sue clancy – artist

I made an artist book “As The Crow Flies” for my exhibit at the Caplan Art Designs Gallery– opening Oct 3 – my book was inspired when I realized that with 8 independent bookstores and 12 public library branches in the town where I live that wherever I go in town I’m within about 2 miles, as the crow flies, from a source for books!!

This 14 page handmade artist book was created using pen and ink on accordion style folded handmade paper. It is 3.5 by 2.5 by .75 inches when closed. When opened it can stretch to 36 inches long.

Here are some Gallery photos of it.

Here’s a video look-through.

To give you a sense of scale here are some photos of it on one of my bookshelves.

I avidly follow my local bookstores and of course the public library on social media. During banned books week one of the larger independently owned bookstores posted about a fundraiser to fight against censorship. Powell’s bookstore wrote

“During Banned Books Week, September 22–28, 2024, we’re donating 20% of sales from our Banned Books list to American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) to help fund ongoing lawsuits against unconstitutional book ban laws that attack booksellers, readers, and their allies. 

With a record 4,240 books banned last year in the United States, we have not only set a new national record, by a wide margin, but we have surpassed Russia, a notoriously effective enemy of free speech, and we’re narrowing the gap with China. 

To us, the effort to ban a book is a symptom of, among other things, fear — not of the book but of the ideas within it. Yet, each of us generally has the confidence in our own judgment to know that a book filled with ideas we discount or despise will not magically cause us to embrace these ideas and reject our values. The crucial step is to grant that same confidence to everyone in our community — not to assume they will arrive at the same conclusions and keep the same values as you, but that they have the right to reach their own conclusions and keep their own values.”

https://www.powells.com/banned-books

So of course my wife and I took the time to support them! You can see the books we came home with in the photo below!

I hope you’re reading something really good!