Optique by Alice Austin
"Optique is a tunnel book inspired by the wild, west coast of County Mayo, Ireland, echoing the unique coastal geometry of angular cliffs, blowholes, seaweed, and plants. The panels and the accordion sides are ... designs inspired by the forms and colors of seaweed and kelp of the Irish coast.
"The double-sided tunnel book also evokes a telescope, becoming an optical device. Looking through the opening, the eye sharpens its focus on an object at the other end." - Alice Austin:
Processes, Dimensions, and Edition Information
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Alice Austin, 2016. Edition of 17.
Tunnel book: 8" x 8" closed, extends to 8 x 8 x 12". Letterpress printed on a Vandercook press. Panels and sides are 4 overlapping letterpress-printed linoleum cuts. Printed on Mohawk cover weight paper. Housed in an ocean-blue box covered in Twinrocker handmade paper, printed with a linoleum cut image of seaweed, then paste paper painted. Box interior contains a linoleum print of a Celtic spiral design. Signed and numbered by the artist.