Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, WI
https://redthreadletterpress.com/
IG: redthreadletter_press

Low Tide
2022
Letterpress and relief in a custom wire edge binding
11″ x 11″ x 1.5″

Artist Statement

Exploring the perception of landscape and place, my work manifests moments before change and destruction. The work draws attention to the notion of quiet unpredictability right before impending chaos. The landscapes, while subtle and layered, upend our sense of place and security. Elements of tension, the breakdown of information and the fragility of circumstance culminate in prints and artists’ books.

Low Tide is an artist book incorporating the poem, Low Tide by Edna St. Vincent Millay, on both sides of the wire-edge bound book. On the exterior side, the poem is easily read, with each line or stanza flowing across the shoreline. On the interior side, the tide has receded and has washed the poem away. This tray is removed to reveal the last portion of the poem and trench where the book can be displayed.