Prototype #1

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:

NOUN

  1. The name of a book, composition, or other artistic work

  2. A name that describes someone’s position or job

  3. The position of being the champion of a major sports competition

  4. A right or claim to the ownership of property or to a rank or throne

  5. (in church use) a fixed sphere of work and source of income as a condition or ordination

VERB

1. give a name to (a book, composition, or other work)

ORIGIN

Old 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.

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:

You’re invited to our Second Annual Fundraiser!

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

Iota's "The Poetry of Printing" at RiskPress

Iotians are busy this month preparing for the exhibit in February. Mark your calendar!

Iota Press & Co-op present:

 

 The Poetry of Printing

The Poetry of Printing

Featuring letterpress works by Megan A. Arnold, Serena Coltrane-Briscoe, Lyn Dillin, Lucille Friesen, Judi Goldberg, CK Itamura, Eric Johnson, Maia Kobabe, Tiana Krahn, Tami Lovett, Lin Max, Katie Nealon, Birgit Neilsen, Micah Schwaberow, Ash Weiss and me.

February 1 - 23, 2014

Opening Reception: Feb 1,  3 - 7

Love Letter Writing:  Feb 6,  5 - 9

A Speak Easy - Sounds in Print: Feb 16, 2 -4

Printing demos every Friday afternoon

Gallery Hours  11 - 7    Tues - Sun

RiskPress  Gallery  7345 Healdsburg Ave. Sebastopol, CA 95472  Contact: iota@sonic.net

Please stop by and be prepared to experience a wonderful exhibit!

 

Lines Left Out

  I recently revisited  "Lines Left Out", an installation that I made four years ago for the Big

Read Project of Sonoma County. I was invited to create an installation in response to the

selected book, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.  A friend's book group recently read the

book and invited me to talk about what I had done.

 

An opportunity to revisit, review and possibly rethink the project and how it is still

influencing my current work.  At the time I found it ironic that themes of the book that

interested me most, were issues that I needed to address in the making of the installation.

Issues such as: What gets seen? What gets cut? Who decides? How that process happens?

How pace can affect what gets seen, remembered and forgotten.

 

I received the invitation in July of '07 and installed it in early October, only three months to

create and install it. The Library Gallery at Sonoma State is a large space and I work slowly.

Could I do this?  Given my interest in the changing role of books and  screens of technology,

I had already started this work without knowing. I inventoried what I had: book covers &

parts, organza silk, silk-screened American target silhouettes, prints, a salvaged structure,

bamboo, and 4 x 4 blocks.

 

My challenge was to put them together in a form that spoke to the feeling and space of

Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury's themes from 1953 are still relevant today. Magritte and the

silhouette, surrealism, photography, walls, mirrors, memory & memorials, and the dandelion

came to mind. I "burned to keep a focus!" to the rhythms of Bradbury's words: "Quick. Click, Pic,

Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What,

Where, Eh?"  Cut, Cut, Cut. A process; cutting became a way to reflect on a theme of the book.

 

After deinstalling, I made Lines Left Out, an iphoto book that records a poetic response to my

installation experience, using landscape, artwork, book parts, and images of the art

installation. The visual poem was inspired by Paul Klee's concept of drawing, "taking the line

for a walk", the words of New Zealand artist, Hadwen, as he described landscape as "the place

where everything we see, know, and imagine exists...a field punctuated by natural and

introduced landmarks that exist not only in the physical sense, but as signifiers of our

mental, psychological and spiritual world.", and Dorothy Richardson (Pilgrimage), turn of the

20th century author committed to wandering in territory of the tangential with the belief that

"nothing is a side issue".

 

I  showed this iphoto book as a slide show to the book group.  And upon reflection, I realize

how this work was a beginning and has since stimulated the iterations, "Cuttings" and

"Long Look".  I am soon to travel to Iceland for an artist residency this summer.  My

head is churning in anticipation for the next iteration.