Reception & Book signing, March 10th, Friday, 2-5 pm, Sheraton Grand Hotel Seattle, Diamond Room, Sheraton Lobby, 1400 6th Ave, Seattle 98101
Publisher Raven Chronicles Press
ISBN: 978-1-7354780-2-9
Trade paper, 7x10, Matte Cover, 164 pages
Price: $40 independent bookstores;
$30 at AWP23 Seattle and $35 on Raven website: with CD (Carletta reading Poem of Stone & Bone).
Poem of Stone and Bone: The Iconography of James W. Washington Jr. in Fourteen Stanzas and Thirty-One Days documents four site-specific installations Carletta Carrington Wilson created on the Seattle property of African American sculptor James W. Washington Jr. in 2011. This house, located at 1816 26th Avenue in Seattle, honors the life and legacy of Washington, a celebrated painter and sculptor and a leading member of the Northwest School of Artists. Journal entries chart her journey and visceral responses to objects found on the grounds and in the house and studio of the artist. Wilson engaged objects, land, and literature to create a nuanced perspective on the life and work of the noted sculptor.
“The book is dense. It is powerful and revelatory. I find books about the creative process that one person goes through to be inspirational for my own work. This book certainly did that. Additionally, it spoke directly to my heritage as a Black man not just generally but also as a Black man in Seattle.”
—Willie J. Pugh
“The privacy of a public journey, that of both the author and the subject, comes alive on these pages and powers our contemplation of bloodlines connected to migration, triumphant journeys of creation and recreation, and a certain resilience undergirded by curiosity and possibility.”
—Vivian Phillips, Civic Arts Leader, Co-founder, Historic Central Area Arts and Cultural District
Through poetry, artist books, installations, and mixed media, Carletta Carrington Wilson discovers answers to questions she did not know to ask. This artist finds each artistic endeavor to be an act of excavation and a revelation. Her work, described as “decorative with a message,” has been shown in museums, galleries, and libraries in the Seattle area and beyond. Her poems continue to appear in local and national publications.