Forms of Recollection: Storied, 1989/1990/2020
Altered books, acrylic, silica, sand, string
60 x 108 x 96 inches (dimensions variable/site specific)
Weisman Art Museum

Created by placing altered books like stones, this spiraling formation is meant to suggest ancient walls, a labyrinth, and a journey to the center of the self. It represents the artist’s sustained interest in books as physical volumes, sculptural materials, and protective containers for words, memories, and forgotten histories.

Harriet Bart first exhibited this piece at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 1989, as part of its Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP). It marks an important transition in the artist’s career away from painting and toward installation. She turned to books when endeavoring to increase the scale of her artistic projects without access to industrial machinery or materials.

Publications:

  • Abracadabra and Other Forms of Protection, Laura Wertheim Joseph editor and curator, Weisman Art Museum, 2020

  • WARM A Feminist Art Collective in Minnesota, Weisman Art Museum, Joanna Inglot

  • Arts, Volumes, Minneapolis Institute of Arts April 1989

Exhibition: