Erin K. Schmidt

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  • Home
  • books
    • all books
    • birds of a feather >
      • As The Crow Flies
      • Dumped for a Stripper
      • fight or flight
      • Icare
      • sanctuary
      • the birds and the bees
      • the dovecote
      • wrecked
    • body language >
      • anamnesis
      • covfefe
      • hem/o
      • hoax
      • jubblies
      • long blonde hair
      • perforate
      • THE END OF THE WASP SEASON
      • The Unfinished Blanket
      • tiny maps
      • TRIUMPH
      • veiled muse
    • forest through the trees >
      • day/night
      • house in the wood
      • hushed we met
      • little canopies
      • the coyote's gift (in shadows)
      • remember me with affection
    • sheep's clothing >
      • 1954
      • buried in memory
      • I remember how we met
      • winter stayed late
    • troubled water >
      • life is but a dream
      • loon lake
      • not this year
      • tea and water pipe
      • Tea Party
      • Telling Time
      • waves
      • what news
  • about
    • exhibitions
    • collections
    • education
  • contact

the coyote's gift (in shadows)

I discovered these bones in my yard early one fall morning.  They were left behind by a coyote and are all that remains of a white tail deer.  These little discoveries often feel like gifts.  

The visual imagery in this book shifts its focus between these found deer bones and their cast shadows.  Mirror image photographs printed onto cotton poplin are roughly sewn together with deer sinew providing the viewer pause to consider this gift which was left by the coyote.  Text printed onto silk organza is cloaked in shadows of black chiffon.  
The narrative describes repeated encounters with the coyote while also contemplating the unanswerable questions about what these encounters could mean.  A cover made from tea-stained white tail deer hide wraps completely around the pages with a bone bead closure. A Japanese stab binding is done using deer sinew. 

The black chiffon serves as the shadows referenced in the text.  Images can be viewed through the chiffon by laying the chiffon across the page, or the chiffon can be moved out of the way, above or below pages so as not to obscure the view.  This book is meant to be viewed both ways, using the chiffon as shadows, as well as lifting the shadows.

whitetail deer hide, deer sinew, inkjet printed cotton, inkjet printed silk organza, chiffon, bone bead, Japanese stab binding.  4.5" x 12" x 0.5"   2022