2015 MCBA Prize Entries

Karen Hanmer “To Serve and Protect: Containers, Conveyances, and Cosmic Happenings”

hanmer_tsp-1Book open and another in paper slipcase. Labels on front board and spine visible.

hanmer_tsp-2PDF of InDesign file of page spread. Mood Ring as container for the national psyche.

hanmer_tsp-3PDF of InDesign file of page spread. Crock-pot as container for food preparation and a vehicle to discuss changing role of women and the struggles they faced.

hanmer_tsp-4PDF of InDesign file of page spread. Apollo Lunar Module and the Space Race/Cold War, still resonating today.

hanmer_tsp-5PDF of InDesign file of page spread. Electric frying pan and dismal period cuisine.

 

 
Karen Hanmer (Glenview, IL)
karenhanmer.com

To Serve and Protect: Containers, conveyances, and cosmic happenings
2014
Sewn Boards binding. Pigment inkjet prints on Mohawk Superfine, covered in full, custom psychedelic marbled paper by Pamela Smith, Bugra double folio endsheets. Presented in slipcase with marbled paper accent, numbered 1-40.
Edition of 100
Pages: 32
Dimensions open: 7 x 10 x .25”
Dimensions closed: 7 x 5 x .25”

To Serve and Protect: Containers, conveyances, and cosmic happenings began as a response to the theme “vessel.” Vehicles, containers for food, and other period receptacles provide a framework for the artist’s musings on life in the 1960s and 1970s. Ostensibly about banal period items such as the wicker-wrapped chianti bottle, electric frying pan and Chevy Nova, thirteen micro essays touch on Vietnam, fashion, the Cold War, cuisine, the economy, the women’s liberation movement, and other issues reflecting Americans’ perseverance, and our often misguided quest for peace and stability.