32 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MARCH 6-12, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com FACE TO FACE Once an amateur bike racer, it’s hard to stop Joy Colangelo from achieving anything once she sets her mind to it. When the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown launched, she taught herself to draw. As she walked the streets of Pacific Grove with her young grandson, she sketched the nature surrounding them. Soon she had a beautiful handcrafted artist’s book, The Illustrated Pacific Grove. “Oh my god, I’m really good,” Colangelo recalls saying to herself, after taking stock of the drawing that would become the first page of her book, featuring the flora and fauna of Crespi Pond on Point Pinos. It spurred her to keep going and dream of making multiple copies. The book is like a walk through the town, depicting wildlife along the shore and other natural areas. Colorful illustrations show birds, reptiles, insects and the paw prints of native animals, along with trees, shrubs and flowers. She backed up all of her illustrations with research to ensure that everything was scientifically correct. Artists’ books refer to books made entirely by an artist, or an artist in partnership with a book binder. The books often push the boundaries of what a book can be, creating an interactive experience for the reader. Colangelo has already progressed to books with intricate folds, sliding parts and other ways for the reader to experience them. Colangelo thought maybe she’d sell 10 copies of her book. She received orders for 140, selling at $150 apiece. They are printed and hand-stitched by her. An affordable, commercially printed version is available at Bookworks in Pacific Grove, as well as other shops around town. She didn’t start out life as an artist. She studied ancient Greek and Latin at UC Santa Cruz before spending her 20s as an amateur bike racer. She returned to Santa Cruz and worked as a landscaper and began buying homes as rentals before getting a degree in occupational therapy. She worked for the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula for 21 years, riding her bike to work every day. “I loved every minute of it,” she says. Weekly: Why artists’ books? Colangelo: I started looking into book art—it’s a whole world with its own museums and contests. The highest prestige is to get into a university collection. And I thought, “So I’ll aim for that.” About three books into [making The Illustrated Pacific Grove], when I first started selling it, the librarian at Hopkins [Marine Station, Stanford University’s marine laboratory] said, “Stanford wants to buy your book.” Now what the frickity frack? I’ve got to set bigger goals. I’m walking my first handmade book down the stormy, rocky coast over to Hopkins at their library, and they go, “We’ve made a box for it, it’s going to sit in front of our Natural Science Department.” Who gets to have this life? It’s just so amazingly special. The books you are making now are very sculptural, including origami-like folds. The books have to carry their own authority without me talking, and then they have to be art. They have to speak for themselves because we can’t speak for ourselves. A lot of where these go, they have to be that seductive or that alluring. Art books are meant to be opened and played with and go, “Wow!” Turning those pages, something hopefully happens in the brain—“What do you mean we almost lost those frogs?” Maybe it goes to a different part of our brain through art. What was your thinking behind organizing The Illustrated Pacific Grove? It’s in chronological order of walking through P.G. I decided aesthetically it was good to put insects [in the monarch section]. I tried to draw mountain lions and skunks and stuff because we have a lot of furry animals, [but] I wasn’t good enough—now I could. And then I had an idea. I was with little Jack [my grandson] and he said, “What’s that?” It was the footprint of a bird…I came home that day and put their footprints in as an aesthetic element. So [my] deficits dictated this really cool thing that have ended up in all my books. In the book you have a spot I never even knew existed, Majella Slough. I know, I had to learn that one too. That’s the place in Asilomar where you walk across that one boardwalk almost onto the [Spanish Bay] golf course. I had to look it up. They have the only willow in town and willow is really important for certain butterflies, and we’re losing that…In just five years things have changed. A lot of the impetus of this book was what P.G. looked like in 2020. If we keep going where we’re going, we’re not going to have it. Booking It Self-taught P.G. artist Joy Colangelo is finding success in the world of artists’ books. By Pam Marino Self-taught artist Joy Colangelo holds one of her interactive artists’ books . Her first hand-drawn and handmade book was about the flora and fauna of Pacific Grove. DANIEL DREIFUSS Basil Want to meet Basil? Please ll out our online adoption questionnaire. If you’d like sponsor our next ad, give us a call. 831-718-9122 | www.POMDR.org Basil has the sweetest eyes that look right into your soul. She’s looking for a warm, loving home where she can relax and enjoy time with her people. Gentle and calm, she gets along well with other dogs and brings a quiet, comforting presence to any home. Rat Terrier mix, Female, 13 y/o, 13lbs Ad sponsored by Kalman Weinfeld in honor of his late father who taught him the value of volunteering. Our New Bene t Shop is Open! 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