The Habits Broadside Project

OK, so it turns out we weren’t exactly north of the storm… In the end, we got 10 inches of heavy snow over 30 hours. This morning, the sand hill cranes were very quiet, delaying their mating rituals until the mood gets better.

Inside, I transplanted seedlings to bigger pots, hoping they won’t get too weak or leggy before I can put them out. And on Thursday, I went in to the College of Saint Benedict to see a lovely project based on my book Habits.

Thanks to Rachel Melis and her book arts/letterpress class, six selections from Habits have been made into broadsides. The project is part of the centennial celebration for the College of Saint Benedict, founded by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict in 1913. I did the research for the collection of stories in the Sisters’ archives, and some of the stories were based on stories told to me by those Sisters.

In addition to setting the stories, the students also were assigned a style to design in, referencing specific letterpress designers or the style of a particular press. For this reason, each one is distinctive, giving a nice range to the project. They used polymer film plates and were required to use two colors on the final piece, which involved multiple plates and passes through the press. In the end, they chose the best 30 prints from a run of 60. I was gifted with set number 1!

It was interesting to me to see the pieces individually, outside the context of the book. I really enjoyed the art the students brought to the pieces. For “Home Visit,” they used topographic maps of Minnesota lakes, including Lake Sagatagan at Saint John’s University. They wanted to use Lake Sarah on the CSB campus, but it was too small for tracing.

The piece “Flora,” done in the William Morris style, tells the story of Sister Remberta Westkaemper, OSB, who is known for her work collecting plant specimens and cataloging the flora of Central Minnesota. The students obtained a photo of one of her specimens and mounted it on the final prints.

I love the boldness of “Talk,” and how they emphasized the words “women’s ordination.” I also appreciate the formality of “Music,” which tells the story of Sister Cecile Gertken, OSB, going to hear classical music at Saint John’s with her family when she was young. “Crows” also has a bold detail in the language, and the subtle coloring of “Milk” as well as the vintage graphic is as playful as the written piece.

We’re hoping to have these broadsides up in the library during the CSB all-school reunion this June. Meanwhile, I already have one up on my wall!

Like most poets, I’ve always wanted to see my work in a fine letterpress edition. I’m grateful to Rachel Melis and her students, who fought with the ink and plates and even some variations in text, put in long (and late) hours, and in the end produced such lovely work!