Due North

Local artist Marianne Dages (huldrapress.com) created these limited edition letter press cards and a beautiful poster for Marianne Bernstein's upcoming project Due North. Dages' printed works are a prelude to imagining "the north". An international artist residency will take place in Iceland culminating with an installation inside the Icebox Space at Crane Arts in 2014.

The imagery for the cards were made using only wood and metal type and ornaments found around the shop. Little pieces of punctuation, flourishes, and lines. The colors I chose were inspired by how I imagine the Icelandic landscape, a place I've never actually been to but am inspired by. The delicate green and deep scarlet are British Soldier lichen. The gray blue, the winter sky and ice. And the brown, the brown of hard soil and bare twigs.The words are a mix of Icelandic and English words, names from Norse mythology, words describing magic, and the elements of the island. -Marianne Dages

Special thanks to Common Press for lending their space and type for this project. 

Please stay tuned to the Philagrafika blog for more updates on Due North.

Indeed the passing of many a great things is often exaggerated or simply false in these times of attention getting headlines...


Following up on the highly successful Doing Time / Depth of Surface residency and exhibition at Moore College of Art and Design, Philagrafika has mounted a rare public exhibition of a selection of its Invitational Portfolio Prints at Studio Christensen in Rittenhouse Square. (ultra-hip I believe is how the Art Blog referred to the space) The show features the 2011 Invitational Portfolio along with a selection of prints from past Portfolios, including works by Judith Shaechter, Isaac Lin, Stuart Netsky, and too many others to list here. Also included are two of the Signature Series prints created specifically for Philagrafika 2010; Eric Avery's Paradise Lost  and Regina Silviera's Pendent. 


In conjuction with the exhibition, Philagrafika is expanding on Working States, the online publication series started by José Roca and Caitlin Perkins, to include the first in a series of occasional Artists and Curatorial talks focusing on new projects that further the understanding of the influences of printmaking on contemporary art practices. On May 31, Philagrafika Portfolio Print artists Nami Yamamoto and Master Printer and RISD Assistant Professor Mary Anne Friel will discuss their recent collaboration Natural Discourse, an exhibition co-curated by Mary Anne Friel and Shirley Watts opening at the University of California Berkeley's Botanical Gardens in June 2012. Space is still available for this talk so if you are in Philadelphia stop by, there are many great things to see and hear. Details here.