Slide Show: Treasures from Portland's Boutique Bookstores
November 16, 2012
The Shins: Downtime @ Ampersand
Downtime is a collection of over 70 Instagram photographs shot by various members of the band & crew during their recent summer tour. Ampersand designed & oversaw the production of the book. It was great working with James Mercer on this publication, one
Vintage Snapshots @ Ampersand
Finding & selling vintage snapshots has long been the backbone of our business. We believe that a collection of found photos, deliberately selected & organized, provides a compelling account of the visual language of life. Such photographs offer a glimps
Folding Space/Pressing Time by Dan Gluibizzi & Zefrey Throwell @ Ampersand
Folding Space/Pressing Time, our most recent publication, was published on the occasion of an exhibition at Ampersand by Gluibizzi & Throwell titled "There is no finish line." Similar to the show stylistically, the book is a stand-alone conceptual explor
Agnes Martin edited by Lynne Cook @ Ampersand
Agnes Martin has long been a favorite aritst of mine. Apects of her life, persona & artistic output no doubt influence our curatorial efforts at Ampersand. Surprisingly, there are few books on her work in print. This compact edition offers a perfect blen
Original handbill for the first New York performance of John Cage's 4' 33'' by David Tudor at the Carl Fischer Concert Hall in 1954 @ Division Leap
Arguably one of the most important musical performances of all time, it had a lasting impact not only on music but also on conceptual art. The handbill is beautifully and simply designed, delineating each movement of 4'33 with typographical grace reminis
Kampfreime by Uwe Wandrey @ Division Leap
Perhaps the first book ever to be designed as a weapon. Kampfreime is a collection of rhymed chants meant for use during the 1968 protests of the German Student Movement. The sharp fore edge of both of the aluminum boards extend about a quarter of an inc
144 Blocks & Stones by Carl Andre (1973) @ Division Leap
This artist's book was issued as a catalog for Andre's early exhibition at the important and groundbreaking Portland art space, the Portland Center for the Visual Arts, which was recently the subject of an exhibition at the new art space YU. Andre's exhi
Third Spectral Cannon: For Chris Ashby by James Yeary @ Division Leap
Portland poet James Yeary is the editor of Canned Lumen, the mysterious little magazine that proves that the spirit of the Mimeograph Revolution is alive and well in Portland. His work somehow manages to be slippery and numinous and colloquial all at th
Framed Marcel Duchamp Wire Service Obituary from 1968 @ Monograph Bookwerks
The original wire service obituary for Duchamp from the New York Times, sent over the wire on the day of his death, October 2, 1968, and running over six feet in length. The work is appropriately Duchampian as a found object. —Blair Saxon-Hill
Alex Vervoordt's Epic Three Volume Trilogy of Exhibitions @ Monograph Bookwerks
Academia, In-Finitum, and Artempo, where he installed objects, antiquities, archaeological items, works from Old Masters, and unknown craftsmen alongside the 20th century's most daring contemporary artists in venues in Paris and Venice. —Blair Saxon-Hil
First Edition of Ed Ruscha's "Various Small Fires and Milk" @ Monograph Bookwerks
One of only 400 copies, a rare first edition of Ruscha's 1964 artist book, in which he presents straightforward photographs of various small fires (a match, a stove burner) and a photograph of a glass of milk. —Blair Saxon-Hill
Keiko Narahashi Ceramics @ Monograph Bookwerks
Contemporary New York artist Keiko Narahashi's halved ceramic vase forms consider the truth and vision through the collapse of two and three dimensions. Her sculptural clay works are drawn from her silhouette ink paintings. When the resulting clay silh
Nikki McClure 2013 Calendar, "Prepare" @ Reading Frenzy
Nikki McClure is an Olympia based paper cut artist. She had her first solo show in Portland at Reading Frenzy in 1997, and last year the Museum of Contemporary Craft held a retrospective of her work. Nikki's calendar, featuring a dozen images accompanied
Significant Objects: 100 Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things @ Reading Frenzy
Co-editor Joshua Glenn put out a great zine in 1990s devoted to philosophy and cultural criticism called Hermenaut. For Significant Objects, he and Rob Walker purchased 100 objects second hand and then commissioned 100 contemporary authors, incl
Uppercase Magazine: A Magazine for the Creative and Curious #15 @ Reading Frenzy
Uppercase is a beautifully produced magazine out of Calgary, Alberta, devoted to illustration, design, and other applied arts. Each issue is driven by a theme. This one is "creative specimen" and explores the creative side of science with features on vin
Incandescent: A Color Film Zine #2 @ Reading Frenzy
Locally published, Incandescent is one of a handful of zines and small magazines I’ve seen recently devoted to film photography. This beautiful, full-color, bi-annual zine is published by a "photo-based artist collective" and features emerging photograph
