 Naked: Walking in the Woods By Melanie Mowinski Cheshire, Massachusetts: Melanie Mowinski, 2013. Edition of 13. 4.75" volvelle. Letterpress printed. Signed and numbered by the artist. Melanie Mowinski: "I am part of an incredible art collective. Three Americans. Three Australians. Every two months one of us comes up with a 'book structure' and a theme …. "I chose the volvelle structure – with the theme document. The moveable wheels and circle format fascinates me. … "Our theme? Document. And what did I document? I documented walking in the woods at night. We hike a number of trails in our backyard …. "… It’s amazing how naked I feel when I walk in the woods at night. Since I don’t hear very well when I do hear something, it tends to freak me out. The first time we hiked like this, at the top of the steep section an owl called out. We played call and response for a few go-arounds. But the human quality to the call churned up every nerve in my being. Intellectually I knew it was an owl, physically my stomach tied itself up and my heart rate escalated. Had I been alone I would have started to run at full-speed. My volvelle documents this walk. Different strings of words like fear creeping outside light become sandwiched between the whooooooo calls of the owl. 29 words make up the text – with a third of those words calling out whooooo. The tree pattern adorns the back of the volvelle." |