Five Luminous Towers: A Book to be Read in the Dark

Close up of Five Luminous Towers: A Book to be Read in the Dark

Bound in a dark blue fabric-covered binding, the book opens to display five pop-up towers illuminated from within by a tiny bulb. The featured page includes a white country church with a steeple, set into pages featuring musical scores presented in manuscript style.
Bound in a dark blue fabric-covered binding, the book opens to display five pop-up towers illuminated from within by a tiny bulb. The featured page includes a white country church with a steeple, set into pages featuring musical scores presented in manuscript style.
Carol June Barton, Five Luminous Towers: A Book to be Read in the Dark, 2001; Artist’s book with offset print, bulb, wire, board, and Japanese book cloth, (open) 9 x 15 1/4 x 11 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum purchase: United States Department of Education Fund; © Carol June Barton Popular Kinetics Press, Glen Echo, Maryland; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

Carol Barton’s residency at the Bogliasco villa in Genoa, Italy, was the inspiration for Five Luminous Towers. The artist visited many towers during her stay and looked at architectural elements that distinguish the various functions towers have served throughout history.

The book opens to display five pop-up towers, each illuminated by a tiny bulb, inviting viewers to a nocturnal reading of Barton’s poems. The reader is drawn into the life of a city, where the bells of the church tower toll to invite the flock for evening vespers and where a lookout tower serves poets and painters to draw visions from the vast profusion of stars.

Artwork Details

  • Artist

    Carol June Barton

  • Title

    Five Luminous Towers: A Book to be Read in the Dark

  • Date

    2001

  • Medium

    Artist’s book with offset print, Board, Bulb, Japanese book cloth, Wire

  • Dimensions

    11 1/2 x 14 in.

  • Donor Credit

    Gift of the United States Department of Education

  • Photo Credit

    © Carol June Barton Popular Kinetics Press, Glen Echo, Maryland; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

  • On Display

    No

The Artist, Carol June Barton

Carol Barton teaches book art classes all over the U.S., she has curated many exhibitions of book arts, and she is the author of a series of interactive workbook.
A light-skinned adult woman grins at the viewer, displaying a gap-toothed smile. She has chin-length gray hair and is working on a pop-up book depicting a tall white tower emerging from a white piece of paper on a cutting mat. Behind her are labeled bins of book art materials.