Formats
Anthologies
105
Audio
310
Catalogues
410
Clothing
23
Editions
31
Ephemera
68
Literary
38
Monographs
179
Posters
269
Video
39
Zines
142

Shop > Artists' Books

Out of Stock
#14813

Homophone Dictionary

Writer
Sue Nixon
Editor
Riet Wijnen
Date
2018
Publisher
uh books
Format
Artists' Books
ISBN
9781916249905
Size
13 × 21 cm
Length
424 pp
Genre
Autobiography, Text-Based
Description

Homophone Dictionary was originally a file that is compiled by former schoolteacher Susan Nixon. She has build up many collections throughout her life, almost all of them exist out of objects, except one: after her retirement she compiled a word document that by now exist out of almost 1000 homophones; two, or more words that you pronounce similar but have a different meaning, often the spelling is also different.

The document is structured as a dictionary and the homophones are illustrated with examples that are based on autobiographical information. The structure of Homophone Dictionary also refers to speech therapy exercises and concrete poetry.

“As a student nurse learning medical terminology, I became fascinated with understanding the roots of words. When I had a young family, words were a principal source of entertainment: it was not unusual for one of the children to slip from their chair at the dinner table and fetch a dictionary in order to settle a dispute or satisfy someone’s curiosity. Then I became a teacher and brought this love of words into the classroom. My habit of word collecting became the children’s habit – my pupils became ‘word-lovers’ and ‘list-makers.’

I casually collected homophones for years. When introducing homophones into the classroom, the kids found definitions dull; the typical reaction was, ‘Yes, but give me a sentence using the word!’ and this idea emerged: a book of sentences demonstrating the meanings of homophone pairs or sets.”

“The sentences reflected my own life experiences: my girlhood on a Saskatchewan farm during the Depression; my years as a nurse, parent, and teacher; my college major in geography; and my interest in politics. To supplement these personal topics, there were many calls to family and friends – to my art-historian daughter, my pilot son and nurse daughter-in-law, to my veterinarian son and his business-professor wife, my retired-teacher friend, and my best friend’s fisherman husband. They were bombarded with questions like: How is this word used as a noun? This is a flying word, can you help me out here? Can you give me a sentence that shows how a surgeon would use this? […]”

b/w, with full-colour cover with clear acetate dust-jacket printed in full-colour.
This publication was [intitated by Riet Wijnen, and] realized as part of the Ruisdael- Stipendium [awarded to her in] 2018 and made possible with the financial support of kunstwegen; State of Lower Saxony; Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim; City of Nordhorn; and Mondriaan Fonds.

  1. Homophone Dictionary
 

Related Items

  1. Coral Dictionary Vol.1: 2019-2022
  2. Autobiography: Patrick Tuttofuoco
  3. Autobiography: Claudia Comte
  4. Autobiography: Alessandro Pessoli
  5. Contestations
  6. Grace Lee Boggs: Living for Change
  7. Ron Giii: Non Contemporary t-shirt
  8. The Administration of a Fine Arts Education
  9. Liz Knox: Excerpt
  10. Billy Mavreas, Colin Upton, and Julie Voyce: Hell Passport (set of 3)
  11. Micah Lexier: A List of Names in Which Nobody Signed Their Own Name but Signed the Name of Another
  12. Marina Roy: Sign after the X
  13. Group Affinity
  14. Leon Qu: Glass
  15. Subject Matter of the Artist: Writings by Robert Goodnough, 1950-1965
  16. Ian Hamilton Finlay, Douglas Gordon, and Ross Sinclair: Northern Grammar
  17. Autobiography: Micah Lexier
  18. Autobiography: Claude Closky
  19. Autobiography: Jacopo Benassi
  20. Autobiography: Thomas Hirschhorn
  21. Eric Doeringer: Autobiography (after Sol LeWitt)
  22. Steve Kado: October Jr., 2010
  23. Steven Zultanski: AGONY
  24. Jennifer Doyle: Campus Security
  25. Jim Miller: Flippin’ Harris: A Brief History of Cuts
  26. Titus Kroder, John Moseley, and Eva Weinmayr: Downing Street
  27. Mark DeLong and Jason McLean: Tracey Chapman Research Centre
  28. Dirk Vis: Research For People Who (Think They) Would Rather Create 1.1
  29. James Langdon: A School for Design Fiction
  30. Kevin Rodgers: The Free Dependent
  31. Momentarily: Learning from Mega Events
  32. Paul Collins: The Killer
  33. Marit Paasche: Lives & Videotapes
  34. Archizines Catalogue
  35. Gary Starks: The Problem With Using Oneself as Subject Matter
  36. Hanne Lippard: This Embodiment
  37. Lenae Day: Modern Candor
  38. Daniel Olson: Ontarion Arts Council, meeting new challenges