Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva – The Unapologetic Initiative | Without Fault; Sans Defauts

Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College’s 112th Annual Exhibition
Back to Front: Artists’ Books by Women

Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva, Without Fault: Sans Défauts, 2015, artists’ book: paper, clip folder, Mylar, thread, adhesive, case-file format with unbound elements, digital printing, typewritten text, handwriting, stitching. 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 x 1/4 in. Courtesy of the artists.

Without Fault: Sans Défauts began with textiles, tracing paper, and a 1950s French women’s fashion and personal improvement magazine. Among the added material inspiration was a (found) 1979 Italian book for women on how to achieve beauty via plastic surgery on parts of the face and body. In Without Fault, readers glean a “narrative” from the artists’ own case-files and a range of “evidence” regarding the feminine ideal. Stitching is suggested throughout, in reproductions from the Italian book, text about the central role sewing played in the making of a “good woman,” and a plastic surgery stitching “sampler.”

The Unapologetic Initiative, 2021-present, mixed media interactive installation, broadsides: 17 x 11 in. Courtesy of the artists.

The Unapologetic Initiative is an interactive project by two female artists that seeks to raise awareness about gender inequality, challenge societal expectations, and empower women. An ongoing collection of phrases addresses stereotypes and internal conditioning connected to female gender roles, spotlighting the need many women feel to apologize for not meeting pervasive societal expectations. Through a variety of community endeavors, the initiative invites participants and viewers to consider their relationship to this issue. By doing so, participants are contributing to an artist’s book, which will document this project. A variety of project keepsakes will be available during the exhibition.

Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva Collaboration

Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva have been collaborating in the arena of book art, photography and installation since 2013. Their co-created work has been widely exhibited across the US and in Italy. A 2017 travelling exhibit Meeting Places/Luoghi d’incontro, which included public programming and an artists’ residency, went from public libraries in Virginia and San Francisco to SRISA Gallery in Florence, Italy, where in real time in the gallery Silva and Harris conceived, executed and mounted a new body of work based on “objects of nostalgia” donated by local residents, titled Passato Prossimo. In 2020, they participated in the Virginia Center for the Book “Shelf Life” series and were artists of the week in a featured video about their collaborations at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts. In 2021, their book art installation The Interpreted Object was showcased at the New York Center for Book Arts; later in 2021 during a residency at the Virginia Center for the Book, they inaugurated their new, interactive project, The Unapologetic Initiative. https://lyallharris.com/collaborations/

Biography – Lyall Harris

Lyall Harris’ artwork has been exhibited in more than one hundred solo and juried group shows and recognized with over twenty awards, including The George Hitchcock Prize for painting from the National Academy Museum. Her book art is held in over fifty Special Collection libraries, such as those at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Yale and Stanford. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The Minnesota Review, The New Guard, Prose Online, The Dewdrop, The Perch Magazine, The Vincent Brothers Review and elsewhere. Her book-length poem Barrier Island is forthcoming from The Black Spring Press Group. She has given papers and/or artist’s talks at colleges and universities, such as UCSC, UCSB, Art Institute of California and other venues, among these, the San Francisco Public Library, The Grabhorn Institute, APHA, and the Virginia Center for the Book. She has taught in the field of book art at a variety of institutions, including as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia and James Madison University. She holds an MFA in Book Art and Creative Writing from Mills College. Video interview with Lyall Harris – From the Bench: Virtual Studio Tour, San Francisco Center for the Book, July 2023

Biography – Patricia Silva

Patricia Silva was born in Brazil but raised in the United States; she received a BFA in Art History/Studio Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. She worked for 10 years as a graphic designer and art director in the publication industry before her interests led her to pursue further studies overseas. She traveled to Italy to study in Syracuse University’s graduate program in Italian Renaissance Art History and while completing her research in the historical archives of Florence, she became enamored with bookbinding and the art of the book. She began her studies of bookbinding with a local Florentine artisan and returned to the US to complete a MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She interned in the book conservation labs of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and of the Library Company in Philadelphia; she also worked as a book conservation technician at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifact in Philadelphia. Silva lives and works in Florence, Italy, where she runs a private studio specializing in custom bookworks and limited edition artist’s books. Her work is found in private and institutional collections in the US, Europe and South America. For the past 20+ years, she has taught courses in Book Arts, Printmaking and the History of the Book with several universities and institutions. She also organizes and leads private custom-designed workshops for individuals and small groups.