Above and Below

It's June already! I've been working on some new letterpress prints, including this one titled, Above and Below. This is a continuation of the Small Fires series, an ongoing body of work that explores pictographic images as modes of communication. These prints are all handset with wood and metal type and printed on a Vandercook No. 4 Proof Press.
 
:: setting the type for Above and Below ::

:: detail :: 

 :: detail ::

:: Above and Below, 2013, 14.5" x 22", letterpress on cotton paper ::

Things

A friend asked me recently what I'm currently inspired by and I replied "things that look like other things." Not the most eloquent response, I'll work on that, but it's true. I've been looking at these images, as well as others, a great deal, photographs that exhibit the phenomenon of the repetition of forms in the manmade and natural world.



Oculus Song :: First Copy

Oculus song is a meditation on the night sky and our mind's interiors. The images evoke atmospheric phenomena and the geometry of architecture. The text is an original poem composed using an experimental technique of writing using translation software to alter the text and generate spontaneous new content to be edited into a new text.

This artist's book was made in a limited edition of 16, 12 softcover editions, and 4 deluxe hardcover editions. This is the softcover edition. The text was handset in 12 pt Futura and letterpress printed. The imagery is letterpress and risograph printed on a mix of handmade and recycled paper. Written, designed, printed, and bound by Marianne Dages, Huldra Press, 2013.

Dimensions : 7.25" x 4.5", 44 pages
Binding : 3 signature binding in a softcover case

It is available for sale here and here

 :: Cover ::

 :: OCULUS SONG ::
















The bromides flash,
on top of my room.

Luminous pillars,
mortuous colors.

What is lost gathers here,
in the eye of Jupiter.

Its distant operations,
Anchor the dawn.

A frozen horse
with vesper hoof,

Aster Ochre -
The catalyst’s bloom,

how clear the song,
the pyramid moon.

- Marianne Dages, 2013

This week

This week has been an interesting one with unexpected opportunities and surprises. I won't give away the secret just yet, but I will say that my studio will be featured in totally unexpected, and very cool, way. On film...

I've been working on prints for this mystery project.

 :: mystery words ::

 :: more mystery words ::

This week. I keep looking at minerals! I don't know what it means yet, but I'm fascinated how minerals mirror larger geological, meteorological, and other natural phenomena.

 :: a mineral disc ::

 :: more minerals ::

:: go forward ::

Serpents, Scales and Pyramids

Recurring Images and dreams.

:: Tile Scales ::

:: Louise Bourgouis, Swaying, 2006 ::

:: Agnes Denes, The Human Argument, 1974 ::

:: source unknown ::

:: Koryak armor ::

:: Marianne Dages, Quoin ::

:: Marianne dages, Chymia ::

:: marianne dages, i had that dream again ::

:: waves, from a very old book I own ::

:: Iceland, herringbone pattern in house, photograph by Andrew Frederick ::


:: Animal figures and patterns from various Udeghe shaman’s costumes, shoes and bands ::

Oculus Song in Progress

:: oculus song, risograph and letterpress :: 

I'm getting very excited about this project. I've made some changes since the first draft, little changes in wording and layout. Now that I am printing the final text and images, it's all coming together. 

In other news, I've been in a research mindset lately, thinking about language, storytelling, recording dreams. If you would like to see the images I've been collecting as inspiration, please stop by my Tumblr, Tiger Feathers. 


Language is a virus


 :: Yukaghir "love letter" ::

:: Drumconwell Ogham Stone ::


:: Icelandic Magic Staves ::

 :: Saami Runebomme ::

 :: Chinese Bamboo Annals ::

:: Traditional Croatian Tattoos ::

:: my print, Small Fires No. 3 ::

I'm very interested in pictographic images as modes of communication and their relationship to folklore. I've also been looking at the distortion of language and information that occurs as cultural objects
and stories are viewed out of context by outsiders.

 The images I make are a personal and idiosyncratic dictionary of symbols with pictographic imagery rooted in the history and folklore of the Arctic. They are an attempt to communicate with the long gone and far away, and to create a new personal narrative and connection to these far off places.

Oculus Song

I'm working on a new artist's book, titled Ocular  Oculus Song. Right now, it is in the model stage, and I am trying to decide on a typeface. The book will include risograph and letterpress printing, maybe some hand painted details. The book will include some of my writing. It's never been easy for me to translate my ideas into writing, it can be like pulling teeth, but it's exhilarating too. 

:: testing typefaces ::

:: handset type ::

:: risograph printing and handmade paper cover ::

 :: risograph printing and tracing paper ::





Oddness

Two odd things I made recently. 

One is a one of a kind book with vintage paper corner detail.

:: vintage paper corner ::

 :: letterpress front page ::

 :: graph paper and vintage star chart ::

The other is one in a series of experimental letterpress prints that I am using in a book I'm working on. A mysterious house. It reminds me of a polaroid transfer!

:: its letterpress, believe it or not ::