Kat Howard

Brooklyn, New York

Donkeyskin

felt, Rives printmaking paper, needle, Akua ink, linen thread, vellum, super

4½ x 3¼ x ¾

© 2013

edtion size: 5

$ 375

This book was inspired in part by the Artist’s Book Ideation Cards by Barbara Tetenbaum and Julie Chen. It imagines what the voiceless female protagonist of Donkeyskin would do, if she had a chance to write her own narrative and take back the page, as a survivor of incest. The book interrogates the relationship between speech, silence and power. The heroine struggles to make herself known by altering the book physically: with nearly invisible embossed text, the meticulously stitched redaction of the fairy tale, and the print of a female mouth breaking free of sutures. The original text for Donkeyskin was written by Charles Perrault, inkjet printed in Centaur and machine sewn on Rives printmaking paper. The hand-embossed text is the creation of the artist. The binding is based on a historic limp vellum binding. The print was handprinted using Akua inks and a pin press, then hand-stitched with an embroidery needle. The slipcase is made of felt made to look like pressed animal hair.

Ideation Cards:

technique: mixed media

layout: minimal or restrained

paper: neutral

text: process of erasure

image: traced, redrawn; lifted from outside sources

color: monochromatic

structure: historic structure

adjectives: optimistic; sentimental or nostalgic, allegorical, miniature

wild card: incorporate self-reflexivity or evidence of process into your project.

Kat Howard is a book artist and poet, currently living in Brooklyn, New York. She received a B.A. in Creative Writing from Brandeis University in 2006 and an M.F.A. in Book Art & Creative Writing from Mills College in 2013. She founded Book Meat Press & Bindery in 2009. Howard’s work addresses how the female body has been viewed throughout history with a raw approach to narrative and an emphasis on structure. Evidence of the hand and physical marks of the body are integral to her practice.