Past Projects & Archives
THE END OF POETRY
To celebrate her appointment as the 24th U.S. Poet Laureate, we printed a limited edition of 324 broadsides for Ada Limón’s inaugural reading at The Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium. All are signed by the Poet.
THE POETIC DESIGN: The poetic design on the broadside is based on Morris, H. S. & Oliver Wendell Holmes Collection. (1894) Madonna, and Other Poems. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, Item: 34025112.
SOLD OUT : In Praise of Mystery
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The Library of Congress and U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón have embarked on a mission with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to send a poem to space! “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” was released at the Library of Congress on June 1, 2023 in celebration of the poem’s engraving on NASA’s Europa Clipper. The spacecraft is set to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in October 2024 and by 2030, it will be in orbit around the gas giant. It will conduct multiple flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, to gather detailed measurements and determine if the moon has conditions suitable for life. Europa is thought to contain a massive internal ocean and is considered one of the most promising habitable environments in our solar system, beyond Earth.
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This broadside was printed with a photopolymer plate on a Vandercook Proofing Press in Lexington, KY by Weight of Bees, a tendril of The Field Office. Printed in an edition of NUMBER, each copy is signed and numbered. The design is based on photos of Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter.
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Ada Limón is the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Limón was also the host of the critically-acclaimed poetry podcast, The Slowdown. Her new book of poetry, The Hurting Kind, is out now from Milkweed Editions. She is the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States.
Past Projects & Out of Print
PETRICHOR
Printed in an edition of 221, these chapbooks were made and distributed in 2021 as thank you gifts. The book featured one poem by each of The Field Office Writers. The covers were printed on French construction paper with a proofing press & lined with mulberry paper. 5.5 x 8.5” / November 2021// OUT OF PRINT.
SALT
SALT features eleven poems by Dorianne Laux and was printed in a limited edition of 345 copies. The covers were made on a proofing press with wood and lead type during the pandemic of 2020, and each book was handsewn by the banks of Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. Every book in this edition has been signed by the author. 6" x 9" // November 2020 // OUT OF PRINT
CHAPBOOKS FOR THE CARE CENTER
We are honored to pair up with The Care Center in Holyoke, MA to offer two new chapbooks this fall: “A Thousand Blooming Cities” by Josellyanne Santiago & “Like Filligree Lace” by Laura Ortiz. The Care Center offers programs to young mothers and low-income women who want to go to college and made possible the production of these books. The chapbooks were designed by Vaughan Ashlie Fielder, edited by Charlene Choi, and letterpress printed on a Vandercook No. 1 Truss Proof Press and handsewn by Daniel Rose. As Charlene says, “We hope you enjoy the work, and celebrate our first featured authors of The Care Center & The Field Office’s Weight of Bees chapbooks. For the first time, our young writers are honored with the publication of their own debut poetry collections. And, it is in these vital spaces and times where poetry and literature is honed, and indeed something to both treasure and share.” Read the whole note from Charlene here (PDF) & purchase books below! All proceeds go to the authors.
“A Thousand Blooming Cities”
by Josellyanne Santiago
Printed in an edition of 32.
“Like Filigree Lace”
by Laura Ortiz
Printed in an edition of 32
SELECT BROADSIDES
“In the dream we sang into the river and it circled us” excerpt from a poem by Ross Gay and Rose Zinnia. Wood type printed on French construction paper in a circle around paper made from recycled chapbooks with a red thread embedded, pressed with metal type. 6 prints were made.
“Sanctuary” by Ada Limón, printed in celebration of the release of The Hurting Kind, May 2022. 50 prints were made and given as those attending the book release party in Lexington, KY.
PANDEMIC PRINTS
We purchased our first letterpress in November of 2019 (A Poco No. 0 Proofing Press) & were equipped with plenty of extra time in 2020 to learn a new trade. The following prints were made in quarantine and given as gifts to poets and good folks in the literary public. None of these are available for purchase, but details about each print are included below. In most cases the type was set by Vaughan Fielder & the linocuts were carved and/ or cyanotypes were made by Daniel Rose.
"Somebody Else Sold The World" by ADRIAN MATEJKA. Wood and metal type pressed onto circular paper handmade from recycled datebooks.
"As Long As We Have Left," by DORIANNE LAUX. Handset metal type pressed on embossed paper made from recycled cyanotype broadsides. This poem is now part of SALT, a chapbook of poems also made during the pandemic.
"Additional Information" by ADA LIMÓN Wood and metal type and linocut pressed onto watercolor paper dyed in a kitchen sink.
Excerpt from "A Calendar of Blazing Days" by REBECCA GAYLE HOWELL Metal type and linocut pressed onto paper made from recycled datebooks.
"Silencer with Blues and Birds on a Wire" by MARCUS WICKER Metal type pressed onto a cyanotype exposed on French construction paper.
"To Have the Courage to Dig So Deep" is an excerpt from the poem "Phosphorus" by KAZIM ALI Metal type on Crane's Lettra.
"Let the Great Fantastic Flutter Down" by STEVE SCAFIDI Wood and metal type and linocuts pressed onto Crane's Lettra.
"Longing Deconstructed" by CURTIS BAUER Metal type and linocuts pressed onto Crane's Lettra.
Excerpt from "Be Holding" by ROSS GAY Wood and metal type on a cyanotype exposed on French construction paper.
"Bipolar" by GREGORY PARDLO Wood & metal type pressed onto French construction paper.
"Hotbed 48" by NIKKY FINNEY Wood and metal type on paper made from recycled broadsides and lavender. The lavender was originally intended for centerpieces for the in-person book release party for Love Child’s Hotbed of Occasional Poetry which was canceled due to the pandemic.
"At Last the New Arriving" by GABRIELLE CALVOCORESSI. Wood and metal type pressed onto spray-painted French construction paper.
"Hagar in the Wilderness" by TYEHIMBA JESS Wood and metal type and linocut pressed onto French construction paper.
"Blues for the Death of the Sun" by ANSEL ELKINS. Metal type and linocut pressed onto watercolor paper dyed in a kitchen sink.
"Break Me and I'll Sing" by VIEVEE FRANCIS Wood and metal type pressed onto French construction paper.
CYANOTYPES FOR FIERCE LOVE
Cyanotype broadsides sold at The Field Office FIERCE LOVE reading
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR / March 28, 2019
SCREENPRINTS
Screenprinted broadsides sold at The Field Office FIERCE LOVE reading
True Reformer Building, Washington, D.C. / February 10, 2017
