Gallery
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The 108 Raven Chronicles was completed in 2013 for the Sketchbook Project. The notebook was disassembled and reassembled as a continuous page book, using additional Japanese chanting book papers.
On these were painted 108 ravens and the poem, I Raven. It now resides in the Brooklyn Art Library, home to the Sketchbook Project. Its code is #S100168, Project SBP2013. It has traveled 21,251 miles and visited 36 cities before coming to rest here.
Handmade Books
These handmade books augment the repetitive patterns of the 108 series. Lead sheet covers enclose the pages, one a continuous folded mylar paper and the other beeswax infused Himalayan papers. On each page is a drawing of the Buddhist bead form, maniratna, and together they form the 108 count mala.
My numerous work/sketch books chronical my conceptual thought, study and art practice over 50 years. I am able to return to writings, ideas and visuals that feed my forward movement. There are also travel journals, with collage, pen, watercolor, textiles and objects that document my travels to African, Europe and Asia.
Catherine Eaton Skinner 2016
I, Raven
sit high
in the grayness
of the pine
the sighs of the wind
and waters
softly intersect
the canyon
The moon
rests gently
on the eastern hill
and I hear
as if a part of me
the life of the dark
The dogs
speak of the days news
until interrupted by
the coyotes
urgency of a days meal
unfound
The bear
still lies deep
high above
and the lion
waits upon the stone
for passing prey
The night
subsides into morn
I breathe
the whole of it
between
the hills
Catherine Eaton Skinner
March 2006