Feather, Leaf, Bark & Stone

A pillow book of poems, dreams and stories typed on sheets of gold leaf, by the Kate Greenaway Medal-winning co-author of The Lost Words

Feather, Leaf, Bark & Stone is a book of poems and meditations with a difference. More than a hundred short texts have been typed onto small squares of gold leaf, then photographed. These pieces are arranged in a sequence which culminates in a glorious final section made up of texts typed directly onto leaves, bark and feathers.

Jackie started to write the pieces shortly after her father died, and for the first time ever she found herself unable to paint. The words grew out of her grief and, guided by her deep intimacy with the natural world, these objects emerged to fill the space her paintings had left behind.

This book is full of the light and wind that fills the Pembrokeshire coast where it was crafted, each page anchored to the landscape by the mechanical rhythm of Jackie’s antique typewriters. The result is a collection of individual artworks to be both looked at and read. It is poetry re-imagined by a visual artist; words transformed back into their original function as images.

Feather, Leaf, Bark & Stone announces a new departure for Jackie Morris and confirms her as an artist and writer at the peak of her power.