SARAH POHLMAN WINS 2007 ARTIST’S BOOK AWARD FROM NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS’ LIBRARY FELLOWS
“I think we have to wake up to the fact that everything is connected to everything else.”—Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh
WASHINGTON—The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) recently named Sarah Pohlman the 2007 Library Fellows Award Winner for her limited-edition book Everything and Everyone: In the End We All Are One.
Everything and Everyone: In the End We All Are One was supported by the NMWA Library Fellows, whose objective is to encourage and promote book arts. Established in 1989, the award program provides up to $12,000 for the creation of one artist’s book each year.
Inspired by the vast California landscape during a travel scholarship, Pohlman captured snippets of the rugged, varied landscape in her sketchbook. Many of these sketches—laced with a fantastic cloak of whimsy and drama—evolved, reappearing in a series of prints, large-scale collages, and eventually a book, all focusing on the interconnectedness of all things, particularly human beings. What does it mean to be human? Pohlman had begun investigating this question on a purely biological level but eventually became more involved with the metamorphic journeys we travel through life. She created five collages based on universal commonalities everyone can relate to: physicality (biological presence of body, mind, and spirit); question of purpose (why
are we here? what is our purpose?); struggle (continuing to move forward in life despite the difficulties); and love (feelings of deep connection or affection).
The time in which Pohlman was creating these pieces and contemplating these ideas was one of tumultuous change and intense emotion. The book form enabled her to present these feelings and her collages in a cohesive manner with a narrative. The main character of the story is a vague figure that traverses the book on his or her own journey. Represented in metamorphic stages by a series of varying circles throughout the book’s landscape, the figure is constantly changing, starting off as an embryo and taking shape as it moves through its journey. These surreal landscapes—fantastical figments of the human imagination—are universal in their bizarre improbability.
Pohlman worked with Mary Tasillo to create the paper for the cover and spine of the book. Each cover sheet was screen-printed with green lines and hand-colored with watercolor. Harry Eaby at Piccari Press helped guide the binding, paper weight, ink quality, and page adhesives. Graphic designer Anne Marie Mullin scanned the images from her original book, inserting the text and designing the introduction, dedication, and colophon pages. The press team created digital matrixes and printed the book on an offset lithography press, adding fluorescent pigment to create bright and vivid images.
Pohlman is a graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She lives and works in Philadelphia.
Everything and Everyone: In the End We All Are One, in an edition of 125 copies, was created for and supported by the Library Fellows of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It is available for $300 from the National Museum of Women in the Arts Museum Shop, or by mail by calling 877-226-5294. Women artists who wish to present a proposal for the 2008 Library Fellows Award should send a request for guidelines along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the NMWA Library and Research Center, 1250 New York Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 20005. Guidelines and past winners of the award may be found on the museum’s website at www.nmwa.org/library/program.asp. Proposal submission deadline is January 31 annually.
Image on front page:
Sarah Pohlman Everything and Everyone: In the End We All Are One, 2007
offset lithograph on handmade paper
9 ¼ x 7 ¼ in.
($300)
Photo courtesy of the artist
NMWA at 20
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), founded in 1981 and opened in April 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. The museum contains works by more than 900 artists in its permanent collection, maintains a Library and Research Center, and conducts multidisciplinary programs for diverse audiences. In the past 20 years since its’ opening the museum has presented more than 200 exhibitions, expanded its permanent collection to include over 3,600 pieces, and has a membership ranking it in the top ten museums nationally with more than 30,000 members. In celebration of the museum’s 20th anniversary three ground-breaking exhibits will be presented: The Book as Art: Twenty Years of Artists ’ Books from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque, and WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, 1965-1980. The museum will also inaugurate CLARA: Database of Women Artists, a Web-accessible, authoritative resource for students, scholars, and the general public. NMWA is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., in a landmark building near the White House. It is open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday, noon–5 p.m. For information, call 202-783-5000 or visit the museum’s Web site at www.nmwa.org.
