Description
Don’t we all want to be there?
Inspired by a very old book cover, Out of the Hurly-Burly is a wonderfully unruly mix of plaited hand-dyed fabric, vintage buttons, wallpaper and a LOT of fabulous vintage ephemera, much of it found at @adornments_lismore.
The piece is made on a deep-edge stretched canvas, with decoupaged edges, and set into a beautiful oak box frame with a gold-painted interior. Professionally framed by @lismore_art_and_framing.
And there’s a little secret tucked away behind the artwork: a small envelope containing two bookmarks made from remnants of the original book cover.
Behind them is a paragraph from the book:
“Fun is the most conservative element of society, and it ought to be cherished and encouraged by all lawful means. People never plot mischief when they are merry. Laughter is an enemy to malice, a foe to scandal and a friend to every virtue.”
I have to admit, I rather like that sentiment.
But what about destroying a book?
Nope. Absolutely no problem! I have far too many books that belonged to my parents, and I’m pretty sure this one originally belonged to my grandfather, the Rev. Percy Waterhouse. It seemed much better to give a small part of it another life than to let the whole thing disappear into a box somewhere.
Out of the Hurly-Burly; or, Life in an Odd Corner was written by American humourist Charles Heber Clark under the pen name Max Adeler and first published in 1874. The book was illustrated by, among others, A. B. Frost — this was actually the first book he illustrated.
It’s a collection of comic stories and sketches about American life, and apparently it was enormously popular in its day. The original 1874 edition is packed with nearly 400 illustrations.
And now, having rescued bits of it for this piece, I think I probably need to do the obvious thing…Read the rest of the book.
Canvas size: approx 200mm x 200mm
Framed: approx 250mm x 250mm x 55mm
