![Transformed Whorl Book Sculpture with "Embrace" [transformed book sculpture with tree limb] in background](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1749607571781-5J4PN7SC55EPBHYWYCP3/image-asset.jpg)
![Do the Trees and Plants Whisper Secrets to you? [Video in Foreground].](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1714612039169-VKDDZ6292YG7QLIUPWMU/image-asset.jpeg)
![Portal. Gold Leaf Application in Gallery Architectural Niche. [Photo by Artist]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1722373223319-EO42LJDAF6ZOSLW7DXZG/portal-gold-leaf.jpg)
![Exhibit View of Field Work on Right, Book on Branch, left [See following detail].](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1716604985651-FZBBW1XYAAIL0WY2RLBE/J.Rush+Lee-exhibition.JPG)
![Book Detail [photo: Brad Goda]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1749626713200-7CEHXNJXBI7C3BCI4QUZ/image-asset.jpeg)
![Questions to a Waterfall [background]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1716675542759-KJLIF300VCSMELAYOVAO/J.Rush+Lee-exhibition-eastwing.jpg)
Altered Books by Jacqueline Rush Lee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_book
“WHORL” SOLO EXHIBITION 2024
Referring to the basic patterns of the human fingerprint, Whorl originated as a site-specific, time-based installation transformed in collaboration with nature. As iconic vessels of culture, knowledge, and classification systems, books were returned to their botanical origins and gradually subsumed by nature.. Originally curated as a site-specific installation at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa by Gaye Chan, the residual remnants of the books culminated in a mixed-media solo exhibition that explores a metamorphosis—a meditation on the life of things-of ephemerality, materiality and ecological cycles that speak to metaphors of loss and rebirth. At the East Hawaii Cultural Center, 2024
Transformed Whorl Book Sculpture with "Embrace" [transformed book sculpture with tree limb] in background
Flesh Made Word
Detail
Detail from "Whorl" a site-specific installation at the Bamboo Breezeway, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Curated by Gaye Chan.
Whorl Solo Exhibition Excerpt. Photos + Curation: Andrzej Kramarz, 2024
Do the Trees and Plants Whisper Secrets to you? [Video in Foreground].
Charred Tree Limb with Lichen, transformed book. [See Detail next image]
Transformed literary text with lichen trails. A Metamorphosis
Whorl Overall Exhibition View from West Wing
Still Image from Video with Sound Element
Whorl Solo Exhibition Excerpt. Moss Code and Portal Installations in background
Portal. Gold Leaf Application in Gallery Architectural Niche. [Photo by Artist]
Documenting the metamorphosis of the books over time, the Accordion Book has Copper Covers with a Living Patina, Photographic Prints on Hahne Muhle Rag Paper, Leather Binding. 14.5” x 23” closed and approximately 19’ extended
Patinated Copper Cover of Accordion Book
14.5 x 23 inches
In the form of a Fibonacci sequence of hybrid, preserved moss, this installation echoes “nature’s code” and the material elements that have interacted with the Book Whorls.
Moss Floor Installation 12' x 12', 2024
In the form of a Fibonacci sequence of hybrid, preserved moss, this installation echoes "nature's code" and the material elements that have interacted with the book "Whorls" in the exhibition
“Jacqueline Rush Lee defies our expectations of what books can be with fecund meditations on nature and permanence. With a deft hand, Lee explores the material possibilities, drawing parallels between the life-cycles of books and those of humans through forms found in nature”
— Curator Beth McLaughlin, Fuller Museum
Trail Marker, Site-Specific Work, VA
This interlacing form is reminiscent of illuminated manuscripts from the Book of Kells
WHORL Site-Specific Installation, NC. 2017