Sycamore Spells – Isabel Theselius

“The art of Isabel Theselius often drifts into the work of spell casting. Her sculptures, drawings, paintings, videos, and performances could easily be derived from her unique magical thinking: effigies to bring about love, objects to ward against grief, and pictures to protect from natural disasters. To her, fire can be a vigilant protector and flowers can be malevolent. Her images and materials conjure alternate time frames and states of being. But such enchantments can sometimes go wrong, spiraling out of the witch’s control. In her latest body of paintings, Theselius welcomes the loss of control, surrendering to each composition and the whims of her collaborative progeny.” 

-Catherine Taft, 2023

Designed by Síta Valrún, the limited edition hardcover book uses Theselius’s work as a catalyst to explore the time and place during the creation of the works in the exhibition, through ideas of protection, community, motherhood, and spell casting.
The book centers on two bodies of work, the artist’s X-Flowers painting series, and a series of colored pencil-on fabric drawings of homes engulfed in flames in the Sycamore Grove neighborhood of East Los Angeles where the artists previously resided.
The book also features poetry by Síta Valrún in a collaborative photo-collage project featuring images that Theselius took as inspiration and for reference leading to the paintings and drawings in Sycamore Spells.

Designed by Síta Valrún
Published by Central Server Works Press 
Limited Edition of 50
Printed in Los Angeles by El Sereno Graphics
Exhibition Photography by Casey Orozco
Hardcover with gold foil embossing