Gallery BOOK ARTS Rendering of T E N N E S S E E -Three Plays-
to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Kenyon College -- one of a kind --
The following is a letter to the Rare Book Collection Librarian, at Chalmer Library, Gambier Ohio, describing this Artist Binding.
-- Spring 2024, upon the placement of this work at Kenyon College, in time for Commencement festivities.
The First Play in this tribute edition was a lost play, discovered by two student researchers, early this century. At that time, I was consulting and providing art direction for the Larger Edition, of 1500 letterpress copies, printed to coincide with Kennedy Center’s mounting of the World Premier of the Lost Play: These are the Stairs You Got to Watch. I had arranged for the Kenyon accession of Edition number 75, to commemorate my Graduating Class of 1975.
On my visit to Gambier, I persuaded your predecessor, Ethan Henderson, to permit us to recreate a more evocative, artful, and important binding for Kenyon’s Rare Book Collection. Recently rediscovering we yet retained the piece; following the death of the bindery project manager, we seized the moment to auspiciously mark Kenyon’s 200th Anniversary, celebrating Kenyon's literary tradition.
Aside from the physical beauty and precious elaboration of the binding, let me share the themes which informed our creation:
In this ARTIST BINDING expression of Williams, the man, and the gripping drama his works reveal, so much of his genius is the mystery gripping each audience member --or reader— One “knows” the message, through a very personal connecting with his characters. Straddling the brilliance of theatricality, within a sorrowful tension, Williams’ struggling, often desperate storylines, unveil a truth unique to each member of his audience.
In this iteration, we mark the times of Tennessee Williams. The dark stoic controlled exterior hiding his flamboyance, within a cultivated rigid austere facade, tailored of bespoke exquisite materials.
The Clamshell Box opens to reveal the Brilliance. Voila! The delicate complexities of the 23kt hand-tooled goldwork combine in a sum-total explosion. The forms, simultaneously random and symmetrical, foreshadow the ensuing roles, settings, and plots, clutching at life with flash-point memories of bygone sensibilities. Defiantly clashing against unyielding reality, we are with the playwright.
Stephen L. Vanilio
Class of 1975
Comments