Writing for Visual & Material Genres

I'm really excited to teach a class at the UI Center for the Book this Spring: Creative Writing for Book Arts: Writing for Visual & Material Genres. The interdisciplinary class is for both writers and visual artists, and asks how material and visual forms present, comment on, and/or merge with textual content. In what ways do we balance readability and individual expression when writing and designing published forms? The class will emphasize tactility and mark making, looking at literature as a physical process, as well as a material product. It will explore a variety of book-related genres and media, including broadsides, chapbooks, concrete poetry, comics, zines, and artist’s books.

Above is a poster I letterpress printed to promote the class. I used craft foam, a scratch-negative photopolymer plate, a found copperplate block, and metal type (see the lockup below, thanks to Pamela Olson!).

Nothing is hidden . . .

The Compound Gallery's second installment of their exhibition, The Art of Letterpress, opens this Saturday, Nov 9, and it includes a piece of mine. Inspired by the ornamental designs of Bruce Rogers, the piece includes a quote from the alchemist Paracelsus and features an image composed of found metal ornaments: a tree giving birth to a snake who passes an esoteric secret onto a slightly asymmetrical approaching snake. 

The piece is a variation on the page I printed for the forthcoming 2014 Ladies Typographic Union Calendar:

The LTU calendar is a collaborative project between over 15 letterpress artists, and it serves as an annual fundraiser for student-focused purchases at the UI Center for the Book. You can pre-order a copy by emailing ltucalendar at gmail dot com.

The Compound Gallery opening goes from 6-9 this Saturday, and features work from a wide range of artists including Amos Paul Kennedy Jr, Kevin Bradley (Church of Type), Lisa Rappoport (Littoral Press), and more. The gallery is in Oakland at 1167 65th Street. 

The Iowa Working Group Archives

I've been working on archives for the Iowa Working Group. The IWG has now hosted a year's worth of book-art-focused presentations followed by casual discussion, and I wanted to make sure they were documented. Check out the latest entry for October: Candice Wuehle and Patrick Reed's The Sacrebleu Defense, which was a performative excerpt variation from their in-progress chapbook. The next IWG meeting will take place Friday, Nov 15, and will feature sneak previews from Iowa students who plan on presenting at the upcoming College Book Art Association conference. To find out more details, sign up for the IWG listserv by emailing iowaworkinggroup at gmail dot com.