Vol. 18, No. 16Jan. 7, 1999

Artists show handmade books

Three University alumni who are book artists will have their works on display from Jan. 11-29 in the Department of Art Gallery, Room 102, Recitation Hall. Steven Currier Daiber AS '78, David Moyer AS '78 and Don Rash AS '74 all have distinct styles when it comes to publishing handmade books.

Daiber of Williamsburg, Mass., is a naturalist who has spent much of his life collecting, dissecting and drawing the animal and plant life around him. His most recent publication is an illustrated new release of John Burroughs' 1870 essay Speckled Trout. Released by Daiber's Red Trillium Press, the limited edition is offset printed, richly illustrated with 43 drawings, two watercolors of trout and a birch bark collage. The first 30 volumes include a hand-colored woodcut and map of the Beaverkill Watershed in the Catskill Mountains. Speckled Trout is handbound in black walnut dyed paper, reminiscent of a leather wet fly book. The edition is cased in handmade paper, with the special edition in a clam shell box.

Moyer of Lebanon, Pa., is a printmaker and one of the founders of Red Howler Press. He has a keen interest in the printed word and its relationship to the visual image. His finely printed, limited edition works focus on the image and the wood engraved line in particular. His potent black and white wood engravings enliven the page and shape the supporting text that revolves around an eclectic number of subjects. To date, Red Howler Press has published eight volumes, such as Insectum Lingua, in which Moyer uses the life of the insect as its metaphor. He creatively combines six wood engraved images of insects with corresponding Latin infinitives. The title page and preface are handset in Goudy Old Style type, and the remaining text is calligraphic, etched and printed from type-high blocks.

Rash of Wilkes Barre, Pa., a bookbinder trained in the European tradition, marbleizes end papers, sews books, lines spines, laces cover boards, pares and trims leather and executes lettering to produce limited and one-of-a-kind editions. His work in binding and restoring can be found in rare book libraries and private collections in the U.S., Mexico and Europe.

The Department of Art Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.

For additional information, call 831-2244.