This past weekend, Radius Books artist Julie Blackmon and editor Darius Himes presented on the collaborative process between artist and publisher at the Look3 Festival in Charlottesville. The daytime and early evening talks and presentations all happened in a historic theater on the downtown walking mall. It was super cool. Mary Ellen Mark, Joel-Peter Witkin and James Nachtwey were the 3 headliner photographers.
The brilliant design team that brought into existence the new Radius Books website is none other than Heather Marold and Brad Thomason, aka Bad Feather. They are based in Brooklyn but with roots in Santa Fe. They were in town this past week, along with the legendary Aaron Huey, photographer and HueyHaus founder.
Heather and Brad came by the office to advise us on the next stage of the Radius website and Aaron came by to, well, use some free Wi-Fi. It was great having them here!
On Friday, the 6th of June, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, hosted an exhibition for Joan Watts, a long-time artist at the gallery, as a launch for her brand new monograph from Radius Books.
Artist Joan Watts (second from left) and others at the opening.
Author Lily Wei and David Chickey.
On Friday, June 6th, Charlotte Jackson Gallery in Santa Fe, will host a reception and opening for Joan Watts. Her new monograph is just back from the bindery and Joan stopped by to sign copies in advance of the show. And on Saturday, June 7th, local booksellers extraordinaire, Garcia Street Books, will host a booksigning with Joan.
Michael Lundgren, a brilliant young photographer from Phoenix (and the MFA program at ASU, Tempe) came to Santa Fe June 3-5 to work on the final edit and sequence of his forthcoming Fall 2008 title, Transfigurations. The book will be nothing short of stunning! Rebecca Solnit and William Jenkins both contribute short essays.
BookExpo America is North America’s largest industry trade fair for books and publishing, drawing huge crowds and authors, publishers and booksellers from around the world. This year it was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. D.A.P., the distributor for Radius Books to the trade, always has a fantastic booth and an even more fantastic staff. Occurring in the late Spring, BEA is the place where forthcoming Fall titles are announced and previews of the Fall list of books are available. Below are some photographs from the event, which took place the weekend of May 29-June 1.
The D.A.P. booth and the wall of new titles.
Julie Blackmon’s new book, Domestic Vacations, on display.
Looking from the D.A.P. booth out into the fair.
D.A.P. rep Jane Brown talking with Arcana bookstore owner Lee Kaplan.
Preparing the book mock-ups in Santa Fe for BEA.
The four finished book mock-ups at the fair. (Left to right) Michael Lundgren Transfigurations, Lee Friedlander: New Mexico, John McCracken: Sketchbook and Brian Rutenberg
In November of 2007, Radius Books launched with a full season of titles and threw two parties
(1 small and 1 big) to celebrate.
In Santa Fe, the party was held at a wonderfully cavernous warehouse space near downtown. We showcased the four titles on a 40 foot long table. Two of our artists were on hand–Johnnie Winona Ross and Judy Tuwaletstiwa–to sign books and talk with collectors and friends. The evening was a big success with over 250 people in attendance.
Judy Tuwaletstiwa (above, left)
Johnnie Winona Ross
Volunteers at Santa Fe Radius Books launch party (left to right): Rachel Shreeve, Hannah Newburn, and Jeff Lamm.
In New York City, the party was held at the 202 Cafe, in Chelsea. The founders were in attendance, as were artists Johnnie Winona Ross and Joan Watts.
In November, David Mirvish Books in downtown Toronto hosted a lovely booksigning for senior Canadian painter Otto Donald Rogers.
Radius Books was founded in November of 2007 by David Chickey, Joanna Hurley, David Skolkin and Darius Himes (left to right).
