For Chelsea King, solutions to enigmas often hide in plain sight.
A senior majoring in art who is graduating this month, King has crafted a unique artist’s book, “Something More,” with beautiful hand-dyed watercolor papers, and screen-printed book pages where each page contains an image in invisible ink and illuminated only by flashlight in a darkened room.
Each book page presents a predicament, a challenge, a puzzle with seemingly no escape, that is until the light reveals a solution that has been there all along. The clues to solving each predicament lie hidden in plain sight, waiting to be discovered. Even the cover of the book unveils a beautiful, marbled design under the flashlight’s beam.
Southern’s Arts and Special Collections Librarian, Tina Re, describes King’s book as a “deeply imaginative and magical book” created “during the dark and introspective days of the pandemic. Through the synchronous process of turning the (enchantingly illustrated) pages, while illuminating the territory of the page with light — the book very eloquently invites us to discover simultaneously the space of our individual and collective imaginations. It delights us, the reader, with a unique experience of the book. We look forward to including some of Chelsea’s work in our Special Collection of Artists’ Books here in the Library.”
The book is as beautiful as it is ingenious and King plans to create more artist’s books as she enters an MFA program in book art next fall at Mills College in San Francisco, Calif. The two-year program offers students the chance to study with internationally acclaimed book artists.
