Crane Designs~ Arizona
(Marian Crane)

Wait
By Marian Crane
2004. One-of-a-Kind. 3" high, 5.5" wide, 2" deep Wengewood, walnut, leather, dyed linen fabric, printed cotton fabric, cotton embroidery thread, brown linen thread, glass and porcelain beads, rock crystal, acrylic paint. Four embroidered and appliqué pages hold an 8-line poem about companionship and aging. Wooden leather covers are inlaid with rock crystal gems over hand-painted vignettes illustrating the text. Anchored by three tassels of brown, purple, blue, and white handblown glass beads and Chinese porcelain beads. Primary colors: dark brown, blue, white.
$1,300

Plateau Guardians
By Marian Crane
2004. One-of-a-Kind
3.25" high, 6" wide, 2.5" deep. Oak, dyed poplar, leather, brown linen, glass beads, acrylic paint. Nine heavily beaded and embroidered brown leather pages showcase plants and pictographs common to the Great Basin of the American Southwest. Covers are carved and painted leather, with pierced desert vegetation designs. Pages anchored by 4 beaded tassels, pin closure of oak and leather. Primary colors: brown, tan, blue green, multicolor accents.
$2,400

PI
2004. One-of-a-Kind. Closed: 1.25 x 1.25 x 6". Open on walnut stand: 7.25" height. Materials used walnut, brown linen cloth and cord, cotton, and glass. Three folded linen pages display the first 69 places of the number "PI" which is embroidered in blue cotton with blue glass beads on dark brown linen. The back of each page is lined in printed cotton fabric with a swirling-cloud design. Two brown linen and glass bead tassels anchor the pages. Four walnut covers swing open from a box spine, revealing both the fabric pages and text. In this presentation Marian Crane honors an ancient but still quirky, mathematical conundrum in a modern way.
$800

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Amber
2004. One-of-a-Kind. Closed: 1.5 x 1.5 x 5". Open on wooden stand: 6" high. Materials used in composition cocobolo, walnut, osage orange wood, leather, amber, cotton and silk brocades, glass, citrine, labradorite, cotton embroidery thread, linen cord, acrylic paint. Box spine and two wooden covers ornamented with osage-orange and amber overlays. When fully-opened, the front covers form a mask of stylized amber eyes, a reference to sea goddeses and amber sprites of slavic folklore. Gold ink sketches of pine boughs and flying insects surround the eyes. Spine is finished with two red and gold cotton tassels with amber colored glass accents. Four folded brocade pages with each page lined with red and gold silk and embroidered with prose lines about amber. Tiny golden citrine and blue labradorite gems accent the pages. Crane's homage to amber: "This fossil resin may be one of the oldest gems of humanity..."
$800

The Frog and the Moon
Hanging inspired by a book Marian read when she was five or six about South American fables. This one is based on a cautionary tale about love - when the frog fell in love with the moon.
One-of-a-Kind tapestry wall hanging 40" x 8" with carved wooden hangar. Uses three panels of appliqué and embroidery descending to a bead fringe. Accented with glass, amethyst, and tiger-eye beads.
$1,600

Night Sonnet
Sonnet by William Wilfred Campbell. A delightfully beautiful marriage of text and art. Marian is "drawn by the spatial possibilities of books: layers of art and text hidden behind covers, ideas that can only be grasped by a viewer's total and sometimes even hypnotic participation in the work."
One-of-a-kind paperless book, size 5.75" x 4.5" x 2" in green and turquoise stained poplar, with woodburned text and designs. Finished with three eight inch tassels or brown linen, jade medallions, and glass beads. Eight pages of semi-rigid leather and rigid poplar which allows pages to swing open in a fan shape. Boards of woodburned nightscapes of forest and ocean.
$800

Watershed
A River's Journey
The prose lines for this piece were written in the 1980's, during a day-trip on the Silverton narrow gauge railroad, as Marian followed the river north toward its sources. The Nameless River profiled in this piece could be any river in the world. Marian grew up along the Animas River in Northwestern New Mexico. Barely 100 miles long from its headwaters northeast of Silverton, Colorado to its confluence with the San Juan River in New Mexico. The Animas is the last undammed major river in the Western United States. It was the inspiration for this Nameless River.
A unique tapestry wall hanging of six horizontal panels handpainted, embroidered, and beaded linen, with hanging bar of turquoise-stained oak. With accents of glass beads, pink mussel shell, and abalone. Backed with natural linen. Structural sewing with poly/cotton thread.
$1,600

Interview with Marian Crane