Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

INDU Banner/ INDU: Commensalists and Hand me downs

Posted by Tom Virgin

INDU Banner               mesh banner                   60 ft x 16 ft                      2007-2008

In 2007 during the frenzy leading up to Art Basel/Miami Beach, Chris Ingalls of Ingalls & Associates offered me a wall. Delighted, I asked “where”? She pointed at the 60 ft x 16 ft wall on the west side of her gallery space. I was sorting and processing the images that were to become the book, INDU: Commensalists and Hand Me Downs, and welcomed the opportunity to create something that would use the space. As is often the case, my projects take a significant amount of time to complete, and evolve as I work on them. This banner preceded the small installation I created for Oregon College of Art and Craft’s 2008 Artist in Residence Exhibition following my residency there in summer 2007.

The echo of  the environment surrounding  Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (INDU), was evident in the not quite gentrified atmosphere of Wynwood. During installation I saw the inhabitants of Wynwood without the art loving crowds in place. It was a significantly different place. As different as the urban corridor in Northern Indiana between Gary, Indiana and Michigan City, Michigan was from the National Park located just North of I-94. Different struggles with similar attributes made this odd billboard fit right in.

INDU: Commensalists and Hand-me-downs, an artist’s book

Posted by Tom Virgin

INDU: Commensalists and Hand me Downs
artist’s book    closed 15” x 12” x 7” / open 46” x 46” x 6”    2010
This book passes along the experience of discovering an urban National Park, exploring it, capturing it in images, and introducing it to others. The book box is made of maple and red oak indigenous to the park, attached with leather hinges. It opens through several layers to a shallow irregularly shaped box that is 46” x 46” x 6” deep. First up is an 850 word essay, then a layer of four woodcut prints (two inside of doors with images of the park exterior). The next layer contains two etchings and a second essay of 950 words. Hidden under photographs of the dunes and surrounding woods is the last layer, a drawing of one of the Park’s closest neighbors.
Papers used in its production are Rives De Lin, Thai Unryu, Kensho Sekishu Natural, and Vellum. The fonts are Kelmscott Roman NF, and IM FELL English PRO. This book includes four relief prints, photographs, two etchings, transfers, inset Lake Michigan stone and cut steel. It was printed with an Epson 4800 Printer, a Brand Etching Press, and a Vandercook 4 Proof Press. This book is an edition of 5 with two artist’s proofs. Text and artwork by the artist.