Nora Cornell

Individual major: Book Studies

As Wellesley's first individual major in Book Studies, I have taken classes in English, History, and Studio Art to investigate the creation and dissemination of material texts, or texts-as-objects. My significant focus on letterpress printing has connected me with an incredible tradition of writers, artists, and printers extending back centuries and into the present day. I am particularly interested in the ways that physical form and materiality can influence our perception of the texts we read, and my work as a poet and a book artist is often grounded in the literary canon or my own religous background.

Shloshe She'arim

letterpress printed on French Paper Co. speckletone paper

Jewett Hallway Galleries

My senior thesis in Book Studies is a multidisciplinary investigation into the materiality of 19th-century tkhines, a genre of Yiddish prayers primarily intended for women's use in the home. Following a semester of archival research and intensive academic writing, I created this letterpress-printed "artist's pamphlet" as a contemporary interpretation of Tkhine Shloshe She'arim, or Tkhine of the Three Gates. The prayer was originally written by Sarah Bas Tovim, an 18th-century Jewish woman who lived in what is now Ukraine. In condensing Sarah's text, I wanted to showcase how womanhood affected Sarah's relationship with her culture and with the divine. I also made my own additions, printed in red, to evoke the similarities between Sarah's experience and my own, as two Jewish women living centuries apart.

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