Alice Austin

Box of Happiness, 2009
Hand-set metal type and linoleum cuts printed on a Vandercook press. Paper handmade by Michelle Wilson for the artist – 50/50 abaca /cotton and shredded money, 3.5 x 3.5 inches, number 21 from an edition of 40. $225


Milk, Butter, Eggs, 2004
Etchings and relief prints, 7 x 5 x 1/2 inches, Number 14 from an edition of 16. $600


Bloom, 2006
relief print, hand set type, center pop-up, 7 x 8 inches, Number 9 from an edition of 15. $400


Statement

“Milk, Butter, Eggs,” is a quiet meditation on the routines of daily life. The cover is illustrated with a dinner bell, surrounded by a grocery list – the eternal milk, butter, eggs. The interior of the book has a foreground of the city block I live on. Looking through the four windows you see the kitchen, then the laundry line and dishes (twice), and finally the view looking out of the kitchen while having a coffee break.

“Bloom” is a book in which the topic of birth is both pondered and expressed. My son was born when I was twenty-eight and “Bloom” expresses this through paste paper monoprints that extend in a long accordion and a central floral pop-up shape. The text is written by the artist and printed on Rives heavyweight paper, on a Vandercook proof press, using hand set type.

Biography

Alice Austin is a printmaker and book artist who has a studio in Philadelphia, PA.
She is senior lecturer at the University of the Arts, teaching book structures, and also works as a book conservator at a rare book library.
She earned a BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art and has been an active member of the Guild of Bookworkers for ten years.

Alice Austin Website