Crab Quill Press—Artist Books > The Oystercatcher and the Pearl Feather

The Oystercatcher and the Pearl Feather

Ian Boyden

Walla Walla, Washington: Crab Quill Press,2006

produced on commission

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The Oystercater and the Pearl Feather is a unique book.  The book presents an exploration of the pearl both as a pigment for painting and as an evocative material of the imagination.  The sequence of paintings are preceded by a short mythopoetic essay by Ian Boyden that considers the alchemical symbiosis of the oystercatcher, the oyster, and the pearl.  Read the essay here.

The book is housed in a linen and silk drop-spine box.  The cover is a single piece of pomelle sapele with cork inlay.  Text is printed letterpress.  The seven paintings are original and feature pigments that include freshwater pearl, carbon, irgazine, cinquasia and cuttlefish ink.

dimensions: 30 x 11 x 1 inches