tiny crisis gnaws

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Not elaborate, Not complete sample of Stephen Sidelinger Photographs by CHELSEA HUNTER

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This is the result of a two day interview with Stephen Sidelinger the artist, teacher, and self proclaimed anti-smoking activist. We chatted about his life, growing up without love, book making an dliving with obsessive habits.

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Page 1: TINY CRISIS GNAWS

Not elaborate, Not complete sample of Stephen Sidelinger

Photographs by CHELSEA HUNTER

Page 2: TINY CRISIS GNAWS

by Chelsea Hunter | Title | Background | Story | Credits

Page 3: TINY CRISIS GNAWS

FOREWORD This is

the result of a two day interview with

Stephen Sidelinger the artist, teacher, and

self proclaimed anti-smoking activist.

We chatted about his life, growing up

without love, book making and living

with obsessive habits.

380 Tiny Crisis Gnaws

An interview with Stephen Sidelinger

Page 4: TINY CRISIS GNAWS

HI...NOT HI, MY NAME IS STEPHEN SIDELINGER

ARTIST Stephen Sidelinger

works primarily in multiple gouache

techniques on paper, to encaustic and

embroidery with subject matter ranging

from abstract to narrative. His work

resides in private and public collections

around the world and numerous libraries

throughout the United States.

Sidelinger is an artist, designer,

educator, architectural colorist, textile

artist, embroiderer and book artist.

Stephen draws on these vast and

varied disciplines to create his one-

of-a-kind, fine, hand bound books of

contemporary illuminated manuscripts,

which are in public and private

collections throughout the world.

All of his works have Sidelinger’s

distinctive personal vocabulary or

visual language. After twenty years of

embroidery his workmanship becomes

finer and more elaborate with each

piece. He has currently published a

book to aid others in discovering their

own Visual Language, based on his

highly subscribed course of the same

title, published by Artself. Sidelinger

is already the author of the book Color

Manual published by Prentice-Hall Inc.

Stephen Sidelinger has used his

distinctive Visual Language for the

last 25 years to investigate topics that

range from common icons, to the

complexities of the human condition.

An internationally recognized book

artist, Sidelinger’s pieces stand as

individual decorative panels, as well

as, increase in their beauty when

placed in series and/or groupings. His

media ranges from multiple gouache

techniques on paper, to encaustic and

embroidery. As a devout follower of

William Morris, Stephen Sidelinger

makes his images to grace people’s

environments, to bring an intrigue of

design and the enigmatic questions of

fine art to their daily lives.

381 Tiny Crisis Gnaws

Page 5: TINY CRISIS GNAWS

382 Tiny Crisis Gnaws

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AS A CHILD Yes, as a child I was huge and dyslexic

which, means I couldn’t read and write very well. As a matter

of fact I threatened my first grade reading teacher and tried

to push her out the door cause, I was almost as big as she was.

I got embarrassed cause I couldn’t read and since I couldn’t

communicate that way I started to use artwork because that

was always successful.The reading and spelling were always

iffy so thats why I became an artist actually because of that

disability which, I still have. I can still reverse numbers if

you’d like me to.

SIBLINGS I have one brother he was 10 years older

then I am and he’s an athlete. He’s on the other half of the

world he does different things but, strangely enough in the

end after he played football and eventually became sort a

semi professional swimming and water polo person he ended

up becoming a teacher too.

TOUGH LOVE Ughhh along with my parents...I

was raised by people from New England and there was no

sense of loving family. It was dutiful family. They did their

duty, they did their job. I don’t think I was hugged ever as a

child or kissed ever as a child but, if I needed money to go to

college I knew it was there. So, it was a strange relationship

cause you thought you were supposed to get you know huggy

kissy love but, they didn’t do that because they probably

didn’t get it themselves as children. So, they just passed

on what they already knew how to do.

EARLIEST MEMORY The earliest memory I

had ugh when I was 3 or 4. I was born in South Carolina and

then at two years old we moved to Chicago and it was really

cold and horrible. Then one year later we moved to New

Jersey and I remember the day we moved. I was sitting while

everybody was moving furniture but, I was tiny so to keep

me out of the way they sat me in the front yard in a little red

truck mechanical car that they just bought for me and I rang

the bell all day long so that’s my earliest childhood memory.

VENICE BEACH This is called little crisis gnaws.

I keep little ideas on slips of papers in this box. It’s the most

valuable thing I own and it’s little things I’ve seen or ideas

I’ve had at times. I finally get to use them in this and it’s

called little crisis gnaws. So, here you have the image and

you see all these sort of little things picking at each other.

The original phrase was found and its explained here on

a bathroom wall a public bathroom wall in Venice, CA. It

just reeked of urine. It was a horrible place and someone

had written on the wall little crisis gnaws and I said they do

and here it’s so obvious. So, there are many pages. It just

keeps going on. It’s not necessarily in order they get put in

order by look.

Half of the book was done ten years ago and the other half

was done recently. Then this one what is this ugh feather

in your cap this is one of the older ones in the first part. So,

you get feathers. It actually has that written right there so

its obvious so we have be in your bonnet feather in your

cap theres all little puns like that. Then this one has some

collage thats added into it too. So, whatever it takes to get

to the end.

MR. C MASON That ones not that

interesting and I’ll make sure all you want to see it. Im

not reading that one because its so dirty and hmm this

one is written. So, it is written and so it shall be done

the fact that its been written down by some famous

person and that must make it valid but, I always wonder

who that person really was. So, this entire list of famous

people is composed by Mr. C Manson

383 Tiny Crisis Gnaws

Page 7: TINY CRISIS GNAWS

I don’t know if students get to see this

but, I didn’t start this way...It is not this

elaborate or complete or anything else

but, it’s sort of a sample.

2384

How did I get into book making ahh I got into booking

making because when I was in college everyone was making

big giant artworks. Monumental this and that and all of my

pieces were quite small and there were always a group of

them. Also, I went to a show in the Metropolitan Museum

of Art for the Persian Book of Kings which, is this large

illuminated manuscript and it said done in gouache and all

my images were in gouache so I figured I should go home

and make a book and that’s how my first one got made.

I have many friends if you ask them what are you thinking

about? they go oh nothing and I say really nothing and their

like yeah nothing and I’m like I never think about nothing.

“If I go to the beach and sit and listen to the water for about

five or six minutes then my mind will go blank and I will

just listen to the water , but the rest of the time everything

is obsessive. If I go to the beach and sit and listen to the

water ”.

His work draws on varied disciplines to create one-of-a-

kind, fine, hand bound books of contemporary illuminated

manuscripts, which are in public and private collections

throughout the world. His work often includes fine and

elaborate embroidery.

....Is This Too NOISY?

384 Tiny Crisis Gnaws

Page 8: TINY CRISIS GNAWS

CREDITS A senior studio project directed by Chelsea

Hunter with guidance from instructor Polly Johnson.

Starring : Stephen Sidelinger in Tiny Crisis Gnaws, a

documentary. Filmed on loaction at Ringling College of

Art and Design.

Credits Tiny Crisis Gnaws

Page 9: TINY CRISIS GNAWS