Book of Cranes
A Convocation of Artists, Poets and Cranes Featuring the work of
Celebrate the annual migration of Sandhill Cranes to New Mexico’s Rio Grande Valley. This brilliant collaboration is a must-see for lovers of cranes and all those who appreciate unique artistic expression.

A Book of Cranes is a collaboration between 12 New Mexico poets and artists. The project took place in 2012 over a year's time in Albuquerque, NM. The poet artists awaited the cranes' arrival, watched them in the fields, and witnessed their departure. Throughout the year they exchanged poetry in a Japanese form called Renga.
​
A Book of Cranes is a large, accordion style folding screen book that measures 24" x 32" x 5" with a 16 ft. open, extended length. 10 pages, including covers, with art on both sides, are connected by book-cloth hinges and bamboo posts. A Book of Cranes is displayed in either an open position, standing upright on long tables so that viewers can walk around the book to see the art, or as loose pages housed in a specially made clamshell box.
​
The original art by 7 artists is a variety of silk paintings, watercolors, and woodcut prints. Poetry from the Renga and cover titles are written in brush calligraphy by Ginger Rice. The pages themselves are a heavy-weight, handmade paper created for the book by Stephanie Lerma. Covers are a mosaic inlay of colorful specialty papers with silk paintings of Sandhill Cranes by Judith Roderick at the center. A Book of Cranes was designed and fabricated by Dale Harris. The clamshell box was created by Dale Harris and Mita Saldano from Against the Grain.
Book of Cranes Renga
Renga is a group poem. It is a multi-person, collaborative and conversational form of Japanese poetry.
In translation, it is often constructed with a beginning 3 line stanza of 5/7/5 syllables followed by a 2 line stanza of 7/7 syllables which then repeats to the end.
As part of the Book of Cranes project, the artists and poets have joined together to write renga and integrate it into the show. Mostly we have talked about cranes and our experiences with them. ​Our ariake renga is a poem of longing. In New Mexico, the Sandhill Cranes are yearly visitors, arriving in September and October, departing in February and March. We borrowed the essence of Japanese ariake love poems, that sense of melancholy and longing after the beloved, to talk about cranes in a renga about their absence.
