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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2004
Contact:
Tom Leech
505-476-5096
Eric Martinez
505-476-1144
A WORLD OF RISK AND ADVENTURE
Santa Fe, New Mexico — Lasting Impressions: The Private Presses of New Mexico opens at the Palace of the Governors Friday, February 18, 2005, and will remain on view through February 7, 2007.
Lasting Impressions melds New Mexico’s history and culture with New Mexicans’ hands-on art and literary traditions in a show of unique books and printed materials that honors the spirited people who produced them.
Covering two centuries of literary history and including handmade creations from 25 presses instrumental in the private press movement of New Mexico, Lasting Impressions will exhibit more than 200 items, including six printing presses. Also on display will be a variety of hand tools; illustrative matter, such as silkscreen prints and woodcuts by celebrated artists; production materials from original manuscripts to proof sheets to final typeset copy; and a California job case with type literally from A to Z.
And then there are the books. Those to be seen in the exhibit are not to be found in regular bookstores or on bestseller lists. They are books from a world of risk and adventure, where integrity is more important to their makers than mass appeal and where unknown writers and artists have an opportunity to find an audience, despite their lack of commercial potential.
The Lasting Impression account of New Mexico’s private presses begins in 1834 with the arrival of the state’s first printing press. On it, Padre Antonio José Martínez, the curate of Taos, produced religious and political materials, as well as school primers.
From there, Lasting Impressions follows a path of literary treasures that trace the evolution of the private press from utilitarian to aesthetic to literary to political. Along the way, the exhibition introduces an eclectic cast of characters responsible for independently publishing the work. Among them were:
- Presbyterian missionary John Menaul, who established Laguna Mission Press, where he printed the first English translations of the Keres language.
- Artists Gustave Baumann and Willard Clark, who produced masterful woodcut images of regional subjects.
- Edward McLean and Hazel Dreis, who created beautiful hand-bound books with exotic materials.
- Louie Ewing and Merle Armitage, who joined their talents to develop a new look for the Laboratory of Anthropology publications with Ewing’s silkscreen illustrations and Armitage’s bold typography.
- Taos activist Rini Templeton, who used her graphic talents to call for social change.
- Paula Hocks at Running Women Press, who brought a postmodernist sensibility to her collaged artist books.
- Janet Rodney’s Weaselsleeves Press, who explored the conceptual realm of language.
Though the interests and motives of private press owners have varied widely, the majority of those in New Mexico came out of a similar background, having developed their skills in commercial publishing before striking out on their own. Traditionally, those who own and operate private presses involve themselves in nearly every phase of book production, and Lasting Impressions will showcase their comprehensive expertise.
Combining technical know-how with artistic talents, the people at the presses have through the centuries produced limited edition books, valued as much for their beauty as for their content. All have shared an enduring love of the book and a commitment to time-honored techniques, from which they create literary works of art that you can hold in your hands.
Public Programming
Sunday, February 20, 2005
The New Mexico State Library will be host at Sunday’s opening weekend events. Sundays are free for New Mexico residents with I.D.
www.stlib.state.nm.us
Guest Curator Pam Smith, the former director of the Palace Press, will give a gallery talk at 2 p.m. Hers is the first in a series of Sunday afternoon gallery talks. Future speakers include poet and printer John Brandi, bookbinder Priscilla Spitler, and exhibition designer John Tinker.
Admission
By museum admission: $7 non-residents, free on Sundays for New Mexico residents with I.D., free Friday evenings, 5-8pm.
Support and Outreach
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities, supports the Palace of the Governors and its partners in an ambitious statewide program of educational outreach and satellite exhibits related to Lasting Impressions: The Private Presses of New Mexico. For such outreach, the Palace of the Governors has received a two-year grant of $425,453 from the IMLS, which selected only 19 recipients from 66 application requests for a 2004 National Leadership Grant in the Library and Museum Collaboration category.
The Palace will join the New Mexico State Library, Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe, and other museums, libraries, and archives throughout the state to present information about the birth and flowering of small, private presses in New Mexico. The IMLS grant will be matched in effort or funds from the Palace of the Governors and from partners, including the Museum Outreach Department’s traveling exhibitions program and Van of Enchantment; the New Mexico State Library and its Bookmobiles and libraries throughout the state; The Lannan Foundation, which has underwritten a book that will complement the exhibition; New Mexico Highlands Media Arts and Computer Science Program whose students have produced a virtual typesetting program; Friends of the Palace, a New Mexico Humanities Council, We the People grant, and the Palace Guard, a support group of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation.
Note to editors: Guest Curator Pam Smith can be reached for telephone interviews at (505) 685-4486, or by email at shirinne@cybermesa.com. For questions about the grant, contact Project Manager Cheryle Mitchell, (505) 476-5055, or by email at cmitchell@mnm.state.nm.us.
The Palace of the Governors is part of the Museum of New Mexico/Department of Cultural Affairs.
www.palaceofthegovernors.org
