Sally has created an assemblage of three artist books as her contribution to ROOTS, a dialogue in textile and poetry. An Artist Book is, quite simply, a work of art in book form. Many hours of printing, cutting and stitching went into the creation of Testament 1, 2 and 3. Sally’s attention to detail and focus on her final vision ensured that as many printed pages were discarded on the studio floor as made it into the final artworks.

These works on paper are in response to two of Jane Clarke’s poems, Family Bible and Flight which deal with sectarianism and displacement in Ireland:

Shove over the bolt, douse the lamps,
lie down on the kitchen floor,
her quiet father shouted
when he saw five men march
through the farmyard to the door...
They don't want to harm us,
only to warn us ...
                                                                           Flight, Jane Clarke

This was the story of many families in Northern Ireland forced, by people they knew, to flee to the South taking with them the essentials of mattresses and cooking utensils and, of course, the family bible. Creating her own book forms to emphasis how the bible was at the heart of these families’ journeys through the ups and downs of life, was an important aspect in Sally’s creative response to the poems.

Sally had a good reason for choosing these two poems for inspiration as she is the safe keeper of a bible, dating from 1794, which has stayed within her family despite religious divides, family schisms and the passage of some 230 years. Having something so precious and personal as a touchstone in the creation of these artworks must have been a blessing. That religion can provide much solace and comfort and yet also be the site of dissent and strife is the premise on which the poems are based. As we see the wars around the world and listen to the stories of those who are displaced, it is apparent that religion still plays a part in setting people against each other, in generating a fear of ‘the other’.

The imagery used by Sally reflects the daily depictions of family life interspersed with spiritual imagery showing the solace of religion and prayer. A range of printing techniques were used including mono printing, embossing, transfer print and screen printing.

“Stitch, and the variety of threads used throughout the pages, are a metaphor for the importance of family cohesion and community connections – the threading together of memories and events“. Sally

The colour palette chosen were subdued, neutral shades emphasising the reflective nature of the poems, the memories and events of the past. Coptic stitch was used to bind the books, an ancient method of binding that gives great flexibility to the shape of the book, allowing pages to be displayed effectively and giving a dynamic form to the exhibit.

Thank you to Sally for sharing her techniques and the thinking behind these works. Thanks also to Jane Clarke for her collaboration, her publisher, Bloodaxe Books, for allowing us to use her poetry, Kildare County Council Arts Office for grant funding and the OPW for saying yes to our proposal.

To see Sally’s work visit The Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle, Monday to Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm (closed for lunch 1.15 – 1.45 pm).