Scribbled Lives Week 47—Honouring Rosie Kelly

There are many treasures in my studio—one of them is a handmade book, a gift from Rosie.

Rosie Kelly (1934-2020) was an artist with an extraordinary gift for designing original handmade books from painted paste papers. Her artist’s books are housed in the permanent collection of the Newberry Library in Chicago and have been featured in many publications, including Letter Arts Review. She taught workshops to art organizations throughout the United States, New Zealand, and Japan. At home in her Chicago studio, she painted and continued a tradition of life-long learning, inspired by fellow artists and teachers.

Rosie loved words, listened to her muse, and mixed colour with abandon. Mostly, she loved everything paste paper. It was a privilege to edit and collaborate on the production of her book Beyond Paste Papers: Artists’ Books (2012) and to help her launch it at the Calligraphy Northwest international conference in Portland, OR.

To add texture to pasted papers, she often spot brushed blank paper with dilute acrylic matte medium and let it dry before decorating with coloured paste. I found that these sections repel media when lettering, but a dusting of gum sandarac solves the problem.

I decorated a stash of paste paper and laid out the lettering for several books but got stuck on the lettering style to use. This week’s Scribbled Lives prompt forced me to consider various options. Most of the styles in my repertoire are rather formal. So I decided to try a playful style that Rosie used in her work. It’s based on tall, slim Romans, but combines uppercase and stylized lowercase letters in random ways. Also, the letter ‘I’ reposes casually on its side! I’ve always admired Rosie for forging her own creative path!

I will miss Rosie’s passion and enthusiasm for creating beauty. Neighbouring artists would troll her waste baskets before trash day, hunting for discarded treasures.

Nibs and crow quill, gouache, Pen White, and coloured pencil on pasted Arches Text Wove featuring Rosie’s trademark crooked pages, windows, and embossing. I added weaving to enhance the message. The 16-page book measures 25.5 x 16 cm (10 x 6.25”) closed.

“The tapestry of life’s story is woven with the threads of life’s ties ever joining and breaking.” Rabindranath Tagore

This artist book is dedicated to Rosie Kelly.