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Production Narrative
by B. Nelson
In Jen Bervin's Nets, text is pressed, printed; some hardly and others boldly. Shakespeare sits in the fog while Jen rises to the foreground. I added with a path of lines stitched, stretched, drawn––drawn like butter, like pistols, like well water, like curtains. I found my responses to reading this book, bumped into them or they grew into me, in the places and body that I read it with. I researched what nets were, how they were made, their different uses. I wanted to try and make a net. I used what I had on hand: an inexpensive package of thread and needle. The colors were determined by what came in the package; their order was determined by how I set them up in a row on the arm of the chair. There was no plan other than to follow the path of my eye from word to word with the thread. I could not see where to place the needle each time so I had to hold the paper to the light so it shone through and revealed the word I was trying to stitch around on the other side. I didn't know when I started if the paper strong enough, but it was somewhat sturdier than normal paper and this allowed me to apply a lot of stitching without it tearing. The sound and feel of the paper being punctured by the needle stays with me, a quiet "pop" as the point poked through. I found very quickly that my pierces could not be undone. Once a hole was made it had to be threaded through. Thus the importance of being able to see the shadow of the word in order to know where to place each hole. The ends of threads were tied at the last stitch made. Because the pages are only printed on one side it allows for emerging designs on the opposite side without obliterating any text. It was a unique feel to stitch on paper instead of fabric. There was the rough texture of the thread against the paper as it's being pulled through the hole. There were surprises, miscalculations, tanglements, accidents. Times when the needle slipped and pricked my skin to release a bright red bead of blood. I anchored my father with stitches so he could rest from his aimless floating.
Critical Analysis
by S. Strang
Design Features
typographic:
imagery: Nelson has sewn in vintage photographic prints of her father. These images, the only pictures of Nelson's father in existence, suggest a narrative add an evocative, nostalgic charge to the work.
graphical:
openings:
turnings: Some of the turnings are controlled by stitches that connect texts from page to page. These unexpected constraints activate a sense of tension and alter the reader's handling of the work.
development:
sequence:
textual: Nelson's physical alteration of Bervin's literary alteration of Shakepeare also functions on a textual level, concealing, revealing, and subtly directing the reader from word to word.
structure: The perfect bound structure of the original book has been dramatically altered by the decorative blanket stitch that Nelson describes as "slip stitch". The uncut thread ends change the frontal silhouette of the book, while the thickness of the stitches at the fore-edge gives the book a richly textured wedge-shape from the side view.
conceptual:
intratextual:
scultpural features: The cover of Bervin's original work features a vignetted image of handworked netting; Nelson's sculptural yarn embellishemnt on top of this image echoes the repetitive "cell" structure of the image and creates a physical reference point for the consideration of labor and traditional women's work within the book.
temporal features:
other features:
Alternets
title note: The title is an embellishment of the title on the original work, Nets, by Jen Bervin. [S. Strang]
Agents
Beverly Nelson
type: initiating
role:
artist
dates:
birth: 1953-05-07
note: []
Beverly Nelson
type: initiating
role:
artist
note: []
Jen Bervin
type: other
role:
author
note: The collaborative resonance of Alternets is enhanced by the title page that Nelson has altered to read, "by Jen and Bev". Although not a real-time collaboration, Bervin (also a book artist) was supportive of the alteration. [S. Strang]
Publication Information
edition type: unique
publisher: self published
place: Chicago, IL
dates:
production: 2005-11-00 - 2006-08-00
publication: 2005-00-00
edition size: unique
note: All publication information refers to the production of Alternets [S. Strang]
Measurements
vertical: 16.5 centimeter closed
horizontal: 13 centimeter closed
depth: 3.5 centimeter closed
Production Information
production means:
offset (local)
binding: perfect (AAT) embellished
substrate:
bookBlock: paper
media:
mixed (local)
other materials: Embellishments include extensive thread stitching, sewn photographic prints, and decorative yarn embroidery
Appearance
general description:
format: codex (AAT)
cover: paper, embeliished with thread and yarn
devices:
Content
pagination: paginated
numbered?: unnumbered
signed?: signed
Colophon
NETS was designed and typeset by Anna Moschovakis and Jen Bervin using Caslon for the text and Hoefler Text for the numbers. The covers were letterpressed by Breck Hostetter. the first edition of 750 copies was printed and bound by McNaughton &Gunn.
Exhibition Information
exhibition history:
reception history:
General Comments
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