An abecedary is an old poetic form that uses each letter of the alphabet. A common usage of the abecedary today would be a children’s alphabet book. My “Abecedary Kimono” project uses the English alphabet featuring one kimono per letter. There are twenty-six kimonos with twenty-three participants who were randomly assigned a letter. Each participant was asked to submit three to four words that begin with that letter. The completed project of twenty-six kimonos represents a great range of ideas. Every word was researched to deduce ways in which they relate to each other. That process took me into root meanings and archaic uses. I layered aspects of etymology, history, poetry, myth, and literature into unique expressions. Each kimono is a unique work of art, illuminating the participant’s contribution. The imagery evokes fragments of stories with my choices of symbols, text, and icons to stress commonalities in human understanding. A gallery of selected kimonos from the “Abecedary Kimono” project is for viewing available below.
“The Abecedary Project” is now available as a book from the artist . Please go to the contact page.
Cover for the hardback edition with dust jacket; 8 inches height x 10 inches width; 32 pages with text and images of front and back views of each kimono. The Abecedary Project
The gallery below shows a selection of kimonos from the Abecedary Project series. Click on an image to read an explanation, size, and price. All kimonos are made of paper.
