Additional images coming soon. The listed books are currently available, newest at the top of the page. Sold out books are listed on the archive page in alphabetical order.
Madness: Reading Hamlet in the Time of Covid-19 and Other Plagues, 2022, 11″ x 8″, $1,500.00. This book was created during the pandemic and went through many forms before it became what you see here. It has taken much longer to figure out than any book I have ever made before. The combination of subject matter that was centuries old with happenings at the minute complicated my thinking beyond measure. It’s appearance and content are very much shaped by my time in isolation. Initially, I copied out the play Hamlet by hand starting in March 2020 because I was too anxious to sit and read. I also was making paper puppets for companionship. The project kept changing as events swirled around me. I struggled to make sense of the project in a world gone crazy. The text is a crazy quilt arrangement of lines from Hamlet and my writing on repeating themes of fear, disease, Black Lives Matter, Asian hate crimes, the insurrection, so much death and isolation.Madness was printed letterpress on an SP-15 Vandercook with polymer plates from Boxcar Press on Arches Text wove paper. The drawings of the puppets were first done with trace mono-printing. The background pattern is made up of my renderings of tears, drops of blood, Covid-19 particles and bullet holes. The paper puppet inclusions were printed on University of Iowa Center for the Book Chancery paper and are costumed in papers of wheat straw, sisal, daylily fibers, and abaca paste papers made by Andrea Peterson. The non-adhesive covers are flax and abaca papers made by Mary Hark for the outside and flax papers from the University of Iowa Center for the Book for the inside. Encased in a cloth covered clamshell box. The book was printed in an edition of 25 copies with a few strays. Madness was funded in part by a grant from the College Book Art Association and I thank them.
Gertrude Has a Few Questions, 2021, 6″ x 9″ $300.00. Many women have discovered as they get older that they become invisible. While it may be a relief to be spared certain unwanted attentions, it is disconcerting to discover that they have completely disappeared from general notice. Consider Gertrude, Queen of Denmark in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, she is more a part of the scenery, a pawn maneuvered by her husband and son, rather than an active player. Here is her turn at center stage and she would like some answers. For those unfamiliar with the play Hamlet, I offer this very brief and very incomplete synopsis. Before the play opens, Gertrude’s first husband, Hamlet’s father, the King, is dead. Gertrude is remarried to Claudius, the King’s brother. Within the play, Hamlet sees his father’s ghost, believes Claudius is responsible for the King’s death, murders another character having mistaken him for Claudius; and both berates and belittles his mother Gertrude. Claudius has his own series of deadly machinations throughout the play. By the end of Act 5, all the main players, except Horatio, Hamlet’s buddy, are dead by stabbing, drowning, or poison. This set of five questions was printed on Sakamoto heavy paper using polymer plates and pressure printing in an edition of 33 in the spring of 2021.
Oscar Wilde: In Earnest and Out, 2020, 13″ x 9 ¼”, $950.00. A set of five volvelles portraying five faces of Oscar Wilde backing five faces of characters from Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. The inner wheels turn to allow the reading of lines from the play and other of Wilde’s writings. Letterpress printed using polymer plates on different shades of BFK paper, each volvelle is housed in a folder and the set with an introductory panel and line citations is enclosed in a clamshell box.
The Tragedy of King Lear, 2019, 12″ x 6″, $1,100.00. One copy remaining. I began reading King Lear again after the 2016 presidential election. If Hillary Clinton had been elected maybe I would have gravitated to Macbeth. As I read and reread the play I tried to focus only on the themes of the tragedy. There are many differences between this play and current events but there are also some similarities. The vanity and folly of an aging man is a family tragedy. When that man is also the leader of a nation it becomes a tragedy for the whole country. Each page spread has a question or observation that came to mind as I read, there is a quote from the play by one of the many main characters and then the characters involved interact in some manner related to the question. I always think of King Lear as the sun and all the other characters orbit around him. Some of the characters have others orbiting around them too, Gloucester and his sons and the daughters with their husbands. The characters are not identified specifically but context makes clear who is who. Many thanks to Laura Martin for introducing me to Man Ray’s painting Hamlet at the Cleveland Museum of Art. This in turn led me to the book Man Ray Human Equations {a journey from mathematics to Shakespeare}, published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Germany 2015. Printed letterpress on Text Wove paper using hand-set type, polymer plates from Boxcar Press, pressure printing, collage, and paper engineering. Bound with covers of Grey Rives BFK Heavyweight using a packed single needle link stitch and linen thread. Encased in a cloth covered clam shell box. Begun in 2016 and fully completed in early 2019. Edition of 25 copies and a few artist’s proofs.
Cross Words, 2019, 5″ x 3 ½”, $50.00. This paper was given to me by Andrew Honey, conservator at the Bodleian Libraries during my residency at the Bodleian Bibliographical Press in the fall of 2018. The full water mark says India, Oxford with a crest of the University of Oxford and made in Great Britain. Andrew has very little information on this very thin and very opaque paper other than it was intended for the printing of bibles. I have wondered if it was intended for bibles to be taken to India by missionaries. At that same time, on the North Sentinel Island, administered by India, a Christian missionary was killed by members of the Sentinelese Tribe despite strict prohibitions on outside contact. The Sentinelese are the only un-contacted tribe on earth inhabiting their own island. They are extremely vulnerable to diseases and social breakdown in the event of contact with outsiders. They have repeatedly made clear their desire to be left alone. Printed letterpress from polymer plates made from rubber stamped texts on a Vandercook SP15. The end sheets were also given by Andrew Honey. The covers are duplexed Bugra paper. Printed in 2018 in an edition of 50.
Order of Appearance: Disorder of Disappearance, 2018, 9″ x 10″, $250.00. A pamphlet sewn gated folded book letterpress printed during a one-month stint as printer in residence at the Old Bodleian Library, Oxford, England. The germ of this project was the stage direction from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Act III: Exit, pursued by a bear. This stage direction contains both the terror signified by this wild creature and the comic nature of its unexpected arrival and exit. The single direction was expanded to include a set of ten performers entering and exiting to various stage directions, including the front and back halves of a bear. The format of the book allows the viewer to control the order and tempo of the performers’ arrivals and departures from the stage. Printed using hand-set Bell type, linoleum blocks, and P22 Blox on Mohawk Superfine with a duplexed Bugra paper cover. Printed in an edition of 30.
Funny Peculiar Funny Ha Ha, 2017, 12″ x 10” x 1″, $2,200.00. Funny Ha Ha Funny Peculiar or Funny Peculiar Funny Ha Ha is the result of my extended study of Shakespeare’s comedies. I find the comedies individually to be enjoyable but there is a sameness to many of the plots that allows me to mix them up in my head. So much mistaken identity, gender confusion and various other contrivances while romping their way to a fifth act wedding or two. Even more problematic are the decidedly unfunny themes that are common in many of these same comedies such as hypocrisy, sexual harassment, intolerance, sexism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism. I struggled for a long time to integrate all these ideas. I finally realized that what I needed to do was to address each aspect separately, thus a dos a do book. Each side has its own focus and treatment. The characters are the same in both books. They are printed using the P22 Blox which are a set of modular shapes that can be interchanged to change the body’s posture and gestures. The P22 Blox allows the presentation of the characters as interchangeable as well. Funny Peculiar is a drum leaf book and presents selected lines from five plays delivered by characters on a stage set. Funny Ha Ha is a slice book allowing the viewer to mix and match the costumes and gender of the characters in a variety of postures. Funny Peculiar is letterpress printed on an SP15 Vandercook proof press using hand-set type and P22 Blox combined with rubbings, ink washes, and collagraphs to make the images. Printed on Domestic Etch paper with gray Pescia end sheets. Funny Ha Ha is printed letterpress on an SP15 Vandercook proof press using hand-set type combined with relief printing using P22 Blox, collagraphs, and polymer plates from Boxcar Press to make the images. Printed on white Pescia paper with gray Pescia end sheets. Bound in a modified dos a do binding to hold the sewn text block slice book on one side and the drum leaf text block on the other side. The hard covers are covered with Arrestox book cloth and three vivid colored cotton papers color-matched and custom made by Katie MacGregor. Funded in part by a grant from the College Book Art Association. Housed in a clamshell box covered in Japanese linen cloth. Made in an edition of 25.
Funny Ha Ha Paper Dolls, 2017, 10″ x 8″, standard $175.00, deluxe $350.00. A letterpress printed set of 2 figures and a variety of costumes and genitalia options for all casting needs when enacting new Shakespeare comedies. Printed using collagraphs and polymer plates on Lettra paper. The deluxe set includes an additional set of cut out figures and costumes. Enclosed in a plastic envelope.
What Desdemona Never Says but she should, 2014, 4″ x 4” x 10″, $35.00 each. A series of 5 Mobius strips printed using handset type printed letterpress and trace mono-types. A reworking of Desdemona’s lines by rearranging her original words from the Shakespeare play, Othello to give her something else to say. Each in editions of 10 with 2 proofs.
Landlocked, 2013, 9″ x 12″, $100.00. A map fold book and origami boat printed with letterpress on discarded maps that have paste paint embellishments on one side. Both items have additional maps forms printed on the other side and a very short text: Landlocked, yet flowing to the sea. Made at the invitation of artist Alice Austin for a performance in Venice, Italy, these maps refer to the state of Iowa a landlocked location but bordered by two large rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri that flow to the ocean and in this instance on to Venice an island city. The origami boats are waxed with beeswax for protection during their launch into the waters flooding San Marco Plaza in Venice. Edition of 18.
Daily Taxonomy, 2012, 8″ x 9″, $100.00. A three-color print using intaglio etching, collagraph and letterpress printing from a polymer plate on Rives BFK cream colored paper. Most days, as soon as I wake up, I walk two miles around my neighborhood. If I start counting my steps in my head, my mind invariably wanders into uncharted territory, which is useful in its own way. Often I got home with very little idea of anything I had seen. I decided to actually count all the steps all the way around and then I made lists of what I saw. Some of the things I saw are always there such as manhole covers, and some are more random in their occurrence, ducks, dogs and people. This print is the result of those lists. I made symbols to stand in for the things I saw and then I organized them in the order in which I saw them that day. This project was started during a residency at the Fox Workshops, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. Thank you to the students and a special thanks to Ben Rinehart at Lawrence University. The printing was completed in my studio in 2012. Printed in an edition of 30 with 4 artist’s proofs. Ten of the prints were folded into a Turkish map fold format and enclosed in a hard cover wrapper.
Out There In Here, 2012, 10 ¾” x 10 ¾”, $800.00. A double tunnel book presenting my idea of my mother’s reality and imagined situation. My mother had frontal lobe dementia. The tunnels are completely separate and open to different depths to reflect her imagined freedom and diminished reality. Paste papers, trace monotypes and laser printing on Mohawk Superfine paper. Enclosed in a clamshell box. Edition of 25.
Unsupervised, 2010, 4″ x 3″, $20.00. An accordion book with 5 colorfully dressed figures and a text discussing my clothing choices and how they have changed now that they are no longer being scrutinized daily by others. Inkjet printed on Mohawk cover stock. Edition of 50.
Is That What You’re Wearing? 2010, 9″ x 4″, $125.00. A magic wallet with two subtitles” one side starts with “My mother asks” and the other side starts with “My daughters ask” followed by the title on both sides of “Is That What You’re Wearing?” A response to my realization of how my clothing choices have changed now that my attire is no longer scrutinized daily by others. Inkjet print images and letterpress printed titles on University of Iowa flax paper and moriki papers. Edition of 20.
Sweet Dreams, Sweat Dreams, 2010, 5″ x 4″, $35.00. A short story of my childhood sleep problems with assorted illustrated nightmares. Printed on Rives Lightweight paper using inkjet and letterpress printing. The fonts used are Lithos Pro and Baskerville. The cover paper is Hahnemuhle Ingres deep green. Double pamphlet binding. Edition of 50.
Lasagna Then and Now, 2009, 7 ½” x 7 ½”, $30.00. A memoir of sorts, bringing together the story of the making of my first artist’s book with a new treatment of that earlier idea. A book of photographs and text using the Lulu.com print-on-demand service. Open edition.
It Didn’t Just Happen, 2008, 9″ x 6 ½”, $275.00. An accordion book of images with overprinted text lines, working together to suggest an ambiguous narrative. The images are organized as if casting a play, with three separate figures holding weapons of various kinds, 3 pairs kissing, dancing or toasting each other, three separate figures crying, sneaking or running, a crime scene body outline and 2 versions each of 4 different room settings. The text was written for the book. The images are letterpress printed using pressure printing, polymer plates and a linoleum block. The texts are letterpress printed from hand set Baskerville type. The paper used is Mohawk Superfine. The accordion is enclosed in a paper case of Canford Paper. Edition of 15.
Who, What, Where, When, 2008, 9″ x 6 ½”, $325.00. A drum leaf bound book of words and images on facing pages, working together to suggest an ambiguous narrative. The images are organized as if casting a play, with three separate figures holding weapons of various kinds, 3 pairs kissing, dancing or toasting each other, three separate figures crying, sneaking or running, a crime scene body outline and 2 versions each of 4 different room settings. The text was written for the book. The images are letterpress printed using pressure printing, polymer plates and a linoleum block. The texts are letterpress printed from hand set Baskerville type. The paper used is Mohawk Superfine. Drum leaf binding with attached hard covers. Edition of 25.
Vicious Circle #6, 2008, 5″ x 5″, $45.00. This rotating ring is not part of the flexagon series, it is a continuation of an earlier series of rotating rings long sold out. Printed letterpress in two colors on safety orange construction paper from the French Paper Company and enclosed in a plastic sleeve with a paper wrapper containing the operating instructions and colophon. Edition of 100.
Siftings, 2008, 11″ x 6″, Standard $175.00. A relief printed book using pressure printing, letterpress and inkjet. The text is a set of 50 short sometimes very short stories of events from my growing up. It started as a remembrance of my mother and expanded out to include my family, my neighborhood, my elementary school and my nervous stomach. The pressure printed images included relate to certain of the stories. Bound using the crisscross or “Secret Belgian” binding invented by Anne Goy. It is a binding with an interesting sewing pattern at the spine. Sixty pages. Edition of 35, numbers 1-10 are enclosed in a silk covered clamshell box lined with marbled paper made by Stephen Pittelkow. A photograph, taken in 1960 is embedded inside the box. The boxed copies are sold out.
The Flexagon Series set of 5, 2006-7, various sizes, $200.00. This flexagon series started with Inside Out or Denial is a Wonderful Thing, printed letterpress in two colors and used the continuous flexagon format. Inside Out is a 6 inches square flexagon, printed on Mohawk Superfine paper and is enclosed in a folder with complete operating instructions. The second in the series is Mid-Coastal, a 1000 Mile Commute, printed letterpress in two colors and used the tetraflexagon format. Mid-Coastal is a 5” x 10” flexagon printed on French’s Cement colored construction paper enclosed with an instruction card in a plastic sleeve. The third in the series is Nice vs. Polite, printed letterpress in two colors and used the woven flexagon format. Nice vs. Polite is a 6” x 4” flexagon printed on Mohawk Superfine paper with operating instructions and enclosed in a plastic sleeve. The fourth in the series is A Game of Fetch, printed letterpress in two colors using the hexaflexagon format. A Game of Fetch is a 6” x 6” flexagon printed on Mohawk Superfine paper and enclosed in a plastic sleeve. The fifth in the series is Where Ever You Go There You Are, printed letterpress in three colors using the rotating ring format. Wherever You Go There You Are is a 5” x 5” flexagon printed on slate blue construction paper from the French Paper Company and enclosed in a plastic sleeve with a paper wrapper containing the operating instructions and colophon. All of the flexagons are in editions of 100. The lidded box designed to contain all five of the flexagons is now sold out.
Sleepers, Dreamers & Screamers, 2006, 9 ½” x 7″, $850.00. An accordion pop-up book, printed letterpress with hard covers enclosed in a matching clamshell box. The pop-ups are constructed of a variety of papers including a cotton and gampi paper made for the project by Bridget O’Malley of Cave Paper. The complete text is “We’ve all had nightmares. Vivid as they may be there is always that sweet release upon waking. But what happens when events in our waking lives surpass even our most horrific dreams. Where is our release now? ”This book was begun in 2001 and derailed by events of September 11, 2001. The text was rewritten in the aftermath and finally completed. Edition of 15.
Fly Away, 2005, 9″ x 8″ x 1″, $250.00. A triangular accordion book printed using letterpress, inkjet and pouchoir on Sakamoto paper, the primary text muses on the sometime desire to flee one’s own life. There are three texts that run along different facets. When the book is standing upright all three facets are visible. A nontraditional variation of the Japanese double leaved album with an attached hard cover wrapped in Moriki paper. Edition of 50.
Slices, 2004, 4″ tall, 8″ in diameter, $175.00. A letterpress printed carousel book constructed of Moriki paper and Thai striped paper. The text is positioned on top of each of the 12 slices; each segment of text contains 50 words. This book was produced in conjunction with the artist’s 50th birthday. Hard cover wrapped in Thai striped paper with an embedded magnetic strip to hold the cake in its full circle. Comes with a doily lined pink cardboard cake box. Edition of 50.