The Jade Book: A Stone of Hope

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

This slim volume of text and magnificently coloured photographs is a
tribute to sculptor Cosimo Geracitano’s astounding transformation of a
lifeless block of British Columbia jade into a carved three-page book
with a binding that allows the pages to be turned.

Featuring the engraved images and words of world-renowned humanitarians
Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Mother Theresa, the Jade
Book is intended to be a travelling exhibit. The author explains how the
sculpture came to be conceived and details its creator’s perseverance
and ingenuity in carving jade, “the toughest naturally occurring
material on earth,” into a meaningful representation.

The book includes a summary of the artist’s life; an engaging essay
on the beliefs and ideological commitments of Dr. King, Gandhi, and
Mother Theresa; and an interesting discussion of the nephrite (jade)
mining operations in the B.C. Cassiar Mountain Range.

Brief as it is, The Jade Book is a sterling account of artistic
integrity and creativity.