Sunday, April 5, 2009

Volcanoes of Iceland

I made a book about volcanoes. It's one of a kind, letterpress printed on handmade paper that was dyed with black walnuts. I'm going to make a box for it too. I read a lot of books about folklore and mythology and I'm especially fond of Scandinavian folklore. My press name, Huldra Press, comes from it. I love the odd details of folklore and the fact that these stories exist in so many forms. So in a roundabout way, this book came out of that interest. Out of an imaginary geography of a place I like to think about.

1 comment:

Robert Croma said...

Art always resides in imaginary geographies – landscapes mapped by the delicate footprints of the muses. The creative act is a necessary compass.

Your book is tremendous. My instinct, as well as to touch, is to smell the walnut paper, inhale and dream. As a small boy my mother went into hospital ("for a very long time") and each night she was away I took her headscarf to bed with me, to hold and hope, to smell and remind. In my immature terror, as long as I could smell her on the scarf I felt sure she'd return.

I get something of the same feeling, I feel, from handmade paper (and books!). The feel of the artist's presence, their creative aromas and passion and it sure makes for goodness and joy, profundity and a visual reckoning with the blank slate of the eternal. In other words, I love the Huldra Press.