Alicia Bailey ~ Colorado
(ravenpress)

Erotica/love books by Bailey

Animal Mineral Vegetable Series
By Alicia Bailey
Aurora, Colorado: ravenpress, 2021. Series variants.

Alicia Bailey, artist statement: "The ‘Animal Mineral Vegetable’ series is part of my ‘Lovely and Amazing Project’, which I began in 2006. The project is an ongoing one that celebrates both the life of Ruth Wheeler and her many gifts to me through my early years. Ruth was a beloved biology teacher, naturalist, youth advocate and feminist who lived and worked in north Denver for 70 years. She was legal guardian of my orphaned father so her role in my life was similar to that of a grandparent. Ruth found the natural world a place of endless delight and shared her enthusiasm with many, including myself, her great-niece. She left behind a collection of biological specimens, notes and photographs which I have incorporated into a series of three-dimensional collages, boxes and book works. Her less tangible gifts to me were a great curiosity about the world we live in, a love of solitude in wild places and her role modeling as a fearless and adventuresome woman navigating solo through the world.

"She and I also share the impulse to collect and preserve natural specimens. This series works both to keep my memories of Ruth's spirit from fading and to preserve and present modestly scaled specimens.

"The common elements in the ‘Animal, Mineral, Vegetable’ are primarily material based. The pages are made from thin sheets of mica which limits the size and shape of the books in the series. As the specimens must flatten between the mica sheets, the animal elements are mostly feathers, bits of snake skin, butterfly and moth wings. It is far easier to flatten plant material elements so there is a bigger variety in the vegetable category. Starting with number 9, I switched from using hardwood covers to collaged leather (Lacunose) over book board covers."

Animal Mineral Vegetable Book 10:
3.6 x 5.75 x 2.25” closed; 6 pages. Materials: mica, paper, thread, brass, plant, bird, insect, reptile specimens, leather, ocean specimen, ink, Acrylic. Signed.

Alicia Bailey: “The six pages of this book are made with mica, Moriki paper, plant materials gathered from my yard & favorite forests, feathers from a nearby wetland & butterfly specimens from an inherited archive. The covers are made with collaged leather, using a technique called Lacunose, over book boards. The binding is a wire edge style using brass rods & linen thread. Housed in a box of book board covered with custom painted book cloth. A gifted specimen is attached to a Lacunose tray base. The tray platform is of mica with Moriki paper edging. The box labels are laser etched mica over snake shed specimens & Moriki paper.”
$1,200

Greetings from the Redwood Highway
By Alicia Bailey
Aurora, Colorado: ravenpress, 2021. Edition of 9 + 1 AP.

4.25 x 6.125 ". Double sided accordion. Laid in illustrated wrapper with information and colophon printed on the interior. 11 pictures on one side with 9 text pages on other side. Materials: paper, laser toner, tyvek, acrylic. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Alicia Bailey: "’Greetings from the Redwood Highway’ is an accordion that pairs the format of postcard booklets, popular in the early 20th Century, with personal narrative and brief essays on the contemporary status of the areas depicted. The interior images were created using scans of original postcards ca. 1914-1935. The outer wrapper uses a contemporary photograph digitally manipulated to mimic early 20th century colortone postcards. Postcard booklets were especially popular from the 1940s through the 1970s, an era when you could put a postage stamp on just about anything and it would get to its addressee.

“Text and images: Most of the images for the text block project are re-workings of cards from a souvenir postcard booklet of the same title, ‘Greetings from the Redwood Highway’, printed by Colourpicture Publishers, Inc., then published and distributed by Zan Starck Company during the first half of the 20th Century - the golden age of automobile travel. The Fallen Monarch is from a pre-1910 card printed in Germany. The outer wrapper images are digital re-workings of photographs taken by Scott Waknin in 2017. The texts are re-workings from various sources including wikipedia entries, www.famousrewoods.com and www.roadsideamerica.”
$250

Evanesco
By Alicia Bailey
Aurora, Colorado: ravenpress, 2020. Edition of 9.

7.9 x 6.9 x 1.9". Materials: book board, shellac, oil paint, wax, book cloth with surface applied acrylic, brass rods, linen thread, paper, mica, cast acrylic, digital archival ink, letterpress ink, foam board, drawing inks. Signed and numbered by the artist. Fine (Last 3 copies).

Alicia Bailey: "This project began with a batch of biology notebooks from my great-aunt Ruth's archive that were created in 1920 as part of her undergraduate education. I inked over several of her pencil drawings detailing frog biology, treated the pages so they would be receptive to oil paint, then painted a variety of frogs, one to a page. Scanned at high-resolution, these images were printed on hand-dyed Mohawk Superfine Text paper with archival digital inks. The images were each mounted on a core of museum board wrapped with elephant hide paper with further details about the depicted frog hand-written in red ink. The pages are bound using a wire edge structure, onto metal rods. The book and box covers have been treated with shellac, then overpainted with gesso, oil and wax. The covers each have a hand-painted frog behind a laser etched mica labels. The diamond shaped book is housed in a custom box with text laser etched into the tray corner pieces. The base of the box has a print out of a circle graph with a hand-written legend under a layer of cast acrylic."

Alicia Bailey, blog post: “I included information about the distressing state of the many species of frogs that are listed on the Red List as endangered via handwriting in red ink the common name and Latin name of each species, along with its Red List status and population status (increasing/decreasing or stable). I also included a bar graph and pie chart that indicate the reasons for widespread extinction and endangered status of frogs worldwide. A summary of my own feelings about all this is summed up with words that appear on the corner blocks that hold the book in place in the box tray.”

British Library 2023 Animals in Art exhibition and Catalog: “The dissemination of scientific knowledge can follow many routes. The success of Evanesco lies in its ability to distill current data into a visually engaging form that uses art to deliver its message. Though on the surface Evanesco can be seen as a sombre book, it also brings with it an element of hope by helping to raise awareness of the conservation issues faced by this group of animals. Every opportunity to bring these concerns to light is a positive step and, over time, could help these species recover.”

For more information about the making of “Evanesco” and Alicia’s thoughts see her blog post July 19, 2023
$1,200 (Last 2 copies)

Euxoa Auxiliaris
By Alicia Bailey
Lake City, Colorado: ravenpress, 2012. Edition of 12 + AP.

Book: 4 x 3.65 x 3"; 10 pages. Rigid pages bound with a cloth strap across the spine. Bound in wood covers. Pages constructed of wood, book board, and laser-cut-and-etched paste papers laminated to museum board. Laserprint text. Specimens encased in epoxy casting resin and mica. Page edges wrapped with handpainted Bugra papers. Covers laser-etched wengewood with surface-applied wax and pigment. End pages laser-etched double-sided unryu papers. Spine lining Bugra with surface-applied wax and pigment. Straps are paper backed cloth held in place with brass nails. Laid in box.

Box: 4.5 x 3.75 x 4.75". Laser-etched book board with surface-applied shellac, wax, and pigment. Corners and base are wrapped with paper-backed book cloth. Removable box lid with built in magnifying glass. Text on sides handwritten. Colophon tipped in bottom of box interior. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Alicia Bailey: "This book was begun during a summer when my studio was overrun with those plain brown moths we always called miller moths. One morning I found a moth floating on the top of an open glue pot; that beautiful moth reminded me that even the peskiest of critters have their engaging moments. Inspired, I began to draw, then did a bit of research, then figured out ways to present moth snippets and specimens in book form. I wrote the text, recruited friends to gather specimens, and designed the book and box. One of my favorite features is the detachable lid with magnifying lens built in, so one can roam around and examine other pesky critters more closely."
$700

Box of Eros
By Alicia Bailey, Jocelyn Esch, Steve Gordon, Paul Guitterez, Kim Harrell, Carson Reed, Susan Vaho, and Heidi Zednik
Denver, Colorado: ravenpress, 2008. Open Edition.

3.125 x 3.125 x 4.5" closed; initial opening 12 x 12". Four books: 2.5 x 4" each; 12 pages each. Drop down box design with lid. Box covered in handprinted bookcloth. Images and text inkjet printed with archival ink on rag paper. The four small books are secured with ribbon-and-button tie closure. Artwork by Heidi Zednik. Designed and produced by Alicia Bailey.

Each box wall is the back cover for a small book of erotic haiku and paintings commissioned for this project. The four books are titled Clamant; Rapturous; Exigency; and Amative.

braille shared language
your touch giving me goosebumps
thanks for the message
                            Alicia Bailey

$380

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Ab
By Aleka Keleman
2000. Edition of 12.

4.625 x 3"; 32 pages. This small book is bound in millimeter style with a maroon leather spine and Pamela Smith hand marbled papers on the covers. The title label is gold laserfoil printed on the same marbled paper and inset. Each of the 32 pages is hand painted with inks on Sumi paper. Text is laserprinted. Title page is heat embossed Gocco print with hand painting on Nideggan paper. The wraparound case is of burgundy book cloth and lined with Smith marbled paper with a complementary pattern to book's cover. The case cover is Gocco printed in gold. Illustrations and book design by Alicia Bailey.

Ab means, in Aramaic, “the breath of life.” The text of this book includes descriptions of the physiological workings of the circulatory system and Aubri Aleka Keleman's poem "Suggestions for Improving the Heart and Its Workings."
(SOLD/Out of Print)

alphabet of desire
By Heidi Zednick
2006. Edition of 100.

2.75 x 2.75"; 26 pages. Archival inkjet prints with laser printing on #35 white paper in a flat-back case binding. Covers are of handmade paper made by Ray Tommaso. Endsheets are handmade paper by Katie McGregor. Title is foil stamped on cover.

Alicia Bailey:"alphabet of desire' is an extended love poem in the form of an abecedary. The illustrations are abstract expressions of the text. The text not only chronicles the celebration of a relationship but expresses a wish to not forget and to remain attentive to love."

(SOLD)

Animal Mineral Vegetable Book 11:
3.25 x 9 x 2” closed; 5 pages. Materials: mica, paper, thread, brass, plant, bird, insect, reptile specimens, leather, lake specimen, ink, acrylic. Signed.

Alicia Bailey: “The five pages of this book are made with mica, Moriki paper, plant materials gathered from my yard & favorite forests, feathers & snakeskin sheds from a nearby wetland & butterfly specimens from an inherited archive. Each page is edged with Moriki paper, as are the covers. The covers are made with collaged leather, using a technique called Lacunose, over book boards. The binding is a wire edge style using brass rods & linen thread. Book label is laser etched mica over seed fluff and paper. Housed in a box of book board covered with custom painted book cloth. A partial carp skeleton from Jackson Lake is attached to a Lacunose tray base. The tray platform is cast acrylic with Moriki paper edging. The box labels are laser etched mica over paper.”
(SOLD)

Book 11
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Click here for the link to Instagram

Burning Me Open
By Alicia Bailey
Lake City, Colorado: ravenpress, 2011. Edition of 18.

5 x 3 x 2.75" closed, opens to 6.25" circle; 9 leaves. Laser cut and etched images. Bound in purple heart wood boards. Copper leaf title label on front board.

Alicia Bailey, Prospectus: "Concept: This book takes the text and imagery from a 2009 artists' book of the same title. I wrote the original text; the original illustrations were oil-paintings, re-created as line illustrations for this project.

"The book pages are transparent, and thus allow sections of several pages to be viewed at once. The pages are rigid and thick, designed to display well both flat and upright. When displayed upright, lighting can be adjusted for increased interplay between the line illustrations and the shadows they cast.

"Construction: The rigid pages that make up the text block are constructed of 3 layers; the middle layer is of shaped copper leaf, the outer two layers are laser cut and etched cast acrylic (3/32 thick). This creates pages that are 3/16 inch thick, their edges are sealed with copper tape. The covers are sanded and waxed purple heart wood, planed to 3/8 inch thick. The recessed title label is laser printed copper leaf mounted on museum board. One of the book illustrations is repeated on the front cover via laser cutting. The book is coptic sewn across the spine with dyed and waxed 4 ply linen thread. I don't often weigh my books but this book, modest though it is in size has a nice heft and weighs 1 ½ pounds."

there is one who touches me so it burns
my hands open
at their feeling of
the length of me

(SOLD)

Crystalline Flower
excerpt text by Pablo Neruda
translation by James Nolan
Aurora, Colorado: ravenpress, 2010. Edition of 18.

3 x 2.5"; 12 pages. Miniature. Housed in 2.625 x 2" cloth covered box.

Prospectus: "Text is etched onto thin sheets of mica that are backed by reproductions of Zednik's painting. Bound in an exposed spin, rigid board style that utilizes tinted tyvek hinges.

"The book covers are board covered with a commercial Wyndstone paper. Each book has a mica washer and copper bead affixed to the cover. Housed in a tray box lined with Japanese Tarei paper. The outside of the box is a rich brown Japanese cloth with an inset label of etched mica."

Pairs the words of Pablo Neruda's "XII" from Stones of the Sky (2008) with images painted by Heidi Zednik.

I want the light
located inside
to awaken
crystalline flower ...

(SOLD/Out of Print)

Haiku Box
Design by Alicia Bailey
1997. Open Edition.

3 x 3 x 3". Text laserprinted on textweight paste paper. Lid adorned with beads. Box hand-stamped and embossed. Each side of the box folds out to reveal text.

Traditional Haiku poetry refers to the rhythms of the natural world, quite often making explicit reference to the four seasons. Each wall of this box has a small book with Haiku poems for each season. The haikus were collected from several writers.

ark summer lake
with but one rower
                               unlit cabins
                                     ~Mary Acosta

(SOLD)

Hunting the Burn
By Carolyn Hull
1998. Edition of 20.

2.375 x 2.25"; ten panels; a two-sided leporello with removable spines which allow it to function both as a codex and as an accordian. One side is an inkjet print of a painting by Alicia Bailey, the other side contains the poem. The 3 x 3 " box is wax covered papier-mâché with a hemp wrapped bullet on the lid, smooth black stones, and feathers inside. Presentation total size 3 x 3 x 4".

Alicia Bailey: "Poet Carolyn Hull is not the first to explore the similarities between the moment of firing a gun at a live target and the moment of orgasm, but her poem Hunting the Burn moves beyond this simple comparison to explore a variety of experiences."
(SOLD)

January
By Frances Horowitz
2001. Edition of 25.

3 x 2.875"; 7 pages (one side). A miniature accordian book. Intaglio printed with transfer text on Rives lightweight buff paper. Gold & silver flecked Unryu cover with hand-painted title.

A ravenpress miniature series book celebrating the seasons and months. The poem by Frances Horowitz is from her Collected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, Ltd, 1985).
(SOLD)

October
Poem by Susanna Roxman
Lake City, Colorado: ravenpress, 2001. Edition of 29.

2.5 x 1.75"; 28 pages. Each page illustrated. Book cover: birds nest paper, book cloth, handwritten spine, ribbon. Text pages: color copy on Mohawk superfine text with handpainted/stamping on backside. Housed in circular lidded box covered with pastepaper. Lid with glass/metal bead sculpture.

ravenpress: "This pairing of Susanna Roxman's poem 'October' with the paintings of Alicia Bailey compares the bleakness and chill of autumn landscape and the pervasive sense that autumn prophesies a period of decline alongside the awareness that this decline into dormancy heralds a period of renewed vigor and growth in the spring."
(SOLD)

Lipstips
By Alicia Bailey
Lake City, Colorado: ravenpress, 2001. Edition of 35.

Lipstick tube housing slit scroll book. Pages open by twisting the base of the lipstick tube. Pages lift and spread out. Laid into a 3.5 x 1 x .75" cloth-covered box coated in red wax with snap closure. Mirror attached to interior lid.

Alicia Bailey: "Carole Jackson wrote in her book Color Me Beautiful that 'the discovery of lipstick as a teenage girl changed my life.'

"This slit scroll book, housed in a lipstick tube, includes dozens of observations about the history, manufacture and general qualities of lipstick. The cloth covered box housing the tube is coated on the outside with red wax. A mirror inside the box has Jackson's words handwritten in red."
(SOLD/Out of Print)

Mexico Stories
By Carolyn Hull
1997. Edition of 100.

5.75 x 4"; 24 pages. Bound in a dos-a-dos-a-dos pamphlet stitched wraparound cover. Cover 130 lb. cotton watercolor paper with hand applied acrylic patterning and tipped in cover illustration and title. Text and title page illustrations laserprinted on 80 lb. Howard Mill crushed leaf paper. Illustrations color inkjet on mulberry paper tipped in. Decorative page elements hand stamped. With dyed cotton string and coconut beads wrap for closing.

Carolyn Hull: "I had the privilege of working with Clark Blaise at the Latin American Writers' Workshop in January 96. These stories come from that magic and surreal time. My own heritage growing up along the El Paso/Juarez border is similar to these stories. To quote Robert Bly, my soul is here for its own joy. I am here to interpret one dimension for another."
(SOLD)

Perfumed Garden
By Alicia Bailey
Colorado: 2001. Edition of 25.

1.5 x 2 x 3" box with book. Color laserprint on Mohawk Superfine papers. Bound drum leaf style. Housed in a carved soapstone box.

Drawing from the 16th-century Arab love manual The Perfumed Garden by Sheikh Nefzawi, “likely the most famous of the Arab love manuals. This book is based on … the eleven basic lovemaking postures.”

“Praise be given to Allah who has placed man’s greatest pleasure in the natural parts of woman and had destined the natural parts of man to afford the greatest enjoyment to woman.”
(SOLD/Out of print)

The Raven and the Peacock
Text from writings of Peter Goodchild
Lake City, Colorado: ravenpress, 1998. Edition of 38.

1.75 x 1.25"; 26 pages. Accordion style with fixed covers. Four
black-and-white illustrations. The text and four illustrations are
laserprinted on paste-paper, laminated to an iridescent paper from Taiwan. Covers are museum board and Aqualine hand-marbled paper. The box is covered in a matching Aqualine paper with brass feather and glass bead ornament.

Text from Raven Tales: Traditional Stories of Native Peoples by Peter
Goodchild.

Alicia Bailey: "Why is the peacock so brilliantly colored and the raven pure black? This hexagonal accordion style book tells the tale (based on a
traditional Native American story)."
(SOLD/Out of Print)

Safe as Houses
Text by Betty Adcock
Lake City, Colorado: ravenpress, 2000. Edition of 6.

15 x 6 x 1"; 18 pages. Nine double-spread illustrations, color copied onto Mohawk superfine text. Housed in an arch-shaped lidded wooden box. Hinged lid designed as door. Bound in board style with exposed spine.

ravenpress: "Extracts from the poem 'To Sylvia, Grown Daughter.' This book pairs portions of the poem with 9 paintings by Alicia Bailey. Adcock's writing describes the 'house of your first name' and details points of access to that house (ordinary love, fury, or any dying)."

Betty Adcock is the author of five books of poems from LSU Press. She was a Guggenheim Fellow for 2002-2003 Adcock has twice been a Pushcart Prizewinner, and has won North Carolina's Governor's Medal for Literature, and the Texas Institute of Letters Prize.
(SOLD/Out of Print)

Seven Deadly Sins
By Jane Q. Spears
1999. Edition of 25.

2.75 x 2.25"; 30 pages. Modified board binding with open spine. Seven tip-ins. Inkjet, laser printing and laserfoil on Arches hot-press and translucent stock. In 3.1 x 2.75" box with ribbon lift out.

ravenpress: "The concept of vices that are fundamental to all sins has existed throughout the history of Christian theology. Pope Gregory the Great (c. 600 AD) was the first to formulate the seven deadly sins more or less as we know them today. Rich with opportunity for expression, this book combines a contemporary poem of the same title by Jane Q. Spears with images and text from a 12th-century Latin bestiary and watercolor illustrations by the artist."

Lust
Hrycus the Goat is a lascivious and butting animal who is always burning for coition....
                                                                   [Bestiary]

Everything I see
is like this temple orange,
all its unveiled
intricacies,
pulp and juice
and fragrant meshes,
gasping spores as
rind is ripped away.
                                               [Spears]

(SOLD)

Tanka Box
By Alicia Bailey
Colorado: ravenpress, 2001. Open Edition.

3 x 3 x 3" lidded box structure. When the lid is removed, each side folds out revealing a book. The pages are printed by color laser on Mohawk Superfine text. Box exterior hand stamped.

Tanka, a Japanese poetic form over 1300 years old, is a longer form than the more familiar haiku, thus allowing for more complex development. Originally tankas expressed private emotions between lovers and friends. Each wall of this Tanka Box is a book with poems and watercolor paintings by Alicia Bailey.
(SOLD)

There Are Names for Those Acts We Long to Perform
By Alicia Bailey
Lake City, Colorado: ravenpress, c2001. Edition of 25.

1.75 x 2.5 x 1" closed, extends to 9". Miniature. Modified double-sided accordion hinged with tyvek. Color laserprint from original watercolors on pastepaper and color lasercopy on Mohawk Superfine text. Materials: acrylic tinted tyvek, paste & marbled papers. Housed in brass and wood box with hinged lid and ribbon lift. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Alicia Bailey: "Based on the traditional instructional pillow books given couples on their wedding night, this two-sided accordion contains 6 sexually explicit watercolors paired with 6 physical and spiritual descriptions of the 'embraces of love' taken from ancient Asian texts."
(SOLD)

Tongue Tied
By Patricia Beers
1999. Edition of 25.

2.5 x 3.75 x 4"; six panels. Text is laser print on lace paper. Artist's photographs are inkjet printed on sumi paper. The two-sided accordian book is hinge-bound with 16 penny nails and housed in a nailmesh and wood structure.

Alicia Bailey: "The poem by Patricia Beers describes the almost unbearable results of a lifetime of keeping silent. Please handle carefully, could cause injury or pain. The artist's photographs allude to bondage and repression. Object and text initially hidden by the photographs are revealed as the reader interacts with this book."

I WAS BORN
TONGUE-TIED
AGES LATER
HERE
COMES
ONCE
MORE
THE
SUFFOCATOR

(SOLD)

A Tree Within
poem by Octavio Paz
translation by Eliot Weinberger
Aurora, Colorado: ravenpress, 2010. Edition of 26.

3 x 2.375 x 1"; 10 panels. Two-layered miniature accordion book, the text on delicate semi-transparent paper, the images on heavier paper beneath.

Prospectus: "The back (image) pages are hand printed (intaglio/woodcut/linocut, pochoir) on Rives Lightweight. The front (text) pages are walnut dyed unryu with laserprint transfer text. The endpapers are Pamela Smith handmarbled papers. The covers are Wenge wood with a gilded composition leaf design. The cover edges are also gilded. The title label is metal foil laserprinted and recessed into the wood. Housed in a box with a basswood-sided tray, paper lined, the outside covered with book cloth."

A tree grew inside my head.
A tree grew in.
Its roots are veins, its branches nerves,
thoughts its tangled foliage.
Your glance sets it on fire,
and its fruit of shade are blood oranges
& pomegranates of flame.
Day breaks in the body's night.
There within, inside my head, the tree speaks,
come closer - can you hear it?

(SOLD)