Whorl
Altered Books by Jacqueline Rush Lee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_book

WHORL
“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](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1749607571781-5J4PN7SC55EPBHYWYCP3/image-asset.jpg)
Transformed Whorl Book Sculpture with "Embrace" [transformed book sculpture with tree limb] in background
Flesh Made Word

Detail

Book Shard

Detail from "Whorl" a site-specific installation at the Bamboo Breezeway, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Curated by Gaye Chan.

Whorl. In Private Collection, TX


Whorl Solo Exhibition Excerpt. Photos + Curation: Andrzej Kramarz, 2024
![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)
Do the Trees and Plants Whisper Secrets to you? [Video in Foreground].
Embrace
Charred Tree Limb with Lichen, transformed book. [See Detail next image]

Embrace Detail. From "Whorl" 2024
Transformed literary text with lichen trails. A Metamorphosis

Whorl Overall Exhibition View from West Wing

Do the Trees and Plants Whisper Secrets to You?
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]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1722373223319-EO42LJDAF6ZOSLW7DXZG/portal-gold-leaf.jpg)
Portal. Gold Leaf Application in Gallery Architectural Niche. [Photo by Artist]

Field Work. Hand-Made Accordion Book 2024
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
Exhibit View of Field Work on Right, Book on Branch, left [See following detail].
![Book Detail [photo: Brad Goda]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1749626713200-7CEHXNJXBI7C3BCI4QUZ/image-asset.jpeg)
Book Detail [photo: Brad Goda]

One of "Fieldwork's" Copper Covers
Patinated Copper Cover of Accordion Book
14.5 x 23 inches
Moss Code. 12' x 12' Preserved Moss Mosaic 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.

Moss Code
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

Book Shard
![Questions to a Waterfall [background]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e67e75a9db099bec977524/1716675542759-KJLIF300VCSMELAYOVAO/J.Rush+Lee-exhibition-eastwing.jpg)
Questions to a Waterfall [background]

A Whorl Transitioning in my garden
“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

Cove Forest Trail Marker, GA

Trail Marker Detail 2017
This interlacing form is reminiscent of illuminated manuscripts from the Book of Kells

WHORL Site-Specific Installation, NC. 2017