Maiden Rock Bluff: From Farm to Prairie is a limited edition, artist’s book about the restoration of an oak savanna on a historic bluff overlooking Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River. The book features a series of hand-printed photogravures documenting the changes that occurred during the first ten years of restoration. It also features a 3,500 word essay by the artist about the natural history of the land as well as reproductions of photos taken by the family that originally farmed the property before it became a Wisconsin State Natural Area in 2005.
Maiden Rock Bluff: From Farm to Prairie is 47 pages long including the colophon and end sheets. It contains twenty photo-polymer photogravure plates hand-printed with Charbonnel inks on Zerkall paper. All photographs, with the exception of the historic images, were taken by the artist. The text is letterpress printed and set in Mrs. Eaves XL Narrow, an Emigre digital typeface designed by Zuzana Licko. The title page is hand set in metal type with Janson and Forum Title. The book is hand bound using a modified, Japanese four needle binding. Its dimensions are 9 x 11 inches. Each signature includes a double-spread of the hand-printed plates, (folded on the foredge) facing a page of text, with a vellum sheet in-between. The book has a hard cover made with Asahi and Canapetta bookcloth and comes with a slip case made of the same archival materials. There are 12 numbered copies in the edition.
In the fall of 2019, I exhibited Maiden Rock Bluff: From Farm to Prairie along with a collection of photographs and hand-printed photogravures in the town of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.
For information on how to purchase a copy, go to the about page and send me an email.
Empire Builder is a limited edition, artists’ book about the social, environmental, and economic impacts of hydraulic fracking along the route of the old Great Northern Railroad line from Chicago to Seattle. The book is a collaboration between myself and Chandler O’Leary of Anagram Press and features eight, full color illustrations about the process of oil extraction and production from sand mining and fracking to shipping. The text features a line-by-line retelling of the story behind “seeing the elephant,” a 19th century figure of speech and includes an original essay by O’Leary and myself about the relationship between the history of westward expansion and the more recent boom and bust of the oil industry in the 21st century.
Empire Builder is digitally printed with archival ink on Moab Entrada paper and is hand bound, opening accordion style, like a map. When fully open, the book is 180 inches long. When closed, its dimensions are 7 x 9 inches. It comes with a handmade slip case. For more information about how you can purchase a copy, send me an email.
These photopolymer photogravure plates are printed on an etching press with oil-based, Charbonnel inks. My book, Maiden Rock Bluff: From Farm to Prairie features a few of the photogravure prints shown here.
