Sarah Alford
Ellen Gates Starr-bookbinding cover designEllen Gates Starr-bookbinding cover design-alteredaltered Ellen Gates Starr-bookbinding cover design, drawn with hot glue over a text by Ruskinfour elements glued togetherMr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (detail)Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (detail)Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (detail)Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (detail)Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (detail)Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (detail)Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (detail)Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat
Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat (2008)
I made this project during my research on Ellen Gates Starr (1859-1940), bookbinder, labour organiser, art history teacher and co-founder of the Chicago Public School Art Society in 1894 and the Chicago chapter of the Arts and Crafts Society in 1897.

I named Mr. Dodge: The Bibliography Raincoat after a raincoat Starr inherited from Mr. Dodge, as thanks for finding him ‘suitable chess partners.’ She wore it constantly, earning her a reputation for eccentricity. I drew the pattern from her book cover design, then drew it on photocopies of every book she ever mentions reading. I photocopied the books, read each page, drew the print with hot glue on the page and then peeled the page off to make the lace. The coat is one and a half times the size of what she would have worn.

For more on this project please visit the article "Taking the Book Apart" in the online Journal for Artistic Research: http://jar-online.net/index.php/issues/view/483