Bonnie and Morgan Press

PRESS RELEASE January 15, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

YOUNG ARTIST'S BOOK ON LEWIS AND CLARK FEATURED IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART'S EXHIBIT: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION: 1450 TO THE PRESENT— THROUGH APRIL 25, 2004

2004 MARKS BEGINNING OF THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE LEWIS & CLARK JOURNEY
Last night We Were Awoke

New York — As part of the exhibition Highlights from the Permanent Collection: 1450 to the Present, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Drawings, Prints and Books, 25 year–old Brittany Sanders' artist book on Lewis and Clark is exhibited along with the works of such major artists as Tiepolo, Caracci, Claes Oldenburg, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, Jasper Johns and Jim Dine.

Last Night We Were Awoke, now on exhibit in an illuminated display case at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is artist Sanders' recreation of Merriwether Lewis and William Clark's famed westward expedition in this accordion–style book. Each page unites a chart of the stars and planets exactly as they appeared to the explorers on a particular night with an excerpt from their writings. On the reverse side are the artist's own visual musings on the historic journey. The title of the book comes from Clark's description of the northern lights upon viewing them for the first time. This past year marked the bicentennial of the beginning of the expedition, which lasted three years.
Brittany Sanders at the Met Art critic and author Lawrence Weschler wrote of Sanders' first artist book I WAS THERE, Brittany Sanders' anthology jewelbox of an artist's book is a veritable wondercabinet, brimming over with daft marvels and somber delights — stories, drawings, rumors, fables, photos, dreamscapes — all of them exquisitely fashioned and sumptuously presented…"

Sanders, a Los Angeles-based artist, recently graduated from Brown University where she studied under Walter Feldman in a class called Art of the Book. Sanders discovered artist books and the idea of producing limited edition works printed on the letterpress as a vehicle for her art. She follows in a long tradition of artists working in the medium of artist books (or livres d´artistes), from Henri Matisse to Ed Ruscha.

Sanders' works are in the permanent collections of The Getty Museum, MOMA, New York Public Library, Stanford University, Yale University, The Norton Family Foundation and others.