Katie Baldwin
Huntsville, AL
www.katieameliabaldwin.com
Instagram: @katieameliabaldwin
Work To Be Done In Winter
2023
Book
8.5 x 11.5 x 0.75 inches
Artist Statement
‘Work To Be Done In Winter’ is an artist book inspired by The Compleat Gard’ner, written by Jean de LaQuintinie and published posthumously in 1699. I discovered this book while conducting research in the Landscape and Architecture Collection at the Fisher Fine Arts Library in Philadelphia, PA in 2019, as a visiting artist at Common Press. My interest in the collection centered on how humans shaped the world through the aesthetics and functions of gardens in the 17th and 18th centuries. What captured my imagination was how the author’s gardening experience lead to this book. Jean de LaQuintinie designed and built the king’s vegetable garden at Versaille, transforming land that was considered not suitable for farming. He developed cultivation techniques for off-season food production, providing fruit and vegetables year around. His advancements contributed to the improvement of the cultivation of fruit trees and their pruning. Pruning illustrations from Jean de LaQuintine’s book influenced my ink drawings of trees. The text was inspired by the author’s detailed instructions on the work to be done in the garden in order to produce fruit and vegetables all year round. Funding for this project was provided by common press at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Center for the Book and the Humanities Center at University of Alabama in Huntsville. The research for work to be done in winter began in 2019, was put on hold due to the pandemic, and then designed, printed and bound in 2023 by Katie Baldwin.