#MovableMondays: A Pop-up Field Guide to North American Wildflowers
鈥淎rtists鈥 books can uniquely communicate complex narrative concepts through image-based and text-based channels. Within the book arts, I am most attracted to creating pop-ups鈥擨 enjoy working sculpturally within the book format. I enjoy the engineering challenge involved in developing intricate dimensional forms that fold flat.鈥
鈥溾 combines the talents of artists Shawn Sheehy, creator and designer behind the book, and Sarah Vogel for her letterpress printing鈥攁 process that transformed printing in the Western world during the 1400s. In today鈥檚 world, that technique is still appreciated for its attention to details in the properties of color and texture.
According to Sheehy, his engineered structures are not only meant to be a field guide for flowers, but also a cultural study as it relates to the wildflowers of today and of years gone by.
Housed in the Mahn Center for Archives & Special Collections, OHIO Libraries owns copy two of 30 books originally printed of Sheehy鈥檚 Field Guide to North American Flowers. A beautifully engineered structure, the book is a celebration of the simplest of flowers to the most spectacular in nature鈥檚 garden of florals.
鈥淪hawn Sheehy is a contemporary artist, a book maker and paper engineer [who uses] handmade paper鈥擺and] everything is hand cut and hand constructed,鈥 said Miriam Intrator, special collections librarian. 鈥淲e are very lucky to have one of Shawn鈥檚 original books.鈥
An interesting facet of the book is Sheehy鈥檚 political twist in his essay titled, 鈥淎 Language of Flowers for the 21st Century.鈥
鈥淲hen you read the descriptions of the flowers in the back you can see there is a political human touch that you would not see in a historical field guide to wildflowers,鈥 said Intrator. 鈥淪o it is both beautiful to look at鈥攖he flowers are very striking as they pop out鈥攁nd there is a lot of meaning inside the book itself.鈥
Please continue to follow the #MovableMondays series on the Libraries鈥 social media accounts: , , and .
Here is what you may have missed: 鈥Astronomicum Caesareum;鈥&苍产蝉辫;The Daily Express;鈥 and 鈥Mariners Compass Rectified;鈥 and 鈥A Series of Amusing Transformation Scenes.鈥