“A book for our time of isolation, and a reminder ‘home’ is our real destination”
Cara Armstrong, director of Norwich University’s School of Architecture+Art and Design+Build Collaborative has published “A Trick of Living,” a book of digital sketches and poems.
The digital sketching adventure began for Armstrong, who also teaches classes in design and architecture,when she was issued an iPad as part of Norwich’s iPad initiative in 2019. Posts of her sketches on Facebook drew a modest following and the attention of Big Table Publishing Co. Acquisitions Editor Robin Stratton, who asked Armstrong whether she had thought of making a book.
“I’d been a big fan of Cara’s sketches,” Stratton said, “and when I contacted her, I had the idea of suggesting she collaborate with a poet. Imagine my delight when I discovered she has a second skill – writing poetry! Her brief slices of contentment, humor, and cheery observations were a perfect accompaniment to the sketches so many of us have been admiring on Facebook. ‘A Trick of Living’ is Big Table’s first illustrated book, and we are really proud and excited.”
Armstrong started writing micropoems to accompany her sketches, and a type of memoir combined with a phenology journal emerged.
“Although not a true phenology journal, my writing and drawing are a record and reflection on what is happening around me, an exploration of home — birds at my feeder, life with three cats and a dog, flora and fauna in my garden and those of my neighbors and Camel’s Hump outside my window,” Armstrong said. “Drawing and writing provide a sense of comfort, engagement even in social isolation, and celebrate interspecies solidarity.”
Armstrong’s approach is drawing fans and critical praise.
“Cara Armstrong has crafted an extraordinary glimpse of ‘traveling home,’ an intimate environment filled with animals, flowers, everyday objects, and garden, interwoven with poetry. A book for our time of isolation, and a reminder ‘home’ is our real destination,” said Amy Gigi Alexander, publisher of Panoramic Publishing and editor-in-chief of the British literary journal Panorama: the Journal of Intelligent Travel.
Three of Armstrong’s previous books have an architecture focus; two of them include her illustrations. “A Trick of Living,” her fifth book, is the first time she has mashed up her sketches with her poems, which have been have been published in print and online. Outlets have included Sinister Wisdom, Organs of Vision and Speech: An Art and Poetry Journal, Digging Through the Fat, Minerva Rising, Dogwood Review, Watershed Review, The Stillwater Review and Adanna.
Armstrong’s artwork has been shown at locations nationwide, including the Boston Architectural College, Boston; Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania; and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.
“Playful, spare, and keenly observant, Cara Armstrong’s drawings touch the core of animals being themselves,”Joan Larkin, author of “My Body: New and Selected Poems” said. “Her vivid short poems, a marvel on their own, strike sparks with the images she has paired them with. Attentive, tender, alive to the shape and mystery of what is, this book is a source of nonstop pleasure.”
Charlotte Digregorio, author of “Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing,” said, “It’s evident that Armstrong finds joy in being a poet and observing the natural world. Stunningly beautiful, yet simple illustrations to accompany these short poems.”
Armstrong is available for readings and book signings.
For personalized or signed copies, visit caraarmstrong.com. Books can also be ordered through the publisher, Big Table Publishing, at bigtablepublishing.com/product-page/a-trick-of-living or is available on Amazon, including in a Kindle edition, at amzn.to/3qJA5y4
