racing. You, Katerina, described exactly the kind of stuff that gets used: "rubbish," "left-overs," "don't-throw-in-the-trash-but-recycle-it." So it seems to me a trashbook, but that's for you experts to decide. :--}