Philadelphia Open Studio Tours 10/25 and 10/26


I will be opening my studio up to the public from 12-6pm on October 25th and 26th as part of POST, Philadelphia Open Studio Tours. This yearly event is hosted by The Center For Emerging Visual Artists and it is a great opportunity to meet working artist's in Philadelphia and get a rare glimpse at the studio's in which they work.

This year, I was so lucky to be interviewed for Paperclips215 by Aimee Gilmore and have some beautiful photographs taken of my space by Keristin Gaber. I really enjoyed my conversation with Aimee, an artist herself. We talked about the history of letterpress and about language and about the tools I use in my shop and what they do.

So I hope you'll come visit the Huldra Press studio the weekend of October 25th and 26th at Globe Dye Works. I'll have a small exhibition of recent projects up on the wall and a little something on the press to print and take home. There will be many other interesting studios to visit in the building and in the neighborhood as well, you can see a list here.

And you can view a little more info about my studio and the address HERE.

Hope to see you there.



Photographs by Keristin Gaber of PaperClips215

Recent Dreams


Recent Dreams:

Two blond women in a narrow walkway space outside of an office building. Beautiful late afternoon winter light. One is nude, sitting atop a stuffed gray goose that is being dragged around the space by the other. They say to me, "We make art in sad places." "We are making difficult art."

Standing next to an old and frail William Burroughs, we are reading a book together that looks like an oversized dictionary. I am holding his wrist as he moves his hand across the words on the page. He is wearing a suit and hat. A piece of text about dusty and decayed wooden window shutters. Maybe the first time I can remember looking at words and reading them in a dream.

Start Over

A selection of images from Start Over, a collaboration between Huldra Press and Justin Staller, which we will be debuting at the Philalalia small press poetry and art book fair at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA tomorrow.

:: do-si-do ::

The structure of the book is referred to as a "do-si-do" or back to back binding. There cover is a long strip that connects the two sides of the book, two separate "stories" connected by an interest in cut-up writing.
:: dreams ::

My side of the book is a collection of dreams I've recorded over the years.


:: typewriter strip poems ::

Justin's side is a collection of cut-up poems that were written using typewriter ribbon from correspondence between himself and his grandfather.

:: typewriter type ::

The two sides are connected together through the typewriter aesthetic, in part a reference to the work of William S. Burroughs, who's own work was so deeply influenced by dreams and the cut-up writing technique.

:: dreams and the backs of wood type ::

My dream portion is illustrated with the backs of wood type. There is something very appealing to me about the idea of printing the back of letters, the part that can't be read. It is like the feeling people describe not being able to read in their dreams.

:: wood shape and handset metal type ::

:: ribbon ::

Justin's portions are illustrated within the text itself, using the actual typewriter ribbon as image. The ribbon is repeated through the cover, which itself wraps around, joins, and contains the two books.

:: on with this epic ::

Start Over will be available for viewing and sale tomorrow, Saturday September 27th at Philalalia. Following the fair, it will be available online. Edition of 40, letterpress printed, hand painted, and silkscreened.




Equivalents

 :: Marianne Dages, 2014 ::

:: Marianne Dages, 2014 ::

These prints were made with earth collected in Penland, North Carolina during a short residency. The earth, a mix of mica, sand, and soil, was arranged on a letterpress printing plates and exposed to light to create a raised surface to accept ink. The plates were then printed, the resulting images reminiscent of the stars.

White Lepiota

I just returned from a short residency at Penland School of Crafts. The Penland Core Retreat was a generous gift of five days of studio time for former students of the Core Fellowship Program. While there, I had the chance to meet, reconnect, and work alongside artists Jana Harper, Rachel Mauser, Beth Schaible, and Julie Leonard in the school's beautiful print studio. I am so thankful for the school for hosting the Penland Core Retreat. It's so rare to have concentrated time like this, and it allowed me to complete this book, which I've been mulling over for about a year. 

The book is inspired by the time I spent in Iceland in 2013, it is letterpress printed and hand drawn. Edition of 20. 

White Lepiota

We are walking together,
the alder and the oak.

Carrying a desert of lapwings,
under our coats.

Back to the beginning, back to the seabirds and foam.
The bull slides across the pitch ocean floor.

the names are gone.
White lepiota grows.

our mossy hearts - the grind of planets -
songs of tallow and bone.

One foot in the water - two far travelers -
setting fires along the road.

- Marianne Dages













Happenings

A few things that happened, are happening, or will be happening soon...

- If you are in Philadelphia, this Thursday September 4th is the opening reception for my two-person exhibition with Emily Cucalon at the Parkway Central Library. 


- Last week, I wrote a guest post for Fieldwork, an artwork by John Rogers and Amy Tavern that is experienced through an interactive map tracing their journey through Iceland. After exploring the map, I wrote a short piece about the connection I felt with the artists and what we collected to remember our time in Iceland. which can be read HERE.


- Next week I will be in North Carolina, for a one-week retreat/residency, generously hosted by Penland School of Crafts for former students of their Core Fellowship Program. My home base will be the letterpress studio where I plan to work on a short book and some experimental printing techniques.


- I will have a book, Oculus Song, in the Picture Books exhibit at Duke University's Power Plant Gallery, a juried exhibition of self-published and handmade photo books. The show will run mid-September through November.


- Last but not least, I will have a table at the first annual Philalalia, small press poetry and art fair on Saturday September 26 at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, where Justin Staller and I will be debuting our collaborative book "Start Over"



Start Over : Part Two

Justin Staller and I have made a lot of progress on our collaboration, Start Over. The cover uses many hand elements, which contrast with the mechanical typewriter text inside. With the colors, we're trying to evoke the feeling of winter, bare branches and steel sky, the muted memory of dreams. 

 :: the cover, coming together ::

 :: my colophon text ::

 :: covers and paste ups ::

:: full sheet of cover text ::


The Singularity!


Some kind of social media singularity has occurred...

On the same day I've reached 

- 500 likes on the Huldra Press Facebook Page
- 1000 followers on my Tumblr, Tiger Feathers
- and this will be Post No. 300 on the Huldra Press Blog

It feels a little like breaking the fourth wall saying this, but I want to express my thanks. Keeping these sites is something I enjoy and they've allowed me to connect with so many interesting people and their work. So thank you and if it interests you, please follow, like, or subscribe, whatever strikes your fancy,
and thank you for reading and looking too.

____________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________
:: Huldra Press Facebook ::



______________________________________________________________
:: Tiger Feather's ::

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Grids

 :: Marianne Dages, Grid, 2 color letterpress print, 2014 ::

Maybe it was the influence of the construction outside my studio window that compelled me to print a grid. I've been watching the steel skeleton go up for months, now the structure is an impossible looking facade of glowing yellow repeat pattern and crossing lines.


:: detail ::

Start Over

I'm working on a collaboration with printmaker Justin Myer Staller. We are working on a double book, two separate "stories" connected by an interest in cut-up writing. I've been working on pasting up the layout of my side of the book, which is typeset in 10 pt "Typewriter." It seems like such an odd idea for someone to have made lead type that looks exactly like typewriter text. The letters are monospaced just like they would be on a real typewriter. So odd!

:: Typewriter 10 pt lead type ::

My text is my dreams. Short pieces of writing describing dreams I've had over the last ten years. My "images" are the backs of wood type. I like the idea of printing the back of letters so that they can't be read. It makes me think of how people describe not being able to read in their dreams.

 :: illegible alphabet ::

 :: draft of a page spread ::

Start Over is the title. An infinite ribbon. Back to the dreams, every night. Start over.

My Education

I fell asleep on my couch this afternoon and I dreamt that an older man sang me a song. He sang it in a very cheerful way and I remembered both the lyrics and the melody when I woke up, the lyrics were "She told me not to be afraid, but I am not afraid of the future." I have been thinking a lot of about dreams lately and also about oracles, and the cryptic nature of their utterances.

The dream also made me a recall a memory from childhood. I used to write songs on the piano. I brought a piece of sheet music with a song I had written to a party hosted by my parent's friends. There was a piano at the party and a musician, she said she would like to see my composition and would play it for me on the piano. But I didn't really understand musical notation, and the song came out odd and dissonant, like a piece of experimental modern music. I hadn't written any of the notes correctly. 

So much of my art has come from misunderstandings. These misunderstandings are a gift. Like dreams, they are glimpses at the oracle, and these little confusions end up being more profound than the intended message.

 :: My Education, William S. Burroughs ::

Blog Tour


Amy Tavern
http://amytavern.blogspot.com/

My friend Amy Tavern, a jeweler and artist, tagged me to participate in a Blog Tour and to tag three blogs that I like to read. Amy is one of the reasons I started keeping a blog. I was inspired by her commitment to her blog, and the way she posted about her process and artists that inspired her work. I've been keeping this blog since 2009 and if you go back to the first posts, you will see what feels like a completely different person to me now. That's what's so fascinating about these things, they're records of our transformations as people and artists.

I love reading artist's blogs, I subscribe to dozens of them and read them every day like a morning paper. These three blogs, I selected because they combine images of process and work with insightful musings on daily life and all the highs and lows of being an artist. They all also happen to be people I have known at some point through Penland School of Crafts.


Millions of People Happy - Michelle Moode
http://millionsofpeoplehappy.blogspot.com/

Michelle Moode is a printmaker and bookbinder who lives in Spruce Pine, NC. Her work feels like an ongoing collection of ephemeral visual experiences and thoughts. I recently spent two weeks with Michelle at the Paper Book Intensive, making paper, books, and generally having an incredible time. Her blog is a mix of process and personal reflections.


Sawdust and Tomatoes - Christina Boy
http://sawdustandtomatoes.blogspot.com/

Christina is makes gorgeous furniture and sculpture, primarily in wood. I got to know her when we were roommates for two years at Penland as Core Fellowship students. She is originally from Germany and lives in rural Virginia with her husband. Her blog includes images of her process and wood shop, and also lots of envy inducing images of things on the farm that she and her husband grow, can, and eat.






































Jean Fitz's Weblog
http://heartjean.blogspot.com/

Jean is an artist and educator who lives in Chicago. I met her in a class at Penland six years ago. She makes graphic novels, which are funny, honest, and truly unique, and somehow coaxes the most amazing Photoshop work out of middle schoolers I have ever seen. She is also a fearless traveler, and those experiences are recorded in her blog.

Learning Processes

I had a studio visit yesterday, a process that is at once terrifying, exciting, relieving, and question forming. It's terrifying to expose new work to criticism, but it's exciting to talk about it out loud to someone who cares. It's a relief to realize you have a place in the room, to ask questions and participate, to be seen and heard, but it's a process, at least when done right, that brings many new questions and challenges to the table. I feel grateful to have the opportunity to do this, and thankful to the people that gave me their time. It's a good thing, to have all these new things I have to think about.

:: Sea Grass and Storm ::

 :: Watching :: 

:: Studio Wall ::