Alphabet of Augury & Haruspicy

This is a book project I've been working on for a few weeks, called "Alphabet of Augury & Haruspicy." The drawings are ink on bristol, while the cover and binding is made with embroidery floss, a papier mache bird, canvas, more bristol and ink, and linen tape. 

Augury is the superstitious process of determining the future from the flight of birds, while haruspicy is a similar divination that uses the entrails of sacrificed animals; both originated in Ancient Rome. This book is a visual exploration of these practices as well as the practice of art, mark-making, and letterforms. Both divination practices rely on "signs" from the gods, which the augur or haruspex interprets. In this bound series of original drawings, the birds bodies and innards become at once sign, letters, and text, the text becomes entrails and fortune-telling, and the act of art-making becomes akin to the act of divining - or creating - the future. 

Right now I only have photographs of the bound book and selected bound pages, I will post scans when I have them. These photos are on the blog in the order in which they are bound in the book, though not all pages are shown.