To the Ocean
by Alice Austen
To the Ocean (2018) is an ode to the ocean written and created by Austen. The book is a collaborative endeavor as components of the book are created by different artists. The contents of the book are contained in a cherry wood box with compartments. The box is handmade by Wilfredo Rodriguez, an artist from Philadelphia. Each compartment contains glass-blown shells inside Shibori cotton-lined fabric bags sewn by Austen herself. The book contains an accordion book with blue lino-cut scallop shells printed onto the book.
The book uses lino-cuts and poetry to memorialize Austen’s walks along the shores of oceans. They also describe creatures encountered along beaches she has travelled to. Her illustrations depict an array of shells, horseshow crabs, and more. Physical specimens of most of the items illustrated are also included in the box.
Alice Austen is a Philadelphia based printmaker. She received her BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art and has been a member of the Guild of Book Workers since 1998. Her work experience includes working as a faculty member at the University of Arts in New York and a rare book and paper conservator in the Library of Philadelphia for twenty years.
