Anna Wederspahn & Devon Damonte

Artist: Devon Damonte with Anna Wederspahn

Title: Rubbable South Puget Sound

Statement: 

Once humans in ancient China invented paper thin and strong enough, people were making rubbings to copy text from inscribed public markers and monuments. This window display continues that practice with a selection of some favorite commemorative textures in Olympia and beyond. I’ve focused on connecting South Sound maps with rubbings, the centerpiece highlighting the 60th anniversary of the 10,000 tile South Sound mosaic map at Percival Landing, created in June 1959 by designer Oliver Tiedeman of Klee Wyk Studio and tile mason Rod Dresser. For that 6×7 foot rubbing I made the paper myself locally with Jami Heinricher at Wind-Eye Handmade Paper / The Sherwood Press, and critical rubbing assistance was provided by key project advisor Anna, plus Hathor & Indigo. Sites of smaller rubbings here are numbered with locations on bigger maps. All celebrates Olympia’s artists, history, public arts, culture and flora.

I learned rubbing techniques from my father who began in Britain’s 1970s heyday of memorial brass rubbings, then continued with gravestones in California gold country. I’ve also enjoyed rubbing New England folk art slate markers, and I’m fondest of historic tree markers that may outlast their trees. 

Bio:

Since 1987 I’ve specialized in making, teaching, and showing handmade camera-less film animation, and creating innovative works on paper via rubbings, cyanotypes, book arts, and handmade paper. Highlights of the past thirty years include: 

• Artist Trust / Washington State Arts Commission Media Arts Fellowship

• New York Film Festival Views from the Avant Garde

• REDCat Theater at Disney Hall, LA

• Olympia Arts Commission “Here Today” public art project “Marquee Movies”