Word Art

COURTESY PHOTO The St. John's Bible, on display at The Naples Museum of Art, has been called "one of the extraordinary undertakings of our time."

TECHNO-GEEKS PROCLAIM the book is dead. Read everything online, they insist. Who needs books? Read them on a Kindle instead.

But a visit to "The St. John's Bible and The Art of the Book" exhibit at the Naples Museum of Art might well convince you that any declarations of the death of books are certainly premature.

Displayed in the Drackett Gallery of the Philharmonic Center for the Arts, the exhibit showcases two volumes — Prophets and Wisdom Literature — from the seven volume St. John's Heritage Bible. Numerous other handmade books and calligraphic art also are part of the exhibit.

The St. John's Bible, which Smithsonian magazine heralded as "one of the extraordinary undertakings of our time," is one of the first completely handwritten and illuminated Bibles to have been commissioned

in the past five centuries. Led by Donald Jackson, Senior Illuminator to Queen Elizabeth II, the Bible is being painstakingly copied and will have 160 illuminations.

Opened, each volume measures 2 feet by 3 feet, and practically glows with color.

Mr. Jackson created a new script specifically for this Bible.

It is a fresh, modern look at an ancient, sacred text.

The original is on display at St. John's Benedictine Abbey and University in Minnesota.

The work is being done in a sciptorium in Monmouth, Wales, on calfskin vellum using turkey, swan and goose quills for the handmade inks. The images are made with hand-ground pigments with gold and silver leaf gild. Only 299 editions of the St. John's Heritage copies have been made.

A generous gift

Naples residents Gene and Mary Frey donated an edition to the Naples Museum of Art through their Frey Family Foundation. (Mr. Frey is on the Phil's executive committee and its board of directors.)

"It's something else. It's mighty interesting to look at," says Phil founder and CEO Myra Janco Daniels about this version of the Bible. People of all walks of life, all ages and faiths come to see it, she adds. "It gave me a whole new look at the spiritual value of the Bible."

The Freys, Mrs. Daniels says, "give with their heart and soul. They care about the community they're in. They make a difference. When we started the museum, they were there. They were major donors. They believe in this museum."

The Naples Museum of Art had a St. John's Bible exhibit last year and it drew some of its highest crowds, she says.

The current exhibit not only highlights the St. John's Bible, but the art of bookmaking as well. Other works by three of the Bible's illuminators — Thomas Ingmire, Suzanne Moore and Diane von Arx — are also included in the display.

"Instead of thinking that the wonderful reproduction of the St. John's Bible is the only thing that these artists do, we wanted to show that they do so much more," says Michel Culver, director and chief curator of the Naples Museum of Art.

Mr. Ingmire's work borders on the abstract. His four panels —"Justice," "Trust," "Freedom" and "Integrity" — are made with Japanese ink on paper stretched over board. The words appear to be fading. The artist's explanation of the work accompanies the piece:

COURTESY PHOTO Top: A close up of The St. John's Bible. Above left: The works displayed. Above: Living at the Epicenter detail. Right: Bleach on Black.

"The works in this series depict the erosion of a few critical words, and hopefully stand as a reminder that we must find a way to speak out when attempts are made to change their basic meaning. Silence in the face of these abuses is unacceptable."

Ms. Moore's banner titled "Living at the Epicenter" occupies a corner in the exhibit room between the two volumes of the Bible.

One wall of the room contains the entire alphabet, plus an ampersand, with each letter created by a different artist, in a different style, by members of the South Florida Calligraphy Guild.

"Each one of those letters has the personality of the person who did them," Mr. Culver says. "That's a great way for it to dawn on people that calligraphy can be done as an art form and have individuality, just as any other art form can."

2003 THE ST. JOHN'S BIBLE, HILL MUSEUM & MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY AT ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY Above, Donald Jackson with Chris Tomlin, Adam and Eve, natural hand-ground ink, gold leaf and lapis lazuli on calfskin vellum.

The art of bookmaking

The wide variety of books in the exhibit is breathtaking. For example, Lynn Zakevich painted letters on the thin metal of a Slinky, naming it "Artifact of an Unknown Society." She also created "Jacaranda," a book on tamarind leaf paper with a jacaranda wood base. It looks as if a book is coming out of a piece of driftwood.

Ruth Pettis created a book out of nine ceramic squares tied together in a line with ribbon. It contains the text of "A Birthday," a poem by Christine Rossetti.

She also created 200 Chinese stamps to make a book of "Five Wang Wei Poems." The Chinese characters, in red ink, are on the left side of the book, with the English translation on the right pages. The stamps are on display along with the book.

 

Right, Donald Jackson with Chris Tomlin, Creation, natural hand-ground ink, gold leaf and lapis lazuli on calfskin vellum.

Gerry Pearson Nichols created a book using a wine cork as a cover. The cork is sliced in half; one half is the front cover, one half is the back, with pages accordioned between the two. It' s held shut with twine.

Wendy Wisher made what looks like two life-sized handprints. But if you look closer, you realize that the black ink that creates her hands' whorls is actually tiny words. There's a magnifying glass next to the work for patrons to use, but even looking through its powerful lens, it's difficult to read the words that make up Wisher's hands.

"The time that the artists put into these works!" says Mr. Culver. "These things took them months and months and months."

Mr. Culver describes himself as "one of those people who love to hold a book in their hand. I love hardcovers." As a boy, he watched "Star Trek" faithfully and remembers an episode in which Dr. Spock gave Capt. Kirk a book as a gift. "It was a big deal, because in the series, they weren't using books anymore. It was a rare thing. Now we're getting to the point where that sort of is happening."

He hopes the exhibit at the Phil changes some minds about that.

"After this exhibit, we can't look at books the way we looked at them before," he adds. "These books are works of art… They make you not want to let books become extinct.

"A museum does that. A museum should be a place where images make you think in a different way."

.. if you go

>> The St. John's Bible and The Art of the Book >> When: on exhibit through June 30 >> Where: The Naples Museum of Art, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples, in the Drackett Gallery in The Philharmonic Center for the Arts >> Cost: $8 for adults, $4 for students >> Information: 597-1900