GRRRHHHH: A Study of Social Patterns, Deluxe Edition, 1988

A book by Warren Lehrer, based on weavings by Sandra Brownlee, with chants and stories by Dennis Bernstein. Published 1988, Ear/Say books.
Printed offset lithography in dozens of colors on Mohawk Superfine, an acid free paper. The boxed-hardcover deluxe edition of 15 copies is in a handbound clamshell box wrapped in set-up sheets, includes an original tipped-in one-of-a-kind weaving by Sandra Brownlee, inset trash-can copy by Leonard Seastone. Binding is hardcover, quarter-cloth with original cloth woven by Sandra Brownlee. Pre-press work by Phil Zimmermann. Printed by Lori Spencer at the Center for Editions at SUNY Purchase.

7 x 7.5 inches, 464 pages.

GRRRHHHH: a study of social patterns is a 464 page extended visual fugue based on the long forgotten but pivotal animals of the earth, first discovered between the warp and weft of the hand loom of artist/weaver Sandra Brownlee. After scanning Sandra’s eight “Unusual Animals” weavings (and some of her drawings that led up to the weavings) into a computer-paint program (as it was called at the time), as well as collaging, drawing, and sequential imagemaking, the stories of the animals began to animate themselves to Lehrer in odd and mysterious ways. Divided into six movements, the book illuminates the evolutionary and social patterns of these mythological creatures, beginning with the birth of the universe as we know it, the formation or creation of the first animal Grrrhhhh, a rather dog-like creature, and ending with the question of cohabitation (survival) or mutual destruction. Other animals include the first underwater creature Walazool, the first birds Theasia and Uniliv, and the nomadic land-based Roka clan with their golden rods. GRRRHHHH also includes a near-definitive list of animal expressions from albatross around his neck to worming his way out of it; as well as chants and stories by Dennis Bernstein, aided by a complete glossary of newly discovered words and phrases. Winner of AIGA 50 Books Award. Exhibited internationally, written about in many books and publications.