Thoughtful Hand Made Books from Supersession Press (Richard Stephens)

hallieskrause
7 days ago
2 min read

Richard Stephens is a contemplative artist who takes from real life and values people’s stories, and his artist book based on Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried will be shown at the Northampton Book Fair this year, his third year exhibiting. The book features responses from veterans when asked what they carried with them during their time of service, and is hand-bound and made with letterpress with great care. Though the book features no illustrations, so as to put the focus solely on the writing, there are 1960s Burma-Shave inspired signs at the bottom of the pages to add a bit of Stephens’ own touch.

Stephens studied social work at the University of Minnesota, and then went on to drive for CitiBus for the next 30 years, during which he honed his drawing and painting skills. He focuses mostly on regional work, drawing the Midwestern scape around him as well as figures. He is particularly in awe of Lake Superior, a common subject of his drawings, and this awe has transferred to Mount Tom here in Massachusetts, of which he has various depictions. He went on to gain skills in printmaking, as he was interested in the “essentialness of the multiple” that comes with printing. He began printmaking at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts because they had the materials as well as the studio space, and he still works there to this day. You can learn more about Stephens' letterpress Supersession Press here.

Though hand-made books will be the main focus at the fair for Stephens, he also may showcase a few of his paintings of Mount Tom, which unfold into larger pieces. Other than his paintings, he is working on a project in which he asks people for stories about a highway near his neighborhood in Minnesota, and then makes a book about it with illustrations; this has been in the works for twenty years. He visits for the Book Fair as well to see family who live in the area. While in Northampton, he reserves Wednesday mornings to attend Northampton Drawing Coop, and will showcase a number of his drawing books.