September 11
On this anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, we present some original etchings and poems by Michael Kuch from the 2002 Falling to Earth, a letterpress artist's book issued in Northampton, Massachusetts by Kuch's Double Elephant Press in an edition of 110 copies. The book is a reaction to the terrifying and tragic collapse of the World Trade Center Towers and the ensuing bombing campaign by the United States. Kuch responds with fourteen poems and twenty-one intaglios. The book's imagery uses the metaphor of falling to examine the human and spiritual costs of violence. Mythological and biblical narratives are evoked in a modern framework to provide perspective on the then raw and recent events. Using the metaphor of falling to evoke the human and spiritual costs of violence, the volume is also frequented by angels, giving a vantage from above.
The copper-plate etchings were printed by Michael Kuch and by Arthur Larson under the artist's tutelage, with Larson printing the text. David Wolfe of Wolfe Editions cast and set the fourteen point Emerson type. The paper is an abaca & cotton blend handmade for this project by Shannon Brock at Carriage House Paper in Brooklyn, New York. A prototype of the binding (below) was constructed by Shoshannah Wineburg and carried out by Barry Spence for this edition. Our copy is another gift from the estate of our friend Dennis Bayuzick.
View our other 9/11 commemorative posts.
View a post on another book by Michael Kuch.
View posts on other Pioneer Valley artists.
