HOPE? 2022. 12 x 8.5 x 6.75 inches. Wooden reliquary containing 12 artists’ books, an informational companion book titled About HOPE?, and a vial of wildfire ash. 32 copies. $3,400.

HOPE? is a collaborative art project created by Susan Lowdermilk, Donna Thomas, Peter Thomas, and Andie Thrams. Through field work in recently burned and still green forests in Oregon and California, we investigated the complex topics of tree mortality, catastrophic wildfire, and climate change. We created this reliquary of artists' books and artifacts to bear witness to the devastation of western forests and share our disoveries as we grappled with what we were learning and pondered the question of hope at this pivotal moment in the Anthropocene epoch.

Media: Handmade and commercial paper; woodcut, linoleum cut, pressure print, photogram, letterpress, and digital printing; watercolor, gouache, and ink painting; brass, wood, wildfire charcoal and ash.

A full description of the project, and the art work, can be found by using this link: Be patient, it is slow to load. https://secureservercdn.net/198.12.144.107/xhp.361.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ABOUT-HOPE.pdf

Binding: Each book has a different style of binding. Images of the contents follow in alphabetical order: