Description
About this piece:
Memories of Sedona is a series of monoprints and lines from a poem that interplay through the pages to weave a memory of the artist’s time living in Sedona, Arizona. The combination of bold and subtle colors is evocative of the big sky and the red rock canyons and the local environment. There is a juxtaposition of the tone of the poetry and the playful shapes and lively colors of the prints.
The poem, The Sun, was written by the artist shortly after leaving Arizona for New York City in 1994. The prints are monoprint from a gelatin plate process and created in 2022. The words and images were paired in book form in 2023 using a variation of Hedi Kyle’s Crown Book form as a concertina-style spine with a Keith Smith influenced bound stitches on the spine. The prints and letterpress printed poems pages are attached with simple pamphlet stitches. The cover is letterpress embossed. The cover stock is Desiree Red Curious Matter Tactile by Mohawk Paper. The prints are on Mead Bond paper using Speedball Blockprinting inks.
Materials:
paper, thread, ink
About the artist:
Lives and works in Camden, Maine, USA. Richard Reitz Smith is the chair of the book arts program at Maine Media Workshops and College. He teaches letterpress and book creation. His personal work combines many interests into the book form: painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, poetry. He studied painting and illustration at Carnegie Mellon University and graphic design at Tyler School of Art.
Growing up in a rural village nestled in the Appalachian foothills, Smith was surrounded by seasonal effects. Studying the surroundings, he found truths of a transcendental vein that he has applied to life and his work.
