The Northwoods Set Book Project

THE NORTHWOODS SET BOOK PROJECT 16 Book Artists | 4 Poets

NORTHWOODS BOOK ARTS GUILD AND UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA PRESS Fairbanks, Alaska 2021

Gayle Hazen no.5

Susheila Khera no.7

Sherrill Peterson no.12

Roxie Fink no.4

Pat Sheehan no.15

Margo Klass no.9

Connie Stricks no.18

Oralee Nudson no.11

Susan Campbell no.3

Corlis Taylor no.21

Stephanie Strandberg no.17

Laurel Herbeck no.6

Linda Adamson no.1

Felicia Burud no.2

Mary Liston no.10

Ashley Thayer no.24

THE NORTHWOODS SET BOOK PROJECT: Introduction With great enthusiasm I introduce the Northwoods Set Book Project to the viewing public in Book As Art 3, the third exhibition of work by members of the Northwoods Book Arts Guild.

The Set Book Project is the result of a creative partnership of Northwoods Book Arts Guild; the University of Alaska Press and its director Nate Bauer; Peggy Shumaker, editor of the Alaska Literary Series; and the four poets who generously shared their published books as inspiration for this collaboration.

The project began in spring of 2019 when I met with Nate Bauer, Director of UA Press, to propose a partnership between the Guild and the Press, an opportunity for book artists to respond to already-published books. The tradition of using a preselected text, a “set book,” as a springboard for a collection of artist books was not well known by our membership, but with discussion and inspiration from the OPEN/SET exhibition sponsored by the American Academy of Bookbinding,* we designed a hybrid version of the idea for UA Press and Northwoods Book Arts Guild.

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Together, Nate and I selected four books as the “set” texts for the project. Each is authored by an Alaskan poet and published by UA Press as part of the Alaska Literary Series, edited by Peggy Shumaker: Armor & Ornament, by Christopher Lee Miles, 2019 Li Bai Rides the Celestial Dolphin Home, by Tom Sexton, 2018 Roughly for the North, by Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen, 2018 Of Darkness & Light, by Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd, 2019 All four books are authored by poets whose work is known and loved, and have compelling imagery to inspire book artists to design and create imaginative covers and bindings. Artists were given a choice of rebinding a copy of the published book, or binding a copy of the book’s text block digitally printed in signatures. Special thanks to Geoff Welch and the staff of Dateline Printing for working with individual artists to print the digital text blocks on a choice of papers.

Beyond those set parameters of the project, artists had full creative freedom to design the book’s structure and method of binding. There are traditional cased-in bindings alongside familiar non-adhesive bindings, as well as inventive variations of known structures. Many of the bindings incorporate unusual materials, including fish skin, vintage nails wrapped with fraying rope, beads and threads, souvenir cards from the 1950s, and delicate objects from the natural world. Casements for the books, an option added by many artists, are also notable in their range: classic clamshell boxes for many, but also an historical girdle book structure, a box construction sculpture, and even one made of cement and rebar!

The Set Book Project is a special collection of artist books to be considered together, a subset of 26 pieces in the Book As Art 3 exhibition. It is a reflection of our Guild’s commitment to be “a community of artists actively learning 2

about and creating artist books.” The Guild is known for its collaborations with people and organizations beyond its membership. These collaborative projects represent who we are as an organization and illustrate how we enjoy rising to a common challenge, working and learning together as we support the Guild and each other. One way this common purpose is demonstrated in this collection is the binder’s practice of writing a colophon for each book.

Normally hidden away in the back of each book, the colophons for this collection are presented as part of the exhibition labels. They tell the stories of how the book artists intersected with the poets, answering such questions as why the book was selected, what part of the poet’s work personally resonated, and how the artist’s intentions were made visible in the book’s design and materials.

As curator of the project for the Guild, I offer gratitude and admiration to the book artists who not only accepted the challenge of the Set Book Project, but also put visible and creative energy into their work. Participants’ remarkable energy and dedication to this project was unanticipated, especially since it coincided with a year of largely working independently during the Covid pandemic.

With congratulations to the artists, thanks to our partners, and great delight, I invite you to enjoy the Northwoods Set Book Project in this catalog and in Book As Art 3.

Margo Klass Curator, Northwoods Set Book Project *OPEN/SET: A Triennial Fine Binding Competition and Exhibition Promoting the Art of the Binding, American Academy of Bookbinding, 2017 3

THE NORTHWOODS SET BOOK PROJECT: The Collaboration We’ve been particularly thrilled at the University of Alaska Press, during a time when so many of our assumptions and understandings about the world have felt unstable, to have participated in a project as thoughtful, affirming, inspiring, and collaboratively creative as the Northwoods Set Book Project.

The works of art that have resulted from this project are stunning and exciting in the layered ways that the best and most sophisticated art can accomplish— activating and indulging many senses at once, and ultimately changing our ideas about the subject matter and materials that make it up.

My spouse and I have a smirky, satirical joke we like to repeat when encountering any new cultural product—”Form and content: which one’s more 4

important?” It’s a simple and impossible lampoon of the conversations that tend to dominate arts classrooms, creative writing workshops, book clubs, and gallery openings.

It’s a revelation to me when a creative work (and in this case, many of them at the same time) can engage so bravely and fully with the synthesis work of form/ content as the Set Book Project. At its best, art can fuse these ideas completely, making the act of diagnosing them as distinct qualities an entertaining but ultimately unresolvable errand. This intellectual engagement is built into the very design of this project, and I’m in awe and appreciation (as usual) of Margo Klass and the Northwoods Book Arts Guild for this.

This show also presents the idea of creative collaboration in more sophisticated and explicit ways than usual, so while the book artists represented here have astonished me with their skills of interpretation, craft, and detail, it is exciting to consider the multitude of ideas, perspectives, energies, and catalysts for the work you see here.

Our UA Press Alaska Literary Series poets—Christopher Lee Miles, Tom Sexton, Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen, Kim Cornwall, and Wendy Erd—as well as ALS special editor Peggy Shumaker, deserve great credit for the artful foundations they have provided, and it is truly remarkable to consider the wealth of creative energy that has gone into this project, from uncountable places.

Thanks to all of them, and all of you, for creating the truly special art engagement experience of the Northwoods Set Book Project.

Nate Bauer Director, University of Alaska Press 5

THE NORTHWOODS SET BOOK PROJECT: The Poets Alaska is home to a wide range of distinctive poets. The four Set Book poets offer you a taste of their power.

KIM CORNWALL filled her poetry with gratitude and wonder and grit, elements she found in abundance in Alaska. Her poems brim with strong women in wild landscapes. She writes, “Of darkness and light/what cousins will the soul make?” She knows that “Some questions take forever to ask.” After a brutal attack in childhood, people around Kim advised her to keep silent. Her poems break that silence and allow her to reclaim her voice. For much of her life, she struggled to emerge from a dark place, knowing one must “breech the surface/ where what we most need/lives.” She found solace while hiking, canoeing, and chopping firewood--until unrelenting physical pain slowed her down. In summer of 2010, “in too much pain to feel much grace,” Kim Cornwall ended her life, leaving us her sharp-eyed poems of praise.

Serving in the US Navy during wartime had profound effects on poet CHRISTOPHER LEE MILES. The poems in Armor & Ornament interrogate warfare, our justifications, our blindness, our many kinds of destruction. These are brilliant unconventional poems, poems that spring from a deep-rooted spirituality, offering modern psalms for our tense and broken world. Adapting Biblical forms to confront contemporary tensions, Miles enacts on the page unapologetic engagement with faith, with God, with spirituality well suited to our moment. Christopher Miles lives in Fairbanks with the visual artist Madara 6

Mason. He works with rural Alaska and Alaska Native students at the Interior Alaska Campus. Armor & Ornament is his first book.

CARRIE AYAGADUK OJANEN is an Inupiaq writer from the Ugiuvamiut tribe.

The Ugiuvamiut lived on Ugiuvak Island (King Island, Alaska) during winter until the 1960s, when the federal government closed the BIA school on the island, forcing the residents to relocate to Nome, Kotzebue, Anchorage and elsewhere. That upheaval fragmented the community, and people still suffer the pain of that displacement. Growing up in Nome, Ojanen saw how her grandparents greatly missed living on Ugiuvak, their home. Roughly for the North is a tender and complex portrait of an Arctic and sub-arctic world, full of devotion to one’s family and land. In her poems, Carrie Ayaġaduk Ojanen weaves together grief, the effects of historical trauma on succeeding generations, and highest respect for Alaska Native traditions. Ojanen lives in Maple Valley, WA. TOM SEXTON taught for decades at UAA, where he co-founded The Alaska Quarterly Review. He served as Alaska’s Writer Laureate. His book Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home shows his great love for ancient Chinese poets, especially Li Bai. As artist in residence at Denali National Park, Sexton chose to imagine Li Bai there, out of place and out of his own time. Sexton uses Li Bai’s trademark eight-line form to reveal his journeys. In his attempts to find his way home, Sexton’s Li Bai converses with a magpie, a brown bear, a wolf trapper.

When enough darkness returns so that he can see “heaven’s river,” the Milky Way, Sexton’s poem opens to celestial travel back to the 8th century. Tom Sexton and his wife Sharyn divide their time between their homes in Alaska and in Maine.

Peggy Shumaker Editor, Alaska Literary Series 7

Linda Adamson Roughly for the North Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x .5 in.

Japanese stab binding Khadi paper cover and casement Flower-embossed book cloth Canson paper Embroidered images throughout 8

Felicia Burud

Armor & Ornament Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.25 x 5.5 x .75 in.

Sewing-on-straps binding Shizen, Elephant Hide papers Leather, fused glass cover plate 9

Susan Campbell

Of Darkness & Light Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Rebound copy, size 9 x 6.25 x .75 in.

Cased-in binding Boards covered with Duo book cloth Cover panels embellished with natural artifacts Shin Inbe, Japanese Ogura lace papers Clamshell casement, Duo book cloth 10

Roxie Fink

Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home Tom Sexton Digital copy, size 8.5 x 6.25 x 1.25 in.

Wrap-around binding St. Armand paper cover Stitched and beaded panels Clamshell casement, Duo book cloth 11

Gayle Hazen

Roughly for the North Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x 1in.

Tacket binding St. Armand paper cover Shin Inbe, Canson, decorative papers Handmade and stitched silk paper insets Clamshell casement, Duo book cloth 12

Laurel Herbeck Roughly for the North Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x 1 in.

Sewing-on-straps binding Eco-dyed endpapers and cover panel frame Fish skin, stone from Nome 13

Susheila Khera

Of Darkness & Light Kim Cornwall Digital copy, 8.25 x 6 x 1.75 in.

Tacket binding, variation Cave paper cover Shin Inbe, Lokta, parchment papers Seaweed, kelp, horsehair embellishments 14

Margo Klass

Armor & Ornament Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.25 x 5.5 x .75 in.

Tacket binding Cave paper cover, rusted metal inset Sunn hemp, Ingres, recycled packaging papers Box construction casement, found objects 15

Mary Liston

Roughly for the North Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.75 x 5.5 x .75 in.

Variable edition of 2

Cased-in binding, Iris book cloth Arches Text Wove, Bugra papers Vintage sewing artifacts on cover plate Photographs of King Island endpapers 16

Oralee Nudson

Armor & Ornament Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 in.

Coptic bound, birchwood boards Shizen endpapers and guards Vintage nails and jute Cement and rebar bookstand/casement 17

Sherrill Peterson

Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7.75 x 5.5 x 1 in.

Caterpillar binding, Duo book cloth Kumihimo cords with waxed linen Canson, Shin Inbe papers Clamshell casement, Gotland wool felt lining 18

Pat Sheehan

Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home Tom Sexton Digital copy, 5.75 x 5.25 x 1 in.

Longstitch binding St. Armand paper cover Shin Inbe and printed papers from vintage Chinese books Maps of Denali National Park and Li Bai’s journey in China Wrap casement, Duo book cloth, vintage closure 19

Stephanie Strandberg Of Darkness & Light Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Digital copy, 7.75 x 5.5 x 1 in.

Longstitch binding Rives BFK cover Bugra and Japanese decorated papers, with colored pencil Collagraphic cover plates by Marcia Brown, artist’s mother Clamshell casement, Dubletta book cloth 20

Connie Stricks

Of Darkness & Light Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x .5 in.

Japanese stab binding Khadi, Bhutanese Tsasho, batik Lokta papers Four-flap casement, seed closure 21

Corlis Taylor

Armor & Ornament Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.25 x 5.75 x 1.5 in.

Modified 2-section sewn binding Printed cork fabric, metal and leather strap closure St. Armand, Shizen papers Clamshell casement, Dubletta book cloth 22

Ashley Thayer

Armor & Ornament Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 15 x 6 x .75 in.

Girdle book structure Embroidered image, Lancelot Du Lac manuscript, c.1310 Sewn text block, faux raised cords Vintage suede casement, Turks head knot 23

THE NORTHWOODS SET BOOK PROJECT: Afterword Evocative. Imaginative. Intriguing. The twenty-six books in this collection exemplify the artistry of sixteen book artists who embraced the challenge of the Northwoods Set Book Project. Participating in this project with fellow bookmakers has been a privilege and I am delighted to see such a unique array of books, each one a personal response designed to be a new “home” for the poems nestled within.

Artists brought keen attentiveness and the imaginative use of materials and design elements to their work. Choices about structures, bindings, papers, book cloth, embellishments, and casements were made with intention, each artist creating a visual interpretation of what resonated for her when she read the poetry.

Dedication to craftsmanship and technical proficiency are attributes book artists share. For those of us involved in this project, our skills have been honed through years of personal study, NBG meetings, workshops, and expert mentoring from Margo Klass. Margo’s vision and leadership were the sparks that kindled the Northwoods Book Arts Guild in 2010 and her creative energy continues to shape the success of our Guild. We are indebted to her, grateful for the myriad ways she nurtures and guides us. She has been our compass as we navigated the landscape of creative possibilities, bringing to fruition the Northwoods Set Book Project.

Susan Campbell Northwoods Book Arts Guild Board President, 2020-2022

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THE NORTHWOODS SET BOOK PROJECT: Exhibition List *indicates book is pictured in the catalog

no.1 Linda Adamson *Roughly for the North

by Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x .5 in.

Japanese stab binding Khadi paper cover and casement Flower-embossed book cloth Canson paper Embroidered images throughout

no.5 Gayle Hazen *Roughly for the North

by Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x 1in.

Tacket binding St. Armand paper cover Shin Inbe, Canson, decorative papers Handmade and stitched silk paper insets Clamshell casement, Duo book cloth

no.2 Felicia Burud Armor & Ornament

by Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.25 x 5.5 x .75 Sewing-on-straps binding Shizen, Elephant Hide papers Leather, fused glass cover plate

no.6 Laurel Herbeck Roughly for the North

by Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x 1 in.

Sewing-on-straps binding Eco-dyed endpapers and cover panel frame Fish skin, stone from Nome

no.3 Susan Campbell *Of Darkness & Light

by Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Rebound copy, 9 x 6.25 x .75 in.

Cased-in binding Boards covered with Duo book cloth Cover panels with natural artifacts Shin Inbe, Japanese Ogura lace papers Clamshell casement, Duo book cloth

no.7 Susheila Khera Of Darkness & Light

by Kim Cornwall Digital copy, 8.25 x 6 x 1.75 in.

Tacket binding, variation Cave paper cover Shin Inbe, Lokta, parchment papers Seaweed, kelp, horsehair embellishments

no.4 Roxie Fink *Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 8.5 x 6.25 x 1.25 in.

Wrap-around binding St. Armand paper cover Stitched and beaded panels Clamshell casement, Duo book cloth

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no.8 Margo Klass *Armor & Ornament

by Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.25 x 5.25 x .75 in.

Tacket binding Cave paper cover, rusted metal inset Sunn hemp, Ingres, recycled packaging papers Box construction casement, found objects

no.9 Margo Klass Armor & Ornament

by Christopher Lee Miles Rebound copy, 9 x 6.25 x .75 in.

Cased in binding Duo book cloth Pochoir on Ingres endpapers, stitched insets Clamshell casement, Duo book cloth no.10 Mary Liston *Roughly for the North

by Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 7.75 x 5.5 x .75 in.

Variable edition of 2 Cased-in binding, Iris book cloth Arches Text Wove, Bugra papers Vintage sewing artifacts on cover plate Photographs of King Island endpapers no.11 Oralee Nudson *Armor & Ornament

by Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 in.

Coptic bound, birchwood covers Shizen endpapers and guards Vintage nails and jute Cement and rebar bookstand/casement no.12 Sherrill Peterson *Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7.75 x 5.5 x 1 in.

Caterpillar binding, Duo book cloth Kumihimo cords with waxed linen Canson, Shin Inbe papers Clamshell casement, Gotland wool felt lining

no.13 Pat Sheehan *Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7 x 5.25 x 1in.

Longstitch binding St. Armand paper cover Shin Inbe and printed papers from vintage Chinese books Maps of Denali National Park and Li Bai’s journey in China Wrap casement, Duo book cloth, vintage artifact closure no.14 Pat Sheehan Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7 x 5.25 x 1in.

Longstitch binding Cave paper cover, Amate paper cutout Bugra, Lokta papers Wrap casement, Amate paper lining no.15 Pat Sheehan Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7 x 5.25 x 1in.

Longstitch binding St. Armand paper cover, birch leaves Bugra, handmade papers Wrap casement, vintage artifact closure no.16 Pat Sheehan Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7 x 5.25 x 1in.

Tacket binding St. Armand paper cover Canson, decorative papers Wrap casement, star button closure

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no.17 Stephanie Strandberg Of Darkness & Light

by Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Digital copy, 7.75 x 5.5 x 1 in.

Longstitch binding Rives BFK cover Bugra and Japanese decorated papers, with colored pencil Collagraphic cover plates by Marcia Brown, artist’s mother Clamshell casement, Dubletta book cloth no.18 Connie Stricks *Of Darkness & Light (Black Moon)

by Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x .5 in.

Japanese stab binding Khadi, Bhutanese Tsasho, batik Lokta papers Four-flap casement, seed closure no.19 Connie Stricks Of Darkness & Light

by Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x .5 in.

Japanese stab binding St. Armand, Elephant Hide papers Sheet metal and fine silver wire no.20 Connie Stricks Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7.5 x 5.5 x .75 in.

Box 10.25 x 6.25 x 2 in.

Japanese stab binding Moriki kozo, Elephant Hide, Canson papers Birch twigs, stones, silver wire, waxed linen

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no.21 Corlis Taylor *Armor & Ornament

by Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 7.25 x 5.75 x 1.5 in.

Modified 2-section sewn binding Printed cork fabric, metal and leather strap closure St. Armand, Shizen papers Clamshell casement, Dubletta book cloth no.22 Ashley Thayer *Armor & Ornament

by Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 15 x 6 x 1 in.

Girdle book structure Embroidered image, Lancelot Du Lac manuscript, c.1310 Sewn text block, faux raised cords Vintage suede casement, Turks head knot no.23 Ashley Thayer Armor & Ornament

by Christopher Lee Miles Digital copy, 26 x 11 x 6.5 in.

Dowel binding Shizen paper Altarpiece sculpture casement Recycled redwood, found vintage cross no.24 Ashley Thayer Li Bai Rides a Celestial Dolphin Home

by Tom Sexton Digital copy, 7.5 x 6.5 x .5 in.

Stub and stab binding Duo book cloth, tooled foil Japanese paper

no.25 Ashley Thayer Roughly for the North

by Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen Digital copy, 8 x 5.5 x .5 in.

Limp binding, leather thongs St. Armand, marbled papers Foil tooling Paste paper by the artist

no.26 Ashley Thayer Of Darkness & Light

by Kim Cornwall, edited by Wendy Erd Digital copy, 8 x 5.5 x .5 in.

Bradel binding Leather, foil tooling

Photography by Eric Nancarrow 28

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