PIECES
writing by Tess Perez with original artwork by Sylvia Lopez, Lolbette Moreno + Terra Dawson
designed by Jon Alston
2014
Limited edition of 100
Bound by hand
6" x 6"
SOLD OUT!!
writing by Tess Perez with original artwork by Sylvia Lopez, Lolbette Moreno + Terra Dawson
designed by Jon Alston
2014
Limited edition of 100
Bound by hand
6" x 6"
SOLD OUT!!
Pieces is an exploration of fairy tale, of the reading experience, of how we put reality together and shape it into a form we call life. As readers, we are influenced by more than our own thoughts, from books to conversations to films to billboards. John Berger, in Ways of Seeing, writes: "Our vision is continually active, continually moving . . . [a]nd often dialogue is an attempt to verbalize this – an attempt to explain how, either metaphorically or literally, 'you see things', and an attempt to discover how 'he sees things'.” The "dialogue" of Pieces is the conversation between artist and creation, reader and words, ourselves and experience.
What is a modern fairytale? How does it differ from old fairy tales? And what do fairy tales told by modern authors say about our culture? A common theme in fairy tales is: a virginal helpless girl, an evil Queen (a woman), and a knight in shining armor (a man). What happens when these elements are changed up, or if one is left out? In Pieces, a woman is out backpacking on her own. There is something disturbing about her in that she does not embody the virginal characteristics of a traditional fairytale. On her hike she hears music and decides to go off track to find it. When she finds it, she finds an older man in a cottage. Evie, the main character, will embody evil, innocence, heroism, etc., all the personality traits a fairytale contains embodied in one character, rather than distributed among several characters which works against the ingrained strong-male-hero-saves-weak-princess trope that is the foundation of classical fairy tales.
The book itself is a fractured narrative, both in story and in physical touch. A book, held together only by the fabric that encases it, Pieces can be experienced in any way the reader chooses. Each piece of the story will be bound only to itself, the collection of fractures free to be mixed among themselves, allowing the reader the freedom to experience the story as seems most appropriate or at random.
What is a modern fairytale? How does it differ from old fairy tales? And what do fairy tales told by modern authors say about our culture? A common theme in fairy tales is: a virginal helpless girl, an evil Queen (a woman), and a knight in shining armor (a man). What happens when these elements are changed up, or if one is left out? In Pieces, a woman is out backpacking on her own. There is something disturbing about her in that she does not embody the virginal characteristics of a traditional fairytale. On her hike she hears music and decides to go off track to find it. When she finds it, she finds an older man in a cottage. Evie, the main character, will embody evil, innocence, heroism, etc., all the personality traits a fairytale contains embodied in one character, rather than distributed among several characters which works against the ingrained strong-male-hero-saves-weak-princess trope that is the foundation of classical fairy tales.
The book itself is a fractured narrative, both in story and in physical touch. A book, held together only by the fabric that encases it, Pieces can be experienced in any way the reader chooses. Each piece of the story will be bound only to itself, the collection of fractures free to be mixed among themselves, allowing the reader the freedom to experience the story as seems most appropriate or at random.
TESS PEREZ is an editor for the literary magazine From Sac and a copy editor for The Black Rabbit. After seven years of travel and coffee drinking, Tess returned to academia and earned her MA in Creative Writing from CSU, Sacramento. She now teaches Literature, Film and English Composition. Pieces is her first full-length publication.
SYLVIA LOPEZ earned her Bachelor's Degree in Art at Cal State University Los Angeles. She practices her art in her spare time while working for The Japanese American National Museum and contributing time as an advisory board member of the Nuvein Foundation for Literature and the Arts. Her works have been shown at Los Angeles’ Market Gallery, The Ashbury, Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Grass Ink and CSULA’s Fine Arts Gallery; at Black Moon Gallery in Pamona; CSU Summer Arts Culmination in Fresno; and at La Puente’s CocoNaDre and RiT Center.
TERRA DAWSON (BA in American Studies, UC Santa Cruz, dawsonillustrations.com) is a scientific freelance illustrator who loves everything in the natural world. She is currently attending CSU Monterey Bay for Science Illustration, where she is honing her skills for marine life illustration. Her work blends detail of reality with whimsical touches of fantasy and surrealism.
JON ALSTON (MA in English: Creative Writing, CSU Sacramento) is an emerging writer and book artist whose first artist book, if upon a chance it happens, was published in January 2011. Shorter selections of his work have been published in Conium Review, Colliope Review, The Metric, Back to Print, and various others, with work forthcoming in The Stray Branch and The Encyclopedia Project. He teaches English Composition at IADT, is the Assistant Editor for Copilot Press, and the Executive Editor of Sacramento’s newest literary journal, From Sac.
SYLVIA LOPEZ earned her Bachelor's Degree in Art at Cal State University Los Angeles. She practices her art in her spare time while working for The Japanese American National Museum and contributing time as an advisory board member of the Nuvein Foundation for Literature and the Arts. Her works have been shown at Los Angeles’ Market Gallery, The Ashbury, Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Grass Ink and CSULA’s Fine Arts Gallery; at Black Moon Gallery in Pamona; CSU Summer Arts Culmination in Fresno; and at La Puente’s CocoNaDre and RiT Center.
TERRA DAWSON (BA in American Studies, UC Santa Cruz, dawsonillustrations.com) is a scientific freelance illustrator who loves everything in the natural world. She is currently attending CSU Monterey Bay for Science Illustration, where she is honing her skills for marine life illustration. Her work blends detail of reality with whimsical touches of fantasy and surrealism.
JON ALSTON (MA in English: Creative Writing, CSU Sacramento) is an emerging writer and book artist whose first artist book, if upon a chance it happens, was published in January 2011. Shorter selections of his work have been published in Conium Review, Colliope Review, The Metric, Back to Print, and various others, with work forthcoming in The Stray Branch and The Encyclopedia Project. He teaches English Composition at IADT, is the Assistant Editor for Copilot Press, and the Executive Editor of Sacramento’s newest literary journal, From Sac.
This book was published with support from the SACRAMENTO METROPOLITAN ARTS COMMISSION
& contributors to our Kickstarter.com campaign.
