Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde, still from Su Hui's Picture of the Turning Sphere, 2016-2020. 5-channel video installation. Courtesy of the artists.
Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect
Selected Works (1997-2020)
University Galleries of Illinois State University is pleased to present Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, Selected Works (1997–2020) from August 15 through December 13, 2020.
Shift Rotate Reflect, the first survey of work by American poet and artist Jen Bervin, will present twenty-three solo and collaborative projects, artist’s books, embroideries, videos, drawings, prints, and a performance created from 1997–2020. The selected works demonstrate the interdisciplinary range of Bervin’s long-term research on topics including legacies of women artists and writers, relationships between text and textiles, and abstractions of language and landscape.
The exhibition will premiere Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere (2016–2020), a collaboration with filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde. The multi-channel video and textile installation, self-described as a “feminist listening room,” focuses on Chinese poet Su Hui and her 4th-century reversible poem, “Xuanji Tu.” Structured on an astronomical gauge and stitched in five colors, the poem was written in a 29 x 29-character grid and can be read in any direction to yield almost 8,000 possible interpretations. Bervin and Lagarde created a rotation of four projected videos featuring commentary from eight Chinese women: an algorithmic game theorist, calligrapher, art researcher, astrophysicist, artist, novelist, and literary scholars. Bervin and Lagarde also partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of the poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation.
Three other major projects, in addition to individual works, will be featured in this exhibition: The Dickinson Composites (2004–2008), River (2006–2018), and Silk Poems (2010–2017). For Silk Poems, Bervin partnered with scientists at Tufts University to fabricate a nanoimprinted poem on a silk biosensor. Her silk research spanned thirty international nanotechnology and biomedical labs, textile archives, medical libraries, and sericulture sites. The full project is comprised of the nanoimprinted poem on a microscope for viewing; a video documenting Bervin’s research and process by Charlotte Lagarde; and the Silk Poems book featuring Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. River is a scale model of the Mississippi River from the geocentric point of view, hand-stitched in silver sequins and spanning 230 curvilinear feet. The Dickinson Composites, a series of 6 x 8 feet embroideries, is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.”
Shift Rotate Reflect is curated by Kendra Paitz, University Galleries’ director and chief curator. This exhibition is supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Harold K. Sage Foundation and the Illinois State University Foundation Fund. An exhibition catalogue, which is also supported by a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, is forthcoming in 2021.
Artist biographies
Jen Bervin’s projects have been exhibited at the Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa; Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; The Power Plant, Toronto; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts; Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, Massachusetts; Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; and Morgan Library and Museum, New York, among others. Bervin has authored eleven books and artist’s books. Her Silk Poems was a New Museum Book of the Year and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and her Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s Envelope Poems (with Marta Werner and Susan Howe) was a Book of the Year selection by The New Yorker. She has received grants, awards, and fellowships from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, Creative Capital, Foundation for Contemporary Art, SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Banff Centre, and New York Foundation for the Arts, among others. Bervin’s work is included in thirty collections, including Bibliothèque Nationale de France; Yale University; Brooklyn Museum; and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Charlotte Lagarde has made more than twenty films, which have been aired on PBS, HBO, and the Sundance Channel, and exhibited at MASS MoCA. Her many awards include an Academy Award, the PBS Independent Lens Audience Award, and the Ashland Independent Film Festival’s Best Documentary award, as well as fellowships from Sundance, BAVC, and Camargo Foundation. Her project Colonial White was included in the exhibitions The Racial Imaginary Institute: On Whiteness at The Kitchen, New York City, and Great Force at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University as a city-wide participatory project in Richmond, Virginia. Lagarde serves on the Board of Directors of The Free History Project, and is the executive director of the Swell Foundation, and the COO & co-founder of B.Public.
Bervin and Lagarde are married and live and work in Connecticut near the Long Island Sound.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) response
University Galleries will be closed to the public beginning Friday, November 20 due to Tier 3 COVID-19 mitigations announced by Governor Pritzker. Our staff will be available to conduct virtual tours and programs related to Jen Bervin's survey, Shift Rotate Reflect.
For information on Illinois State University’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) response, please see https://coronavirus.illinoisstate.edu/ . For information on Illinois State University’s requirements for face coverings and physical distancing, please see https://ehs.illinoisstate.edu/safety/face-coverings/ .
Events and programming
- Online panel discussions and additional programming, including a performance of Bervin’s Silk Line, will be announced throughout the duration of the exhibition via University Galleries’ Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
- A reading list prepared by Jen Bervin will be shared online early in the exhibition.
- Educator resources, activities for children and youth, and art lesson videos will be shared.
- A selection of artist’s books from Milner Library’s Special Collections will be on display in the Special Collections department. Please visit Library.Illinoisstate.edu/services/special-collections/ for information on visiting Special Collections.
You can find University Galleries on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and sign up to receive email updates through the newsletter. Please contact gallery@IllinoisState.edu or call (309) 438-5487 if you need to arrange an accommodation to participate in any events related to this exhibition.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
River, 2006–2018. Silver foil-stamped cloth sequins, metallic thread, silver mulberry paper, mull, and Tyvek. 230 curvilinear feet; 100 x 20 feet installed. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
River (detail of the delta), 2006–2018. Silver foil-stamped cloth sequins, metallic thread, silver mulberry paper, mull, and Tyvek. 230 curvilinear feet; 100 x 20 feet installed. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
River (detail), 2006–2018. Silver foil-stamped cloth sequins, metallic thread, silver mulberry paper, mull, and Tyvek. 230 curvilinear feet; 100 x 20 feet installed. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
River (detail), 2006–2018. Silver foil-stamped cloth sequins, metallic thread, silver mulberry paper, mull, and Tyvek. 230 curvilinear feet; 100 x 20 feet installed. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
River (detail), 2006–2018. Silver foil-stamped cloth sequins, metallic thread, silver mulberry paper, mull, and Tyvek. 230 curvilinear feet; 100 x 20 feet installed. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
River (detail), 2006–2018. Silver foil-stamped cloth sequins, metallic thread, silver mulberry paper, mull, and Tyvek. 230 curvilinear feet; 100 x 20 feet installed. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Envelope Coverlet, 1998. Cotton sheets, machine- and hand-sewing, and number stamps. 76.5 x 56 inches. Collection of Hm Mirra. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Envelope Coverlet (detail), 1998. Cotton sheets, machine- and hand-sewing, and number stamps. 76.5 x 56 inches. Collection of Hm Mirra. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Pierced Light [Latitude 31.4482, Longitude 109.9284], 1998. Topographic perforation of Bisbee, Arizona, paper scraps of various sizes sewn together with pale green cotton thread. 64 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Pierced Light [Latitude 31.4482, Longitude 109.9284] (detail), 1998. Topographic perforation of Bisbee, Arizona, paper scraps of various sizes sewn together with pale green cotton thread. 64 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Pierced Light [Latitude 31.4482, Longitude 109.9284] (detail), 1998. Topographic perforation of Bisbee, Arizona, paper scraps of various sizes sewn together with pale green cotton thread. 64 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Pierced Light [Latitude 31.4482, Longitude 109.9284] (detail), 1998. Topographic perforation of Bisbee, Arizona, paper scraps of various sizes sewn together with pale green cotton thread. 64 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Pierced Light [Latitude 31.4482, Longitude 109.9284] (detail), 1998. Topographic perforation of Bisbee, Arizona, paper scraps of various sizes sewn together with pale green cotton thread. 64 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Pierced Light [Latitude 31.4482, Longitude 109.9284] (detail), 1998. Topographic perforation of Bisbee, Arizona, paper scraps of various sizes sewn together with pale green cotton thread. 64 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Pierced Light [Latitude 31.4482, Longitude 109.9284] (detail), 1998. Topographic perforation of Bisbee, Arizona, paper scraps of various sizes sewn together with pale green cotton thread. 64 x 70 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Clockwise from upper left. All works by Jen Bervin and courtesy of the artist. Left: Nets, 2004. Trade paperback book with letterpress cover and perfect-bound offset interior. Ugly Duckling Presse, 2004, 2008, 4th printing, available. Center: Juniper Caesura, 1999. Binder's board, cotton paper, typed and penciled text, linen tape and metal snap closures. Edition of 30, available. Right: Draft Notation, 2014. Unbound books and prints in linen clamshell box printed letterpress on Khadi, Lettra, and glassine paper; printed digitally, and with an IBM typewriter, on Byron Weston Linen Ledger White and Classic Crest. Granary Books, edition of 75: #40, available. Right The Silver Book, 2010. Hand-bound chapbook in silver wrapper. Edition of 500: 450 with plain white copy paper interiors, 50 signed and numbered on felt-finish Mohawk paper, out of print. #26/50. Center: A Non Breaking Space, 2005. Single unbound signature of rice paper with white bond paper and carbon paper pasted in, with gesso, gouache, ink, pencil, cursive typewriter text, and typewriter opaquing film. 1/1. Left: Under What Is Not Under, 1997. Handbound book in tent cloth, sepia toned photograph frontispiece, sewn in, poem fragments pasted in horizon height to the photograph. Edition of 20, #19. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Juniper Caesura, 1999. Binder's board, cotton paper, typed and penciled text, linen tape and metal snap closures. Edition of 30, available. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Juniper Caesura, 1999. Binder's board, cotton paper, typed and penciled text, linen tape and metal snap closures. Edition of 30, available. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Juniper Caesura, 1999. Binder's board, cotton paper, typed and penciled text, linen tape and metal snap closures. Edition of 30, available. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Juniper Caesura, 1999. Binder's board, cotton paper, typed and penciled text, linen tape and metal snap closures. Edition of 30, available. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Draft Notation, 2014. Unbound books and prints in linen clamshell box printed letterpress on Khadi, Lettra, and glassine paper; printed digitally, and with an IBM typewriter, on Byron Weston Linen Ledger White and Classic Crest. Granary Books, edition of 75: #40, available. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Silver Book, 2010. Hand-bound chapbook in silver wrapper. Edition of 500: 450 with plain white copy paper interiors, 50 signed and numbered on felt-finish Mohawk paper, out of print. #26/50. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
A Non Breaking Space, 2005. Single unbound signature of rice paper with white bond paper and carbon paper pasted in, with gesso, gouache, ink, pencil, cursive typewriter text, and typewriter opaquing film. 1/1. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Under What Is Not Under, 1997. Handbound book in tent cloth, sepia toned photograph frontispiece, sewn in, poem fragments pasted in horizon height to the photograph. Edition of 20, #19. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert, 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, #40. Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover. 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist . Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert, 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, #40. Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover. 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert, 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, #40. Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover. 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert, 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, # 40. Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover. 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert, 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, # 40. Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert (detail), 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, #40. Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert (detail), 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, #40 Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover. 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Desert (detail), 2008. Granary Books, edition of 40, out of print, #40. Twinrocker handmade bleached abaca paper, digitally printed, machine-sewn with pale blue zigzag stitching, handbound by Susan Mills in a punched abaca cover. 8.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 148 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin sewed through chapters of John C. Van Dyke’s The Desert (1901) with pale blue thread to, in her words, “construct a poem narrated by the air.” She originally composed the poem for a reading at Roden Crater, artist James Turrell’s large-scale artwork within a volcanic cinder cone in the Painted Desert region of Northern Arizona. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Poems for Ruth Asawa: from her writings and correspondence, 2020. Letter-sized loose pages, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White. 1/1. 11 x 8.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin composed these poems for American sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) using text from Asawa’s writings and formatting them into the shape of Asawa’s wire sculptures. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Poems for Ruth Asawa: from her writings and correspondence, 2020. Letter-sized loose pages, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White. 1/1. 11 x 8.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin composed these poems for American sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) using text from Asawa’s writings and formatting them into the shape of Asawa’s wire sculptures. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Poems for Ruth Asawa: from her writings and correspondence (detail), 2020. Letter-sized loose pages, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White. 1/1. 11 x 8.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin composed these poems for American sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) using text from Asawa’s writings and formatting them into the shape of Asawa’s wire sculptures. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Poems for Ruth Asawa: from her writings and correspondence (detail), 2020. Letter-sized loose pages, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White. 1/1. 11 x 8.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Bervin composed these poems for American sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) using text from Asawa’s writings and formatting them into the shape of Asawa’s wire sculptures. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No, 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No, 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No, 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No, 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No (detail), 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No (detail), 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No (detail), 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No (detail), 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No (detail), 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No (detail), 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Concordance Omission: No (detail), 2020. Excerpts from The Concordance to the Poems of Emily Dickinson (far left), original research from Dickinson writings (Emily Dickinson Archive, Franklin and Johnson variorum editions), new concordance entry typed on an IBM Wheelwriter (Manifold font), reprinted in vinyl lettering. Handwritten excerpt is from Dickinson manuscript A 739, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections. Fabrication credit: Lisa Lofgren, University Galleries of Illinois State University. 16 x 25 feet. Courtesy of the artist. This work premieres at University Galleries. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 16; and The Composite Marks of Fascicle 19, 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 28, 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 19, 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 19, 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 38 (detail), 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 38. 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 38. 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 19; and The Composite Marks of Fascicle 38, 2004–2008. Cotton and silk thread on cotton batting backed with muslin. 6 x 8 feet. Courtesy of the artist. The Dickinson Composites Series is comprised of stitched composites of the variant marks American poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts to link alternate words and phrases. These marks and the original line breaks were often omitted by editors for print editions, and Bervin describes The Dickinson Composites as being “aligned with mending, restitution, and the deeper gesture that Dickinson’s poems and variant marks make.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Series: The Composite Marks of Fascicle 38 and The Gorgeous Nothings. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Gorgeous Nothings Edition, 2012. Portfolio of 48 unbound double-sided color manuscript facsimiles on Red River Aurora Natural paper, 11 x 14 inches. Ruscombe David Cox portfolio wrap with a cotton tape lift, royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi paper over lignin free conservation board. A 52-page essay with seven digital prints tipped-in, bound soft cover in Saint Armand Dark Linen with royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi endpapers; text printed letterpress by Friedrich Kerksieck on Byron Weston Linen Ledger White. Essay dimensions: 10 x 7 ½ inches. A 32-page unbound guide with visual indexes, a directory of manuscripts, a postscript and a colophon. Ruscombe Vert Forêt slipcase, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White interior. Guide dimensions: 9 x 11 ½ inches. All of the above housed in a lignin-free archival box with an original line drawing in blue pencil, and a hand-painted seal of gum arabic, and gouache. Granary Books, edition of 60. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Gorgeous Nothings Edition, 2012. Portfolio of 48 unbound double-sided color manuscript facsimiles on Red River Aurora Natural paper, 11 x 14 inches. Ruscombe David Cox portfolio wrap with a cotton tape lift, royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi paper over lignin free conservation board. A 52-page essay with seven digital prints tipped-in, bound soft cover in Saint Armand Dark Linen with royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi endpapers; text printed letterpress by Friedrich Kerksieck on Byron Weston Linen Ledger White. Essay dimensions: 10 x 7 ½ inches. A 32-page unbound guide with visual indexes, a directory of manuscripts, a postscript and a colophon. Ruscombe Vert Forêt slipcase, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White interior. Guide dimensions: 9 x 11 ½ inches. All of the above housed in a lignin-free archival box with an original line drawing in blue pencil, and a hand-painted seal of gum arabic, and gouache. Granary Books, edition of 60. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Gorgeous Nothings Edition, 2012. Portfolio of 48 unbound double-sided color manuscript facsimiles on Red River Aurora Natural paper, 11 x 14 inches. Ruscombe David Cox portfolio wrap with a cotton tape lift, royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi paper over lignin free conservation board. A 52-page essay with seven digital prints tipped-in, bound soft cover in Saint Armand Dark Linen with royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi endpapers; text printed letterpress by Friedrich Kerksieck on Byron Weston Linen Ledger White. Essay dimensions: 10 x 7 ½ inches. A 32-page unbound guide with visual indexes, a directory of manuscripts, a postscript and a colophon. Ruscombe Vert Forêt slipcase, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White interior. Guide dimensions: 9 x 11 ½ inches. All of the above housed in a lignin-free archival box with an original line drawing in blue pencil, and a hand-painted seal of gum arabic, and gouache. Granary Books, edition of 60. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Gorgeous Nothings Edition, 2012. Portfolio of 48 unbound double-sided color manuscript facsimiles on Red River Aurora Natural paper, 11 x 14 inches. Ruscombe David Cox portfolio wrap with a cotton tape lift, royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi paper over lignin free conservation board. A 52-page essay with seven digital prints tipped-in, bound soft cover in Saint Armand Dark Linen with royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi endpapers; text printed letterpress by Friedrich Kerksieck on Byron Weston Linen Ledger White. Essay dimensions: 10 x 7 ½ inches. A 32-page unbound guide with visual indexes, a directory of manuscripts, a postscript and a colophon. Ruscombe Vert Forêt slipcase, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White interior. Guide dimensions: 9 x 11 ½ inches. All of the above housed in a lignin-free archival box with an original line drawing in blue pencil, and a hand-painted seal of gum arabic, and gouache. Granary Books, edition of 60. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Gorgeous Nothings Edition, 2012. Portfolio of 48 unbound double-sided color manuscript facsimiles on Red River Aurora Natural paper, 11 x 14 inches. Ruscombe David Cox portfolio wrap with a cotton tape lift, royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi paper over lignin free conservation board. A 52-page essay with seven digital prints tipped-in, bound soft cover in Saint Armand Dark Linen with royal blue Shikibu Gampi-shi endpapers; text printed letterpress by Friedrich Kerksieck on Byron Weston Linen Ledger White. Essay dimensions: 10 x 7 ½ inches. A 32-page unbound guide with visual indexes, a directory of manuscripts, a postscript and a colophon. Ruscombe Vert Forêt slipcase, Byron Weston Linen Ledger Bright White interior. Guide dimensions: 9 x 11 ½ inches. All of the above housed in a lignin-free archival box with an original line drawing in blue pencil, and a hand-painted seal of gum arabic, and gouache. Granary Books, edition of 60. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Gorgeous Nothings, 2013. Hardcover trade book. Christine Burgin and New Directions in association with Granary Books. First printing: 25,000. Offset interior in full color with 110 illustrations and gatefold. 12 x 9.75 x 1.25 inches, 272 pages. The Gorgeous Nothings by Jen Bervin and Marta Werner is the first full-color facsimile trade book of American poet Emily Dickinson’s manuscripts. It includes “full-scale reproductions of Dickinson’s late writings, presenting this crucially important, experimental body of work exactly as she wrote it, on carefully deconstructed scraps of envelopes, each accompanied by a transcription to facilitate reading of the original.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Edition, 2010. Archival box silkscreened with marks; hand- and machine-sewn cotton batting on muslin, silk, and cotton thread; 6 large color prints; 16-page booklet in a silkscreened pocket fold sewn with a cotton tape lift. Edition of 55. #AP available. 11.5 x 15 x 1.5 inches, 24 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Edition, 2010. Archival box silkscreened with marks; hand- and machine-sewn cotton batting on muslin, silk, and cotton thread; 6 large color prints; 16-page booklet in a silkscreened pocket fold sewn with a cotton tape lift. Edition of 55. #AP available. 11.5 x 15 x 1.5 inches, 24 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Edition, 2010. Archival box silkscreened with marks; hand- and machine-sewn cotton batting on muslin, silk, and cotton thread; 6 large color prints; 16-page booklet in a silkscreened pocket fold sewn with a cotton tape lift. Edition of 55. #AP available. 11.5 x 15 x 1.5 inches, 24 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Edition, 2010. Archival box silkscreened with marks; hand- and machine-sewn cotton batting on muslin, silk, and cotton thread; 6 large color prints; 16-page booklet in a silkscreened pocket fold sewn with a cotton tape lift. Edition of 55. #AP available. 11.5 x 15 x 1.5 inches, 24 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Edition, 2010. Archival box silkscreened with marks; hand- and machine-sewn cotton batting on muslin, silk, and cotton thread; 6 large color prints; 16-page booklet in a silkscreened pocket fold sewn with a cotton tape lift. Edition of 55. #AP available. 11.5 x 15 x 1.5 inches, 24 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Edition, 2010. Archival box silkscreened with marks; hand- and machine-sewn cotton batting on muslin, silk, and cotton thread; 6 large color prints; 16-page booklet in a silkscreened pocket fold sewn with a cotton tape lift. Edition of 55. #AP available. 11.5 x 15 x 1.5 inches, 24 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
The Dickinson Composites Edition, 2010. Archival box silkscreened with marks; hand- and machine-sewn cotton batting on muslin, silk, and cotton thread; 6 large color prints; 16-page booklet in a silkscreened pocket fold sewn with a cotton tape lift. Edition of 55. #AP available. 11.5 x 15 x 1.5 inches, 24 pages. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, 2016–2020. 5-channel video installation with sound and two double-sided embroideries. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. The exhibition premieres Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, a collaboration with filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde. The multi-channel video and textile installation, self-described as a “feminist listening room,” focuses on Chinese poet Su Hui and her 4th-century reversible poem, “Xuanji tu.” Structured on an astronomical gauge and stitched in five colors, the poem was written in a 29 x 29-character grid and can be read in any direction to yield almost 8,000 possible interpretations. Bervin and Lagarde created a rotation of four projected videos featuring commentary from eight Chinese women: an algorithmic game theorist, calligrapher, art researcher, astrophysicist, artist, novelist, and literary scholars. The fifth video shows the stitching of the embroideries in this gallery. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, 2016–2020. 5-channel video installation with sound and two double-sided embroideries. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. The exhibition premieres Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, a collaboration with filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde. The multi-channel video and textile installation, self-described as a “feminist listening room,” focuses on Chinese poet Su Hui and her 4th-century reversible poem, “Xuanji tu.” Structured on an astronomical gauge and stitched in five colors, the poem was written in a 29 x 29-character grid and can be read in any direction to yield almost 8,000 possible interpretations. Bervin and Lagarde created a rotation of four projected videos featuring commentary from eight Chinese women: an algorithmic game theorist, calligrapher, art researcher, astrophysicist, artist, novelist, and literary scholars. The fifth video shows the stitching of the embroideries in this gallery. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) and Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) and Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) and Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) (detail), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) (detail), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841) (detail), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) and Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841) (detail), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) and Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841) (detail), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (840) and Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841) (detail), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841) and Su Hui’s Xuanji tu (841) (detail), 2020. Double-sided silk embroideries of Su Hui’s poem framed between two sheets of glass, on support base. 34 x 31 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde partnered with a contemporary embroidery studio in Suzhou, China, to create two new renderings of Su Hui’s “Xuanji tu” poem using a specialized double-sided silk embroidery technique on translucent silk screens. The finished embroideries and a video projection of the embroidery process are included in the installation. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, 2016–2020. 5-channel video installation with sound and two double-sided embroideries. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. The exhibition premieres Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, a collaboration with filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde. The multi-channel video and textile installation, self-described as a “feminist listening room,” focuses on Chinese poet Su Hui and her 4th-century reversible poem, “Xuanji tu” Structured on an astronomical gauge and stitched in five colors, the poem was written in a 29 x 29-character grid and can be read in any direction to yield almost 8,000 possible interpretations. Bervin and Lagarde created a rotation of four projected videos featuring commentary from eight Chinese women: an algorithmic game theorist, calligrapher, art researcher, astrophysicist, artist, novelist, and literary scholars. The fifth video shows the stitching of the embroideries in this gallery. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, 2016–2020. 5-channel video installation with sound and two double-sided embroideries. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. The exhibition premieres Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, a collaboration with filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde. The multi-channel video and textile installation, self-described as a “feminist listening room,” focuses on Chinese poet Su Hui and her 4th-century reversible poem, “Xuanji tu.” Structured on an astronomical gauge and stitched in five colors, the poem was written in a 29 x 29-character grid and can be read in any direction to yield almost 8,000 possible interpretations. Bervin and Lagarde created a rotation of four projected videos featuring commentary from eight Chinese women: an algorithmic game theorist, calligrapher, art researcher, astrophysicist, artist, novelist, and literary scholars. The fifth video shows the stitching of the embroideries in this gallery. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, 2016–2020. 5-channel video installation with sound and two double-sided embroideries. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. The exhibition premieres Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, a collaboration with filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde. The multi-channel video and textile installation, self-described as a “feminist listening room,” focuses on Chinese poet Su Hui and her 4th-century reversible poem, “Xuanji tu.” Structured on an astronomical gauge and stitched in five colors, the poem was written in a 29 x 29-character grid and can be read in any direction to yield almost 8,000 possible interpretations. Bervin and Lagarde created a rotation of four projected videos featuring commentary from eight Chinese women: an algorithmic game theorist, calligrapher, art researcher, astrophysicist, artist, novelist, and literary scholars. The fifth video shows the stitching of the embroideries in this gallery. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin and Charlotte Lagarde
Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, 2016–2020. 5-channel video installation with sound and two double-sided embroideries. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. The exhibition premieres Su Hui’s Picture of the Turning Sphere, a collaboration with filmmaker Charlotte Lagarde. The multi-channel video and textile installation, self-described as a “feminist listening room,” focuses on Chinese poet Su Hui and her 4th-century reversible poem, “Xuanji tu.” Structured on an astronomical gauge and stitched in five colors, the poem was written in a 29 x 29-character grid and can be read in any direction to yield almost 8,000 possible interpretations. Bervin and Lagarde created a rotation of four projected videos featuring commentary from eight Chinese women: an algorithmic game theorist, calligrapher, art researcher, astrophysicist, artist, novelist, and literary scholars. The fifth video shows the stitching of the embroideries in this gallery. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Rory Ou
xuanjitu, 2020 (work in progress). Web app (Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, HTML5, and Canvas). Courtesy of the artist. Project statement from Rory Ou: xuanjitu is an online, web-based implementation of Xuanji tu(璇玑图), an ancient palindrome poem by Chinese poet Su Hui. "One of the earliest extant poems by a woman—also among the most complex and unsung—the Xuanji tu takes the form of a 29 x 29 character grid, embroidered or woven in five colors in silk, written in classical Chinese in the fourth century." (—Jen Bervin) As the poem can be read horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, in either direction, there are thousands and thousands of ways through the grid that can form rhyming poems of various line lengths. Plenty of scholars have published books and papers about how to read it, over the thousand+ years since it was created, but mostly in the form of text and printed diagrams to show the paths through the grid. This app animates those readings proposed by scholars, and (eventually, I hope) will allow visitors to discover new readings of their own. Demo mode: The app is still a work in progress. So far, it only has a non-interactive demo mode, where it runs in a continuous loop, about an hour long. The loop consists of over 500 readings (distinct poems) proposed by Michèle Métail in her book Wild Geese Returning: Chinese Reversible Poems (translated by Jody Gladding). For all colors other than red, the loop includes every reading listed in Métail's book (with minor exceptions); for red--which has such a disproportionately large number of possible readings that Métail doesn't list them in the book--the loop contains a sampling of readings that would be valid according to Métail's system. Pinyin is provided in the sidebar. Book citations: Wild Geese Returning: Chinese Reversible Poems, Michèle Métail, trans. Jody Gladding, Penguin Random House, 2017. 诗苑珍品--璇玑图 (roughly "Poetry Garden Treasures: Xuanji tu"), Li Wei (李蔚), 东方出版社 (roughly "Eastern Publishing Co."), 1996. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
7S (Seven Silks), 2018. Archival box with foil-backed label, two prints on silk fabric, signed copy of Silk Poems by Jen Bervin; a Bombyx Mori cocoon in glass jar, a vial with a scroll printed on silk, a vial with a skein of silk thread, a glass vial of liquid silk fibroin, and a colophon. Granary Books, edition of 100, #79, available. Courtesy of the artist. 7S is an artist book project released by Granary Books that “elaborates upon the research and writings that inform Silk Poems.” In window: Silk Poems print on silk, 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter. Digital print on silk fabric, suspended on aluminum tube. Courtesy of the artist. This print on silk shows Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
7S (Seven Silks), 2018. Archival box with foil-backed label, two prints on silk fabric, signed copy of Silk Poems by Jen Bervin; a Bombyx Mori cocoon in glass jar, a vial with a scroll printed on silk, a vial with a skein of silk thread, a glass vial of liquid silk fibroin, and a colophon. Granary Books, edition of 100, #79, available. Courtesy of the artist. 7S is an artist book project released by Granary Books that “elaborates upon the research and writings that inform Silk Poems.” In window: Silk Poems print on silk, 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter. Digital print on silk fabric, suspended on aluminum tube. Courtesy of the artist. This print on silk shows Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Charlotte Lagarde
Jen Bervin’s Silk Poems Video, 2016. HD video with sound, 9:16 minutes. Courtesy of the artists. This video follows Jen Bervin’s research and the fabrication process for Silk Poems. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Jen Bervin’s Silk Poems Video, 2016. HD video with sound, 9:16 minutes. Courtesy of the artists. This video follows Jen Bervin’s research and the fabrication process for Silk Poems. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Jessica Bingham.
Jen Bervin
Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Jessica Bingham.
Jen Bervin
Silk Poems film, 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter (This piece is usually viewable on the provided Accuscope 3000 LED microscope. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this interactive component is not allowed.) Courtesy of the artist. For Silk Poems, Bervin partnered with scientists at Tufts University to fabricate a nanoimprinted poem on a silk biosensor. Her silk research spanned thirty international nanotechnology and biomedical labs, textile archives, medical libraries, and sericulture sites. The full project is comprised of the nanoimprinted poem on a microscope for viewing; a video documenting Bervin’s research and process by Charlotte Lagarde; and the Silk Poems book featuring Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020.
Jen Bervin
Silk Poems film, 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter (This piece is usually viewable on the provided Accuscope 3000 LED microscope. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this interactive component is not allowed.) For Silk Poems, Bervin partnered with scientists at Tufts University to fabricate a nanoimprinted poem on a silk biosensor. Her silk research spanned thirty international nanotechnology and biomedical labs, textile archives, medical libraries, and sericulture sites. The full project is comprised of the nanoimprinted poem on a microscope for viewing; a video documenting Bervin’s research and process by Charlotte Lagarde; and the Silk Poems book featuring Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Bradley Napier.
Jen Bervin
7S (Seven Silks) (detail), 2018. A Bombyx Mori cocoon in glass jar, a vial with a scroll printed on silk, a vial with a skein of silk thread, a glass vial of liquid silk fibroin, and a colophon. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Signed copy of Silk Poems by Jen Bervin. Granary Books, edition of 100, #79, available. Courtesy of the artist. 7S is an artist book project released by Granary Books that “elaborates upon the research and writings that inform Silk Poems.” Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Silk Poems print on silk, 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter. Digital print on silk fabric, suspended on aluminum tube. Courtesy of the artist. This print on silk shows Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Silk Poems print on silk (detail), 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter. Digital print on silk fabric, suspended on aluminum tube. Courtesy of the artist. This print on silk shows Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Silk Poems print on silk (detail), 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter. Digital print on silk fabric, suspended on aluminum tube. Courtesy of the artist. This print on silk shows Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Silk Poems print on silk (detail), 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter. Digital print on silk fabric, suspended on aluminum tube. Courtesy of the artist. This print on silk shows Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Silk Poems print on silk (detail), 2016. Silk film with poem nanoimprinted in gold spatter. Digital print on silk fabric, suspended on aluminum tube. Courtesy of the artist. This print on silk shows Bervin’s poem written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk. Installation view of Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect, curated by Kendra Paitz, and on view at University Galleries of Illinois State University from August 15 through December 13, 2020. Photo credit: Lyndsie Schlink.
Jen Bervin
Silk Line, 2015, 2016, 2020. Drawing performance. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin added Silk Line, a drawing/performance, to her current survey exhibition at University Galleries, on October 6, 2020. Using a white grease pencil directly on the window, she drew forms based on the pattern a silkworm makes while creating its cocoon. Bervin's adjacent Silk Poems book, film, and print include her poem (which also follows the pattern of a silkworm creating its cocoon) written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk.
Jen Bervin
Silk Line, 2015, 2016, 2020. Drawing performance. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin added Silk Line, a drawing/performance, to her current survey exhibition at University Galleries, on October 6, 2020. Using a white grease pencil directly on the window, she drew forms based on the pattern a silkworm makes while creating its cocoon. Bervin's adjacent Silk Poems book, film, and print include her poem (which also follows the pattern of a silkworm creating its cocoon) written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk.
Jen Bervin
Silk Line, 2015, 2016, 2020. Drawing performance. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist. Jen Bervin added Silk Line, a drawing/performance, to her current survey exhibition at University Galleries, on October 6, 2020. Using a white grease pencil directly on the window, she drew forms based on the pattern a silkworm makes while creating its cocoon. Bervin's adjacent Silk Poems book, film, and print include her poem (which also follows the pattern of a silkworm creating its cocoon) written from the perspective of a silkworm and composed in a six-character chain corresponding to the DNA structure of silk.
Publication
Jen Bervin: Shift Rotate Reflect
Exhibition Documentation
Audio publication by Melissa Johnson on 1:1:Infinity
Press
Educational Resources
- Reading List by Jen Bervin
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Art-making Demo: Erasure Poetry
- Art-making Demo: Draft Notation
- Art-making Activities: Grades K-6
- Art-making Activities: Grades 7-12
- Educator Handout: Grades K-6
- Educator Handout: Grades 7-12