The Rhinoceros Project

The Rhinoceros Project will have some of our artist books and ephemera in the upcoming exhibition Finding Common Ground, Sowing the Seeds of Community and Collaboration at the San Francisco Center for the Book.

The exhibition runs from November 5, 2021 - January 16, 2022. There will be several events in conjunction with the exhibition - stay tuned!

Images: Onward, artist book by the Rhinoceros Project.

Materials: Enclosure - muslin naturally hand dyed with anatto, upholstery fabric sample, hand dyed thread with cochineal.

Cover, Volume 1 - handmade abaca paper painted with handmade inks of cochineal, anatto, indigo, quebracho, curly dock, pomegranate, cutch, and turmeric.

Cover, Volume 2 - Woodblock print on handmade abaca paper Interior - Neemah Environmental Almond paper

Through researching Durer and his Rhinoceros, we learned that he printed a woodcut map of Tenochtitlan (pre-hispanic Mexico City) that was published in a 1524 edition of Hernan Cortes’ letters to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, celebrating his conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Nuremberg, where Durer resided, was a center for printing, cartography, weaponry, and finance during this time of Empire building. Nuremberg investors financed a great deal of Spanish colonial exploration of the New World. Spanish firsthand accounts of the New World were published in Nuremberg and disseminated throughout Europe.

The map is a European interpretation, based on Cortes’ accounts, of an American indigenous cosmology. The image itself is oriented with south at the top, the left hand side of the map represents, at a very different scale than that of the city, the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern United States, including Florida. On the right is the city of Tenochtitlan, under the Hapsburg flag, surrounded by Lake Texcoco, with the raised causeways that linked the island city to the mainland. At the center of the city is the temple precinct, and at its center are the twin temples that were dedicated to the deities Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli, gods of water and war, respectively.

Like the rhinoceros, Durer never saw Tenochtitlan. And, like the rhinoceros, the Aztec city and the lake that surrounded it, were displaced by colonialism. This map of Tenochtitlan is now the foundation for another monumental, collective embroidery and eventual work in paper.

In 2018, we were invited to the TEXTIM III conference hosted by the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, in Oaxaca, Mexico, to launch this new embroidery.

In 2019, We held our first US sewing circles on the map in conjunction with our exhibition at the Mendocino Art Center.

After the exhibition came down, we were taking a break to assess the whirlwind of the past few years, and our future plans for Rhinoceros Paper Pours and Map Sewing Circles, when all came to a stand still with Covid.

Like for many of you, we’re sure, 2020 was a year of quarantine and social distancing. During that time, we began to embrace ideas of slowing down, intentionality, and the importance of stillness. 

This past summer, though, as things seemed to be opening up, we were invited by LAB-8 to bring the Map project to Abruzzo, Italy, as part of a new artist residency program:  Riabitare con l’Arte.

We stayed in the Comune di Barisciano, in Abruzzo, and held sewing circles there, as well as in Fontecchio, Panfilo di Ocre, Acciano, and PIcenze.

Like the Rhinoceros, the map will become a document and a story, evidence of the many hands that contributed stitches, and now also a material record of the places to which we travel.

While we are still grappling with exactly where to go and what to do to move this project forward in its best form, what is very clear to us is the importance of using these historical images that speak to intersecting histories as jumping off points for conversations from many different contexts and perspectives.

Over the course of gathering, sewing, research and writing, we’ve honed in on some key ideas that we want to continue to investigate moving forward:

1. From a contemplative perspective: That perhaps change can come from stillness as well as from action. That stillness is substantially different from stagnancy, and that creating a still, meditative, communal listening space is a powerful age-old tool that we want to continue to engage. That creating this space around a communal material project, can aid in reconnecting us to our bodies and our material realities - our environments and the land beyond.

2. From a political/social action perspective: That in order to best engage social and environmental issues of today, we must dig deep into our personal and collective histories – going back to the beginnings of globalization - to tease out our common origins, interstices and divergences, and altogether how we arrived here at the present moment. That our primary goal might be to find commonalities, community, connection and healings in this time of insistent polarization.

After years of research, fundraising, and traveling sewing circles to sixteen different sites, we finally staged the event we’d been leading up to: pouring the watermark. In our previous post, we mentioned that we’d used plastic window blinds to serve as the underlying su - which prevented air circulation and hindered the drying of the paper. For this round, we corrected that with the use of bamboo. Above, the mould assembled and ready at Shotwell Paper Mill.

During our test pour, we realized that we had drastically overestimated the amount of pulp needed for a sheet of this size, and that it needed to be beaten finer. Fortunately, we hadn’t used all of that pulp during our test pour, so it was returned to Michelle’s Hollander and beaten longer. 

Most of the day was spent in preparation of the pulp; the actual pour taking less than a minute. 

The fiber we prepared was a mix of abaca and cotton rag (cotton donated by Magnolia Editions).

Above, taking it all in - we did it. It worked. It didn’t seem real.

We are so grateful to the many donors who contributed to our crowdfunding campaign - we never could have been able to pour the watermark without you! Part of the funding was used to document the day in a forthcoming video shot by Javier Briones. A short, time-lapse video of assembling the mould can be seen here on our Facebook page, and another of the day of the pour can be seen here.

Later that evening, our community was invited to come see the wet, poured sheet in situ, and then join us at the San Francisco Center for the Book for a celebration. Since the project launched at the Center in 2016, it was nice to come full circle there for the finale. 

The previous day we’d spent cooking up a storm, creating an edible journey for our guests at the Center that reflected the colonial travel of the original Rhinoceros depicted by Albrecht Durer in 1515.

Beginning in Gujarat and Portuguese Goa... 

Making way along the coasts of Africa, with spicy chiles and nuts, stopping on the isle of St. Helena for citrus to ward off scurvy. 

on to Lisbon with pastel de nata and a selection of meats and cheeses.

As a throwback to our days at Ramon’s Tailor, Frank came by and made waffles as part of the celebration, loosely corresponding  to the Rhinoceros’ brief stop on the way to Rome at an isle off the coast of Marseilles on January 24, 1516 so that King Francis of France might have a look at her. 

Thank you to all our friends who joined us for the evening!

Special thanks to Dominic and Gretchen for food set up and tending bar!

And an additional thanks to Patricia Wakida of Wasabi Press for womaning the Vandercook for our giveaway print for the evening.

After a few days had passed, the paper was dry, and ready to be gently peeled away from the embroidery.

The deckle was broken down, and then the dried sheet was revealed.

With great care, the paper and embroidery were flipped over, and the embroidery was slowly peeled away from the paper. There was no damage to the stitches and the threads did not bleed into the paper.

And then it was real.

This paper was much thinner and finer than our trial run, and it still has proven very difficult to photograph. 

The Rhinoceros Project team are currently Artists-in-Residence at the Larry Spring Museum for Common Sense Physics in Fort Bragg. We’re using the residency as a retreat in which we are catching up and planning ahead.

Our original 2020 plans included launching a new website and offering sewing circles on our new monumental embroidery in New York, Philadelphia, and throughout California. With the impact of SARS-Covid-19, we were, like everyone, forced to change our plans. In the stillness of the quarantine, we’ve been appreciating the time to reflect.

A little over a year ago we staged the test pour of the enormous Rhinoceros watermark at Pacific Textile Arts. Above is the pouring mould built for us by Anderson’s Alternatives, made from locally-harvested Douglas Fir, being milled below.

Like it sounds, a pouring mould is designed for paper pulp to literally be poured into its frame, retaining the pulp whilst the water drains out. Both of us had poured large sheets before, however never with the amount of precision that was needed to capture an embroidered watermark.

At the same time, we needed the mould to be modular, something we could assemble and disassemble for storage. With the help of Anderson’s Alternatives, we arrived at a hybrid design combining elements of eastern and western traditional papermaking moulds. 

Friends and family were a source of amazing help during the day. Below, Anne’s nephew, Abe Vollman assists in attaching the bottom braces of the mould. 

The framework was then turned over, leveled, and a layer of two by four crossbeams stretching lengthwise are placed across the bottom braces. A final layer of mitered 2 x 3′s are hammered into place with spacers in between, below. 

After the support is assembled, a window blind is laid over the frame to act as a “su” - to support the embroidery evenly. This later turned out to be problematic, as the plastic did not permit air movement and hindered the drying of the paper. For our “real” pour later, we substituted bamboo.

The embroidery was laid over the the “su.”

A deckle frame was laid on top, and the embroidery was stretched taut.

In preparation for pouring this sheet, we had watched and studied videos with other papermakers who make big sheets, including Hong Hong and the Awagami Paper Mill. From Awagami’s video, we watched how the papermakers poured directionally and in a rhythm that caused the waves of paper pulp to bounce off of one another and settle evenly.

After spending two years sewing the watermark, the moment was finally here. With a mounting sense of anxiety, we gathered the buckets of pulp around the mould, and with the help of our friend Teddy Milder, poured our first giant sheet of paper. Two years of sewing, and an additional year of preparation, all boiled down to about ten seconds.

In a pouring mould of this size, the paper dries in situ, rather than being couched onto another surface. Due to the plastic underneath, we had some difficulties getting the paper to dry. It also became apparent that we needed to pour much less pulp, and that the pulp needed to be beaten finer. 

We had to do a substantial amount of sponge, sham wow, and broom pressing from above to extract as much water as we could before having to move it indoors three days after the pour. 

As a result of having to move it indoors before it was completely dry, the paper dried without substantial restraint, and so cockled into the above sculptural form resembling rhinoceros skin, which nearly stands on its own due to the excessive amount of poured pulp. For a first trial, though, we deemed it a success! 

Sewing Circle Participants

Thank you to everyone who participated in sewing the rhinoceros! We could never have finished it without you. You are forever in our hearts.

Deanna Cruise                   back

Juliana Pennington            shoulder

Yue Yang Caigla Zou          back

Yuen (Jessica) Chen           back

Kelly White                         shoulder

Athena Johns                     leg

Antoinette Barton               head

Erica Lipshultz                   rump

Marc Fletcher                    back left foot

Siobhan Cassidy               front right leg

Elisa Li                               head

Harry Yu                             head

Beth Thomas                     snout

Erica Barajas                     forehead

Vivian Romney                  shoulder

Zoe Walker                       head

Amy Khalmann                 rear flank

Alina Hayes                      feet

Janice Wood                    rear flank

Barb Bakun                      head

Andi Wong                       rear flank

Sarah Stein                      back, thigh

Chloe Marrinstein            head, foot, outline, da booty

Sadie Marrinstein            thigh

Amanda H. Johnson       head, foot, outline 

Kaila Wood                     head, foot, outline

Leah Johnson                 head, foot, outline

Ani Mukerji                      back leg

Inka Mukerji                    back leg

Winnie Ding                    rear flank

Jennifer White                back feet

August White                 back feet

Neve Schmitt                 head

Michelle Schmitt            head

Sigrid                             foot

Leah Anderson              foot

Mary Kenny                   rump

Isle Oritt                         rump

Olga                              back leg

Dustin                           rhinobum!

Linnea Furlog                head

Pam Deluco                  rear leg, haunch, elbow, letters

Jeff Thomas                  back

Bryan Barkley               rear

Mary Wheeler               back top flank

Teri Gardiner                tail hair, rump, belly, ridge of back

Robin Hill                     rump

Darcy Padilla                stomach

Emily Clark-Krasner     rear

Yuen Chen                   leg

Jodi Connelly                back

Noah Greene                belly

Ryan Meyer                  belly and back

Arielle Rebek                belly

Muzi LaRowe                eyes

T. Blackmon                  bottom

Bettina Pauley               tail

Allyson Feeney              rump

Mark Baugh-Sasaki      back foot

Dox Lorax                     haunch

Kelli Rae                        rump

Cesar Rubio                  unknown

Ho Yan Nip                   unknown

Frank Merritt                all over, circles, edges, hindquarters, shoulder, rump, dark purple bottom edge of shoulder armor, behind the ear

Kim Miskowicz            rump, right foot, rear/rump

Julia Langer                buttocks

Jonathan Coignard     buttocks

Suzanne Gore             haunch

Kelly Wang                  from hip to buttock

Steve Rasmussen       rear leg

Bob Rocco                  rump

Odysseus Wolken       upper rump

Juliette Langley           lower rump

Fehim Haelzic              crown/forehead

Leyla Haelzic               crown/forehead

Tanja Gels                   head

Lisa Ekstrom               from right leg, forehead

Eva Walker                  front leg

Sara Wright                 eye

Karrie Hovey               shoulder

M. Dym                       a wrinkle on the head

Amy M. Ho                  front foot, forehead

Dave Lyons                 just below eye

Mel Day                       forehead

Heather Peters            ear

Helen Hiebert              butt

Alyssa Casey              neck, horn

Vanessa Gingold         rump

Mary V. Marsh             front right toe, ear

Antonio Guerra            letra C

Jenny Phillips               hands

Ingrid Rojas Contreras hoof

Maia Wachtel                 lines on the back

Roli Douglas                  the top line

Noga Wizansky              rump

Suzanne Forester          border line

Cindy Steiler                 face

Alexa Boromo               behind

Amber Hoy                   back

Melody Dalton              back

Cheyenne Dalton          rear feet

Elizabeth Boyne            ear

Teddy Midler                front foot

Drew Cameron            face

Cathy DeForest            front left hoof

Leah Korican                face

Mayumi Hamanaka       r - text   

Dana Zed                      shoulder

Erin Sheanin                  knee

Alisha Funkhouser        front foot

Debbie Walker              unknown

Nancy Marriner            tail

Summer Om                face

Eraden Wordal Chesh  face

Isle Oritt                       knee

Mary Grace Tate          toe

Sophia Auen                face

April Marriner               tail

Charlotte Semmes       snout

Andre Chevonier          foot

Jane Cassidy               foot

Kellen Rhoda               foot

Meiasha Gray              border

Samantha Bankston    back foot

Winship Varnes            hindquarters

Miranda McFarland      belly

Susan Paigen               nose

Kevin Holmes               ear

Jackie Wallowheng       plants

Beta Heist Morello        edge

Elaine Todd                   nose and edge near nose

Lori Chambers              back foot

Mickie McCormic          foot scales

Jeremy Logan                ear hair

Brook Craddock            mythical horn!

Morning Hullinger          toe jam back foot, shoulder flank, final inner

C.C. Chaya                    scales

Lolli Jacobsen                back

Sarah Crews                  rump

Connie Burket                ears

Debbie Divine                rear leg

Martha Rhea                  hindquarters

Donna Sandberg            along the top of the back shoulder and letter H

Pam Morgan                  back

Ruth Cathcard Rake      front leg and letter R

Gretchen Boyum           front leg, front foot

Rachel Butler                 front leg

Lucy Butler                    front leg

Bill North                       butt, ground, back right foot

Caroline Stoll                 head

April Engstrom              back right leg/hip

Connie Wilson              close to face

Gloria Gonzalez            hind foot

Judy Nease                  chin

Alleigh Weems             horn

Lyndsi Weems             back foot

Karla Prickett               rump

Jennifer Baker             back

Kent Manske               spots

Susan Tuoley              back foot and butt

Susan Paigen             nose

Christina Steinbrecher       pfrandt (lower leg)

Yeqi Song                    legs

Yuan Luo                     legs

Jenny Chin (Kuan-Jen)    legs

Jingying Liang             back leg

Jianguyin Reng           back leg

Beth Abdallah             back flank

Rebecca Redman       back leg

Michael Seidel            kidney lining

Rita Hsing                   head

Sandy Lee                  back

Chelsea Herman        back

Marie Kidd                 right front foot

David Kidd                 right front foot

Amy Whitcomb          rump

Bob Carpenter           nose

Barbara Carpenter     nose

Cynthia Beecher        ear

Leteb Beecher           ear

Susan Sweet             ear

CK Itamura                hamhock

Dionne Thornton       front left foot, butt edge

Robert Wuilfe            da booty

Gina Ching                front foot

Jordan Juel               front foot

Anne Ingraham         front foot

Michelle Waters        butt

Elizabeth Addison     foot

Lydia Nakashima Dagarod        shoulder

Linda Joy Kettwinkel                 snout

Peggy George          butt

Maryly Snow            scales

Zelisa                       back end

Scott Partch            back end

Chin Cox                 head

Hada Marshall Booth            head

Eduardo Arenas       leg

Luna Gomez            head

Sauita Patel             gog (back)

Brian Lease             back leg

Islonia Hasbrim       frente

Guadalupe Portillo             espalda

Queen Krubally       back

Bridget McCraken             back

Margaret Coston     back

Kathleen Murphy     belly

Julie Grigoryan        ear

Joyce Subel            border

Yatit Maidorh          head

Omer                      head

Alon                        head

Rooek                     head

Eli                           head

Posja Mahushwai            neckline

Talia                        nose

Ella                          ear

Jonathan                nose

Nancy Brunn          back

Sabina Brunn         ears

Judith Fast            back

Lindsey Stoll          hoof

Emily Marks           head

Victor Vargas          chin

Britt-Marie Alon      horn

Al Bloch                  horn

Alyssa Flores          horn

John Hoffmeyer     border

Madison Cockrum             head

Anthony Murillo      border

Sheri Simons          front legs

Emily Matherson     face

Hana Jones             hoof (back foot)

Angela Kirchebel     bottom left corner border,

                                 small area of right foot, scales

Adele Etcheverry Sheets        upper border rear and rear of Rhino

Leslie Jurado            back leg, hoof scales

Jaime Muñoz            shoulder

Aiden Ginn                back leg

Sheecid Lopez          border and back leg

Sophy Hock              shoulder

Nancy Scott Patton            rump

Hana Beaty                  shoulder, back leg

Eric D’Alessandro        lower jaw

Betsy Copeland          leg and hoof

Kylie McCloskey         horn

Dellanira Carrillo          butt

Jose Llamos                hoof (back foot)

Timothy Clancy           forehead

Kobley Benjamin Mona        shoulder

Alicia Ramirez              foot

Kim Green                    upper thigh/butt

Francesca Figone        left back

Josette Stokes             shoulder

Mercedes Yatta            foot

Luis Medina                 booty

Shane Geoge               face (under eye)

Ellen Baird                    foot

Daria Booth                  shoulder

Adria Davis                   backside

Johnny Bruno               back foot

Brianna Warren             leg

Adrienne Glatz              forehead

Mallory Frucha              bum

Kelly Weber                  front and back legs

Carissa Duggan            booty

Jasmin Gonzalez          foot

Francis Newsom           rear end

Shari Maxson Hopper        shoulder

Veronica Brenck            butt

Marie Fox                     rump, front foot, back foot

Chloe Taylor                 root

Marissa Winslow         rump/tail

Shai Porath                 head

Linda Bea Miller          tummy

Tom Seoul                  rump

Kathleen Ritchie         unknown

Sue Bottom                front leg

Lisa Chu                     forehead

Anne Ingraham           hind foot

Chris Voisard              rump

Jane McLaughlin        front foot

Malinda Thompson    rear leg

Mallory Nomura Saul        tusk and back

Judy Shintani             tummy and rump

Kevin Austin               top of nose, bottom of horn

Claudia Molley           top of head, behind ear

Kate Oltmann             butt

Amanda Bosma         wrinkle on face

Xittaly Vasquez           back leg

Emily Murray               torso wrinkle

Julia Albo                    border

Miriam Hassman         neck/face

Ryan Patton                back left leg

Alexa Weber                chin and left front leg

Jiovanny Soto             forehead

Jenny Harp                 lower back

Steven Garen              nose/head

Tallulah Terryl              leg

Johanna Arnold          back

Sean Olson                 muzzle

Emma Spertus            back

Chris Challans            loin, belly

Susan Kanowith-Klein        rump

Christina Aumann       eyelashes and forehead

Ruth Souza                 misc dorsal area

Phuong Pham             booty

Laurie Crogan             shoulder-scales

Lorna Turner               armpit

Eva Hausam               chin wavy lines

David Reiman             shoulder

Lanqin Wang              forehead

Camryn Travis            belly

Jennifer Munnings     eye/cheek

Brooke Sommers       belly

Katie Gallagher          ribs

Sariah Gonzalez        forehead

Anthony Isenhour      shoulder

Berenika Boberska    the bottom!

Taylor Hoogsteden    hip

Carmina Ellison         sideburns

Nicole McHale           shoulder blade

Preeva Tramiel           back leg

Jessica Bernhardt     front leg

Milldrid Thompson    ear

Sharon Robinson       front leg

Timiza Wagner           back leg

Bobbie Jeffery            rear of body

Joanne Landers          ear

Sylvia Stanger            front leg

Paula Landers            back leg

Charlotte Jacobs        front leg

Mavis Brown               front shoulder

Cheryl Batrato            haunch

Kathy Goldmaker        shoulder

Liz Matthews              back leg above the foot

Sailee Pawar               back leg

Andrea Fleiner            belly

Marina Taniform         leg

Andres Taniform         leg

Rose Nguyen             ribs

Marco Chavez           ribs

Lily May Larson         cheek

Rachel Williamson    back leg

Cheryl Zuur               above the eye

Kathy Willis               hindquarters

Martha White            hindquarter

Artemis Koren          head

Anika Sykora            tummy

Irene Floyd                hindquarter

Ming Zhou                head

Max Koren                front leg

Dinah Irino                 ear

Maya                          leg

Morgan Carter            head

Ava Kasim                   the hinney

Isabella Anderson       back

Ian Kussi-Gillu            shoulder

Viyada Satyapan         upper front back

Mahvash Salehpour    back hip

Christina Bayley          back foot

Pam Schwartz             left leg

Lynn Koolish                back leg

Sandra Duncan            front hoof

Emily Rosenberg           right leg

Gina Dixon                    back leg

Tamara Sommerfield     neck

Diana R. Reton              rear leg

Candace Kling               shoulder

Cindy Jacomette            head

Nicki Hitz Edison            front leg

Toru Sueto                     front left leg

Jeanne Sueto                under eye, along lower jaw

Linda Goss                    rear hip

Kim Meuli Brown           back ribs

Michael Chin                 chin

Kasla Melton                 right back leg (pierna derecha)

Vanessa Herrera            right back thing

Wendy Brown                back leg

Jack Fleig                      front leg

Amanda Fleig                front leg

Shobitha                       belly

Sasha                           back

Marilyn                         rear haunch

Caden Jo Hartdegen            head/neck

Yolanda Araujo            unknown

Meredith Payn            unknown

Tiffany Hartdeger        unknown

Richard                       cheek

Hanna Peacock          shoulder

Juan Manuel Gutierrez        rear hip

Paola Valencia             head

Jesus Castillo              head

Diego Barregan            shoulder

Hernandez Irvin            belly

Cindy Simmons            cheek

Ginna Sierra                  upper leg 

Carole Walters-Cook     face

Angela Etsey                 back leg and thigh

Victor Navarro IV           V neck

Elizabeth Finkler           ear

Jennifer Lu                   lower tummy

Kylee Dougherty          neck

Jada Wong                  stomach

Kerwin Azores             back knee

Hugo Jimenez             head

Becca Wong                neck

Breanna Estrada          unknown

Candaces Perrault       shoulder

Kevin Liu                      belly and front of leg plates

Michael Huang Mil      back leg

Natalie Diazza             chin hairs

Eliza Villa                     dorsal neck

Steve Dellicalpini        in that neck tho!

Michelle van Eyken     right flank

Leslie McLaughlin       shoulder circles

Angela Acosta            front leg

Allison Acosta            front shoulder circle

Rebecca Bui              upper back leg

Barbara Post              back foot

Irene Caravajal           back leg

Gabrielle Koizumi       neck

Clayton Bavor            front leg

Ava Eui                      front leg

Judy Diamond           upper shoulder

Mhanna Kutras           front leg

Liam                           neck

Leona                         neck

Leana Olliffe                stomach

Patti Samuelson          right leg

A. Manley                     neck plates

Donna King                  right shoulder

Becky Leech                right hindquarters

Raymond Mueller         front left leg

Timmy                           shoulder

Asher Fleig                    front leg

Julia                               back leg

Nicole B                        chest

L. Hum                          hind leg

Alice Schwegman        shoulder

Gail Blackmarr             unknown

Christina Truong          neck

June Dao                     scale

Ellie Reese                   a rear leg

Susan L. Goranson     left rear leg

Marci Ariagno             breast shield

Maya                           unknown

Diane Mestu               head

Claudia Havah            back leg

Mickey Guffin              right upper hind leg

Annalise Sailen            unknown

Jennifer Schaeffer       front right leg

Mia                              rear leg

Joe Ranish                  right shoulder

Ann Ranish                 rear leg

Anthony                      left leg

Leslie Nobler               neck

Anne Trickey                back leg

Maris Kaplan               neck fold and front shoulder

Paula Bohan                neck fold

James Brooks              neck

Amanda Briggs            back right foot

Andrew Briggs             back right foot

Miriam Briggs              back right foot

Willow Yamaden          cheek

Sarah Bartman            neck

Bridget McMahon       flank

Amy Brown                jowl

Vanessa Dion Fletcher        jowl

Denera Gains             unknown

Justin Gains               unknown

Kurt Salinas                stomach/inner thigh

Randall Harrison         upper mid bicep

Ivy Moya                      back foot

Pam Lonero                 breast plate

Molly Olsen Roush      shoulder/neck area

Brook Olsen Roush     shoulder/neck area

Susie Miller Roush      shoulder/neck area

Reyhon Ertekin            unknown

Torres Leck                  shoulder

Anna Banancks           shoulder

Emily van Engel           front leg

Silvia Eckert                cheek

Davis Watson              breastplate

Debachree Ghosh       breastplate

Jessica Jane Jennings       cheek

Kimberly Ann Piper      shoulder

Alisa Murray                cheek

Jennifer Hill                 breastplate

Susan Ady                   cheek

Chris Washburn          neck

Janet Ady                    flank

Louise Horkey             border

Nupur Kamat              front shoulder

Tamela Holmes            ear

Tameyah Holmes         cheek

Ruth Tabancay            upper leg

Teddy Midler                shoulder

Jerry Majors Patterson        cheek area

Susan Afell                  eye area

Elaine Todd                 neck

Senator Jordan           cheek

Meadow                     unknown

Lori Chambers            neck

Josephine Tumova      neck

Fynn Tuma                   chest

Diana Dominguez        chest

Jason Godeke             neck

Cristina Mathews        belly and front right leg

Jody Alexander           neck, chest

Elaine Todd                 belly circles

Raquel Marquez          belly

Josslyn Robles            chest

Rhea Rynearson          shoulder

Valerie Frey                  shoulder

Aidan Parker                shoulder, right shoulder

A. Parker                      right shoulder

Seraphine Ries            belly

Lid. C.                          belly

Jamelie                        whiskers

Carolyn Schneider       upper shoulder

Josh Morsell                lower front shoulder

After two years of work and traveling to sixteen different locations, the embroidery for the Rhinoceros Project is complete! We are now moving in to the final phase of the project - pouring the giant watermark in handmade paper. This will take place on August 9, 2019, at the San Francisco Center for the Book, in a celebratory event. We hope you will join us! In order to complete this final endeavor, we need your help! With fiscal sponsorship from Fractured Atlas, we've launched a crowdfunding campaign. This means that all donations, less the value of rewards, are tax deductible! We hope you will take a look at the page, watch the video (you might see some familiar faces there!) and consider donating.

The final pieces - both embroidery and watermark - will be exhibited together for the first time at the Mendocino Art Center later this fall during our exhibition, How is Your Rhinoceros Inspiring You?

With only a small amount of stitches to complete, we returned to Pacific Textile Arts for a final round of small, and very close, sewing circles.

The girl that inspired it all!

The final stitches, after nearly two years of travel and sewing....

From January through March of 2018, we were Artists-in-Residence at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. During our time there, we offered sewing circles, workshops, and exhibited work.

Irene Caravajal sewed with us! 

Some visitors were more playful than others.

Some of our installation, “The Voyage of Ganda,” made from handmade paper, pulp prints, and papercutting.

As the residency progressed, our circles became closer and closer.

Below, the Rhinoceros as of March 2018.

Our first sewing circle of 2018 was at the Museum of Jurassic Technology. We were joined with many friends from Los Angeles, serenaded by David Wilson, and experienced the wonder and community around that space. 

Images from our last sewing circle of 2017, at Oakland’s Real Time and Space. We offered both a sewing circle and a Spice Trade Potluck! Above is Amy Ho’s deliicoooooouuuus curry soup.

Due to a verrrry busy spring, we are completely behind on blog posts! Last November we were invited by Jenny Harp to be Visiting Artists at Sonoma State University. While we were there, we gave a lecture, held our first Spice Trade Potluck, offered another iteration of the Rhinoceros Reading Room, and held a sewing circle and a papermaking happening. All within two days!

We began with a lecture to students about the development of the project and how our ideas were evolving as we delved further into the constellation of ideas surrounding The Rhinoceros Project – colonialism, imperialism, habitat decimation, wonder, reconnecting with our bodies and the land, and the whole of the complexities of our time. 

That evening, we hosted our first Spice Trade potluck. Durer’s Rhinoceros travelled to Lisbon via the newly discovered seafaring passage to and from India: down the west coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, back up the eastern coast, and across the Indian Ocean. In 1497, Vasco da Gama set out in search of this route in order to cut out the middlemen in the Mediterranean who had exclusive control on the spice trade. Operating on orders from the same Portuguese king who received our Rhinoceros in 1515, da Gama found a direct path to the city of Calicut, also known as The City of Spices, giving Portugal a firm hold on the spice trade as well as a site for colonization and growing empire.

Above, roasting spices for our curry dish.

Below, a sneak peak at our Rhinoceros Reading Room installed at SSU - stayed tuned for an upcoming post! 

We spent the next day in the printshop of the Sonoma State University Art Department. 

The day consisted of a sewing circle and papermaking in the printshop. Participants were invited to make sheets of paper from pre-made watermarks - see below. 

This watermark incorporates a pattern from Indian textiles. We will also be offering this watermark for sale on our “Support the Project” page soon!

It was a very chilly day for vats of pulp and wet hands! 

Our friend CK Itamura came by the make paper and sew! 

Sonoma, as well as Napa, Lake, and Mendocino Counties had recently been devastated by the 2017 North Bay fires. The struggles of the community were a part of the conversations around the sewing circle that day. 

Below, art student Gio shares some amusing anecdotes while contributing stitches to the project.

As the day ended, we left wet papers drying on the windows of the printshop. 

Below, the rhinoceros embroidery as of December 1, 2017.

While we were in Chico, in addition to our sewing circles at the Turner Museum, we also offered a Watermark workshop to students and Chico community members.

Above, Michelle discusses hydrogen bonding to the crowd of workshop participants.

Above, workshop participants cut their watermark stencils out of vinyl. Since we didn’t have enough molds for everyone in the class to attach their watermark to, we used nylon window screening that was laid over the molds while pulling they pulled their sheets. This also enabled participants to carry their watermarks home easily.

We prepared yellow and blue rag pulp for the class, and had two vats of each color going, as well as a rinse vat for whenever anyone wanted to change colors.

Below, some watermarks from the workshop:

But our favorite watermark from the class had to be this one:

A whirlwind winter and spring have left us with a great deal of blogging to catch up on! Last October, we were thrilled to offer a sewing circle and watermark workshop (more on that in the next post) at the Janet Turner Print Museum in Chico!

Janet Turner was an artist and a professor at California State University, Chico, from 1959-1981, where she taught printmaking. As an artist-instructor, she said, “I bought as many styles and techniques as possible, regardless of the reputation of the artist, because, in teaching printmaking, every new technique is interesting, and different ideas and different styles should interest different students, rather than trying to teach one method and rather than trying to teach my viewpoint.“ (source).

Turner was one of several women who preserved printmaking as an art form in academia during the twentieth century. In addition to her studio practice and teaching, she built a significant and noteworthy collection of prints, now housed in the museum that bares her name.

Yet to us, her interest in botany and studying nature through her art practice are what we find most compelling. During a time when the art world was fixated on abstract expressionism, she was creating accurate and compelling depictions of the natural world. According to curator Catharine Sullivan, she saw herself as some sort of archaic throwback, however, we see her as a woman ahead of her time.

With this in mind, it seemed apt to bring rhinoceros watermark, based on the work of Albrecht Durer, another printmaker who strived to accurately depict nature, to the Turner. Yet, as has been stated before, Durer’s image, derived from a description and a sketch, has a few inaccuracies. So it was fitting that one of the first classes to visit us was a seminar that was examining “truthiness.”

Later that afternoon, a drawing class joined us. Some of the students chose to sew while others sketched.

One of the student drawings of the sewing circle:

Participants that day included Chico community members, university staff, faculty and students, and even Turner museum curator Catharine Sullivan, pictured below:

Our progress as of October 23, 2018:

March 3 – April 15, 2018

Anne Beck, Barbara Boissevain, Ginger Burrell, Judith Selby Lang, Richard Lang, Kent Manske, Michelle Wilson, Nanette Wylde

WORKS/San José, art and performance center 365 South Market Street San José, California workssanjose.org

Gallery hours: Fridays 12 – 6 pm, Saturdays and Sundays 12 – 4 pm Opening Night: First Friday, March 2, 7 – 10 pm

South First Fridays Art Walk: Friday, March 2, 7 – 10 pm April 6, 7 – 10 pm Eclectic evenings of Arts & Culture in downtown San José’s SoFA district. www.southfirstfridays.com

Exhibition Programming

Sunday March 11, 2pm Informal Artist Talk with Kent Manske Conversation with Kent Manske around his installation Cell Garden. Points of departure will include biology, interconnectedness, life cycles, health, healing and epistemology. The artist will briefly talk about his experimental approach using screen printing to produce one-of-a-kind prints that evolve, mutate and synthesize from blank states to living, thriving organisms.

Saturday, April 7, 2pm Informal Artist Talk with Ginger Burrell “Subversive Comfort: Artists’ Books as a Tool for Raising Social Consciousness” Artist Ginger Burrell will discuss the use of the book format by artists to explore political and social concerns. What is it about artists’ books that provide a unique opportunity and approachability not usually found in other artistic media? How can the selection of content, materials, images, scale and design engage a viewer and communicate an artist’s message? Explore examples of artists’ books that attempt to raise social consciousness, including three works by the artist included in the Echo Echo exhibition.

Sunday April 8, 4:30pm Panel: “Big Dirty Secrets: Three Photographers Engaging in Environmental Advocacy in the San Francisco Bay” Photographers Judith Selby Lang, Richard Lang and Barbara Boissevain will discuss their ongoing photography projects that address environmental issues in the San Francisco Bay Area. The panelists will share how the devices they use in their work aim to provoke discourse on local issues and encourage environmental stewardship. They will also discuss the relationship between contemporary photography and environmental and social advocacy, including the “Apocalyptic Sublime.” Managed and moderated by Barbara Boissevain.

Saturday, April 14, 4:30 – 6:30pm “Constellations in Paper,” Bookmaking workshop with Anne Beck and Michelle Wilson In this workshop, learn the basic of embroidery on paper. Bring a design of your own or use one provided to sew a design onto a sheet of decorative paper. Embroidery on paper can be a little different that the traditional form on fabric, but still can create a wondrous and exquisite design. At the end of this workshop, this embroidered paper can stand alone, or participants will have the option of turning it into a cover for a handmade book! No embroidery or bookbinding experience necessary, all materials provided.

In addition, Anne and Michelle are Artists in Residence at the San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum through March 24, working on the Rhinoceros Project. Visit www.sjquiltmuseum.org/artist-residency/ to learn how to participate in sewing circles and paper-making happenings.

Exhibition Statement

We live in a time of heightened ecological awareness and denial. Climate change, environmental degradation, species extinction, bio-engineering, and genetic modifications are just a few of the issues in which actions, decisions and consequences are engaging our social and political conversations.

Ecology also refers to a sort of housekeeping--the manner and nature with which environments are cared for. Technology and the increased scale of our actions has resulted in ecological effects which transcend physical borders, often causing individual entities to lose control of the care and quality of their physical existence; and providing others opportunities for both care taking and/or exploitation.

Our understanding of ecological issues is tied to the wonder and magnificence of science; the scope and reach of which has permeated our existence. Science continues to discover, uncover and invent phenomena beyond common comprehension, often inserting these into our personal lives without our knowledge, consent, or well-being as priorities.The scientific paradigm provides many positive outcomes yet these often include harmful and sometimes unacknowledged negative effects. Monoculture, medical interventions, genetically modified foods, robotics, and pharmaceuticals are obvious examples. These concerns encircle our planet, and with each minute movement, create waves of concern and delight--echos which reverberate in the lives, if not the minds, of earth's inhabitants.

Eco Echo: Unnatural Selection presents an array of artists who respond to aspects of our ecological environment in unexpected and diverse ways. Each artist is grappling with some ecological concern, creating echos which are celebratory, poignant, beautiful, complex, and provide opportunity for audience examination and reflection.