DIRECTIONS HOME:

A new book from the Gold Quoin Press, 2013,  printed letterpress in an edition of 200 copies. Now available for purchase. $130 collector edition, (signed and in hardcover box).  $40 standard edition.

Directions Home is a collection of poems inspired by the names of specific streets, roads, avenues, lanes, and highways found in one Midwestern town. The poems were written by the Grandview Hotel Poets, based in Peoria, Illinois, who meet regularly to share and discuss their work. The group’s earlier collection is entitled Bluffs and Five Bridges: Poems from Peoria. The variety of items included in Directions Home seeks to engage the reader in a physical as well as a literary exploration of the complex feelings about traveling from—and returning to—home.

This book came to fruition through collaboration between the Grandview Hotel Poets and the designers and printers associated with Bradley University’s Gold Quoin Press, all of whom share a love of the printed word and the creative possibilities that spring to life under the caring hand of the craftsperson.

Poems by Barbara Clevenger, Jannett Highfill, Mark Liebenow, Janeil Page, Thomas Palakeel, Burt Raabe, and Elizabeth Klise von Zerneck

Design by Sharon Conlee, Joe Fitzanko, Becky Krohe, Kevin McGuire, Lisa Nelson Raabe, and Robert Rowe, design coordinator

Production Notes: This book was a collaborative effort between the Grandview Hotel Poets and Gold Quoin Press. Working together, the authors and designers printed and assembled this book at Bradley University’s book arts studio in four very busy weeks in July and August, 2013. All printing, with one very small exception, was done on a Vandercook Universal One and an SP-15 press using photo-polymer plates, pressure printing, collagraph, and wood type. Special thanks to OSP Printing in Bloomington, IL for die-cutting.

The Gold Quoin Press at Bradley University is dedicated to promoting collaborative endeavors between writers and designers, with an emphasis on experimental letterpress printing and hand binding. The press provides instruction and studio facilities to students and the community. Other titles published by Gold Quoin Press include Unclose the Door by Madeline Wiseman (2012) and Great Day for a Run by Kevin McGuire (2011).

Gold Quoin Press © 2013 Peoria IL                                       ISBN 978-0-9839535-1-7

This book was printed in an edition of 200 copies.

I installed prints and books from the Gold Quoin Press at the Paper Nest in Iowa City, June 7th. the exhibit will run through the month of June. The opening was Friday night, June 7, which coincided with the monthly gallery walk, so there was a continuous stream of people for three hours.

The exhibit includes poetry broadsides with texts by Katey Schultz and Laura Madeline Wiseman, artist’s books by Robert Rowe, and collaborative book projects by classes at Bradley University and by the Peoria community letterpress group.

For gallery hours, call 319-455-6378 or visit the web site below.
http://papernestpress.com/2013-artist-gallery-shows

The Mission Creek Arts Festival is an annual event in Iowa City that brings together music, poetry, fiction and publishers. This year, the Gold Quoin Press has a table showing and selling books and broadsides produced in the last year by students, faculty and community collaborations. There were many  publishers of small and large literary journals present along with university presses from the University of Iowa and Illinois. Sales were good and and venue is the pleasantly-down-homey Mill restaurant and bar.

We gave warm welcome this morning to 16 potential freshmen and their parents in the art department. The Kindergarten class from Peoria Academy made a trip to Bradley’s letterpress studio to learn firsthand about printing and to see their artwork converted into a two-color letterpress poster. With the help of Bradley students and members of the Peoria letterpress print club, students (in 45 minutes) experienced the process from the initial design stage on the computer, setting of metal and wood type, through the making of plates, mixing inks and actually operating the press. Each student got to see the printing of the poster up close, and then actually operate a press to print a commemorative keepsake card. Progressing around the studio in small groups to individual learning stations, there was no down time and every one, including parents and teachers, seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience.

Jake Guzan’s poster in progress

I can’t wait to see a proof on this type lockup; The metal itself makes a beautiful very Deco composition. It is a call for entries for the campus literary magazine “Broadside.”  Bradley Student Jake Guzan is working on this in the letterpress shop.  Looking forward to the proofs. I will try to post them here.

Christine Huggins puts the finishing touches on some of the 100 hard-bound books produced by the Department of Art at Bradley University and the Gold Quoin Press. To purchase a copy, see the “shopping” link on this site. The book is for sale at $75 per copy.

Almost all of the run of 100 copies of “Unclose the Door” by Madeline Wiseman, are completed. Designed, printing and bound by students, faculty and studio staff at the Bradley University Books Arts center and the Gold Quoin Press, these books are 36 pages, hard bound, letterpress printed in two colors, and trace through a cycle of poems the life and career of Matilda Fletcher, an Illinois-born 19th Century traveling speaker and advocate for women’s rights. More images are available in the gallery section of this site.

Letterpress broadside posters designed and printed by Robert Rowe, Gold Quoin Preess, 2012; Both of these texts deal with the Iraq war; one from the perspective of an American soldier, one is a heat-seared vision of a shattered city seen from under the burqa. Both are moving glimpses into humanity in the time of war. Text, copyright Katey Schultz, used by the Gold Quoin Press with permission of the author. Design and printing by Robert Rowe. Purchase a print from for $40 from the Gold Quoin Shop. With the Burqa is printed on German-made Zerkall Nideggen paper using a low-relief collagraph plate on a Vandercook Universal one press. While the Rest of America’s at the Mall was printed on Somerset book wove and enhanced with silver foil stamping. Prints are 12 x 18 inches.