These "books" are a growing series of three-dimensional works about the effects of certain bark beetle species on Western forests.

 

 

You can view a video that offers inside page
views, some of the science about the epidemic outbreaks, and comments from collaborators here>

opening frame of Suze Woolf video about bark beetle books

 

Insect Killed
(Volume I)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark-beetle-bored bark embedded in epoxy resin; laser-cut wooden pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes, including the holes that the beetles made; wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden beads with burned in letters which spell "insect killed."

3.75" x 5" x 2" plus 6-inch strings and beads

SOLD

Lingua Larvae,
the Language of Grubs
 

(Volume II )

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark-beetle-bored bark embedded in epoxy resin; laser-cut
wooden pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes, digital image of pine-beetle bored cambium; wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden beads with burned in letters which spell "lingua larvae."

3.75" x 10" x 2" plus 12-inch strings and beads

Bug Ruts
(Volume III)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark-beetle-bored bark embedded in epoxy resin; laser-cut felt pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes, dyed with iron oxide; wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden "worry" beads

9.25" x 5" x 2.5" plus 6-inch strings and beads

 

Chewed and Charred
(Volume IV)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Laser-cut and etched-acrylic covers; laser-cut cork pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes; wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden beads

12.5" x 6" x 3.75" plus 12-inch strings and beads

Coleoptera coniferi
(Volume V)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark-beetle-bored bark embedded in epoxy resin; laser-cut and -etched cork pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes; wire-edge bound with linen thread; twig beads.

5.125" x 8.625" x 2.5" plus 15-inch strings and beads

Pine Beetle Killed,
Forest Fire Etched

(Volume VI)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Laser-cut and etched-wood covers; laser-cut felt pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes, dyed with iron oxide; wire-edge bound with linen thread; tea-dyed wooden letter beads

4.75" x 7.5" x 2.625" plus 10-inch strings and beads

Grub Nest
(Volume VII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Stiffened, sewn and beaded laser-cut wool felt covers; laser-cut iron-oxide dyed wool felt pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes; white-bead "grubs" sewn into "galleries;" wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden beads.

12.5" x 5" x 2.5" plus 7-inch strings and beads

Larva Galleria
(Volume VIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark-beetle-bored bark embedded in epoxy resin; laser-cut and iron-oxide-dyed felt pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes, sewn into "galleries" with white-bead "grubs"; wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden beads with burned in letters which spell the title.

12.5" x 6" x 3.75" plus 10-inch strings and beads

Untitled
(Volume IX)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark-beetle-bored bark embedded in epoxy resin; laser-cut and wood pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes, engraved with tracks of different bark beetle species; wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden beads.

9.25" x 5.25" x 3" plus 7-inch strings and beads

Encyclopedia Beetletainia
(Volume X)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Laser-cut and -etched acrylic; laser-cut wood pages that interpolate the front to the back cover shapes, engraved with tracks of different bark beetle species; copper foil stamped name plates; wire-edge bound with linen thread; wooden beads.

9.25" x 5.25" x 2.25" plus 11.5-inch strings and beads - SOLD

Teanaway Log
(Volume XI)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Fir-engraver-inscribed wood; wire-edge bound with linen thread; magnets.

8"W x 4.85"L x 4.5"H closed


Buprestid Katakana

(Volume XII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Alaska yellow cedar, leather, linen thread

9"H x 8"W x 4"D closed - SOLD


Forest Decomposition
(Volume XIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Beetle-inscribed bark embedded in epoxy resin covers; laser-cut mat board pages with tea-dyed rice paper and pyrography; viscose endpapers, linen thread

9"H x 8"W x 4"D closed

Photo of Suze Woolf artist book about bark beetles
Ars datum est
(Volume XIV)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Fir-engraver-inscribed log; laser-cut mat board; paint; linen thread.

16.5"H x 5" diameter, closed

Each page is essentially a bar from a bar chart representing the areas affected in British Columbia and Alberta from 1999-2007.


Red Stage
(Volume XIV)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Mountain pine beetle galleries in pine bark embedded in resin, laser-cut bamboo pages with color laserprint transfers, industrial wool felt, wire, linen thread.

15"H x 7.5"W x 3"D, closed

LANDSAT based surveys classify forest health according to pixel hue: green is healthy, red has been recently killed by beetles, grey has been dead for one or more seasons.

Spatial Niche Partitioning
(Volume XVI)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark beetle galleries on pine branch, laser-cut mat board pages with laserprint transfers, , elastic thread.

22.5"L x 2.0"-4.75" diam

Different species of beetles space themselves out along the height of the tree according to their use of resources. Aggressive mountain pine beetles get the lowest portion of the trunk, where the most nutrients are flowing up and down the tree.


Nihon Calligraphia
(Volume XVII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Alaska yellow cedar, leather, linen thread

14"H x 3.625"W x 3.5"D closed; 29"W open

An accordion-fold book, more like a Japanese screen than the Western codex, using similar materials to Volume XII.

 


Black Branch
(Volume XVIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Maple branch, laser-cut and -engraved bamboo pages, felt end papers, linen thread

27"L x 3.5"D closed; 3.5" diameter

A difficult book to create pages and binding for, since the limb was both arched and its split was twisted. The engravings of beetle galleries spread up the pages from the bottom, back to front.

SOLD

Photo of Suze Woolf artist book about bark beetles

Poetry Sticks 
(Volume XIX, A and B)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark beetle galleries on small pine branches, laser-cut and engraved cotton vellum pages, leather, spine silk thread.

8.5"L x 1" diam
9"L x 1" diam

These books include two poems by Melinda Mueller. My favorite line of Larva (XIXA) is, "they write by excavation, by/gnawing forward toward the next life,/the life with wings."

Unwinding through Time 
(Volume XX)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Bark beetle galleries on alpine fir or pine, printed Tyvek, metal latch hardware

6"H x 3.5" diam

The "pages" here are strips of USFS Aerial Detection Survey maps  in a triangular helical cylinder origami fold. The maps show a small portion of North Central Washington from 1996 to 2009. SOLD

The Curve of Loss
(Volume XXI)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Dyed silk, embroidery floss, branches

Scroll: 24.5”W x 17”H x 1”D
Case: 13”H x 3.125” diam

The top embroidered curve is the loss to western forest lands caused by all bark beetles from 2000 to 2012, ~46 million acres. The lower curve is losses due solely to mountain pine beetle. The threads mark year points.

Data from Union of Concerned Scientists, "Rocky Mountain Forests at Risk"

 

Scolytid Lifecycle 
(Volume XXII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Fir engraver galleries on log, iron-oxide-dyed wood felt, embroidery thread, beads, tarnished brass grommets and binding post.

5"H x 6" diam

Off-white beads stand for eggs in their chambers, embroidered trails as larvae chew their way out of the chambers, becoming larger, and punched-out exit holes indicate where they became beetles and flew off to the next tree...
SOLD

 

Towers of Silence 
(Volume XXIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Logs, laser-cut and laser-engraved iron-oxide-dyed cotton vellum pages, wire-edge bound with brass rods, linen thread.

21"H x 17"W x 9D"

These books include a poem by Melinda Mueller comparing beetle-killed trees to Zoroastrian excarnation towers. Because there are two voices in the poem, I made two towers. The small books are at each summit, with the poem repeated in alternating fonts to indicate each voice.

 

What the Beetles Wrote 
(Volume XXIV)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Mountain pine beetle galleries on log; cast paper pulp, mat board, iron-oxide-dyed non-woven viscose

11"H x 9.5"W x 6"D closed;
76"W open

I used silicon molds on logs to cast paper pulp pages with beetle galleries debossed on them. SOLD

Outbreak
(Volume XXV)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Log with beetle galleries, handmade Japanese paper, iron-oxide-dyed non-woven viscose

12"H x 6" diam

Some of the sheets are chiri ("leftover") kozo fiber which has many small bits of bark embedded in them. The frontispiece has leaf skeletons embedded in it. The increasing circular areas covered by rubbings taken from the same represent the proportion of tree mortality in the Quesnel Timber Supply Area of central British Columbia 1999 - 2016.

 Photo of Suze Woolf artist book

Hidden in Plain Sight
(Volume XXVI)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Log with beetle galleries; letterpress-printed, handmade and commercial Japanese paper; iron-oxide-dyed non-woven viscose

12"H x 4.75" diam

Based on a paper by Six et al.: ~25% of lodgepole pines in a research tract survived mass attack by mountain pine beetles. DNA analyses of the survivors showed "quieter" encoding for certain VOCs that the beetles perceive.

The interior pages of the book have been printed with "ASCII art" of the mRNA encoding for monoterpene synthase. The proportion of dark, low-contrast ("quiet") to light, high-contrast ("noisy") pages in the book is 25/100.

 Suze Woolf artist book

Survivorship
(Volume XXVII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Log with mountain pine beetle galleries; letterpress-printed text with inked-in galleries, handmade and commercial Japanese paper; brass binding post

6"H x 9.5" diam

Like Vol. XXVI, based on a paper by Six et al.: ~7% of whitebark pines in a research tract survived mass attack by mountain pine beetles. DNA analyses of the survivors showed less encoding for certain VOCs that the beetles perceive.

The interior pages of the book have been printed with "ASCII art" of the mRNA base pairs for the gene that turns of monoterpene synthase. The proportion of dark, low-contrast ("quiet") to light, high-contrast ("noisy") pages in the book is 7/100.

SOLD

Suze Woolf artist bookSplit the Difference
(Reconstruction Test
Volume XXVIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Branch with beetle galleries, various papers, linen thread, wire, beads

4"H x 3.5" diam

A test of a form in which small "booklets" are bound into splits in a branch such that, when open, the pages can be viewed; and when closed, the shape returns to its original round form.

SOLD

 Suze Woolf artist book
Codex genetica

(Volume XXIX)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Log with beetle galleries, offset-printed handmade Japanese papers, Western codex binding, linen thread iron-oxide-dyed non-woven viscose

11"H x 5.5" diam

The large scale version of Volume XXVIII. I glued each booklet between its wedge covers with iron-oxide-dyed viscose (derived from wood!) endpapers. The ratio of dark to light pages follows the proportions explained for Volumes XXV and XXVI.

 Photo of Suze Woolf artist book

Species Distribution
(Volume XXX)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Douglas fir branch, laser-cut wood, laser-print transfers, viscose and silk, Kevlar thread, wood beads

3.5" x 32.5" closed, 3.5" x 19' open

The longest book I have made yet, it represents the varieties of bark beetle species that may be found distributed along the height of the tree.

 

 

 Photo of Suze Woolf artist book

Photo of Suze Woolf Artist BookBeetle Graph
(Volume XXXI)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Douglas fir branches, laser-cut wood, laserprint transfers, bronze rings

86"H x 18"W x 3"D

The top three species contributing to
tree mortality in Washington State from 2009-2018:

  • Dendroctonus ponderosae (~69%)
  • Scolytus ventralis (~20%)
  • Dendroctonus pseudotsugae (11%)

Data from Aerial Detection Surveys summarized in WA DNR annual Forest Health reports SOLD

 Photo of Suze Woolf artist book

Photo of Suze Woolf artist book
Obligate Mutualism
(Volume XXXII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Branch, laser-cut wood panels, iron-oxide-dyed and industrial wool felt, linen threat, embroidery floss

8.75"H x 6.75"W x 3"D

Mountain pine beetles and pinion Ips carry species of fungi on their bodies. The fungi's microfilaments burrow into the wood searching for nutrients. They transfer phosphorus and nitrogen back out toward the surface; without them, these beetles could not digest the wood. The covers represent the beetle galleries; embroidery on the pages represent the fungi, whose grazing leaves a tell-tale stain in the wood--bluer for the mountain pine beetle and greyer for the pinon Ips.

 Photo of Suze Woolf artist book

Hyphae
(Volume XXXIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Log half-round, handmade and commercial papers, abaca fiber

14"H x 6"W x 8"D

Based on the idea that fungi mycelium provide access to nutrients from otherwise indigestible wood as is described in Volume XXXII. Log from below American Ridge, WA; fiber from milnery supply as it is often used as stiffener in elaborate women's hats.

Photo of Suze Woolf artist book
Resource Competition
(Volume XXXIV)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Branch, dimensional lumber with blue stain, laser-cut wood with laser print transfers

5"H x 12.75"W x 4"D

Both bark beetles and humans like to make their homes out of trees, so in some sense we are competing for the same resource. This book interpolates the gallery-covered branch into a piece of 1x4 dimensional lumber. You can see a video animation of the pages here: https://vimeo.com/468773992 SOLD

 

Base Pairs
(Volume XXXV)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Branch with galleries; wire-edge binding, offset-printed mRNA c-a-t-g encoding for monoterpene synthase; brass buckle, iron-oxide-dyed felt

9.75"W x 3" diameter

The offset printed pages have the c-a-t-g base pairs interspersed with mountain pine beetle galleries, in the same proportions as Vol. XXVII, Survivorship.

 

The Sky Cracks Open
(Volume XXXVI)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Branch with galleries; laser-cut wood pages in an accordion-fold, typewriter type on paper, painted folded Tyvek backing

4.5"W x 3.5"H x 2"D

Typewriter poet Sean Petrie wrote me the poem that inspired this book. He was patient enough to retype it according to my templated pages, on three different kinds of paper, which I then decided should be cut-and-pasted onto the pages, "ransom-note-style."

It begins, "The sky cracked open." The salient ending of the poem is,

"From the leaves/To/The bark beetles/Scurrying/Beneath

Laying out/The warning/In a language/We/Have Yet/To grasp

A pattern for all/Any/Who take/The time/To see."

SOLD

Photo of Suze Woolf artist book about bark beetles

Emergency Brake
(Volume XXXVII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Branch with beetle galleries; letterpress pages on abaca paper, printed by Ellie Mathews/The North Press; bamboo placemat; brass eyelets and screws; iron-oxide dyed viscose.

12"W x 19"L open;  4" diameter closed

Murray Reiss' poem is repeated on 3 pages, because "If we were bark beetles/
we couldn't/stop/not with one weakened spruce or pine/still standing."

Photo of Suze Woolf artist book about bark beetles

Below the Bark
(Volume XXXVIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

Log with beetle galleries; fabric printed with original painting of ponderosa bark, quilt batting, black grommets and wood screws, commercial fabric, magnets.

12"W x 19"L open;  4" diameter closed

Named in honor of our 2021-22 eponymous exhibit at the Missoula Art Museum. SOLD

Photo of Suze Woolf bark beetle book

What the Beetles Sang
(Volume XXXVIII)

Book Details


Unique, not editioned

 

Sliced and laser-etched log with beetle galleries (Scolytus monticolae); antique violin clamps.

6.575"W x 8.5"H x 5.75"D

The violin clamps were used to make Hadanger folk violins, so I felt the book needed to reference music. Aldo Rivera Renteria composed a short suite of music to accompany the piece, listen to it here: What the Beetles Sang | Bark Beetles Book Vol. 39 - YouTube.

Photo of Suze Woolf bark beetle book

 

The Orchestration of Climate
(Volume XL)

Book Details


Edition of 2

Digital print of original painting of Ponderosa bark, laser-cut and -etched wood, panoramic photo of beetle-chewed log, laser-printed and alcohol-dyed score

10.25"W x 13.25"H x 1.25"D

Aldo Rivera Renteria also composed a longer suite of music to accompany Volume 39, which demanded a more formal folio of the score. Listen to it here: Conversation, Improvisation No. 6 | Wood and Metal - YouTube.

 Photo of Suze Woolf Artist Book

A Brief Bestiary of Bark Beetles
(Volume XLI)

 

Book Details


Unique

Shoulder cut-off boards of Douglas fir; Laser print transfers of rhyming stanzas about 22 species; weighted base, wooden pole, leather straps with brass buckles

10"W x 39"H x 10"D

The lumber was given to me by cabinetmaker emertius Kurt Roheim who logged and milled the boards himself. The lines from the mill reminded me of children's handwriting exercise sheets and from there the idea of an alphabet book for bark beetles arose. I realized however that each species' gallery could stand in for a human's initial capital letter.