Awake to Nap

So I was at this interesting women's art exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art last Saturday. The exhibit was another story--after having a few days for the show to "steep" in my mind, I think the work that stuck with me the most was this piece by Faith Wilding.


This book was in the museum shop, and I recognized it because Dangerboy and I had been reading it together for a couple of weeks since P. picked it up from the library. I thought I'd recommend it--DB liked it, and I did too. It would be great for a shower present because the illustrations are cuttings from black paper; high-contrast, good for infants.

But somewhat (dare I say) bored moms of newborns will appreciate it too--the cuttings are unusually lovely and imaginative, as are the works McClure chose for each letter of the alphabet (the cover picture illustrates "dinghy" and "dream"). Best of all, McClure notes that she created this book during her new baby's naps--and hints that it's an almost-alphabet book (it only goes to N) because she was simply too exhausted to go any further (wonder it her baby started sleeping for only 30 minutes at a time, like mine did?). This little detail sealed the deal for me--Nikki McClure just sounded like a kindred spirit. I'll have to see what else she's written.