Catherine Alice Michaelis: Imprinted & Unbound

 Pressure printed clothing, including my baby brother's little 

blue outfit and Bill's grandmother's christening dresses. 

 My unofficial autobiography . . . Sola.

Lots of eco-printed paper! 

My show is half over at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. It's been a thrill every day I am there to meet and interact with patrons and staff. I could not imagine a more kind or caring group of people to work with. Bainbridge Island Museum of Art

Early October Eco-Printing in the Garden

We  got in some eco printing on very large pieces of paper this weekend. 

I felt like I was making a very large bouquet of flowers 

and wrapping them up to go. So fun.

It's always finger crossing time once they go into the vat. 

The paper gets so very fragile and easy to tear. 

Where's the Button?

Only a few more buttons left to arrive. It's so exciting. 

I feel extremely grateful to everyone who submitted 

writing (and buttons) for this project.

It is indeed a Magic Land when creating in collaboration.

As soon as all the buttons are in

Jim and I will choose the pieces to become broadsides.

Yippeee!

It's a bird! It's a poem! It's a button!

Loving the buttons coming in for Button Box! 

I'm so lucky for the responses to this unusual call for submissions.

Stay tuned!

Laughing Dog Press

How precious the memories are from 1990 when I was learning to print letterpress from Rayna Holtz at Laughing Dog Press! Rayna and the ideas behind this press were foundational to the way I started May Day Press. Laughing Dog Press was committed to only printing works that reflected their values of social justice and environmental themes. They infused me with the idea of holding a vision of service in what I created. I am so grateful for all of it.  

Today, I am lucky to be able to collaborate with Rayna's son, Morgan Holtz. He's a gifted woodworker making elegant and functional works.

May Day Magic

Dear Friends — best birthday ever! The PBS show, Craft in America, came to film Bill and I at our house and studio. It was an incredible adventure without ever leaving home. A very kind and professional crew made the 2 day filming event easy-peasy for Bill and I. Please check out Craft in America's website - they have been show casing artists for many years now. And I can testify that they are hard working, art-loving people who really care about the work they do and the artists they feature. And stay posted - the episode Bill and I are is in edit and won't air for a while. I'll let you know when!

Bill and I worked very hard to prepare — Bill polishing every leaf in the garden and me designing a website! Check me out at: http://www.catherine-alice.com/

The Pressure to Print

Pressure printing was the way I created all my image work for this latest edition. Learned from Kathy Kuehn two decades ago, pressure printing is my favorite way of getting ink onto paper. Over 30 print runs, front and back, went into this piece.  

It is titled Sola: A Mythical Story About A Real Girl. I nearly titled it Sola: A Real Story About a Mythical Girl.  They seem equally true. Sola learns to see herself in everything and everything in herself. It's a condensed version of my own healing and transformation.

I was fortunate to be commissioned to create a piece for the "Just One Look" exhibit now showing at the University of Washington Allen Library, Special Collections. The request and theme of the show pushed me in unexpected directions that yielded so much. Without this opportunity, I would not have been able to know the end of my story.

If you can't get to the "Just One Look" exhibit at the UW (and really you should - or look for the catalogue - the show is loaded with incredible work) then visit the PSBA members show in Tacoma at UPS this summer! 

Whose Got the Button?

Here at May Day Press I am dreaming a new project into being. It is called Button Box. It began simply. I made a hand sewn book with stitched text wound on a wooden spool and put it in an art show. Several people came up to me with stories related to someone who sews. The stories were touching and full of heart. I wondered, what will happen to these stories when the people who tell them are gone?

Stories can be like buttons kept in a box, buttons we may need to use to replace what today feels reliable and true, but can be lost, loaned, or given up on. Without them we can feel vulnerable and perhaps a little naked, or we may feel free and energized to be less defined/confined. I may be stretching the metaphor a little far here, but I take stories seriously in that I know our identity is created from our stories. As our identities change or beliefs dropped, the old button isn't needed anymore!

Whether button or story comes first, write it down and send it in. I am creating a repository for stories and buttons as well as choosing several of the entries to be letterpress printed as broadsides. You can find the vision and specs here on my website: www.Catherine-Alice.com Thank you!

Long Hours — Short Distance

A proof printed over a proof. My favorite prints are often the ones that never make it into my books.

I feel I have been moving at a snail's pace lately, so there is a snail in my latest book. If I were a mollusk, this would be me. The book is so fresh that the ink is still wet on the cover and not a copy yet bound. But by this time tomorrow I hope for both book and box to be done.