Basia Irland - Available Works



			HYDROLIBROS

			Hand-carved wooden books coated with earth and natural materials. These sculptures focus on the wonder of salt or environmental concerns such as ground that gets covered with blacktop for parking lots and dams that block the natural flow of water.


			Salt Book VIII. New Mexico, 1994 hand-carved wooden book, salt, matte medium, salt lick, wire hanger 16 x 12 x 3in. (40 x 31 x 8 cm)



			Salt Book X. New Mexico, 1994 hand-carved wooden book, matte medium, rock salt, 200-million-year-old crystalline salt (circular alchemical symbol for salt), wire hanger 14 x 12 x 3 in. (35 x 31 x 8 cm)

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Salt Book XIII. New Mexico, 1994

hand-carved wooden book, salt, matte medium, white bird wing, wire hanger

13 x 15 x 3 in. (32 x 39 x 8 cm)

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Salt Book XV. New Mexico, 1994. Photo by Bert Janssen.

hand-carved wooden book, salt, matte medium, rock salt, 200-million-year-old salt crystal from Waste Isolation Pilot Project (where they bury radioactive waste), 3 glass vials containing salt, wire hangers; work comes in 2 sections

35 x 16 x 3 in. total (90 x 47 x 8 cm)

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Salt Book XII. New Mexico, 1994. Photo by Bert Janssen.

hand-carved wooden book, salt, matte medium, bird feather, wire hanger

13 x 15 x 3 in. (33 x 38 x 8 cm)

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Blacktop Book VIII: What We Have Paved Over. New Mexico, 1994. Photo by Bert Janssen.

hand-carved wooden book, black earth, matte medium, gravel, wire hanger

11 x 6 x 3 in. (27 x 16 x 7 cm)

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Blacktop Book XI: What We Have Paved Over. New Mexico, 1994

hand-carved wooden book, black earth, matte medium, with carved circle, wire hanger

14 x 12 x 2 in. (36 x 30 x 5 cm)

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Blacktop Book V: What We Have Paved Over. New Mexico, 1994

hand-carved wooden book, black earth, matte medium, gravel, wire hanger

23 x 15 x 3 in. (58 x 38 x 8 cm)

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River Debris, Vol. II. New Mexico, 1991

hand-carved wooden book, earth from New Mexico, matte medium, high-water debris (litter hovels) from the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Hondo, wire hanger

15 x 12 x 3 in (38 x 30 x 8 cm)

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Dam Book II. Arizona, 2002

hand-carved wooden book, earth and concrete from below the Glen Canyon Dam site, oxidized copper, matte medium, wire hanger

18 x 9 x 3 in. (46 x 23 x 8 cm)

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Lichen Book III. New Mexico, 1999

hand-carved wooden book, lichen, seaweed, matte medium, wire hanger

18 x 11 x 3 in. (46 x 28 x 8 cm)

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The Netherlands retrospective installation of Hydrolibros. 2015. Photo by Bert Janssen.

note: Several of the works in the photos above this one were included as part of my 2015 retrospective Reading the River in the Netherlands. Not all of the Hydrolibros in this image are currently available, but all of the ones shown on this page above are available.