Book artist Gaylord Shanilec at the Carleton Library

Into the Woods: transforming trees into an artists’ book

Twenty wooded acres surround book artist Gaylord Schanilec’s studio and press, Midnight Paper Sales, in western Wisconsin.  His book Sylvae documents the journey of the artist into the woods to create a work of art and science that is both about and made from the woods: the book covers, paper, print illustrations and cross-sections, and personal, historical, and classificatory descriptions all come from his trees.

Schanilec, foremost master of the art of wood engraving, will discuss the Sylvae project, a book that catalogs 24 species of his local trees through prints, production notes, and wood samples taken during the cutting, milling, engraving and printing processes. The event takes place TODAY (Thursday, May 14) at 4:30 p.m. in Carleton’s Gould Library Athenaeum.

Carleton faculty members Dan Bruggeman (Studio Arts) and Mark McKone (Biology) will begin the discussion by offering their multidisciplinary Carleton perspectives on this extraordinary book that embodies the transformative techniques of art and science.

This presentation is part of an ongoing series, Rare Looks: Visual Treasures from the Special Collections at the Lawrence McKinley Gould Library, sponsored by Carleton’s Visualizing the Liberal Arts initiative and the Library’s Special Collections.