RiTUAL. A ceremonial act ~ Rites used in the course of worship ~ The performance of ceremonial acts ~ The prescribed form of conducting the ceremony ~ A method of procedure that is followed without variation ~ performance with gestures, words, and objects, often in a sequestered place.
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I am freelance writer in western Massachusetts, and I teach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For over eight years, I wrote weekly art reviews for the Valley Advocate Newspapers, and since 2006, I write a monthly column on visual art for Preview Massachusetts Magazine. I began making artist books ten years ago because I wanted to bring projects combining text and images into classes for studio art majors. Once I began making books, I was totally hooked. My day jobs depend heavily on words, so my artist books tend to go lightly on text and instead emphasize telling a story through images. I have had several one-person exhibitions, and my work has been included in group shows in the U.S. and, internationally, in Berlin and in Lviv, Ukraine.
Playing and posing with over-sized, bright red fireproof gloves became a ritual practiced with my friends and family, sometimes revealing characteristic gestures and other times, showing wholy unexpected sides of their personalities. I took photographs of each person posing and printed the images on matte paper. Then I assembled the ritual poses together in a single-sheet book made of deep red mulberry paper.
