Luz Marina Ruiz "Awaken" Tunnel Book, Monotype Woodcut Paper Sculpture in Slate Gray, Carmel California Art, Statement Artwork, 2008

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Arched layers of printed paper in smoky blue-gray open onto a glowing path, with a cream and gold passage leading … Read more Arched layers of printed paper in smoky blue-gray open onto a glowing path, with a cream and gold passage leading through a tall central doorway. The top edge breaks into a frayed, sawtooth crest in burnt orange, as if lit by a rising sun, and woodcut lines scratch across the foreground. The tunnel book creates a real sense of depth and invitation, drawing the eye along a route that bends and narrows. The title is a quiet instruction, and the piece is a small landscape of arrival and beginning. Luz Marina Ruiz is known for turning two-dimensional prints into sculptural artists' books, and the layered, cut openings here let a small piece feel spacious.

A small object for a desk, a shelf, a bookcase or a console, where it can be seen from the front and from an angle. The smoky blue-gray, cream and rust palette suits wood, leather, linen and ceramics, and it is easy to place in a study, a bedroom or a quiet corner that needs one thoughtful object. It also makes a good gift for a book lover.

Tunnel Book, monotype and woodcut, 7 1/4 x 7 3/4 in (18.4 x 19.7 cm).

A tunnel book is a sequence of printed and cut layers joined by folded side walls, so the scene reads in depth as you look through it. Luz Marina Ruiz combines printmaking techniques such as linocut, woodcut and monotype, sometimes with hand-applied watercolor and gouache, then cuts and assembles the layers, designing each for the passage of light through its openings.

Luz Marina Ruiz was born in Cali, Colombia, and raised in New York. She earned her BA, MA and MFA at the University of California, Berkeley, and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she teaches printmaking at the California College of the Arts.

Her practice moves between painting, drawing, printmaking and book arts, with linocut, collagraph, monotype and woodcut often turned into sculptural tunnel books and carousel books. Inspired by dreams and nature, she returns to water and boats as images of life's journeys. Her work is held in public collections including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Library and Mills College Special Collections. See less