Arcadia/Utopia, 2016-22, 17’wx 23”H, lasercut cover, monoprints, letterpress type, clamshell box. -In this book symbols and mediums are interwoven to create a story representative of the historical dance between the environment and technology. I was looking for turning points: Eden to Utopia, digital to analog, the big bang, and the atomic bomb. The scrolls tell the story of a journey through time and landscape, Eden and Utopia as dueling visions.

Illuminated Books (solar-powered)

Solar-charged EL panels and vacuum-formed books.

These books are prototypes for a public art project in collaboration with Sue Ann Gatings.

The books are placed on either side of the river, “in conversation” with each other. Viewers will have to cross the bridge. The text used in the prototypes is quotations on illumination. One side of the book is written in English, while the companion page is in French.

A light-dependent resistor activates the lights as the sun sets. 22” Wx 36” Lx 3” D, 2013

Whispers from the Earth, (NP):2019.

The Artist’s book is one of 20 copies, all on professional matte paper, each signed and numbered by the author/artist, Tara Law. Page size: 4x5_1/4 inches; 12pp; including end sheets. Bound by the author/artist, Tara Law: leporello style with a tan cloth over boards as covers, the front cover printed with the title WHISPERS. The images accompanying the text are duotones printed on an Epson 3000 printer. The poem, about a Maine farmer’s life, is enhanced by the images_ whether a panorama of a horse in a field, a close-up of a dandelion seed head, or spring lambs. The type for this book was printed on a letterpress during a residency at Maine Media Workshops.

Dreaming in Color is printed on Rives BFK paper. The book utilizes multiple printing techniques: the end pages are monoprints, and the images of the sleeping boy are etchings. The rice paper color wheel was added using the chine colle technique, while the young boy juggling is an aquatint with the addition of chine colle juggling balls. The cover is printed on Brilliant book cloth and silkscreened with the image of the sleeping boy and the book’s title.

Law, Tara. Graham’s Parrot. (NP):2011.

Artist’s book, Bound by the artist/author Tara Law; grey book cloth over boards, front panel printed with frame motif used throughout the book as background for images, Leporello style with red ribbons holding both covers. The illustrations are montages combining photographs, drawings, and prints and were printed using a laser printer. The artist/author tells the reader that the story began shortly before September 11, 2007, and touches on religious intolerance. As the story evolves, a parrot and his owner exchange attributes. The bird executes a somersault; Graham’s thoughts continuously

loop. He never thinks to break free from his self-imposed cage. On the other hand, the parrot has had enough and begins to speak, “Life in a cage can give you a unique perspective. I should say that I can see between the lines or the boards, and Life goes on outside the box, freedom of movement, freedom of choice.” Tara Law’s short text is pointed; her images are soft and lovely. The juxtaposition with the cage motif is always central and haunting. Her plea for tolerance, equated to freedom, as opposed to living in a cage dogged by prejudice, is a strong statement.

Eve’s Journey is the story of Biblical Eve’s search for her clone. An erroneous news article from the Boston Globe in 2004 inspired the story. It reported a cult in Canada that claimed to have cloned the first human. The baby’s name was Eve. My story, Eve’s Journey, combines a contemporary perspective with the eternal quality of myth. The images are photo collages manipulated with a copy machine and Adobe Photoshop. Many of the images were printed using pronto plates; others were created using Photoshop and Corel Painter to simulate the look of the Pronto plates. 2007

Sleep and Dream, 2012, Artist’s book, one of 5 copies, all on Rives BFK paper, each signed and numbered by the artist. . Page size: 10-1⁄2 x 6-1⁄2 inches; 20pp. Bound by the artist, Tara Law, leporello style with cobalt blue colored book cloth over boards, cover with silkscreened image in black of sleeping boy under title, Sleep and Dream, with author’s stylized signature, also in black, end sheets are original monoprints by the artist. Using her son as the model for the boy in these images, the artist has created a story that follows the model of the Hero’s Journey. In this case the young boy’s dream is to become a performer. The trial and triumphs of this watery dream journey are told with diptychs. Images of sleep and REM’s create a rhythmic counterpoint as the story unfolds.

My River book has had many incarnations over the years. In May 2000, I led a workshop called Reflections and Connections in downtown Marshfield. It combined research supplied by the North and South River Initiative and brainstorming on ways the river could become part of the downtown revitalization. Artist, Tara Law, combined the ideas and artwork created in the workshop into a book that took on the shape of the river, on view at the Ventress Library throughout the summer.

I've continued to experiment with the form. The current version is laser cut with a focus on truisms relating to water. For example, All water flows downhill. , or What happens upstream also happens downstream.

A Necklace of Farms shares a preexisting ordinance from Montville, ME, with those interested in adopting it in their town. Http://www.montvillemaine.org/uploads/GMO_ordinance_3-08.pdf. N.p., n.d. Web.

The transference of an idea from one person to another is an invisible process.

Necklace of Farms invites the viewer to become active participants in changing their environment.

Planting a seed as an act of faith carried out with the knowledge that some will come to fruition while others won't is a metaphor for the unfolding of life. Likewise, sharing an ordinance to protect our seeds for future generations will connect with some people but not all, but the seed needs to be sown. Many artists have repositioned the viewer as co-creators. This idea of transference can be traced back to ideas put forth by Marcel Duchamp in his paper The Creative Act: "All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act."

By sharing Montville's ordinance, I hope to create a second voice in the conversation on GMOs that reflects communities' intentions and desires. If the ordinance is adopted and shared by other communities, a necklace of land free from GMOs will take form.