Projects
If we’ve ever hiked together, you’ve seen me pull a yellow notebook out of my back pocket to jot something down. That long-standing practice has been key to my development as a naturalist and writer.
A few years ago, I was enjoying lunch in the kitchen when I heard a scream from the back of the house. Expecting to find Valerie in hand-to-hand
combat with a rat or other intruder, I found her holding a sopping wet Rite in the Rain notebook, fresh from a trip through the washing machine. Crumpled and coverless, it looked hopelessly damaged. Undeterred, we dried the notebook over a heat vent and then flattened it under a heavy stack of books. Remarkably, every page remained intact, every word legible, and it was still usable.
Amazed with the notebook’s resilience, I emailed the company to compliment them on such a wonderfully durable product. In his response, the company’s marketing director asked to see my collection of 40-some notebooks. A week later, when he laid eyes on the notebooks filling our kitchen table, he said, “Oh my. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.” Enamored by the books, he spent the rest of the morning thumbing through them and asking questions, which resulted in this short video clip.
Another interesting project has been Science Stories, a University of Puget Sound undertaking that pairs artists with scientists to create art exhibits. I don’t consider myself a scientist, per se, but received an invitation nonetheless to pitch Tahoma to a gaggle of artists at a workshop in January 2020. Shortly thereafter, Tacoma artist Mark Hoppmann asked me to work with him on a piece inspired by the book. Delighted but uncertain of what that meant, I said yes. Turns out, it’s been a super cool experience!
Mark works with a variety of media, primarily as a book artist. These folks create one-of-a-kind books that are well, flat-out amazing. Check out his work at http://markhoppmannart.com/the-book-arts/. My introduction to book art began at Evergreen with my colleague Lucia Harrison, a book artist (among other things) whose drawings appear in Tahoma. You can see some of Lucia’s book art at https://luciaharrison.com/section/172354-Artist-Books.html.
Zoom-based brainstorming sessions with Mark landed us on the main concept, starting with a papier-maché replica of the mountain. It would sit upon a base with a drawer housing two portfolios of hand-drawn cards with the theme being the Native American presence at Tahoma. The first set of twelve 5-by-7 inch cards are collages of some of my ten years of field notes for the project, combined with Mark’s interpretive drawings of photos that I provided. The second set of cards is drawings of eleven plants and animals detailed in Tahoma, most of which hold great significance to Native people. The Lushootseed and English words for each organism are on the card. Here are some of my favorites:
