Full Plate Press ~ Washington                                       Share this page:
(Lynn Agnew, Robin Hruska, Susan Lange, Mary Jeanne Linford)

Full Plate Press: "Full Plate Press is a collaborative book arts press located in Kitsap County in Washington State. The four members of Full Plate Press have been involved in art and book making over the course of several years. "Originally, we enjoyed getting together regularly to work on our individual creative projects. Bouncing ideas off one another while creating individual projects encouraged us in the idea that we could work collaboratively on artist books that we might produce collectively.

"We are indeed fortunate to be able to work collaboratively in the best sense of the word, inviting constructive criticism and suggestion from each other while being able to let our individual voices speak clearly."

Full Plate Press, 2009: "The four members of Full Plate Press have been involved in bookmaking over the course of several years, through classes we have taken from Julie Chen, both at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts and those we hosted on Bainbridge Island. We were all teachers on the Island, and enjoyed getting together to work on our creative projects. We were also interested in creating a studio space where classes could be taught and/or taken on book arts. Bouncing ideas off one another while creating individual projects gave us the idea that maybe we could collaborate on a single project that we might produce collectively, and for which sales might provide seed money for future projects."

Listen, Can You Hear Me?
By Lynn Agnew, Robin Hruska, Susan Lange, Mary Jeanne Linford
Seattle, Washington: Full Plate Press, 2009. Edition of 8.

9.25 x 10.5 x 1.875"; 50 leaves. Modified flag binding with concertina and tri-fold pages. Inkjet printed on Fabriano Artistico using an Epson printer. Original intaglio prints, made during a printmaking residency at Centrum in Port Townsend, Washington, using a photo-etching process, are here reproduced on Arches Cover Traditional using a laser printer. Bound in cloth with grosgrain ribbon pull. Slipcased.

Full Plate Press: "Listen, Can You Hear Me is a collaborative work by four women working under the press name Full Plate Press. Poetry and intaglio prints explore the issues surrounding listening, hearing, and hearing loss.

"This topic struck close to home, as two members are dealing with hearing loss, one member has a deaf step-daughter, and as teachers, all have dealt with students with varying degrees of auditory processing problems. In addition, they all have experienced difficulty being heard as women. The resulting book looks at the many sides of hearing and hearing loss, incorporating humor, emotional response and commentary."

"You said, 'There's a new dent in the car.' I wondered what possessed you to buy a new tent?"
$1,200 (Last Copy)

Food for Thought
By Lynn Agnew & Mary Jeanne Linford
Kingston, Washington: Torn Paper Press, 2013. Edition of 6.

11.75 x 5.75 x 5" hinged wooden box containing 26 (3.5 x 4.75") seed packets (fold over envelope style closure) and one colophon pamphlet. One 'tag' information page per envelope: 2.75 x 4" double-sided inkjet printed with hole and string at top. Colophon pamphlet: 3.5 x 4.75"; 8 pages; inkjet printed; sewn binding; numbered. Other materials: glassine envelopes, found objects.

Lynn Agnew: "Food for Thought is an envelope book. Twenty-six 'seed packet' envelopes are embellished with ink-jet reproductions of original collages. Each 'seed packet' contains a tag which names a critical world problem and addresses it through fact, quotation, or original poetry. The 'seed packets' also contain a glassine envelope that holds found-object ephemera related to the issue named on the tag. The envelopes are contained in a wooden box inspired by 1940's-era hardware store display boxes. Also included within the box is a booklet with the artists' statement of purpose and colophon. Most materials used to construct the book and box are recycled or repurposed items."

Colophon: "Food for Thought is an outgrowth of many thoughtful studio conversations about the state of the world. While we can always find problems and difficulties to complain about, as educators, optimists, and artists, we feel that there are also solutions that exist or can be discovered.

"This book is a home-grown attempt to prompt some creative, organic thinking about both the problems that confront the world today and some solutions that are being or could be implemented.

"When making construction choices for this book, we made an attempt to use recycled or repurposed materials as much as possible. Our intention was to cut down on the amount of 'stuff' that is thrown away in our culture.

"The box was inspired by a 1930's seed display box and crafted by Bill Agnew (Lynn's loving husband) and using leftover fir flooring from a local flooring company.

"The seed packets and labels are original collages of decorative papers, stamps, and old dictionary pages which were scanned then printed with soon-to-be-recycled inkjet cartridges. The paper we used for this book is 'end run' cover-weight stock from a local print shop.

"Some of the glassine envelopes were purchased, but many were gleaned from an old stamp collection. The treasures and artifacts enclosed in each packet were culled from the flotsam and jetsam of years of our studio collections.

"The hardware on the box and various adhesives are the only items which are entirely new.

"We hope that our small 'seeds' will inspire the reader to imagine solutions to pressing problems in our world."
(Out of Print)

Mapping Joy
By Lynn Agnew, Robin Hruska, Susan Lange, Mary Jeanne Linford Seattle, Washington: Full Plate Press, 2011. Edition of 8.

4 x 11.25 x 1.75" custom heavy-paper case with velcro closure. The case front has a printed title label tipped on through which a small working compass protrudes. In side the case: five books, four double-sided accordion books with text and design and one single-sided accordion with production notes. Individual books bound in black paper covers with tipped on titles.

The four double-sided accordion books (Quicksilver, Einstein's Fiddle, Joy, Sing) each 3.9 x 11" with 8 pages. Test digitally printed on Fabriano Artistico paper using Tempus 16 type. Design elements include paper cutting and collage with Canson Mi-tientes papers. Back side of accordion illustrated with simple longitude and latitude lines.

Mapping Joy: Production Notes - digitally printed single-sided accordion (3.9 x 11"; 5 pages).

The Production Notes detail the collaborative process. Each book in this edition is a slight variant and is designated by one of the eight main compass point (e.g. north, northeast, east ...).

Full Plate Press: "We were interested in doing a 'happy book.' We did not want a saccharin sweet book, but something that spoke to the elevation of body, mind, and spirit. Joy and wonder became our target. We came up with six words and images that we copied and shared. We also wrote and shared joy journals for a month. These were journals focusing on things that brought us joy in our daily lives. Some of us bounced ideas off of friends, asking for their definition of joy and/or wonder, and how it was expressed in their lives."
(SOLD/Out of Print)