Coal Burning

Collographs printed on Rives BFK with handpainting, digital printing for pop-up text on Awagami Premio Unryu, 2011

This unique artist's book is part of a series of musings on the origins of fossil fuels. Coal is the remains of the first trees to evolve on the planet, during the Pennsylvanian epoch, trees such as Wattieza and Archaeopteris, giant fern-trees that over time were transformed into coal we use today. I see these ideas as further evidence of our symbiotic relationship with plants, that the fuels that power our civilization and technology are based in the carbon remnants of these ancestor-trees.

This book is now in the collection of the Jaffe Center for Book Arts in Boca Raton, FL.

Cover View of book structure Alternate view of book structure Coal burning is a forest fire Detail of giant ancient fern-trees Detail metamorphosed into stone When you feel the heat on your skin Detail Remember the first trees Detail Colophon spread