Daniella Zoller

This past August, Ursula Zia, a senior at Clark University, worked on their artist book Root Kinetics at the Center for Book Arts in New York. Ursula is double majoring in studio art and environmental studies, along with a minor in creative writing. They received funding to work on this project through the Steinbrecher fellowship that Clark offers to students in varying areas of study. They became aware of this opportunity with help from Professor Mandy Gutmann-Gonzalez, who recommended that they apply for this funding to help Ursula pursue their multidisciplinary work between art and writing. Ursula found the specific location in New York through referrals from Mandy and Jan Johnson, who thought this center would be a good fit for Ursula’s passions after they took a book-making class here at Clark. Professor Jeff Noh also acted as an informal mentor, giving Ursula recommended reading by diasporic authors working with literary abstraction.

Ursula mentioned that their end product went through many phases and alterations before becoming the 144-page black-and-white book that they now have on display at the juried exhibition Page Turner at Arts Worcester. The majority of the book is filled with art with bits of text pasted throughout the piece. The writing that is in Ursula’s piece consists of twelve different one to two-page poems. These poems focus on abstract humans that travel across a landscape. Ursula shared that they prefer abstract art, which is why they take such a liking to poetry. They described poetry as “the bones of existence,” stating that poetry is “how you create emotions and indescribable things with words.” The inspiration for Ursula’s poetry came straight from their own journal, which they transcribed and then ultimately chose to use for their project. The inspiration for the title, Root Kinetics, surrounds the question of roots, and how our roots move. They explained that roots are shifting all the time, and they feel that roots are propelled by some unseen force. This is a subject that they wanted to explore more in-depth and play around with, using the abstract specifically.

The process of making their book included working with different types of machines that Ursula had not used before, including a letterpress and archaic book presses. Ursula had taken a print-making class before, but they said that this was a different experience. They described the office in which they worked, explaining that it was a room filled with drawers that were full of wooden alphabet letters of all different sizes and fonts, as well as objects that were called ‘furniture’ in the Center. The process of printing letters is quite tedious, as you have to set up the letters in a specific way, ensuring that nothing is backward or askew.

Ursula said they mostly printed letters, but also garbage that they found on the streets of New York, including string, empty mandarin bags made of plastic netting, and leaves. They expressed how living in New York was a huge inspiration for them, which is why they chose to use found objects from the streets, the subway, and parks. Ursula said that the energy of the city was so much different than being in Worcester and wandering around helped them find cool objects to keep their artistic flow alive. The book is made up of monotype mirrored objects that Ursula found on their travels, and the poems are glued onto the artistic prints of the book. They mentioned that the book follows a very nonlinear form, traveling across the page with things upside down and turned around. They wanted it to align with how they think about the world. They communicated how they enjoy using abstract language and imagery to activate people’s imaginations – and being in New York gave them the space and inspiration to do so. Ursula said they would be open to going back to the Center for Book Arts, especially to show their colleagues – who are mostly older poets and artists – the completed and polished version of their book. Ursula is very proud of this piece, as they were the one to bind it and sew it together once it was complete. They are hoping to make a digital copy of their book in class next semester, that way it could be further distributed and shared with the world. Ursula stated that once their book is no longer in the Page Turner at Arts Worcester, they want to continue distributing their book, putting it on display, and letting people flip through it to absorb their art.

Ursula’s book took just about a month to cultivate, and the process came to an end when Ursula was at a point where they felt like their book was complete. They felt good about it, and “why change what you love already?” They expressed how they did not have doubts about whether or not their piece was complete, they just knew they were ready to share it with the world. Ursula has a very ‘anything is possible’ state of mind, where they are open to learning multiple artistic medias and they hardly ever get artist’s block. They shared that they are very open to failure, and they don’t hold back from trying new things. They have many dreams and aspirations for their next steps and projects.

They shared a glimpse of their senior capstone with me, which surrounds the concept that is the ‘architecture of lullaby.’ They are painting with ink on a 15-foot roll of rice paper. The painting consists of various monster-like forms. They’re also thinking of sculpting figures out of found metal and hanging them in a kinetic way around the painting. Ursula envisions that this piece of art will inspire some of their creative writing as well, which will help with their senior thesis. They also mentioned that they created a sort of Venn diagram that includes the concepts of self, world, and other, and they’re hoping to incorporate this into their lullaby project. They mentioned that this diagram will make people think about where they fall, and how the media that people seek out will influence their positionality. Some things that they are considering include experimenting with music production to make a sort of lullaby glitch playlist that will play while their art is being displayed.

In the future, Ursula hopes to consolidate all of their art from past classes into a much larger book. They want to put their art on display and share it with as many people as they can. They want to let their art go into the world and not own any of it anymore. They want their work to be seen, shared, and felt by others. Ursula wants to travel with their art in the future, as they believe that other places can bring out so much in a person – a discovery they made throughout their time in New York.

Ursula’s influences are strongly based on abstraction and poetry, as well as magical realism and the idea of shifting selves. They said they’ve been reading texts the past few semesters that focus on world-building, and it is a concept that they are looking to explore more deeply. They are also looking into experimenting with short story and horror genres and contextualizing how ecology and land can fit into that. Ursula is very interested in using art and writing as a way to inspire people that will help “dismantle the human nature binary that’s been such a destructive part of Western society.”

Ursula is in no rush after graduating this year. They are hoping to take time to process the college experience and figure out what community means outside of Clark’s campus. Ursula mentioned that they would consider writing and publishing a book that didn’t include any of their art, solely utilizing their creative writing skills. They are hoping to rediscover themselves and see where their experiences will take their art after college.

Ursula recommends that everyone goes to view the Page Turner at Arts Worcester, which has been happening since November 16, 2023, and will continue until December 17, 2023. Ursula says that you should not just go to view their book, but also the artwork that all the other artists have worked so hard on. They mention that they find it fascinating to see how other people synthesize the world through their art, and this show is the perfect way to do so.