Melissa Wagner-Lawler & Jay Fox ~ Wisconsin                   Share this page:
(redthreadletterpress)

Inside Jokes
By Wagner-Lawler, Melissa and Jay Fox
Fort Smith, Arkansas: [redthreadletterpress], 2023. Edition of 30.

3.25 x 6". Removable pocket covers. Book laid in wrapper. One sheet book with multiple cuttings. Signed by both artists. Numbered.

Jay Fox: "’Inside Jokes’ is a collaborative work by Jay Fox and Melissa Wagner-Lawler produced in the Spring of 2023 at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith. This artist book uses a single-sheet structure housed in a removable pocket cover. On the recto, using color and typographic ornaments, a coded language is presented as the ultimate inside joke. On the verso, the words INSIDE JOKES are printed in bold text in a cascading manner, reminding the viewer that they are not privy to the joke."
$200

Low Tide
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletterpress, 2022. Edition of 10.

11" x 11" x 1.5" custom box containing triangular book. Letterpress printed using photopolymer plates on rive BFK heavyweights and lokta papers. Typeset in Charter Roman and Italic faces. Colophon presented on a triangular plate attached to inside of the box lid. Book bound using a wire-edge method. Book rests in the tray triangle cavity. Trench underneath tray to serve as display area for book. Book and enclosure design by Melissa Wagner-Lawler. Signed and numbered by the artist.

This is an editioned version of Wagner-Lawler’s one-of-a-kind book “Low Tide”. The book uses the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay of the same title.

Melissa-Wagner Lawler: “This editioned version of the book uses the randomly drawn parameters as a starting point and incorporates the text of the poem on both sides of the wire-edge bound book. On the exterior side, the first half of the poem is easily read, with each line or stanza flowing across the shoreline. On the interior side, the tide has receded and has washed the poem away.

“The colophon is presented on a triangular plate that rests inside the opening of the tray enclosure that holds the book. This tray is removed to reveal the last portion of the poem and trench where the book can ultimately displayed.”
$1,500

Encapsulated
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletterpress, 2021. Edition of 13.

7.5 x 9"; 12 pages including covers. Bound in the Sing Weaving structure from "Woven and Interlocking Book Structures" by Claire Van Vliet and Elizabeth Steiner. Photopolymer letterpress printed on handmade paper using 18 put Cochin. Laid in custom enclosure which houses the book along with a capsule containing burnt objects. Signed and numbered.

Colophon: "In an attempt to seek perspective, words and images are assembled to abstractly define a specific point in time of modern relationships."

Melissa Wagner-Lawler: "Exploring the perception of landscape and place, my work manifests moments before change and destruction. The work draws attention to the notion of quiet unpredictability right before impending chaos. The landscapes, while subtle and layered, upend our sense of place and security. The image making properties of printmaking create the illusion of depth and allow for experimentation with surface treatments, including texture, matte, and glossy finishes. ...

“All of my work is completed as series or multiples. The nature of the bound book structure allows me to work sequentially and I can control the order in which the viewer discovers the information, but only to a point. This is the inherent beauty of artist books - the provided structure allows the audience to alter or add to the meaning of the work through the viewing process."
$650 (Last Copy)

On Fragile Land
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletterpress, 2019. Edition of 30.

5 x 4.5" closed. Fishbone fold structure. Relief and letterpress printing on Rives Heavyweight paper. Signed and numbered by the artist.

redthreadletterpress: "This bookwork uses a fishbone fold structure from 'The Art of the Fold' by Hedi Kyle & Ulla Warchol. It is a response to my previous artist's book titled 'In the event of Moon Disaster' and shows the perspective of moon landing deniers."
$250 (Last Copy)

Transitory
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Spruce Pine, North Carolina: redthreadletterpress, 2019. Edition of 15.

3.5 x 6" closed. Letterpress on Johannot paper. Bound in a Hedi Kyle panorama fold structure. Cover and colophon foil stamped on French paper. Signed and numbered by the artist.

redthreadletterpress: "This book explores the experience of being at Penland School of Craft and being immersed in the beautiful natural environment. Many that come to Penland are visitors and only spend a brief amount of time there, much like the wind exploring the natural elements of the landscape."
$175

Everything's Okay
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletter, 2013. Edition of 5.

10 x 11"; 18 pages. Drumleaf binding. Printed in letterpress, relief, and monotype. Bound in paper over bookboard with matching pastedowns and cloth spine. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Deluxe version includes copy of book laid in sectioned clamshell box with 3D printed 'moon rock' laid in. Cloth covered clamshell box with paper title label.Melissa Wagner-Lawler: "Using language as a primary visual element, the text in my work becomes abstracted through various digital processes. Cutting, masking, and layering techniques in Illustrator are used to destroy and manipulate it digitally. Printing, overprinting, and subtleties in ink are used to create a visceral, delicate surface on the page enticing the viewer to decipher the message. Is the language or message within the text important – and if it is important, why obscure it or make it difficult to read?

"In our current technologies, nothing created can ever be permanently erased – fragments of the information will always remain."
$300

In the event of a moon disaster
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletterpress, 2013. Edition of 20.

5" x 5.5"; 16 pages. Screenprinting, letterpress, and laser cutting. Rives BFK paper. Double-sided accordion. Ends slip into pastedown pockets of the boards. Bound in blue cloth with paper title label on front board. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Deluxe version (Out of print) includes copy of book laid in sectioned clamshell box with 3D printed 'moon rock' laid in. Cloth covered clamshell box with paper title label.

Melissa Wagner-Lawler: "In the event of moon disaster was a speech written by William Safire in 1969 for the President to read if the Apollo 11 mission was not successful and the astronauts were lost. This artist book uses segments of this text combined with maps from the landing site, traverse patterns of the moon, and star patterns of the night sky in July, 1969. The speech text is on the 'front' side of the book and the interior/'back' side of the book contains interpretive images of space and the destruction of the space craft."

More from Wagner-Lawler: "The maps and images in the book are taken from NASA images and maps and reinterpreted and deconstructed by me... I try to not be so literal in this way, but perhaps more referential since I personally find this a more interesting way to use reference material in my work. The star pattern from the sky is actually the laser cut holes throughout the book. Using a night sky generator, the star pattern is the night sky from the launch site the night of the Apollo 11 launch. The back side of the accordion is an abstract representation of space from the perspective of an astronaut lost in space. The shapes represent the destroyed space craft."
$450 Standard (Last 3 copies)

Everything You Hear
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletter, 2012. Edition of 25.

9.25 x 10.5". Drumleaf binding. Letterpress printed using handset type and photopolymer plates. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Melissa Wagner-Lawler: "This book investigates our society’s ability to communicate using popular communication methods. The clarity of our thoughts in the digital environment has taken a backseat to the speed at which the information is received. Text messages, blog entries, and status updates are the preferred method of communication. Often times, it takes longer to decipher these quick, poorly written messages than it does to understand a well-written sentence with obscure or seldom used words."

Artist’s Books Unshelved:How We See and What We Hear
(SOLD/Out of Print)

The House of Death on The White Road
Poetry by William Stanley Braithwaite
Book design by Melissa Wagner-Lawler Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Melissa Wagner-Lawler, 2017. Edition of 8.

A single-sheet foldbook, folded into 12 panels. 12 x 7.5" closed, 42 x 22" unfolded. Processes: CNC [Computer Numerical Control] Relief, monotype, and screen-print. Laid in a cloth-covered wraparound. Poems by William Stanley Braithwaite from "House of Falling Leaves" (1908). Signed and numbered by the artist.

Melissa Wagner-Lawler: "The House of Death on The White Road uses the text of two poems by William Stanley Braithwaite published in 1908 to examine the duality of the chaotic and the calm.

"The main imagery of the book was produced using a digitally-designed relief block carved on a CNC router."

William Stanley Braithwaite (1878 -1962) was a poet, writer, literary critic, and anthologist. His father was of mixed racial heritage, originally from British Guiana; his mother was the daughter of a mulatto ex-slave. He self-published his first book "Lyrics of Life and Love" in 1904. His second book, "House of Falling Leaves," was published in 1908. Subsequently Braithwaite compiled anthologies of work published in periodicals, helping launch the careers of other American poets.

www.blackpast.org (accessed 3/8/2018): "In 1918, Braithwaite received the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African-American. He also received honorary degrees from Atlanta University and Talladega College in Alabama. Between the years of 1935 and 1945, Braithwaite taught creative literature at Atlanta University."

Lo, a house untenanted
Stands beside the road of Time;
They who lived there once, have fled
To some other house and clime …
                            (excerpt The House of Death)

A white road between sea and land,
Night and silence on either hand
Pointing to some unknown gate
A white forefinger of fate.
                      (verse from The White Road)

(SOLD/Out of Print)

Low Tide
By Melissa- Wagner Lawler
Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletterpress, 2022. One-of-a-Kind.

11" x 11" x 1.5" custom box containing triangular book. Toner transfer and gouache in a Wire Edge Binding. Letterpress printed using photopolymer plates on rive BFK heavyweights and lokta papers. Typeset in Charter Roman and Italic faces. Colophon presented on a triangular plate attached to inside of the box lid. Book rests in the tray triangle cavity. Trench underneath tray to serve as display area for book. Book and enclosure design by Melissa Wagner-Lawler. Signed by the artist.

Melissa Wagner-Lawler: "’Low Tide’ is an artist book object created in 2022 using the randomly drawn Artist Book Idea Card set parameters. This version of the book incorporates text and image printed using toner transfer techniques and hand painted gouache on the wire edge bound book. The first part of the poem is outlined in the book, while the later part is printed on the trench that holds the sculptural artist book when displayed.

"The imagery in the book shows a section of a beach with the water at low tide. On the exterior of the book form, the low tide is presented as a dark image to highlight the text and hand painted rocks. This is contrasted on in the inside of the book form with a lighter, digitally manipulated version of the same imagery. The imagery of rocks is also presented throughout the enclosure to repeat the form.

“The colophon is presented on a triangular plate that rests inside the opening of the tray enclosure that holds the book. This tray is removed to reveal the lower portion of the poem and trench where the book is ultimately displayed."

These wet rocks where the tide has been,
Barnacled white and weeded brown
And slimed beneath to a beautiful green,
These wet rocks where the tide went down
Will show again when the tide is high
Faint and perilous, far from shore,
No place to dream, but a place to die,—
The bottom of the sea once more.
There was a child that wandered through
A giant's empty house all day,—
House full of wonderful things and new,
But no fit place for a child to play.
                              (Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1921)

(SOLD)

The Proposition of Landscape
By Melissa Wagner-Lawler
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: redthreadletterpress, 2018. Edition of 30.

5.5 x 8" closed; Letterpress on Lenox 100 using photopolymer plates and hand-set type. Hinged accordion fold book. Bound in cloth boards. In matching slipcase. Signed, dated, and numbered by the artist.

redthreadletterpress: "In this project, Wagner-Lawler uses a work held in UWM's Special Collections entitled 'The Grammar of Ornament' by Owen Jones published in 1856 and also the American Geographical Society Library Digital Map collections. By researching map images of the land boundaries of the areas and ornamentation covered in 'The Grammar of Ornament,' new visual landscapes are created using the decorative ornaments from the text.

"The artist book takes a small sampling of ornaments from each of the twenty sections of the text and places them into a landscape created out of the reinterpreted boundaries of each country or region. In addition to using the ornamentation from 'The Grammar of Ornament,' the artist book also incorporates some of Jones’ thirty-seven design propositions set forth in his book. These propositions dictate Jones’ suggested best methods for using color and composition in relation to the ornamentation. In the artist book, twenty of these propositions are used to dictate and manipulate the composition of each page. The numbers on each page of the artist book reference the Jones’ propositions.

"In addition to the artist book, Wagner-Lawler created larger re-interpretations of three pages to further explore the notion of fictional space and landscape."
(SOLD/Out of Print)