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never
mind the press
~ California |
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| Alisa Golden: "As I worked on my first book of poems during my first semester at California College of Arts and Crafts, my teacher, Betsy Davids, suggested that I choose a press name. The book was called never mind the crowd, so it seemed fitting that never mind the press become its imprint. As evidenced by the poetry, I liked wordplay. Choosing never mind the press seemed an offhand way of making something serious and not serious at the same time." | |
| Birds of the Bible | |
I Found Out
$75 |
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| Alphabetical Lichencounters By Alisa Golden Berkeley, California: never mind the press, 2015. Edition of 40. 5 x 7"; 10 pages. One-sheet folded book. Letterpress printed from handset Univers and wood type and photopolymer plates on Stonehenge, a thick, acid-free paper. Laid in a tan Stonehenge title folder that contains the colophon as well as the title. Signed and numbered by the artist. Alisa Golden: "In this special alphabet book, drawings of a variety of California lichen are printed in the counters (the open areas) of selected wood type letters. Also printed from handwritten text are the intriguing and poetic names in Latin and English, such as 'crowned pixie-cup' and 'seaside tube lichen,' 'wolf lichen,' and 'hopeful beard' lichen. … In the center folded section is a prose poem about lichen and their symbiotic relationship, how humans cannot cultivate them, and how they are pollution predictors." $65 |
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| Better Say Eagle By Alisa Golden Berkeley, California: never mind the press, 2015. Edition of 39. 6 x 10 x 1.5" as paper sculpture; 21.5 x 10" fully extended as a print. Letterpress printed from linoleum cuts and handset Caslon Oldstyle type in six colors on cotton Stonehenge paper. Signed and numbered by the artist. Alisa Golden: "So many times a book is judged by its cover. Here is the cover, the jacket as a paper sculpture, the book fully exposed, easy to flatten and store or mat and frame as a print. These five poems look at honesty, service, invisibility, power, and irony through cleaning, team training, military awards, a bug, and clichés. The prints are of bald eagles, a target, and combat boots and talons. Taken together, a powerful and playful set of words and images." $75 |
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| In the Wake of the Dream By Alisa Golden Albany, California: never mind the press, 2014. Edition of 30. Sizes and colors vary: 5.5" (w) x 8.5 - 9.75" (h). Mixed colors with front covers of: black, dark blue, red, dark green, gray, white, process blue, or brown. Materials: Arches cover, repurposed book covers, muslin, Stonehenge, Velin Arches, kitakata, Japanese book cloth. Letterpress printed from Caslon Oldstyle 471 type. Linoleum cuts. Signed by the artist. Numbered. Alisa Golden: "A slipcase holds a hardcover portfolio made from discarded book covers. Inside the portfolio you will find a slot and tab book letterpress printed on muslin cloth from metal type and linoleum cuts in several colors. Each combined fiction/dream is printed in blue with the waking words trailing in gold. Three linoleum cuts are printed on Stonehenge (a ship, diagram of a wake, and a sleeping body) and held in a handmade kitakata envelope with a poem called 'transverses' printed on it. "These narratives are five consecutive dreams from March 31, 2014, then revisited and revised asleep and awake shaped into stories (transverses) touching on imagination, loss, relationships, and acceptance." $300 |
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| Still Life with Game Bird and Dice (Oil) By Alisa Golden Berkeley, California: never mind the press, 2014. Edition of 45. Outer fishbone fold book measures 6"h x 3.5"w; inner folded booklet is 5.5"h x 3.75"w. Archival and acid free papers. Three-color reduction linoleum cut on the front cover and on the back cover. Printed by hand on Strathmore drawing paper. Letterpress printed. Lino cuts. Black book cloth spine. Modified fishbone fold has a pocket at the apex with the poem tucked into it. Bound by hand. Signed and numbered. Alisa Golden: "This freestanding, sculptural, two-piece book is letterpress printed from wood type, handset metal type and original linoleum block illustrations. The poem contained within was inspired by the 'Fight for 15' campaign for a fair minimum wage for fast food workers and other service workers and originally published in the online literary magazine, Miracle Monocle, Spring 2015 issue. "The illustrations were designed after studying the 1602 painting, 'Still Life with Game Bird, Fruit, and Vegetables' by Juan Sánchez Cotán and given a contemporary interpretation. Colors were chosen to evoke a fast food outlet." Alisa Golden, Making Hand Made Books, blog: "The possibilities of printing on a single piece of paper and making a fishbone fold or a modified fishbone fold book continue to intrigue me "Here is the latest, just in time for National Poetry Month and for Poem in Your Pocket Day (April 30, 2015): a single poem on a folded and glued sheet in the pocket of a modified fishbone fold. The design came in a dream … I printed the yellow, carved out what I wanted to remain yellow, printed red, carved, then printed black on top of all. Conceptually, I was playing with borders and boundaries, having type and images spill over from page to page, and placing the poem tight against the inner fold. "The finger cutout echoes the shaped opening of the french fry bag. The wood type words are from the poem." $65 |
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Tree
$475 |
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Woods in the City
$475 |
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Spotted One Day 5.25 x 5.125"; 18 pages. Letterpress printed from a linoleum block of carved leaves, wood type, handset metal Caslon Oldstyle type, and one photopolymer plate. Printed on Somerset 100% cotton paper. Coptic sewn with a curved needle using waxed red linen thread. Bound in printed bookcloth over Davey board. Alisa Golden: "The pages have flaps that fold up or down, with holes punched in them as well. The wood type words change as you interact with the flaps such that GROW becomes OW, for example. ... "A look at ladybugs and children. How do you get them to stay? Two women have different approaches." |
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Crows at Home 2.75 x 5.75"; 10 panels. Checkbook structure designed by Alisa Golden. Created from paper painted with layers of acrylic ink and black gesso. Line drawings printed from photopolymer plates. Text is handset Bodoni printed letterpress on collected paper bags. Closed by wire bandoleer with ends wrapped in black linen thread to simulate crow's feet. Alisa Golden: "A conversation about crows, cards, and shoes occurs while I am walking back from the market." (As Mallarmé alleged, Everything in the world exists to end up in a book.) |
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Driftwood & Roots 5.75 x 6.375"; 16 page double-sided accordion with first and last pages glued to boards. Letterpress printed on Somerset paper. Handset Bodoni (bold and italic) with Onyx titles. Bound in brown cloth with painted paper inset and embroidery on front board. Alisa Golden: "Two impressionistic poems about memory, water, and returning. Printed in a variety of teal and blue inks from handset type. Eight variations on seven linocuts of roots and driftwood printed in browns. Acrylic ink-washes at the foot of each page and on the back. Japanese album accordion bound at the foredge with green-black waxed linen. Inset paper painted to resemble driftwood with embroidered roots on the hard cover." |
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Start with Pencil 8 x 6"; 8 pages. A slim, softcover, accordion book, letterpress printed from handset type. Linocuts are printed in single colors of blues or a pencil-yellow. With graphite and painted paper covers and painted strips that join the pages. Numbers corresponding to pencil hardness (1B to 8B) stenciled in pencil. Alisa Golden: "Eight linocuts and eight poems about writing, drawing, teaching, and learning. Images are figurative drawings made from single lines, drawn at the ice skating rink."
$80 |
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Night Monster
$90 |
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chalk voices 4 x 6.25"; 8 pages. One pop-up page with a multi-colored reduction print. Interior contains a miniature booklet (2"; 8 pages) Typo Roman type printed in blue with rule printed in sun yellow. Three-section hardcover closed with a small brass hook. Alisa Golden: "One short poem and another very short poem set by hand from metal type and printed via letterpress. The poems are a symphony of sounds on a neighborhood street." Text: "I know my neighbor's cough, laugh, and vacuum." |
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Once Said a Stoic: Epictetus 2.5 x 3" Six quotes from this first century stoic philosopher are printed in black with Caslon 471 Oldstyle type on Lenox paper and wood type Roman numerals printed in silver. Short paragraph biography in the back. Combination tabbed accordion-fold book with exposed coptic binding. Maroon bookcloth over museum boards. Back page is also a flap that wraps around the front and tucks into a pocket to close the springy book securely. Epictetus was lame, a slave, and although eventually freed, he was exiled by the emperor. Throughout these seemingly difficult situations he maintained a calm demeanor and positive attitude. Although he never wrote, his student Arrian posthumously compiled Epictetus' teachings in what is known as Discourses and a summary called The Enchiridion. Each teaching was given a Roman numeral. |
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She is the Keeper Book: 2.5 x 3"; 22 pages. Box: 3 x 3". Lift the lid off of this miniature box and the sides drop down, revealing text on the inner box and a miniature book within. Book printed letterpress from handset type on gray Stonehenge paper in blues and greens. Three linoleum cut illustrations printed in greys. Cover a reduction print of hummingbirds printed in blues and greens. Structure is a chunky, single-page flag book attached to a turquoise Canson accordion. Alisa Golden: "The text is a dream story about a mysterious box, curiosity, a desire to help, and a new understanding." She gets down, puts the box on the bed and opens the lid. $150 |
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| Steaming on the Stovetop poems from the pantry By Alisa Golden California: never mind the press, 2003. Edition of 42. 6 x 8" 12 pages. Letterpress printed. Bound in cloth boards. Alisa Golden: "Title is letterpress printed and inset into the hard cover. Brick red, Japanese bookcloth flecked with nubby strands of tan is used to cover museum boards, which house a slim single signature. Inside, thin tan Japanese paper alternates with a thicker white Kochi paper. Glassine is folded over the fore edges of the tan paper and machine sewed, providing extra thickness at the fore-edge and a torn profile on the page. Text is letterpress printed from handset Univers 55 type straddling the glassine. When you lift the glassine you notice a steamy, ragged edge in the middle of the printed text. Linoleum cuts of pots and pans and colographs are printed on the Kochi in four colors. "A range of poems, humorous, sad, and thoughtful that revolve around the kitchen." $145 |
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Falling / Not Moving 2.75 x 3" miniature book. Handset type and two relief prints letterpress printed on painted Lenox paper. Double-sided, seven-panelled accordion. Each side of the accordion opens “correctly” making it possible to open the book from either end. Painted hard covers with foil stamped title. Two poems about having presence and conquering fear.
$40 |
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Fair Entry 4.75 x 8.5"; 14 pages. Letterpress printed on Rives heavyweight paper. With rubber stamping and collage. Colophon (cow-o-phon): "never mind that she isn't really collecting cow things but only recently noticed she does have a cow potholder, fingerpuppet, mask, wallhanging, and of course cowpunch and cow stamps for no waking reason. never mind that the word cattle is not as nice as cows, never mind the handset caslon type stampeding via letterpress on Rives heavyweight buff or the covers handmade from Maine paper cows by Beth Herrick and Heather MacDuffie of Port and Starboard Press, never mind that she doesn't eat cow anymore. cow's favorite music? mood music."
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Alisa Golden, Birds of the Bible: “I received an email asking me if I would be interested in submitting a proposal for a grant: the Isaac Anolic Jewish Book Arts Award. No guarantees, but the writer was interested in my bookwork. The website states, ‘ Established in 1980, the Anolic Family Awards have been given to Jewish artists with a wide array of talents and goals, who have used these awards as an opportunity to further their artistic practice, Jewish cultural knowledge, and to advance their careers.’ “With birds on the brain, I wrote up my proposal to do a project looking at birds in the Hebrew Bible. I had just read that before the dove was sent to check on the flooded world, Noah had sent out a raven, and I knew I wanted to explore that raven. I gave myself some room to wriggle and grow within the project because I knew that once I got started, the project would start defining itself. It was a competitive process, but I won the grant. “After studying the Bible, the project evolved from one bird to three: raven, quail, and bearded vulture (an old world bird).” |
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Birds of the Bible: Bearded Vulture 6 x 7.5" closed, extends to 66"; two accordions extending from each interior back panel. Letterpress printed from handset type and linocuts. Materials: black Stonehenge paper, acrylic ink-dyed muslin, paste paper, book cloth. Bound in cloth boards. Signed and numbered by the artist. Alisa Golden: "The Bearded Vulture is a fascinating Old World bird; we don't have them in North America, but they did have them in Palestine/Israel as far back as biblical times, and as recently as 1982, the last time a pair raised a family there. I was fascinated that the majority of their diet is bones, and they wait for other scavengers to finish before they swoop in. In captivity their body feathers remain white. By creating a doubled cover and two one-sheet accordion structures I wanted to capture the feeling of unfolding out into their seven-to-nine-foot wingspan. “Peres. Bearded Vulture is a bird that is unclean to eat. In Genesis, Abraham beats away vultures from a sacrifice he offers, but it is not likely it was the Bearded Vulture. Bearded Vultures eat only bones and marrow; they clean up when the last bone has been picked clean by other animals. Bearded Vultures also preen with iron-rich dirt, so I printed linoleum cuts first, then hand painted the earth tones into the feathers.” |
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Birds of the Bible: Quail 5" x 7.25" folded tunnel book. Letterpress printing from handset English and Hebrew metal type. Linocuts. Printed on Somerset Velvet soft white paper. Bound in textured, sand-colored Japanese book cloth. Recess on front cover with cutout reduction linocut quail image. In slipcase. Signed and numbered by the artist. Golden writes as she calls it “my fictional interpretation of the story, fleshed out, so to speak - A young person's view of the quail sent to the Israelites in the desert.” Alisa Golden: “In the Biblical passage, the Israelites are wandering in the desert and the ‘riffraff’ are complaining to Moses that there is nothing to eat but manna and they are sick of it and want meat, particularly the fish and leeks and cucumbers, and so forth that they ate when they were slaves in Egypt. The Creator sends the quail, but there are consequences. “Selav. Quail was sent unwillingly … I learned how quail need a breeze in order to migrate, which makes the likelihood of this biblical story true. This story became a contemplation of greed and gratitude. I chose a tunnel book format in order to present reduction linocuts of both male and female quail in a large scale and included a two-page opening of the quail covering the ground.” Alisa Golden, printing details: “Title page is letterpress printed on Somerset Velvet paper with handset metal and wood type. The wood type belonged to my grandfather, who owned a printing and publishing company. “The righthand section opens up to stand as an accordion-folded tunnel with three quail: two male and one female. The images were based on California quail, which are similar to the migratory quail found in the Bible.” |
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Birds of the Bible: Raven 5.75 x 7.5”closed, extends to 44 x 7.5”; 14 pages. Accordion and signature combination book. Letterpress printed from handset English and Hebrew metal type and linocuts on hand marbled (Suminagashi) mulberry paper. Signatures sewn with sashiko thread. Walnut Paperwood endpapers. Black cloth covered boards in matching black cloth slipcase. Signed and numbered by the artist. Alisa Golden: “After learning that the raven was the first bird Noah sent out of the ark, preceding the dove, I had questions. If ravens mate for life, what happened to the mate? What did the raven do besides return and fly ‘to and fro?’ I wrote my own interpretation from the point of view of the raven. “The center mountain fold is letterpress printed in both English and Hebrew in rainbow colors with part of the Jewish prayer said upon seeing a rainbow. I machine stitched the lightweight paper to heavier paper with rainbow thread in a leaf pattern, signifying dry land. “I marbled mulberry paper with the Japanese Suminagashi technique where inks are floated on water and stirred to get organic waves, the Flood waters. “In present day, occasionally ravens stop in at the Osprey nest I watch online, generally when the Ospreys are away and the ravens scavenge for scraps of fish. I was alerted to a raven camera in Iceland by one of my fellow Osprey watchers, and was able to observe them as the young grew and eventually fledged and disappeared. The reduction cut at the end of the book was based on a screen shot from that Icelandic nest.” “Orev. Raven was sent out first into an unrecognizable landscape, then returned to find Noah somewhat disengaged from life as he turned to his vineyard, perhaps for solace from the disaster that was the Flood.” |
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| Book T/ravel By Alisa Golden Berkeley, California: never mind the press, 2007-2008. Edition of 43. 4.25 x 7"; 16 pages. Handset wood and Caslon letterpress printed on D. S. Superfine paper with color copies and Photoshop manipulation. Red wrapper with altered tea box cover tipped on. Originally 'Book T/ravel" was one of five books released in a one-year subscription Threads of Thoughtraveling by Golden. This is a book within a book. The larger exterior pamphlet (4.24 x 7") is letterpressed; the interior book (2.25 x 3") color copied and sewn into the center of the larger book. Alisa Golden: "One book or an anti-book? Traveling via reading, mostly to China. Altered tea box cover. Interior is one text treated different ways, some illegibly. And a list of what those who want to ban some books find objectionable, challenging these books for their content." (SOLD/Out of Print) |
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CHART: these bright lights 5.5 x 5"; 16 pages. Circular, linen-taped accordion with painted pages. Letterpress printed Caslon 471 Shining on Lenox. Layered with acrylic inks and white colored pencil. Alisa Golden: "A quiet walk through a Japanese tea garden. Clearing leaves and cleaning out closets. Staring alone at a night sky that others have seen in other times. Each of these activities is a point in its own circle. I have named them: ‘Walking on the Sentence Stones;’ and ‘On My Street: Fall;’ and ‘Chart: These Bright Lights.’ Together these books make up the Circle Series: accordion-folded paper with acrylic inks in colors reflecting the mood of each poem. I cut the papers into strips. Then I letterpress printed handset, metal type on top of the ink-washed pages and folded and joined the paper. "I always imagined I would have to choose between writing and art. Since 1983, making books has been a way for me to connect the two things I have to do, the things I thought were very separate. Making multiple copies allows me to let go of the work over and over and still keep it. My intention with the Circle Series was to create rhythm and mood, cohesive places in which to walk with my mind and with my hands. Places to be calm." |
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Days Made Strange 5.75 x 7.25 x 1.5" custom box containing 50 text cards plus colophon. Letterpress printed. Multicolored. Card sizes: 5 x 4.9"; 5 x 6"; 5 x 7". Handset metal type, wood type, and linoleum cuts. Printed on Stonehenge paper with a cylinder press. Cloth-covered upright box with a three-tiered card holder containing 31 cards dates, 12 cards for months, and 7 cards for days. never mind the press: "Days Made Strange is a perpetual letterpress haiku bookcalendar with fifty loose prints in a holder: seven days, twelve months, thirty-one dates. A forever calendar that is also an interactive book and a work of art that can be displayed standing. "Each card is printed with a text fragment and together, the three daily cards make up one new haiku each day that will not repeat for many years. The front cards, the dates, have prints of people in different arrangements and colors. Interact with it like a book or use it as a calendar and be surprised daily. Thousands of haiku combinations are contained within." She always wanted / to answer a strange letter / by blinking neon (SOLD) |
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Flashing Lights "Pull over when the lights flash in your mirror. Don't pull a fast one. Don't pull a U-turn. Don't hold my hand." |
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Hat. Hat. Hat. 10 x 7"; 20 pages. Letterpress printed on Rives bfk. Cover of ogura grey. Illustrated using handcarved rubber stamps. “When I got to Moscow….I was the only one who didn’t have a hat.” From this begins one of those small but epic sagas that color our lives.
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Those Who Wait Can Walk Through Walls 3 x 4.75"; 8 pages. Letterpress printed from handset Univers and Jefferson Gothic type on 100% cotton Velin Arches paper that has been painted with acrylic ink. Bound with waxed linen and colored eyelets and housed in paper slipcase. Alisa Golden: "Four black swallowtail caterpillars lived on my parsley plants in June 2008. Two matured. I saw only one emerge, but evidence of the other. The chrysalis is the case where the change takes place. Slide the folded book out of the case to hold the paper butterfly in your hand. Pull open one page of this one-sheet book to read an interpretation of waiting, changing, and growing." |
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Page last update: 07.21.2024
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