Genie Shenk teaches Book Arts at San Diego Mesa College and at
the Athenaeum in La Jolla, California. She has been making books for
twenty years and documenting her dreams for even longer. Her works are
widely exhibited and are included in many collections including the
University of California, San Diego, and the National Museum of Women
in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
Artist's Statement
"Theater of Memory: Dreamlog
2001" is a handbound book made with dyed kozo paper, collage,
transfer print, linen thread and found objects. It is one in a series
of annual dream documentations, with emphasis on the repetitive nature
of dreaming.
My dreamspace is full of people,
places, and objects from waking life. But in the dream, everything
gets re-scripted into new stories and configurations by some
relentless narrative impulse. I wanted the format to reflect this
quality, showing several dreams on the same page so that relationships
would be apparent. Repetition of collaged or printed imagery parallels
the repetition and shift of elements. Text is minimal, to allow the
viewer to participate in the drama.
