Hello, my name is Gail Watson and my art practice includes clay, pastel, and the book arts.
I began making letterpress artists’ books in 1987 and have found it to be an intimate way to share my world, my concerns and inspirations.
The two books before you are quite different - one written by me based on actual events, and the other a collection of poems by poets both living and dead, both famous and emerging.
There is a thread between the two as both are thematically tied to the high country forest that has been my home for the past 23 years.
Under the Gun is a flutter book in an etched industrial metal box. It is the result of my time as a county commissioner working with the US Forest Service around the problems of sport shooting in our heavily used Colorado forests.
The tragic death of a grandfather killed by a stray bullet while picnicking with his daughter and grandchildren prompted this book.
The Language of Trees is the round book inspired by the bole of a pine tree and the pages are “bound” by a spindle with a magnet attaching the wooden disc.
It is a collection of poems by poets who express, better than I can, the richness of living among the trees.
The poets include:
Mary Oliver
William Carlos Williams
Dorianne Laux
Robert Frost
Hermann Hesse, and two Colorado poets: Christine Weber and Oak Chezar
