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Step into the delightful world of “Edith Merleau-Ponty.”
A playful, beautifully crafted art book written and illustrated by local artist Lorelei Jenner has just been published and is on the shelves at Scorpio Books.
“Edith” is a quirky, engaging young woman who has unfailing optimism and enthusiasm for all things cultural, contemporary and exotic.
First off, congratulations! And what’s the book all about?
Thank you! It’s what I’d call auto fiction, so it’s a little bit based on me but not completely. It’s sort of set in a time in my life from quite a while ago. But it is exaggerated and there are some things that are and aren’t true. It’s a bit of a love story – and basically follows a young woman, (who is a bit of a Francophile), as she delves into all these different things; The Beat Generation, the Bloomsbury Set, Conceptual Art, Existentialism even! She’s a quirky character, very enthusiastic and artistic.
So, a lot like you, then?
Just a little bit!
It’s a beautifully crafted art book, it looks gorgeous!
It is very much an art book – a lot of work has gone into the drawings. They’re mostly pen and ink drawings, with a splash of colour here and there. It’s minimal and spare in its design, a little bit reminiscent of Edward Gorey. Mostly I did the drawings first and then put the words together afterward. The writing is all hand done, no computer fonts used.
How did you come up with the idea?
It basically came from doodles that I did of funny things in my mind and then expanded out from there into illustration.
You’re an accomplished painter, are your illustrations different to your painting work?
Well actually, my paintings started out as illustrations. In the past, I’ve done a lot of illustrations for different things. I worked with a company in Australia, and I would illustrate stationery for them. I’ve done booklets and things like that so I’ve kind of been doing it on and off for years. The paintings are more of an expanded illustration really.
You’ve illustrated books before?
I did a children’s book cover for Walker Books Publishing but mostly my illustrations have been in different formats to books.
So, Edith is you first book?
It is! But actually, there is a back story behind it. I actually came up with the idea quite a few years ago, and then I went to Australia to work with this stationery company. They saw the book and wanted to publish it. I was very excited about it, but it was actually a bit of a disappointment to me, because it wasn’t really done as I would have liked it to be and it wasn’t distributed as a book here in New Zealand. So, at the beginning of the year I was thinking about what I really wanted to achieve this year, the book was something that was very important to me and I’d always wanted to reclaim it, so to speak. It was copyrighted for ten years but once I got my copyright back I could do it. I had some of the artwork but it was all over the show, so I had to collect it all together and redo all the artwork. My sister in law, who is a graphic designer, graciously helped me put it all together and then I published it myself.
That gave you total control.
It meant that I could control every little thing. The paper stock, is very nice. I wanted a linen cover – and it feels beautiful. It’s stitched in and everything. I wanted all the colours to be exactly the way I wanted it to be.
And I imagine as a visual artist, the design is very important to you.
The whole package, yes. Everything has to be in my visual language.
Had you always wanted to write a book?
No! I never thought that it would be something I’d be interested in doing. I love reading, but I never thought words would be for me. There aren’t actually too many words in it – it’s more of an illustration type book.
Now, the book features a cat, but I know you have a very cute dog.
The cat is called Clement. And you can feel Edith’s longing for a dog when she’s on the beach throwing sticks to the cat, but the cat just walks off. She longs for a dog. She never gets the dog. Not in this story.
Well, I have to say that having met your dog, Birdy, I do think that he deserves a book.
He does. He’s such a character. He’s a little devil but he looks so cute. He’s a very entitled little dog. He is like Clement the cat – he won’t chase sticks. That would be well beneath him.
How’s the response been to the book so far? Were you nervous about peoples’ reactions?
I was – but I had shown people during the process, and I got a really positive response. People seemed to be able to relate to it – it’s just lovely when people look at it and start laughing.
Where can people get a copy of the book?
It’s selling at Scorpio and Swoon – and people can contact me directly as well, through email, loreleijenner@gmail.com . I’m just going to do it locally at first, it’s very much a gift book and very much a book for a certain type of woman. If you’re into cultural stuff, you’ll get it.
Hopefully people can relate to it and find something to smile and laugh about.
