Shedding Light on My Dark Room

The second volume in HM's occasional series of Artists' Pamphlets has been completed. David George's My Dark Room is a concise discourse on photograms - their (as yet unexplored) creative potential, and his approach to creating them.

The pamphlet closely follows the format established with the series' debut title, Harold Budd's "4." It is 6 x 9 inches, printed on dampened Arches Wove, and issued in two states: the first ten copies are for Patrons of the series, while the remaining 40 copies are split between HM and the artist for hors-de-commerce distribution.

Part of the intent of the series is to create opportunities to experiment with materials, formats, etc etc. With My Dark Room, the experimenting focused primarily on how to reproduce David's original photograms, retaining their wide spectrum of tones; all of that was down to the gang at New Leaf Editions. At HM, we started thinking of a color scheme that reflected the photogram's tones, which ultimately led us to playing with silver ink (see previous post). David's text actually is two separate pieces: one a series of short process-related statements, the other a longer meditation on the photogram. The short statements were set at the head of each page in black, while the running text occupies the lower part of the pages, printed in silver. The four-page essay is contained on a single folio sheet, which meant four runs (two per side), which meant two per day. Those were pretty long days. 

We chose two of David's photograms to experiment with. The Patron copies contain both (one at the front, the other at the back), while the HC copies contain one or the other.

The wrap for the Patron copies is black Arches Cover, which is a lovely sheet but it marks very easily. So, we covered it with a jacket of kozo made years ago by our friend Ann Vicente. The doorway is printed in silver on both the Arches and kozo, in the same position.

The wrap for the HC copies is grayish-blue Guarro laid, a shade that goes well with the silver ink inside.

Plata O Tinta

 
Back to work at the press, printing the second volume in HM's occasional Artists' Pamphlet series. My Dark Room is David George's two-tiered essay on his work with photograms, and the medium's  unexplored artistic potential. It also presents the first ever reproduction of his photograms - each of which is, by definition, a unique work, not a matrix for reproduction (like film would be) - as photogravures. Two different original photograms were reproduced from copper photo-etchings at New Leaf Editions. Each copy of the pamphlet will feature one or the other of these as a frontis. The ten Patron copies of the book will feature both.

This project also marks our first experiment with using silver ink. Looks fantastic on the roller. The stuff we got was exactly stiff & tacky - runny would be the word. Not exactly how we like ink. However, rolled out, a little went a very long way: basically we just had to tell the roller the ink was in the room, and that was enough.
 
The next few days will be spent printing David's essay: one sheet, four pages, two colors both sides. One hundred & fifty impressions per day, which is a lot for a prosaic handpress outfit like HM. We'll see how it goes...

HM Artist Pamphlet Series Starts

HM has just completed the first title in what will be an occasional, ongoing series of pamphlets published in collaboration with artists from outside the book arts community. 4 is a collection of four new poems by musician and composer Harold Budd, accompanied by four new etchings. These etchings, which continue to explore his enigmatic "arabesque" designs previously featured in the CARNIVAL suite (and other places), are named after avant garde film directors: Akerman, Cocteau, Jarman and Anger.

Each title in the series will be limited to our usual 50 copies, within the first ten being offered for sale to patrons, and the remaining copies being shared between HM and the artist, strictly for private distribution. The poems were set in printed and printed on dampened Arches Wove. The Patron copies of 4 feature all four of Harold's etchings, with the frontis etching being initialed by him. The remaining hors de commerce copies feature just one of the etchings, as a frontis (although which of the four etchings varies from copy to copy). The entire edition is sewn into a printed handmade paper wrap; the Patron copies are further covered in a transparent tissue chemise.

Harold remains busy in his real life as a musician. News of some of his adventures in recording can be seen on Robin Guthrie's site. We continue to look forward to a formal recording by Harold and HM collaborator Keith Lowe (currently on tour with Stone Gossard's band Brad).