Mardy Sears – Mysticeti

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

Mardy Sears, Mysticeti, 2019, triangular maze accordion binding with covers wrapped in book cloth, hand printed wood block print with watercolor on Arches cover paper; contains folded up large format print, 10 ¼ X 10 ¼ in triangle, Courtesy of Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Cynthia Sears Collection

Mardy Sears’ Mysticeti is a steamroller-printed woodcut of an endangered whale that folds up to a book-size triangle.

Smooth cool water,

I glide, hold my breath,

Call to the others.

I am the whale. I am old and I remember what the world was like before, when our kind had dominion under the sea. I also see and hear how my world has changed. The sea is not a place of peace, it is filled with dangers that threaten the existence of my kind.

https://mardysears.com/artist-books/mysticeti

BIOGRAPHY

Mardy Sears is an artist and conservation technician with a specialty in paper. She began her career at the Art Institute of Chicago as an intern in the Ryerson and Burnham Library book conservation lab in 2005. After graduating with a master of fine arts from the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College in 2006, she began working as a technician in the paper conservation lab in the Department of Prints and Drawings. In her current position in the Department of Conservation and Science she prepares works on paper for exhibition and storage, including matting, framing, and constructing storage boxes. Her artistic practice and her work at the museum meet in her love of artist books, printmaking, and box making.