KnownUnknown

Description:	KnownUnknown was born out of a decades-long journey to uncover the story of my paternal grandfather. Given up for adoption at the age of nine and vanishing from my fathers life before he ever had a chance to know him, he is known to me only through fragmentary details and a few photos. This work explores the fragmented realities wherein the people around us can be, at the same time, both known and unknown. Pairing glimpses of the grandfather I never knew and glimpses of people known through social media, the work illuminates the dichotomy of knowing intimate details of someone while at the same time knowing little or nothing of substance about them. While the work has clear family history connections for me personally, my hope is that in paralleling the personal with the ubiquity of social media, more universal themes will surface reflection on identity, belonging, and the constant juxtaposition of the known and the unknown. The text of the work includes self-generated questions, information from personal archival documents related to my grandfather and a variety of posts on Facebook and Twitter about relationships with grandfathers. I chose the blizzard book structure housing loose and unnumbered pages to highlight the fragmentary nature of the material and to allow the reader to explore the pieces without a predefined order. The outer structure incorporates acrylic mono printing representative of the color palettes of the iconic social media platforms referenced in the work. The work was influenced by the use of the Artists Book Ideation Cards by Barbara Tetenbaum and Julie Chen--From Vamp & Tramp, Booksellers, LLC website (viewed April 26, 2016).Blizzard book structure with loose pages. Handset at BlackHare Studio in Robinson, Texas, using Cloister Lightface, Univers, & Franklin Gothic types. Printed on No. 4 Vandercook letter press. Images include toner based image transfers--From Vamp & Tramp, Booksellers, LLC website (viewed April 26, 2016).Sha Towers is the Fine Arts Librarian at Baylor University. He first encountered artists books in 2007, promptly fell in love with them, and immediately began building a collection for his institution, which now numbers about 700 works. He has been active in promoting book artists and their work with art students and studios and introducing artists books to disciplines outside the arts--From Abecedarian Gallery website (viewed April 26, 2016).I-ART: Library has 6/8.
Origin:	2015
Created By:	Towers, Sha
Publisher:	Robinson, Texas : BlackHare Studio, 2015.
Source:	http://iuidigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/BookArts/id/1864
Collection:	Herron Library Fine Press and Book Arts Collection
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Copyright:	In Copyright
Subjects:	Towers, Sha.Artists books--Specimens.Grandfathers--In art.Reality in art.Identity (Psychology) in art.Belonging (Social psychology)--In art.Families in art. blizzard book structure acrylic mono printing, image transfer, hand-drawn icons

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