Description

The Distance Between is a three-dimensional artist book made of grey and white cast paper displayed on a painted custom-made wooden shelf. In its closed state a cup form protrudes out of the the rectangular-shaped book. On the cup on is written in raised pasta letters cast into the paper,”THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO HALVES”. When opened, we see that the book is an empty mold for a cup. Along the top of the mold is the text “A MEASURE TO CUP” and at its base is the text “WITH BOTH HANDS”, both are written in pasta letters. A photo-lithograph image of the Mona Lisa’s hands is integrated into the inside of one of the molds . Parts of the inside of the mold are coloured with black acrylic paint.


Statement

“Karen Trask’s cast paper pieces, The Distance Between Two Halves and The Poetry Cup, resemble children’s mugs, with comments about poetry as a ‘holding cup’ and a ‘stirring cup’ spelled out in alphabet soup letters that spiral down their interior surfaces. Through these pieces, with their childhood associations, Trask captures the idea that language is both a reliquary and a crucible for the earliest memories of individuals and cultures”.

Mary K McIntyre, The Art of the Book ’93

Paper holds an inherent memory. This memory, in its accumulation of layers, allows a cradling of treasures and monstrosities. Memory, both collective and personal, being one of my thematic preoccupations, combines perfectly with my way of handling paper. In these paper works, surface and volume are built up in a multitude of paper pulp layers through the use of molds. In this way, paper is like a metaphor for my work with its dense structures of memory.

Karen Trask, 1990



Exhibition History

Quand le livre devient œuvre d’art le livre d’artiste: tendances actuelles
group
1996
La maison Hamel-Bruneau, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada
Curator(s)
Sylvie Alix
The Anthropomorphic Book: Annual Members Exhibition
group
July 2 – September 10, 1994
The Center for Book Arts, New York, New York, USA
Curator(s)
Brian Hannon
Other Artist(s)
Nicala Aiello, Sarah Barnum, Meg Belichick, Douglas Brin, Crystal Cawley, Antonella Celada, Carolyn Chadwick, Deborah Phillips ChodoffTed Clau, sen, Ed Colker, Laura Davidson, Tennessee Rice Dixon, Melissa Ehrenreich, Laura Ferguson, Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord, Gina Genis, Amy Goldin, Joan Iversen Goswell, William Harroff, Gloria Helfgott, Mary Hood, Sandra Jackman, Rochelle Rubinstein Kaplan, Karen Kunc, John Laudenslager, Birgitta Lund, Su Lund, Jim Machacek, Louise McCagg, Ruth McGurk, Emily McVarish, David Moyer, Denise Mullen, Susan Newmark, Beverly Nichols, Sarah Peter, Jo Anna Poehlmann, Lois Polansky, Sonya Rapoport, Susan Rotolo, Mary Ann Sampson, Diane Samuels, Rhea Sanders, Claire Jeanine Satin, Miriam Schaer, Carol Schwartzott, Joyce Cutler Shaw, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Edyth Skinner, Pamela Spitzmueller, Mina Takahashi, Larry Thomas, Mary Ting, Boris Torres, Karen Trask, Dana Velan, Victoria Von Koeppen, Faith Dorian Wright.
The Art of the Book
group
March 10 – May 10, 1993
Description

A juried exhibition of the works of members, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild.

Exhibition Schedule/Le Calendrier d’Exposition
March 10 – May 30, 1993 The Craft Gallery
July 1 – August 15 Manitoba Archives Foyer
September 15 – November 12 Killam Library, Dalhousie University
December 9 – February 25, 1994 Canadian Craft Museum
April 28 – September 12 National Library of Canada
November 17 – December 31 Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts
January 21 – February 26, 1995 Stewart Hall Art Gallery


Publications

The Art of the Book ’93 (print version)
Alan Horne & Mary K. McIntyre (1993). Mary K McIntyre, New Visions an preciation of the Art of the Book ’93

A juried exhibition of members work of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild. The exhibition traveled to numerous locations in Canada, from March 1993 to February 1995. The exhibition included two of Trask’s artist books: The Distance Between Two Halves and The Poetry Cup.