Production Narrative

by K. Shewmaker

JAB was founded in 1994 in order to encourage lively and serious debate about artists' books. Our mission is to develop the field of artists' books by means of critical discourse and creative exploration of the intersections of book arts, artists' books, poetry, photography, experimental literature, and other book related creative endeavors. As a forum for the study of artists' books, JAB publishes articles, reviews of artists' books and exhibitions, and commentary on conferences as well as other book arts-related activities. JAB also documents current activity through interviews with artists, showcases creative work in the form of artists' statements and artist-designed pages, inserts, and covers. The text block was designed and offset printed by Brad Freeman. Images were scanned in Photoshop and Quark was the page layout program.

Critical Analysis

by K. Shewmaker

Design Features

typographic: Three typefaces were used: the masthead type is Memphis and the text alternates between Memphis and Matrix, depending upon the article. There is some use of Triplex in the image captions and feature titles.

imagery: Steve McCaffery supplied the images featured in his interview. The artists' page collage on page eighteen was done by Brad Freeman and features a prominent picture of William Tecumseh Sherman, the yankee general. Page nineteen is a reproduction of a ransom note style letter sent to JAB anonymously telling the publication to quit production and learn cooking. Page twenty is a collage of photographs by Brad Freeman of Seana Biondollilo, JAB Artist in Residence, New Haven, Summer 1996. Page twenty-one is a reproduction of a spread of Emily McVarish's Wards of Obsolescence. Pages twenty-two and twenty-three are Artists' Pages by Brad Freeman. On page twenty-two is a close-up of a carmina figurata by Hrabanus Maurus (circa 16th century). On page twenty-three is a reproduction of an image by Gelett Burgess from his Le Petit Journal des Refusees. Pages twenty-four and twenty-five feature photographs from the book by Jules Remedios Faye, The Mechanical Dreamer (1993). Page twenty-five also has two small photographs by Brad Freeman. On the left is Sandra Kroupa, special collections librarian at the University of Washington. On the right is a picture of Johanna Drucker looking at books from the collection. Pages twenty-six and twenty-seven have two reproductions from Gary Richman's book Outbound Gowanus (1995). Page twenty-nine features a three page sequence from Gilles Peress' The Silence (1995). Pages thirty and thirty-one have two page spreads from Gail Rebhan's Mother/Son Talk (1996). Also shown are five pictures from Sam Kash's Surf Goddesses: Beauty Meets the Beach (1995). Page thirty-two is the first appearance ever of the JAB Repo Man, a photograph by Brad Freeman of Noel Schumann.

graphical: The layout is a conventional two-column per page with varying sizes and location of page numbers.

Critical Discussion

JAB6: The Journal of Artists' Books

Agents

Brad Freeman

type: initiating

role:
publisher
editor

nationality:
born: United States of America

dates:
birth: 1951-01-23

Jules Remedios Faye Unknown

type: other

role:
artist Cover design
printer Cover (letterpress)
author Letter to the Editor

nationality:
born: United States of America

location: Sedro-Woolley, WA (Stern & Faye Printers)

Johanna Drucker

type: other

role:
author Interview With Steve McCaffery
author The Art of Political Ephemera (Exhibition Review)
author Wards of Obsolescence, Emily Varish (Review)

nationality:
born: United States of America

dates:
birth: 1952-05-30

note: [K. Shewmaker]

Anne Moeglin

type: other

role:
author Response to Johanna Drucker (continued from JAB4)

Beth Houghton

type: other

role:
author Letter to the Editor (Response to Jab 5 "Report from London" by Tanya Peixoto

Brad Freeman

type: other

role:
artist Artist's Pages (pp. 18, 19, 20, 22, 23)
author Book Reviews: The Mechanical Dreamer, Il Signatore by Jules Remedios Faye; Outbound Gowanus by Gary Richman; The Silence by Gilles Peress; Mother/Son Talk by Gail S. Rebhan; Surf Goddesses: Beauty Meets the Beach by Sam Kash

nationality:
born: United States of America

dates:
birth: 1951-01-23

Publication Information

edition type: editioned

publisher: Brad Freeman

place: New Haven, CT

dates:
publication: 1996-09-23

edition size: 600

Measurements

vertical: 11 inches closed

horizontal: 8.5 inches closed

Production Information

production means:
letterpress (local) Cover is letterpress printed. See colophon written by Jules Remedios Faye.
offset (local) y Brad Freeman.

binding: saddle stitching (AAT)

substrate:
bookBlock: paper Mohawk Superfine

media:
ink (local)

Appearance

general description: Saddle stitched with three-color letterpress printed cover (brown, gold, black) and black and white offset printed pages.

format: pamphlet (AAT)

cover: Pastiche of Mexican printmaker Jose Posada showing four people (two men, two women) having an altercation. Image accompanied by newspaper-style headline, "Terrible Lurid News! Bloody Drama Erupts on Bookmongers Row."

color: yes Cover letterpress printed with brown, gold and black inks

Content

pagination: paginated 32

numbered?: unnumbered

signed?: unsigned

Colophon

There are two colophons. One by Brad Freeman about the printing of the text block and one by Jules Remedios Faye about the cover. The textblock was offset printed by Brad Freeman. The cover was letterpress printed by Jules Remedios Faye as per below. If everything goes as planned, JAB6 was imageset and printed at SUNY Purchase, Center for Editions, September, 1996. 500 Copies on Mohawk Superfine. Design, Etc., by BF. Melissa Watson did the JAB logo. The cover is by Jules Remedios Faye. This cover was designed, the text handset, the images cut in linoleum and the whole printed letterpress by Jules Remedios Faye. Type and assistance was generously offered by C. Christopher Stern. Jules and Chris each act as book designer, editor, compositor, printer, illustrator, bookbinder, publisher and seller of l imited edition and artists' books. Although STREET OF CROCODILES is Jules' imprint and GREY SPIDER PRESS is Chris', we live and work under one roof, consult and assist with one another's projects and jointly carry out job work under the auspies of STERN & FAYE, PRINTERS. Our letterpress farm is nestled in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains on the banks of the beautiful Skagit River in a rural valley halfway between Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. We've renovated an old hay barn into a type studio, printery and hand bindery which is home to literally tons of letterpress equipment. We recently established a hot metal type foundary which will further enhance and expand the scope of our bookmaking capabilities, for we hope to produce books from hand-cut images and moveable type long into the future. STERN & FAYE, PRINTERS 3577 Cape Horn Road Sedro-Woolley, Washington 98284 TELEPHONE 360.826.5306