Cathedral of a Woman’s Day : Jill Berry Blog

Cathedral of a Woman’s Day

Posted on August 14, 2008 - Filed Under Creative Exercises

cover and sunrise in the garden

juggling, martini glass and the village of women

the women taking the houses off into the night

This is the book I made from the page below. It is an homage to the daily task of women, starting with the sunrise in the garden, moving to the juggling act of house, children, husband and art, to the actual husband (depicted here as a martini glass with a face). The last two pages are the village of women in community, and finally carrying the house off into the night. The book was in the auction at Art Unraveled as a fundraiser for a children’s charity, and someone bought it, not sure who. I will find out. At any rate, I am honored have this homage in a new house, and will continue this series of Cathedral books. Each one celebrates someone or thing that I appreciate. The first was Cathedral of the Desert that I made in Taos.

I call this way of working construct/deconstruct/reconstruct. I start with designing one page, cut it up and rearrange it, often in some sort of book form. Makes for some interesting surprises, and surprises keep you on your toes. No attachment allowed, you have to cut it up. This makes lots of people really nervous. I say if you are nervous, it just could mean you are learning something brand new. I have never seen this turn out to be less than the original, in fact, just the opposite. Isolating the small bits, the precious parts, helps you see them better. I just love that part.