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book came about during one of Roth’s workshops, when Roth
showed the group a selection of artists’ books from her own and de
Bretteville’s collections. King remembers in
particular work by two artist/printers with
very different backgrounds and styles, the
ever-looming Ruscha and a printer from
San Francisco named Jane Grabhorn.
" In many ways King’s future work
seemed to be forged in this chance encoun-ter.
From Ruscha, King would absorb his
photo aesthetic and his appreciation of
place. As an LA transplant from her up-bringing
in Kentucky, King recognized
Ruscha’s embrace of his own adopted
home in books like Every Building on the
Sunset Strip and Some Los Angeles Apart-ments.
Like Ruscha, place would remain a
foundational aspect of King’s artwork.
" Far from Ruscha in every way except
perhaps for a sly sense of humor, Jane Grab-horn
began her career in printing the way
women had since its invention, by being
married to a printer. In Grabhorn’s case,
her husband was half of the best-known
fine press partnership in San Francisco his-tory.
The Grabhorn Press published fine
books in limited editions, having made
their mark with titles like a new and grandiose printing of Walt
Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Jane Grabhorn chafed at her position of
compositor and general shop support; to mitigate her frustration,
she founded two presses. Colt Press became
a serious if highly eclectic publishing press
with titles ranging from work by Henry
Miller to The Epicure in Mexico.
" What King saw that day was, however,
work of a different order. Jane Grabhorn es-tablished
her Jumbo Press literally in the
shadow of the great Victoria and Thomp-son
platen presses on the shop floor of her
husband’s press, using the name imprinted
on her tabletop handpress. On that tiny
press, but more often by persuading vari-ous
printers working for her husband and
brother-in-law to help, Jane printed irrever-ent
and naughty ephemera and small
books of reminiscence and tribute to family
and friends. King would adopt the letter-press
production that was the root of the
Grabhorns’ output along with Jane’s fasci-nation
with a wide variety of ephemera.
" King would also weave a third
strand into her books, this one very much a
product of her Southern upbringing cou-pled
with her training at the Feminist Stu-dio
Workshop. For King, a hands-on artist
who had worked mainly with clay, the ex-pectation
that the women in the FSW would write their stories
came as a surprise. As King began to write about her life, she was
17
Object Description
Description
| Title | Page 18 |
| Full Text of PDF | book came about during one of Roth’s workshops, when Roth showed the group a selection of artists’ books from her own and de Bretteville’s collections. King remembers in particular work by two artist/printers with very different backgrounds and styles, the ever-looming Ruscha and a printer from San Francisco named Jane Grabhorn. " In many ways King’s future work seemed to be forged in this chance encoun-ter. From Ruscha, King would absorb his photo aesthetic and his appreciation of place. As an LA transplant from her up-bringing in Kentucky, King recognized Ruscha’s embrace of his own adopted home in books like Every Building on the Sunset Strip and Some Los Angeles Apart-ments. Like Ruscha, place would remain a foundational aspect of King’s artwork. " Far from Ruscha in every way except perhaps for a sly sense of humor, Jane Grab-horn began her career in printing the way women had since its invention, by being married to a printer. In Grabhorn’s case, her husband was half of the best-known fine press partnership in San Francisco his-tory. The Grabhorn Press published fine books in limited editions, having made their mark with titles like a new and grandiose printing of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Jane Grabhorn chafed at her position of compositor and general shop support; to mitigate her frustration, she founded two presses. Colt Press became a serious if highly eclectic publishing press with titles ranging from work by Henry Miller to The Epicure in Mexico. " What King saw that day was, however, work of a different order. Jane Grabhorn es-tablished her Jumbo Press literally in the shadow of the great Victoria and Thomp-son platen presses on the shop floor of her husband’s press, using the name imprinted on her tabletop handpress. On that tiny press, but more often by persuading vari-ous printers working for her husband and brother-in-law to help, Jane printed irrever-ent and naughty ephemera and small books of reminiscence and tribute to family and friends. King would adopt the letter-press production that was the root of the Grabhorns’ output along with Jane’s fasci-nation with a wide variety of ephemera. " King would also weave a third strand into her books, this one very much a product of her Southern upbringing cou-pled with her training at the Feminist Stu-dio Workshop. For King, a hands-on artist who had worked mainly with clay, the ex-pectation that the women in the FSW would write their stories came as a surprise. As King began to write about her life, she was 17 |
