HUNTER MOON 2010

Moving all of my creative tools and equipment into the new Alphabetter Studio at The Midwest Center for Slow Media, aka the Forgotten Works Warehouse, in Viroqua, Wisconsin, has inspired further organization of matter and thinking.

With the new studio comes a new moniker: Alphabetter Studio. It finally dawned on me that a lot of what I do has nothing to do with The Heavy Duty Press; The Heavy Duty Press is merely a subdivision of my total creative output. The Heavy Duty Press is now reserved for both the imprint of my private press and also the name of the website. Those things won't change, but at least now I have a proper studio name to encompass the entirety of my creative work.

First order of business since the last journal entry was the arrangement of the whole collection of 77 collaborative collages that have been in progress through postal exchange for more than two years.

At the time the studio was still relatively empty, so I took advantage of the open floor and laid them all down to see what they looked like as a whole. From the beginning, I have been hoping the whole project could somehow be bound together as a book. Lying in seven rows of 11, I imagined them somehow linked together and hanging like a quilt.

The backs of these collage cards were covered midway through the project, which resulted in two-sided "pages." I turned the cards over and modified the arrangement as necessary so the pages made sequential sense to my eyes and mind, from right to left, top to bottom. When I ran the idea of quilting them by the group (Lisa Chun [the instigator of the project], Lynne Mori, and Brian Montague), they all liked the idea. So it looks like it's going to turn into a quilt book.

Two weeks later, around the full Sturgeon Moon in late August, my friends at the Forgotten Works helped move my printing equipment, including the Vandercook SP-15 pictured below, out of the cabin at Liberty Hillside (formerly Heavy Duty Acres, renamed to reduce stress), where it had been stored for almost exactly 6 years, into the new Alphabetter Studio. Thanks, guys.

And two months after that, in mid-October, my dad brought his pick-up truck over and we drove down to Dubuque to pick up (with a pick-up truck) a beautiful 19th-century 8x10 Chandler & Price platen press from Peter Fraterdeus (web host) at Slowprint.com.

We drove down, loaded it, drove back, unloaded it, and rolled it into the new Alphabetter Studio in all of about 5 hours. Crazily, when we moved to Viroqua six years ago, I had to call the scrap collectors to pick up a very similar press, a 10x15 C&P (about 500 lbs heavier) on moving day. They hauled it away after it tumbled like a fallen soldier into the back of their jalopy. I sighed and let it go. Cornball as it might sound, the acquistion of this press is like the continuation of a dream interrupted. It's pretty amazing to me.

And now the new Alphabetter Studio looks like this (which might not appear very organized, but for the first time in six years, everything is in the same room):

Finally, just a few days ago, two mornings after the full Hunter Moon, I walked over to the new Alphabetter Studio to finish some unfinished collages for an upcoming show at the U-Frame-It gallery on East Johnson Street in Madison, Wisconsin. That morning, before I left the house, searching for collage material at five in the morning, I found a box containing a few more unfinished collages and an envelope of collagable elements that I hadn't seen since I packed up the old studio before the move to Viroqua that same six years ago. I can remember packing that box away believing there would be a day somewhere down the road when I would open it up and pick up where I left off.

Laying the contents of that box on the table in front of me was like picking up that press from Peter a week earlier. A rush of nostalgia and the reconnection with my past had my head swimming in positive energy.

Some of the pieces were used to create silhouetted elements in the "thought bubbles" series of collages in 2003. Incorporating elements from the past into these new collages was an especially meaningful way to document the continuation of my interrupted dream.

Click on either one of this images (above or below) to see their respective counter-collages from the past.

This one (below) also has a counter-collage in the "Thought Bubbles" series.

All in all, it was a really productive quarter and leaves lots to look forward to under the moons ahead. Here's one more preview of the collages in progress for the upcoming U-Frame-It show in January 2011. (Some might be included in U-Frame-It's holiday season group show in December.)

Things at the Forgotten Works Warehouse are shaping up, with a new website (slowmedia.us), and a new logo for 2011. As you can imagine, this old tobacco warehouse is loaded with plenty of things that could be considered garbage. As of late August, it is now one dumpsterful lighter.

But don't stop there. Thanks to the hard work of Ms Kay O'Brien and Mr Tim Foss, the facade was scraped and given a few new coats of paint in recent weeks. Next we'll replace the old FW on the sign with the new logo for 2011. Snazzy stuff. Come visit before the winter solstice on December 21, when the doors will close for the winter (due to lack of heat) until the vernal equinox on March 21. Driftless Books is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and I'm there Sundays from noon until 4 p.m.

Driftless Books, the anchor at The Forgotten Works Warehouse, hosted a memorable tribute to one of driftless Wisconsin's most beloved authors, Mr Ben Logan.

Members of the community organized to read the "Autumn" section from Mr Logan's The Land Remembers to an appreciative audience.

The tribute to Mr Logan attracted another full house to Driftless Books and was broadcast live over the driftless region's fledgling community radio station, WDRT.

So while it's been a exciting quarter for me personally, it's been equally exciting for the greater community— a community I am so grateful to have joined six years ago. I have learned so much here.

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BUCK MOON 2010

The inaugural The Lorem Ipsum Vintage Motorcycle Rally was widely considered a success. We're looking forward to next year, with the possibility of expanding the event with overnight camping in Romance, Wisconsin. Thanks to everyone who rode in to kick off this new driftless annual tradition!

Speaking of traditions, our family vacation to northern Wisconsin, where we live in a tent for seven days, just keeps getting better. A few years ago, after a lifetime of fishing and waterskiing up there, I realized that I should use my vacation for doing the things I like best, but don't have time to do during the rest of the year—things like making collages! I think making collages on vacation has just become another tradition.

We had a really nice visit with Peter and Donna Thomas, the blogging traveling-gypsy-book-artist-duo from Santa Cruz, California. During their visit, they stopped by Driftless Books to record a few book-related tunes featuring Peter on ukelele—"What's a Book?" and "Bookbinding Time in Georgia" (accompanied by Tim Foss on fiddle).

Another very exciting videographic production from The Heavy Duty Press, Mr Koppa Drinks a Zucchini, has also been posted on YouTube for your entertainment.

And lastly, I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in May. It's good and bad news. Nobody wants to have Lyme Disease, but it's nice to know I'm not just "getting old." I've been through one round of antibiotics, and now I'm on a handful of herbal supplements. I might document my experience on the web some time down the road, but for now, I've decided to just share what I'm doing about it.

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PINK MOON 2010

Over the past few moons I've been putting a lot of time into the Forgotten Works Warehouse, a 100-year-old tobacco building in Viroqua, Wisconsin, recently acquired by Mr Eddy Nix, proprietor of Driftless Books. The open-to-the-public retail space is on the ground floor. Mr Nix, myself, and Mr Tim Foss (piano serivce, etc.) have office/studio space on the second floor. Together, with whomever else joins the team, we believe we have what it takes to create the Midwest Center for Slow Media. Somewhere there is a light at the end of this tunnel. It's been a good trip so far, with the primary focus on the bookstore.