Veerle Thielemans, Curator, Museé d'Art Américain: "Michele Burgess draws vulnerable bodies. Their awkward and introverted poses deliberately run counter to the traditional representation of the human body, which is ruled by a canonical ideal of Beauty. In Swimming Lessons, she presents us with the body of a clumsy child who calls into question the realism of the supreme bathers represented by the American painter Thomas Eakins at the end of the nineteenth century."
Poem by Nancy Willard printed in two colors on antique English Whatman paper; seven multicolor drypoints by Michele Burgess on Rives paper. Text hand set in Perpetua and printed letterpress by Alvin Buenaventura. Drypoints printed in three colors by the artist. Unbound and housed in a painting fragment. Silk enclosure with bone clasps made by Claudia Cohen. 10 1/8" x 7 5/8". Edition of 20. 2001.