Description:
TRANSFORMATIONS: Wood/metal/stone/sundry celebrates the discovery of, and connection with, found objects that hide within landscapes of urban decay and nature; the book includes 59 full color illustrations.
Brief description: Scott Martin, a Northwest native, grew up in Normandy Park, Washington. He is an artist, illustrator, and proprietor of Tin Hat Novelties, the originators and makers of National Waffle Association and Jesus Shaves products, along with a host of other original novelty items. He has been Raven Chronicles' art director for many years; in the 1990s he wrote an online column, "Art Is Where You Find It," and interviewed many Seattle-area artists. Most notably his "Integrating Style with Substance: An Interview with Abe Blashko" in Raven's Stealing Light Anthology-is considered a definitive source on Mr. Blashko's artistic life in early Seattle and beyond. Scott's drawings and paintings have been exhibited in Seattle at the Globe Cafe, House, and Free Mars. Between 2015-2018 he curated art for the Hopvine Pub on Seattle's Capitol Hill. Cat attendant to thirteen cats over the years, animal welfare advocate, former record store owner, and lifelong vinyl junkie. He spent forty years in the sign trade as a sign painter, installer, and designer. In 1998, he completed his most visible sign project known as the Jackson Street Colonnade which consisted of revitalizing by hand painting thirty-three Interstate 5 (I-5) support columns with Asian carp and dragonfly designs (by artist Fire Cruxent).
Review Quotes: "I know a work of love when I see one. This is a not a collection nor a collage, but a meandering. It's a series of close looks that magnifies the strangeness of isolated things and our connections to them. To see an object and regard it-that is an age-old artistic process and a nod to the divinity of nature. To transform that object by holding it on its own and writing through it-that's alchemy."
-Frances McCue, author of The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs"In this amazing collection of photographs and writings, a plethora of found objects transformed by time and the elements (as are we all), are again transformed by close attention and the magic of language. Together they reveal marvelous hidden natures: an abandoned bicycle seat becomes a bird, a discarded tennis ball a dog brought back to life, a stone in a palm the continent of Africa. Divided into four sections-Wood, Metal, Stone, and Sundry-you can dip in anywhere and become captivated and enthralled."-Peter Pereira, author of Saying the World and What's Written on the Body"What ignites the works in Transformations is how the discovery of what was embedded, buried, or washed up infuses these objects with deeper meanings and makes connections that would never exist had they not captured the attention of persons for whom words are a tool to imbue an object with meaning, context, and history."-Carletta Carrington Wilson, author of Poem of Stone & Bone, The Iconography of James W. Washington Jr. In Fourteen Stanzas and Thirty-One Days"Perhaps objectivity is the hardest trait a poem can teach. Transformations does the work for us, and asks the question: what if life is only for observing what is and what arises unbidden to claim us, if only momentarily, and not a side-show?"
-Michael Daley, founding editor of Empty Bowl Press, author of Ground Work
Transformations: Wood/Metal/Stone/Sundry, an anthology assembled by Scott Martin, is dedicated to 48-plus found objects. In addition to poems and essays, photos of each object stoke appreciation and satisfy curiosity. Each entry sharpens memory, desire, and appreciation for being a human capable of claiming found objects from the natural and built landscape. Savor the book, get inspired, and go out to find something transformative.
-Ann Spiers, author of Rain Violent and Wild Cucumber