News Release

The exhibition Kings, Hummingbirds and Monsters: Artist's Books at Evergreen will open at Evergreen House on Friday, Oct. 12, with a reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The exhibit features 20 artists selected to respond to books in Evergreen's rare book collection and to create new works of art in the form of books.

The exhibit is part of the "Collectors' Series," designed to celebrate collections amassed by two generations of Garretts who lived at Evergreen. The artists participating are Colin Ives, Peter Bruun, Laurie Snyder, John Wood, Janet Maher and Linda DePalma of Baltimore; Louise Wheatley of Joppa; Oletha DeVane of Ellicott City; Carol Barton of Silver Springs; Gail Rebhan of Washington, D.C.; Suzanne Solis of Arlington, Va.; Tanja Soft¡c of Richmond, Va.; William Smith of Philadelphia; Martha Carothers of Newark, Del.; Laura Davidson of Boston; Roberley Bell of Batavia, N.Y.; John Henley of Chicago; and Jo Rango of Las Cruces, N.M.

The book form is only the point of departure for these artists. William Smith, a painter, has made a book 124 inches long in response to the 19th-century astronomy work, Flowers of the Sky. Tanja Softíc's book is an irregular accordion-shaped book, 96 inches long, that has been made in response to a 19th-century book on medicines made from plants; the blackberry is the dominant visual image in her book. Other rare books that have been chosen include a variety of atlases, by Blaeu, Ortelius and Seller. Gould's Humming-Birds was the inspiration for Roberley Bell, a sculptor, who incorporated a beautiful view of the historic gardens at Evergreen in her book and quoted passages from Gould. Peter Bruun chose two books, a 15th- century Book of Hours and The Book of French Kings. He used vellum for his pages, gold leaf and tempera paint like that used in the Book of Hours, but then he combined this with xerography, something, of course, that was not available in the 15th century. Louise Wheatley chose a miniature Hebrew Psalter and Book of Job on which to base her new, woven book, which has taken the form of a scroll, depicting images of the animals mentioned when God spoke to Job from out of the whirlwind.

Additionally, an exhibition of many of the earlier books by these artists titled Books of Another Dimension: A Prelude to Kings, Hummingbirds and Monsters, Artist's Books at Evergreen, will be on display in the Eisenhower Library on M Level on the campus of the Johns Hopkins University from Oct. 12, 2001 through Jan. 30, 2002. The Oct. 12 exhibition opening is free to the public. Evergreen House is located at 4545 N. Charles St. in Baltimore. For information or to make reservations, call 410-516-0341 or go to http://www.jhu.edu/historichouses.