Codex IX International Book Fair & Symposium
Ath’wart Press will be at CODEX book fair at TABLE #155. Come visit and see my latest artist books as well as collaborative works with poet/artist judi goldberg under the imprimatur of Off Press.
Come for crumples & tea with conversations!
10 10th Street Oakland, CA 94607
For more information about Codex: www.codexfoundation.org
CODEX VIII International Book Fair: April 10th through 13th at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond
REMINDER:
I will be exhibiting artist books
under the imprimatur of
ath’wart press at TABLE 26.
What you might like to know about ath’wart press here and more at https://www.brookeholve.com/athwart-press:
ath’wart and “resistance”
—what role it plays in my art practice
—when I feel it, how I respond
—Do I react to or hold the feeling?
—Do I have other words to describe this experience? ie. willfulness, frustration, steadfastness, others?
Recently I read Roni Horn’s latest book, Island Zombie, Iceland Writings. She devoted an entire chapter to “weather reports”. We have our own internal weather reports, which for me the “resistance” front often shows up and passes through. I found her words insightful: ”The weather’s like that. If you don’t fight it, you become one with it and vanish. You cease to exist if you don’t show resistance and cunning. Some people are said to have an eye for the weather but that goes hand in hand with having an eye for life in general. They’re doubtless better hunters and fishermen and notice more things in nature.”
Resistance shapes. And it was an act of resistance that introduced me to art.
An ath'wart story:
I did not set out to be an artist and it took me awhile to proclaim that I was. My father planted the seed although at the time I did not realize it and he never did. Driving by an abstract sculpture one day he exclaimed “Why would anyone make something like that!” Internally I remember questioning “Why would anyone make something like that?”
Little did I know at the time, that turning a statement into a question was an act of transgression and the beginning of a life as an artist. Questioning opened a way.
The Or Not - An example of an art project that would not have happened if I had not encountered the “resistance” front. Ath’wart honors the role of mistakes and the opportunities offered while working. Artist Books (extracted from The Way Things Are catalogs) will be on display at Codex VIII, Table 26.
Another ath’wart story:
Eric Johnson, founding and former director of North Bay Letterpress Arts, had an exchange with his #2 son, Dino recently. His son occasionally sends him nonsense compositions. He recently sent a two-liner picking up on the oddness of one of my favorite words.
I once fought athwart
I lost
To this Eric responded:
We had a funny moment in the shop four years ago when Brooke Holve encountered a word in a text she was studying and called out to those of us in the room: “guys, what does ATH-wart mean? We tactfully explained that it was pronounced with accent on the other syllable and that it meant across the main direction etc etc. She had the reaction that it was very funny how wrong she had been and how ignorant. From that day on, she invented ATH-wart Press…it’s all explained on that web page.
To which Dino replied:
Ha! She athwarted athwart! They said it couldn’t be done.
Just for that, a bonus, no charge, dedicated to Holve Athwart:
Greed peels sweet needle skin
Up yup hip dippy rub grape space in ripped up crumb humps?
Like you said
Little online presence recently as I have been involved with three others on a project at North Bay Letterpress Arts which we have called Prototype. Prototype #1 is a new _____________________. We are leaving it blank because it is still unclear to us what it is and what will come. So
Here beginneth:
Some Kind of Information. About the nature of Titles. Inspired by a poet who introduced a poem with two titles, then another with three and another without. Prototype #1 reflects our conversations and explorations about titles—-what they are, and what they are not. Of course we started by first consulting the dictionary for its definition:
NOUNThe name of a book, composition, or other artistic work
A name that describes someone’s position or job
The position of being the champion of a major sports competition
A right or claim to the ownership of property or to a rank or throne
(in church use) a fixed sphere of work and source of income as a condition or ordination
VERB1. give a name to (a book, composition, or other work)
ORIGINOld Englishtitul, reinforced by Old Frenchtitle, both from Latintitulus’ inscription, title’. The word originally denoted a placard or inscription placed on an object, giving information about it, hence a descriptive heading in a book or other composition.
Four folds and 24 folds ago. Now prepared to assemble.
Four folds and 24 folds to go to create just the structure (the spine and cover) for prototype. Image above are the printed parts of the spine for 100 prototypes.
Still under construction due to be launched at *NBLA’s Second Annual Fundraiser on Sunday, October 6th.
We have printed and currently are binding an edition of 100. Pricing still under discussion as we are trying to decide how to price it— by its folds, its page number, print runs, and…..
All proceeds will benefit North Bay Letterpress Arts. More to come upon its completion.
*One more note:
Please join us at Hopmonk Tavern for our Second Annual Fundraiser on October 6th! A celebration of printmaking, book arts, education and community. Tickets are available by contacting NBLA
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Lunch: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM at HopMonk
Reception: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM at Iota Printshop
I continue to work at this press on Thursdays, making artist books and broadsides under the
imprint of ath’wart press. Each year I reflect on how fortunate I am to have discovered this
place and the printers who work here. Come by on Sunday and help us celebrate all that is offered!
Holiday Open House
Free! Donations encouraged.
North Bay Letterpress Arts
925d Gravenstein Hwy SO
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Join us at the print shop for our annual open house! Festivities include: handmade
books and cards, printed artwork, food & drink, delightful conversations, shop tours,
and printing demos. See you there!
Early this year, I completed a collection of five artists books, entitled "Cuts Make You" in response to my solo exhibition, Cuttings, at Risk Press Gallery (Sebastopol) in October of 2013. For the exhibition, I installed an empty scroll book, inviting those who attended to mark it with blue masking tape and blue ink pens (refer to image above). Upon the closing of the exhibit, the unfurling revealed a motley but contained collection of writing, scribbles, lines, tape and words. These marks became the prima materia for Cuts Make You.
Upon the closing of the exhibit, I cut up, printed upon and cut into the scroll, applying the similar methods that attendees used during the exhibit. Applying tape randomly to the surfaces, I printed over it with a die cut of the floor plan of the gallery to reference the place of the exhibit. Over and on the masked tyvek, I printed to cut out new spaces. Cutting and printing generated pages and ideas. The result is a series of books that hold and reference the archival and ephemeral of the exhibit.
