A Tribute to Hedi

I've spent most of the past month developing this project for submission to an exhibit honoring the amazing Hedi Kyle. I feel very lucky to have been part of the last class to graduate under Hedi's guidance at the University of the Arts before she retired, so naturally I was excited to hear of this opportunity at 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland.

In Vellicate, I used the advantages of Hedi's flag book structure for content that relies on neither text nor image, but is instead a tactile and visual encounter with a particular material. As the accordion spine expands and contracts, the flags change direction and soft tips of hair brush over the viewer’s wrists. My goal was to capture a physical sensation and its accompanying emotion: a touch so light as to be at the very edge of perception. The book’s title, a word that was new to me, encapsulates the way it feels as well as the way it moves: 

vellicate   verb. 1 : TWITCH; also: to cause to twitch; 2 : to touch lightly so as to excite the surface nerves and cause uneasiness, laughter or spasmodic movements; TICKLE, TITILLATE

By animating the hair and inviting manipulation, Hedi's playful structure communicates the concept quite literally.

The book was made with handmade abaca paper, human hair, and thin acrylic sheets. It is housed in a clamshell box constructed of acrylic laminated with handmade flax paper. I used overbeaten fiber for its translucency and skin-like quality, to offer visual hints and heighten the focus on touch. The definition of “vellicate” is letterpress-printed inside the box, beneath the hair that extends from the fore-edge of the book, while the colophon is found beneath where the book sits. 

As part of my research for this project I collected quotes from works in which "vellicate" appears. Here are two of my favorites: 

Thus, if you vellicate the throat with a feather, nausea is produced; if you wound it with a penknife, pain is induced, but not sickness.

 -- Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia; Or, The Laws of Organic Life, Vol. I, 1794 

It was nothing much - just a tiny vellicating muscle in the corner of the left eye.

 -- Roald Dahl, The Way Up to Heaven, 1954 

These are some of the models, bindings, and test materials I worked with in developing Vellicate. A lot of experimentation leads up to a finished piece, and I am trying to take and post more process photos to share.

 

I am calling this a series of six, rather than an edition, because I plan on using a variety of colors and materials.