The Element Book For AIR & WATER

© 2009, The Element, digitally manipulated drawing media, watercolor, photographs, clay, personal articles and acrylics, (7.5” x 7.5” x .8”)

The Element,  is part of the Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection and was included in the 2010 JFABC Juried book Exhibition at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

This limited edition published book holds a narrative through a collaboration of digital manipulated images from scanned-in drawing and painted media, found objects, and photographs. Inspired by today's astrology chart and the Greek philosophers that proposed the four basic elements from which all things are made,  Earth, Fire, Water, and Air, and two forces, harmony and discord, that joins and separates them giving this visual book order. Introducing each element to the next brings this image-driven fiction to life.

Traveling through a new dimension in each of four agricultural blades shown on the cover allows a transition to each element, represented by an image throughout the book. From beginning to end, these blades capture light and mood; inviting a different environment to each element. Each element emphasizes the image that proceeds, as you turn the pages incorporating all four elements towards the end.