The Physical Room (red) is a semi-public room, and therefore fully visible, but less “open” than the Emotional Room.

The Intellectual Room (orange) is a semi-private room, and is expressed as more “closed” than the previous two.

The Emotional/Social Room (green) is the most public, and can essentially  turned “inside out” to reflect this.

FOUR ROOMS OF ONE’S OWN

“Balance” is the underlying theme of this artist's book. The concept was inspired by the Hindu proverb that says we are each a house with four rooms: emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual. Writer Rumer Godden believed that we should visit each room every day, “even if only to keep it aired.” Her words resonate with me, and inspired me to explore how to better balance my time within these four rooms. Four Rooms of One’s Own brings together my thoughts through text, symbols & a structure that alludes to the rooms.

An introduction contemplating the value of each room is found on the inner cover. Four Rooms of One’s Own takes the form of a varied-fold accordion book, with the individual rooms each assuming a different color and unfolding in a unique way that reveals its degree of publicness/intimacy. The pages can be either read like a traditional book or removed from the portfolio-style cover & positioned in a number of shapes—a star, four distinct & equal rooms, a single room—or expanded to fully display the original drawing on the back. Drawn on lightweight Rives, the 40″ wide illustration features objects related to the activities of each “room;” relevant quotes printed onto creamy vellum are interspersed among the items.

Details ~

8 ¼ x 8 ½ x ¾″ (21x21.6x1.9 cm) portfolio-style cover with a removable interior booklet that expands to 40″ wide (101 cm)

The cover is paper marbled by a local (Florentine) artisan & the booklet is composed of various colors of Canson Mi-Teintes & backed with lightweight Rives

Click here to read my blog entry about the making of Four Rooms of One’s Own.

The Spiritual Room (purple) is the most intimate room, and can be fully closed.

Four Rooms appeared at

the Abecedarian Gallery in the exhibition Interior Markings

[2 July through 7 August 2010]

Four Rooms was also chosen by

the Susan Hensel Gallery for the exhibition Longing for Home

[16 March through 26 April 2012]