While abroad in Italy in 2002, Church began hand-binding sketchbooks. Drawing, note taking, and writing in these books is an integral part of Church's artistic process. The books are art pieces in their own right and serve as guides to the history of completed paintings. Church writes poetry as a way to get to the core of her artistic experience, and to discover the meaning behind her paintings and drawings.
sketchbooks from 2009, 2011, 2016
sketchbooks from 2011, 2016
sketchbooks from 2011, 2015, 2016
sketchbooks from 2011, 2013
ARTIST BOOKS |
Since 2004, Church has worked on various artist book projects. While at the Cite Internationale des Arts residency in Paris, France in 2004, Church researched and conceived of the artist book Elemental with collaborators Shelby Lattis and Amy Seibert. The artists traveled to sacred sites both ancient and modern throughout France, Italy, and Portugal. In 2012, Church wrote, illustrated, and bound a book of poetry titled The Leap and Fall. The poems explore themes including muse, memory of home, time, and catastrophic weather. The text is digitally printed and the images are hand printed from plates created from graphite drawings. Church's book Painting the Weather, poems 2013-2020 was printed on the occasion of her show Nocturnes in March of 2020. This book is digitally printed and contains images of ink paintings and poems. In late 2024, Finishing Line Press will publish Church's first chapbook of poetry titled Entangled along with images of paintings made during the pandemic.
"Painting the Weather" poems 2013-2020 digitally printed text and original drawings, edition 20, INQUIRIES email in contact
"Elemental" by Emily Church, Shelby Lattis, and Amy Seibert 2005, digitally printed, edition 20, INQUIRIES email in contact
"The Leap and Fall" poems 2012, hand-bound, digital text, hand-printed images, edition 20, INQUIRIES email in contact
POETRY
Writing poetry is an integral part of Church’s process. The writing allows her to get at the heart of the images she is compelled to make, though rather than answer the questions put forth by the images, the writing often deepens the questions themselves.
O F F E R I N G
Glowing suns
in the palms of your hands
cupped
upturned toward my face
you show me what you’ve picked
from the transient gardens
the marigolds shine like gems
unfolding and unfurling
tessellating toward the center
the deep pockets
holding secrets
only the bees can know
and you
in your black eyes
recalling other lives, perhaps
when your soul was a ball of light
expanding, or contracting
in and again, further in
like the folds of these flowers
you gift to me lightly,
though they contain
whole worlds
and you, the explorer
touch them tenderly
as they spill
over the iron fence
faces bent
to kiss the pavement.
copyright Emily Church 2021
Glowing suns
in the palms of your hands
cupped
upturned toward my face
you show me what you’ve picked
from the transient gardens
the marigolds shine like gems
unfolding and unfurling
tessellating toward the center
the deep pockets
holding secrets
only the bees can know
and you
in your black eyes
recalling other lives, perhaps
when your soul was a ball of light
expanding, or contracting
in and again, further in
like the folds of these flowers
you gift to me lightly,
though they contain
whole worlds
and you, the explorer
touch them tenderly
as they spill
over the iron fence
faces bent
to kiss the pavement.
copyright Emily Church 2021