Hopewell Box.
Torgerson, Eugenie.
Niles, MI: 2006. Unique artist's book, in form of box on wood base with wood ball feet, green cloth and salmon and green printed cloth over boards, top cloth forming triangular pediment with toggle close of white plastic and black and green ribbon, the two larger sides with onlays of found text printed over older map with green paper border, the smaller sides with maps and images collaged and reproduces on green paper boarder. Box size: 4.25 x 7 x 8 inches high. The "roof" opens to reveal Ms. Torgerson's text: two poems printed in black on green paper, 3-3/8 x 3-1/2 inches. Box interior is lined in printed fabric containing 12 folders of terracotta or green cloth over boards containing Ms. Torgerson's poem, "Hopewell" in one, the colophon in another, and 9 containing maps and images printed by the artist / author. The colophon contains the artist's statement, "The map documents late Nineteenth Century settlements in what is now Cass County, Michigan, once the ancient Pokagon Prairie. The burial mounds built by the Hopewell people from 10 BC to 400 AD have since been leveled by farmers, save for a few near Sumnerville, on the Dowagiac River. This photograph was taken in Pokagon Township by Edward J. Avila." Her poem reads, "We learned by the Hopewells and their pottery, said to be remarkable for people so ancient and perhaps backwards. We thought it was a lovely tribal name, so lyrical, so full of optimism. It was understandable, considering their land and the river. Then someone told us that "Hopewell" was actually the man from Ohio who believed that the Indian burial mound should, by every right, be a farm. So the name was not theirs after all. No more than the land, or the bowls, or the dreams." The text images are from John David Shortess's day book done in 1884. He was a circuit preacher in central Pennsylvania and kept a diary of his daily activities and travels. The digital images are printed on Yupo, a synthetic substrate. The image of the day-book text is bound accordion style with brown leather over boards and a gold silk cord tie fastened with button knob. Ms. Torgerson has created a beautiful book object, containing text that conjures the American migration of the 19th century, with all the romance as well as attending disruption for the existing society. The restless American spirit is beautifully interpreted. (Item ID: 10278)
$1,200.00
