Hot Tomato Press ~ Minnesota
(Erica Spitzer Rasmussen)

Tomato Poem [2025]
By Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
[Saint Paul, Minnesota]: Hot Tomato Press, 2025. Edition of 25.

1 3/8”w 1”h x 5/8”d accordion fold miniature. Mixed media with commercial paper and human hair. Inkjet printed. Cover wrapped with linocut prints of a cross section of a tomato and trimmed with human hair. Numbered. This is the second publication of Rasmussen’s “Tomato Poem”.

This one features a linocut on the covers.

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen: "'Tomato Poem' is a miniature artists' book series that features a singular poem about my childhood association between the consumption of tomatoes and the growth of chest hair. The book is an accordion fold with an ink-jet printed text. The covers are wrapped with linocut prints of a cross section of a tomato and trimmed with human hair. The book stands one inch in height.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes,
Result in hairy chests,
Hair may be fine on you, sir
But not on my budding breasts

"When I was a little girl, my father told me that eating tomatoes would make me "big, strong and hairy chested." I avoided eating tomatoes for twenty years. My brother went on to eat tomatoes and you should see how hairy he turned out."
$100

Famous Last Words
By Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
[Saint Paul, Minnesota]: Hot Tomato Press, 2024. Edition of 20.

2.5” x 10” x 1.25” closed, in-the-round 4.75” x 10” x 4.75”; 27 folio. Typewritten. Mixed media. Materials: cotton handmade paper, gelatin, acrylic ink, Rit dye, Aqua Bronze metallic powder, Japanese momigami cover paper, PVA, waxed linen thread, book board, and Mark’s oncology report. Coptic & drum binding.

Hot Tomato Press: “’Famous Last Words’ consisting of quotes uttered by famous and celebrated individuals from their deathbeds, across the globe and across time. Some of the quotes are sobering, while others are humorous. The book concludes by documenting the last words spoken by Mark Stevens Spitzer (educator and poet) to his sister (proprietor of Hot Tomato Press) before his passing.

“Quotes by the following luminaries include Phineas T. Barnum, Ludwig van Beethoven, Dominque Bouhours, Jean-Baptiste-Camille-Carot, Narushima Chuhachiro, Emily Dickinson, Jean-Baptiste Dubos, Elizabeth I, Charles Frohman, Stephen Hawking, Katsushika Hokusai, Martin Luther King Jr., Isapo-Muxika (aka Crowfoot), Leonard Nimoy, Anna Pavlova, Pliny the Elder, Pierre Simon Marquis de Laplace, Mark Stevens Spitzer, Comtesse di Vercellis, Leonardo da Vinci, and Oscar Wilde.”

                What is life?
        It is a flash of firefly
                In the night.
          It is a breath of a
    buffalo in the wintertime.
It is as the little shadow that
        runs across the grass
              and loses itself in
                      the sunset
                                          Isapo-Muxika / Crowfoot

$850

Hot Tomato
By Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
[Saint Paul, Minnesota]: Hot Tomato Press, 2023. Open Edition.

3 1/4"w x 1 3/4"h x 3 1/4"d. Mixed media with handmade paper (cotton, acrylics, book rings, gelatin size, and ink). Linocut printed, punched and strung.

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen: "When I was little, my father told me that eating tomatoes would make me ‘big, strong and hairy-chested.’ When you're young, of course, it's difficult to separate truth from fiction. I believed my father and stopped eating tomatoes. My brother, who heard the same tall tale around the dinner table, continued to eat tomatoes and you should see how hairy he turned out. ‘Hot Tomatoes’ are representations of the ever-present ominous fruit from my childhood that animated the theater of my mind. They function as picture books and as sculptural objects.”
$100

Thoughts about Pots
By Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
[Saint Paul, Minnesota]: Hot Tomato Press, 2023. Variable series.

Mixed media with handmade paper (cotton, ink, nickel-plated steel, and Warren’s clay-covered overalls). Typewritten text. Punched and strung.

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen: "’Thoughts About Pots’ is an artists’ book series that features quotes by my late stepfather, Warren MacKenzie. The series is a tribute to Warren, who taught ceramics at the University of Minnesota for thirty-seven years. Some quotes are humorous. Others are solemn. The handmade paper contains Warren’s clay-covered overalls that were salvaged from his pottery after his death. The text includes references regarding Warren’s first wife, Alix MacKenzie, and his mentors, Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. Like Warren’s pots, no two books are the same."

Available Pots:
Bottle (11 “) $450
Pitcher 10.5" $550
Shallow Bowl $350
Teapot $500
Vase $250
Vase 9” $450

Tomato Poem
By Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
Saint Paul, Minnesota: Hot Tomato Press, 2023. Edition of 100.

1 x 1 3/8”; 28 pages including pastedowns. Miniature. Double sided accordion. Mixed media with handmade paper (cotton, human hair, gelatin size, shellac, and sundried tomatoes. Inkjet printed. Numbered.

“Tomato Poem” was inspired by Erica’s memory of her father telling her that eating tomatoes would make her “big, strong, and hairy-chested.”

A poem by Erica Spitzer Rasmussen given life between boards of sun dried tomatoes. Each word given its own miniature page.

Tomatoes   tomatoes   tomatoes    Result in hairy chests    Hair may be fine    on you sir    But not on my budding breasts

$75 (Last Copy)

Murmurations
Poetry by Lea Graham
[Saint Paul, Minnesota]: Hot Tomato Press, 2020. Edition of 20.

4.5 x 13 x .75 "; 32 pages. Letterpress printed on Rives Heavyweight paper. Font for text is Georgia. Handmade cover paper of cotton, Aardvark dyes, dictionary pages and gelatin size. End sheets of Nepalese Lokta. Coptic stitch binding. Edited by Mark Spitzer. Graphic design by Bryan Starry. Printing assistance from Laura Brown. Book design and publication by Erica Spitzer Rasmussen. Numbered.

Hot Tomato Press: "Where can a single word lead us? In this book of poems, titles are used like quirky dictionary entries that lead readers to archaisms, tragic histories, omni-present popular culture, observations of the natural world and elegy. We find Salman Rushdie and Donald Trump at a Crosby, Stills and Nash concert; a visit to a former detention center in Argentina's Dirty War ends up in 80s pop songs and bilingual jokes. The pervasiveness of violence and pain is threaded throughout the poems, but so is wonder and joy.

"Lea Graham is the author of 'From the Hotel Vernon' (Salmon Press, 2019) and 'Hough & Helix & Where & Here & You, You, You' (No Tell Books, 2011) and three chapbooks: 'Spell to Spell' (above/ground Press, 2018), 'This End of the World: Notes to Robert Kroetsch '(Apt. 9 Press, 2016) and 'Calendar Girls' (above/ground Press, 2006). She is the editor of the forthcoming anthology of critical essays 'From the Word to the Place: The Work of Michael Anania' (MadHat Press, 2021). Her poems, translations, reviews and articles have been published in numerous journals and anthologies. She is an associate professor of English at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY."

Pegasus Literary, review of “Murmurations”: “The poems in Lea Graham’s newest book, Murmurations, bloom with an immense enthusiasm and an amusing quality. The titles are used like quirky dictionary entries that lead readers to remarkable imagery, tragic histories, omni-present popular culture, observations of the natural world and elegy. The book is dedicated to the poet’s young niece, who was lost to cancer in 2019. Graham has written her poems close to nature and its creatures.

“ Lea Graham’s ‘Murmurations’; a limited edition/ fine arts book, hand-bound by the artist, Erica Spitzer Rasmussen; connects readers to nature, historical facts and affairs, and present culture. The fusion of the natural world with present culture and historical affairs is flawless." (Full review on Pegasus Literary web site)
$525

A Blessing and a Curse: The History of Menses
By Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
[Saint Paul, Minnesota]: Hot Tomato Press, 2023. Edition of 20.

3”w x 2.5”h x 1”d; 24 pages. Mixed media with handmade paper (cotton, gelatin, acrylic ink, PVA, plastic, waxed linen thread, and Nepalese Lokta). Coptic and drum binding. Typewritten text. Button and string closure. Numbered.

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen: " ‘A Blessing and a Curse” is a typewritten book that documents the world-wide practices and developments in the story of menstruation. From the ingenious use of materials used to impede blood flow through modern patents for commercial markets, this artists’ book explores the realities of a perfectly natural but taboo subject. The content is both universal and personal, in that the final page commemorates the author’s reproductive cycle coming to an end. The pages emulate mini pads, dyed in crimson ink.”
(SOLD)