Who Does SHE Think She Is

Whidbey Island, WA, 2013. Artist's book, one of 12 copies, all on heavy-weight white paper with text and photos printed on acetate attached to each side of the white paper, signed and numbered by the artist, Sande Wascher-James, on the colophon. Page size: 7 1/2 x 5 inches; 22p. each 3 layers. Bound: by the artist: purple-gold iridescent Asahi silk book cloth with white paper endsheets covered with acetate printed with collaged images of the 10 women featured in this book; with the title in black on white label covered in acetate. The matching drop side box is also covered in the same cloth with same label. There are double-page spreads for each of these notable women alternating with double-page spreads of advertising showing changing notions of womanhood and femininity. The book structure was learned from Paul Delrue and modified to meet the materials used.
The book deals with how women perceive themselves compared to how the media sees them. The 10 women featured are: Ella Fitzgerald, Georgia O'Keeffe, Maria Goeppert Mayer, Carrie Chapman Catt, Marguerite Higgins, Sacagawea, Frances E. Willis, Dorothea Dix, Martha Graham, and Mary McLeod Bethune. The women speak for themselves with their words printed across the page spread in black with collaged images; each paragraph of biography is in a contrasting color ink harmonizing with the beautifully designed page featuring the silhouette of the woman whose words we read and whose images we see. From "To create one's world in any of the arts takes courage" (Georgia O'Keefe) to "Knowledge is the prime need of the hour" (Mary McLeod Bethune), the texts and page spreads are meaningful as well as captivating. A singer, woman's rights activist, dancer, reformer, reporter, painter, scientist, explorer and guide, career diplomat, and educator have left their mark on our culture by going beyond what was conventionally expected of women. They are celebrated here.