Illustrations

1.

Front cover

Although Lodge is a career survey, the exhibition paid particular attention to the artist’s installation work. The title refers to a communal space where stories can be shared. Watt’s work is especially interested in storytelling—both formal (as in the Native legends that shaped her youth) and informal (gossip swapped over a common workspace)—and in how story shapes and defines us, even in small, everyday ways.

Watt’s multimedia installation Engine (2009) anchored the exhibition—and is in fact a freestanding lodge-like space—so it made sense to open the book with it. We abstracted the image, however, into cool grays to keep it from giving away too much too soon. We wanted the book to be framed sensually, but with a sense of remove.

2.

Half-title

The book is sewn and limp-bound in wraps, with extended flaps to give a little more heft to the cover. We used the flaps to present information that would have otherwise chewed up interior pages: here, a brief overview and biography.

The artist’s work is colorful, if a bit muted (she works largely with secondhand wool blankets, and derives her color choices in other media from these as well). We devised a system of tinted grays to move the reader in and out of the work: here, the middle gray of the cover transitions to a darker, cooler gray, and then into the full-color half title, featuring a detail from a woodcut that bears the same title as the book.

3.

Section divider

The first divider, showing a tighter exterior detail of Engine. This is the book’s thematic introduction. Derived from the custodial language of grays noted above, these are places where the author (or artist, in quotation) discusses the work in the abstract, examining its conceptual underpinnings without referring to any one piece, and also supplying a tonal break for the reader. For a slim volume, Lodge packs in a lot of work, and these pages are crucial to maintaining a humane pace.

4.

Full title

The humped roof of Engine, shown in natural color, as we move into the meat of the book. Here, we’ve reprised the display type from the cover to underscore the transition. Note caption at left (and, for that matter, on previous pages). Although different parts of the book have different ceremonial duties, it remains a catalog, and every page does a catalog’s work.

5.

Précis

Pages explaining Watt’s approach to art-making, with a portrait showing her at work. Throughout the book, only her work is shown in natural color. Pages and images given over to documentary or custodial duties are rendered in monochrome, to provide separation.

6.

Frontispiece series

Engine, a freestanding cave rendered in felt, was the centerpiece of the exhibition, and receives the lion’s share of the attention in the book’s early pages; various views of its exterior are presented in sequence. Here, the full exterior . . .

7.

Frontispiece series, continued

. . . and a view looking out from its entry . . .

8.

Frontispiece series, continued

. . . and so inside. The full-bleed approach of the previous page has now been replaced by museum borders, to reinforce the change in perspective.

9.

Chapter opening

Chapter opening, showing a large artwork reproduction with a smaller contextual illustration. The essay, by curator Rebecca J. Dobkins, quotes extensively from Watt’s writing, and is presented in two colors: gray for the essay’s voice, and black for the artist’s. This allowed us to avoid excessive indenting and/or italicizing and preserved the back-and-forth feel of an interview. This early page included the artist’s name as the source; once this relationship was introduced, the labeling was dropped.

10.

Essay pages

We were not precious about showing the art. The picture window should be enough to draw the eye, and the work does not need to be presented in vitrine; in fact, there is value in setting it alongside documentary and supplemental images. Similarly, we took great care in pacing the book so the illustrations occur at roughly the same time they’re being discussed in the text. This is difficult, but crucial to the book as a curatorial experience. The reader shouldn’t have to flip back and forth between text and plates. And if there is something that strikes her about an illustration, she shouldn’t have to hunt for the part of the essay that discusses it.

11.

Small multiples

Watt’s samplers—or small studies—are an integral part of her process, though they were not represented in the exhibition. We felt that they were important, however, and set up a spread showing eighteen of them in sequence with an extended caption. The warm gray background was used elsewhere in the book to draw together groups of similar work.

12.

Essay with crossover

Pages showing a crossover treatment. Using a sewn binding—which is more flexible and opens flatter than a glued one—means the designer need not fear the crossover as much; we were still careful to make sure the gutter fell gracefully.

13.

Image spread

Typical two-page image treatment with museum borders. Normally, we’re great fans of the bleed—engaging the edge of the page can be useful for moving the eye where you want it, and full-bleed spreads can be powerful if you have a simple image. Watt’s work has a lot going on, however, and the borders, narrow as they are, give the eye a point of contrast and rest.

14.

Section divider

Another section divider—and one we particularly liked—here introducing the artist’s most current work.

15.

Text & context

Pages showing the resin iteration of Watt’s sculpture Cradle (2011) with examples of earlier work that led to it. The work in Lodge is presented in loose chronology, but by using the essay as our cue, we were able to bounce around a bit, showing work from different periods on one page, so long as it served the text.

16.

Custodial pages

The back of the book is also illustrated. No part of a book is unimportant. If it’s important enough to set in type, then it’s important enough to read. If it’s important enough to read, you have to give someone reason to find it, and take care that the experience is as pleasant as the rest of the book.

Colophon

112pp. + cover
7½ × 10⅜ in., ed. 2,000
Printed in six colors (4c + 2 match) on coated matte paper
Sewn and bound in wraps
Composed in Lexicon No. 2 and National

Essay
Rebecca J. Dobkins
Photography
Peter Jennings
Bill Bachuber
Aaron Johanson
Tom Nutt
Printing
Print Vision
Consiglieres
Patrik Bolecek
Peter Jennings