AB Gorham
S.W.A.M.P.
S.W.A.M.P. contains 4 stanzas, but, through the act of separation comes a distillation of concept, and so the words were broken apart into their sound components, re-arranged, and coerced into a compartmentalized palimpsest of language and utterance. This book’s structure is a set of 3x3 grids: one running horizontally, and one running vertically. First, the words, then, the words intoxicated, then, an outline of the two stanzas, capturing the words as a group of objects that take form on the page. The stanza images move across the individual spreads, transitioning from left to right, following the movement of the stanzas. The baseline images are laser-engraved where the folios meet one another, countering the horizontal tendencies of the book with an investigation of ascension. Each new layer or interpretation of the inked impressions, equals 6 attempts at reconciliation, and these pages house the metamorphosis of text/words into sounds and imagery. S.W.A.M.P. is a difficult or troublesome situation, also, the landscape in which this can occur, and so how does one approach such unstable ground?
Cautiously and never the same way twice.
Handset in metal type (Tower), letterpress printed, and bound by AB Gorham at Small Craft Advisory Press in Tallahassee, FL 2015. Printed on Somerset text, covered in Cave Paper, and housed in a two-flap enclosure. The text for this book was printed at Penland School of Crafts in summer 2014 while assisting Steve Miller’s letterpress class, using Penland's metal type Tower. The book was then finished at Small Craft Advisory Press, using a Vandercook 15-21, Vandercook Universal 1, and Epilog Laser Engraver.