Linda Toigo, H&G, 2011
Last weekend I took part in a paper art workshop held at the Center for Book Art, NYC, by English paper artist Su Blackwell; her work, mostly inspired by fairy tales and folklore, old images and natural elements, visualizes a fascinating and suspended world.
Su Blackwell’s work: The Baron in the Trees, 2011
Su Blackwell’s work: The Wood Cutter’s Hut, 2008
Su Blackwell’s work: The Twelve Dancing Princesses, 2007
Sweet and light atmospheres are superbly mixed with the deep and dark elements that can be widely found in traditional children’s stories.
The work I created during the workshop takes inspiration from a famous Grimm’s fairy tale, where the main character, a hungry witch, is represented by the image of organs of digestion taken from a copy of Gray’s Anatomy I recently found in a second hand shop.
Copies of the same image, cut and inserted between the pages, create a three-dimensional effect on the right hand side of the book.
On the left hand side a tree made of wire and paper symbolize the witch’s marzipan house; Hansel and Gretel, unaware of their destiny, follow a path of bread crumbles/leaves/teeth that will lead them to the tree and the witch’s stomach.
day one: the tree and the witch
day two: work in progress
Here is the final result:
H&G, 2011: detail
H&G, 2011
H&G, 2011
lindatoigo 
a perfect Tim Burton’s set … amazing 🙂