As You Continue

As You Continue celebrates the 100th birthday of John Cage on September 5, 2012.

The quotation by John Cage, “As you continue, which you will do, the way to proceed will become apparent” is handwritten with sumi ink using my left (non-dominant) hand, across seven large sheets of USGS topographic maps, followed by a printed colophon page that provides the context in which Cage spoke these words to Kathan Brown in 1989. A small piece of Fabriano Tiziano green on top functions as title page & directions for handling. Japanese side-stitch; letterpress & handwriting; dated & initialed in pencil; housed in acrylic tube. Please visit the short video about the project.

This work began after I discovered the quotation by John Cage on the Crown Point Press’ Magical-Secrets website one night in December 2010. Having immediately written out the text with India ink onto slices of USGS topographical maps, I thought I would put them on a ceiling beam of my apartment, above my bed. Eventually I sewed the sheets together, side-stitch, and gave the book to a collector-friend. A couple of months later in 2011 I made approximately ten more, adding a printed colophon to the last page and an acrylic tube. This year, 2012, in anticipation of John Cage's centennial, I took up the project anew and practiced writing for several days, feeling dissatisfied with various trials. Eventually I found my way to writing with my left (non-dominant) hand as the most authentic expression I could bring to the content. I am a little scared and unsure of myself as I write, and do it again and again.

If your copy of the book feels a little awkward or irregular, then you will have received a representative copy of the edition.

“ . . . this work serves as an elegant meditation and metaphor on the subject of life journeys – and orienting oneself in the midst of landscape or circumstance that can only be apprehended by survey and the will to move forward.” 
– Jen Larson, catalog entry for As You Continue, in Multiple, Limited, Unique: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Center for Book Arts, The Center for Book Arts, New York, 2011

7.25 x 26.75 inches; 8 pages plus top title page/directions strip; 
indeterminate edition size (approximately 65); 2012. Out of print.