Mankind’s first form of the book were Ishango tally sticks. Tallies were carved into bones symbolizing recordings of receipts, counting numbers and calendars.
Below are tally sticks I created using found wood and sticks with burned tallies in them, representing numbers and counting. They are held in a clay vessel.
My personal stamp collection was turned into prints and then transformed into a foldable book: Celeste’s Little Book of Prints, limited edition.
Burrito Book
The binder is the foil and tortilla(canvas, acrylic paint), symbols of my youth, my familia, cultural symbols. 100% inedible
Fortune Cookie Book
After years of hoarding fortune cookies, I finally decided to crack them all open and read their fortunes. I think placed them into tiny glass bottles.
Moon Book: Dedicated to My Mom.
A Moon/Drum book with interactive parts such as 10 small books on the outside, 1 codex inside with a doll attached to the book all held in a Moon/Drum box. Won 1st Place at the Alverno College Observations Exhibition 2015.
Doll Book
2 hand bound codexes as the bust, a glass jar with a drawn face on tissue paper as the face/head and found sticks/driftwood wired as legs, soldered Posada piece in the middle as the stomach all handmade by myself. Found objects make up the rest of the composition.
C e l e s t e C o n t r e r a s A r t 