All images © by Paul Nitsche 1991-2024.
My second tintype, Crossing Swords, was included in the special issue of Black and White photography magazine as part of their 2023 Single Image Contest Winners. Currently available where magazines are sold, it is Issue 165, April 2024, and I’m on page 208. My many thanks for all at Black and White for including me, and I especially like that they used my image to begin their Mindscape/Surrealism section.
Through my relationship with author JM White and the William Gay Archive, I was asked to do the book covers and design for his latest project on the life of Radical Dzogchen Buddhism teacher and scholar Keith Dowman. Author of many books on Buddhism himself, Mr. Dowman has lived a unique life.
From Amazon: Keith Dowman's life has been totally unconventional, and his role as an unorthodox master of Tibetan dharma has been recognized by traditional lamas and their adepts. He began as a pilgrim, became a translator, then a peripatetic teacher and finally a lineage holder. The Tibetans acknowledge Keith's role in the lineage of Drukpa Kunley in which the teacher appears as a traveler on the road, independent from institutions or ceremonial conventions. These are not the tulkus or the geshes; these are the wisdom holders, the divine madmen, the itinerant yogis, perpetually traveling, teaching, and writing.
Keith's teachings draw on his many translations and his extensive reading of Tibetan Dzogchen philosophy. He is strikingly unadorned and one hundred percent himself. He is sharp, deep, humble, transparent and unwaveringly confident in his view of Radical Dzogchen. He has no institutional links, so there cannot be any institutional lineage or formal certification. There will be no transfer of a "title" in a formal ceremony. As Keith has stated, "It will be a matter of simply pulling the torch out of the sky".
Watercolor was used for the landscape and sky, as well as the Tibetan styled clouds. The blue skinned being, Samantabhadra, was painted using acrylic. The circular torch design was sculpted and made into resin, then gilded in gold leaf. All the elements were photographed by William Lemke and separated digitally, which allowed me to collage them together in a precise way with any typography.
Thank you to JM White and Anomolaic Press for the opportunity.
For the collaborative Spring beer release from Awildan Distilling and Karben4 Brewing, I did a Celtic/Irish variation of the Awildan Distilling animal crest. It’s opportunities like this that allow me to research and draw different images than what I usually would do. It’s been so enjoyable to look at historical Celtic art and see how I can translate it.
For the Awildan Pub Ale, I drew the circular knotted crest, as well as the corner knot ornaments and little beast heads. Label design by Aislinn Bartholomay. This was a limited release to pair with Awildan’s Poitin, an Irish-style Single Pot Still Whiskey.
Crossing swords, my second tintype, was sculpted over the summer and fall of 2021, and finally photographed a year later on July 31, 2022. During the time of its creation, I was thinking about union, division, and civil war. The skeletons were fabricated out of Epoxy Sculpt, resin, and acrylic paint. The miniature sword props were made from steel, aluminum, wood, and acrylic paint. The Hoplite sword was chosen for its graceful leaf shaped blade and Greek origins. Greece, being the cradle of democracy.
The sculpture was photographed with my 8x10 Korona View camera and Darlot barrel lens, Paris, FR, circa 1860. Invaluable assistance was again provided by photographer Eric Baillies, who opened his studio, darkroom, and collodion skills to me.
Crossing Swords
2022. 8x10.
Tintype of an original sculpture. Photographed with an 1860s Darlot lens.
I am excited to finally be able to share a project that has been years in the making. In 2018, I was approached by Jeff Olson, head brewer of Karben4 Brewing, to help produce the branding for a new distillery that he wanted to create, Awildan (ah-WILL-den). Jeff had a few rough sketches and a vision for the themes and look he wanted. What followed was an enjoyable back and forth of ideas between the two of us, refining and elaborating the look of the distillery.
Once the emblem logo design was solidified, I sculpted it out of wood and epoxy resin. I then made a silicone mold of the sculpture, and produced a wax version for the bronze foundry. The bronze was poured at Art Casting of Illinois, with cleaning, refinement, and liver of sulfur patina by me. In late 2019, the final sculpture was photographed by Bill Lemke.
During this time Jeff and I were also working to create the typography logo for Awildan. While we referenced many styles of historical type, we wanted the distillery’s logo to be a unique font. My final hand drawn type incorporates a Celtic knot and hammer of Thor into the design.
In the summer of 2020, I produced a silver version of the emblem by making a resin copy and carefully silver leafing all the sculptural elements. The silver version was also photographed by Bill Lemke.
Due to the pandemic, the distillery experienced delays but eventually started production in December 2021. The first release is a genever, a distilled single malt spirit with juniper and other natural flavors. At the same time Jeff and Karben4 Brewing released a collaborative limited edition Wyrtian Ale, a beer brewed with Angelica root, juniper and coriander. For the Awildan bottle, my sculpture was made into a vector image for the embossed silver foil label. The bottle really looks beautiful in person, and label designer Aislinn Bartholomay did a fantastic job.
I’ve always wanted to be involved in a project like this, and I cannot understate how fun it is to see my illustration and typography not only on bottles, but on merchandise, ranging from glassware to clothing. The releases by Karben4 are an unexpected bonus, as they are one of my favorite Wisconsin breweries. The spirits I’ve tasted so far have been extraordinary, and I can’t wait to see how the distillery grows with the ideas and creative palate of Jeff Olson.
We have future plans for me to give the individual spirit bottles unique illustrations. Jeff and I have already been talking ideas about what is to come. Cheers, everyone!
In late 2019 I began researching the possibility of doing tintypes using the original techniques developed in the 1850s. Having long been a collector of antique photographs, and I’ve tried to emulate their look in some of my design and illustration work. Over the last couple of years, I have slowly aquired the necessary antique gear and the right people to show me the techniques. The ongoing assistance and guidance of Eric Baillies and Anton Orlov make this new exploration possible. Without them I would be lost. This body of work is coming along slowly, but I am excited by it’s possibilities. I’m currently building a darkroom, and that will help accelerate the making of images.
My camera is an 8x10 Korona View, by the Seebold Invisible Camera Co., Rochester, NY, circa 1920s. I have several lenses, but the one I am most excited about is the oldest, a Darlot barrel lens, Paris, FR, circa 1860.
The Infant King is my first tintype. The figure is a sculpture fabricated by me out of Epoxy Sculpt, resin, silver leaf, and acrylic paint. It is a portrait of a figure in power who speaks lies to his trusting followers, showing them a different face as it suits his needs, corrupting their own truths and values for his own end.
The tintype was shot at Eric Baillies’ studio on May 29-31, 2021. Many thanks to him for his patience and willingness to share.
The Infant King
2021. 8x10.
Tintype of an original sculpture. Photographed with an 1860s Darlot lens.
The final book from the William Gay Archive has been released. What began as This Ride Ain’t Over Yet, an early attempt at collecting posthumous short works, Stories from the Attic contains previously unpublished short stories, memoirs, and fragments. The book includes a preface by JM White, and concludes with a question and answer with the team of editors that have worked on the publication, including myself.
Stories from the Attic is a wonderful closure to a decade of working on the posthumous works of a great author and man. The project has been one of the unexpected honors of my life. I will be forever grateful to Michael White and William’s family for letting me contribute as much as I did.
Rest well, William.
From Dzanc Books:
“From a celebrated master of the Southern Gothic comes a last collection of hard-hitting short fiction, his final posthumous work.
Beloved for his novels Twilight, The Long Home, and The Lost Country and his groundbreaking collection I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down, William Gay returns with one final posthumous collection of short stories, adapted from the archive found after his death in February 2012. In addition to previously unpublished short stories, Stories from the Attic includes fragments from two of the unpublished novels that were works in progress at the time of his death.
Marked by his signature skill and bare-knuckled insight, this collection is a must-read for William Gay devotees and fans of Southern short fiction.”
$26.95
Publication Date: July 17, 2022
Hardcover: 348 pages
ISBN: 9781950539451
I’m proud to have helped edit the last posthumous novel by William Gay, Fugitives of the Heart. It has been published by The University of West Alabama’s Livingston Press and is currently available at their store or at Amazon.
With this writing, William Gay has offered admirable homage to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Marion Yates, a teenage orphan, is taken in by an ex-schoolteacher named Black Crowe. The boy in turn cares for Crowe when he is temporarily disabled by a dynamite blast. Every hardscrabble thing we have come to expect from Gay lies in this novel, including an offbeat and dark humor. With a forward by Sonny Brewer and afterward by JM White.
The William Gay Archive’s own Dawn Major has written an excellent review of the book herself for the Southern Literary Review.
Figure Twenty Two.-The Fetal Crown
2018. 15.5”h x 9”w x 9”d.
Human fetal tibias and ulnas, Bronze, Mahogany, Resin, Blown glass, Gold Leaf, Silk, Acrylic, Hardware.
A crown of leaves upon the crown of the head. The cross of mending fetal skull plates and the crossing of bones. Youth and death, the echos within life.
Custom bell jar by Richard Jones at Studio Paran.
I’m excited to announce that my sculpture Experientia Nostra Ossiferous has been accepted into the Dubuque Museum of Art’s 2019 Biennial. The exhibition runs from May 18 to September 8, 2019, with the reception and awards ceremony on June 7, 2019, 5-8pm. I’ll be there for the opening and look forward to talking about my work.
Many thanks to juror Sarah Humphreville, senior curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Stacy Peterson, associate curator at DuMA.
Experientia Nostra Ossiferous
It was a pleasure to return to black and white pen and ink illustration for my contribution to the band Skryptor’s Luminous Volumes record and book set. I did a two page spread for author Maria Gabriele Baker’s short story Slaughterhouse Vision. For a while now, Aqua Lamb Records have been releasing illustrated books that accompany the music releases, and I love the idea.
Skryptor is a NYC trio featuring members of craw, Dazzling Killmen, and STATS. Luminous Volumes is the band’s debut album in a joint venture between renowned record labels Skin Graft, Sleeping Giant Glossolalia, and Aqualamb.
The record is available in vinyl, CD, and digital formats, along with a deluxe, illustrated, 100-page book featuring original horror stories curated by Skryptor bassist David McClelland. I got my advance copy of the book and it is a wonderful addition to the brilliant music.
I’m currently included in the Nocturne group show at Abel Contemporary Gallery.
My 2015 lithographic paper doll piece The Somnambulist is on display.
The show runs from January 11 - March 3, 2019.
From the gallery website:
”As we emerge from the darkest days of the year, we reflect on the beauty and serenity of night. Artists in a variety of media create works based on this ephemeral time of day. “
The Somnambulist. 2015. 7.5” w x 10.5” h. Lithography, Acrylic, Bristol paper, Silk.
The gallery inside the airport is a beautiful space and I welcome the opportunity to exhibit nine sculptures, ranging from 2014 -2018. The space is a formal contemporary design, with more than 1,600 square feet of floor-to-ceiling glass cases. Nearly one million visitors view the artwork here annually. The show will be up from January 3 to February 28, 2019.
Upon entering the Quad City International Airport, the Art @ the Airport Gallery lies just across from the gift shop and restaurant and before the security check point. The exhibition space never closes and parking is only a dollar.
View a map for driving directions to the Quad City International Airport. For more information, visit the Quad City International Airport website.
Below are some pictures of setting up the show. Please note the lighting had not yet been finalized.
To Stand Alone in Witness, The Ephemeral Knot, Of Skin and Coiled Shell
Quod Somniare Ossis, Experienta Nostra Ossiferous, The Fetal Crown
Quod Somniare Ossis, Experienta Nostra Ossiferous, The Fetal Crown
The Marrow Feeders, Ossis Fateor Memoria, Effigy Fragment I
My sculpture Experientia Nostra Ossiferous will be exhibited for the first time at the Freeport Art Museum in the If You Only Knew show.
From the shows announcement:
Have you ever looked at a piece of art and wished you could talk to the artist to better understand what you were seeing? What stories lie behind art and what exactly does it all mean? If that's the case, If You Only Knew may be the exhibition for you. Beginning on September 8th, viewers have the rare opportunity to discover truths behind one of a kind works of art from the artists themselves. From what originated as a 5 week group exhibition showcased at the Old Court House Arts Center located in Woodstock, IL, FAM is proud to present this intriguing exhibition. If You Only Knew breaks down the barriers between artist and viewer through letters personally written by each artist. Steeped in mystery and surprise, these letters hold the key to unlocking revelations about each artist and the work they have created. Whether funny, heartfelt, shocking, or private, it is up to the visitors to discover what lies behind the art displayed before them. Who knows what mysteries await?
The exhibition opening will be on 5-8 pm September 8, 2018 and the show will run to November 3, 2018. I will be there at the opening and look forward to discussing my sculpture.
Freeport Art Museum
121 N. Harlem Ave.
Freeport, IL
815-235-9755
Special thank you to Joe and Kathleen Isacson for curating the show.
Figure Eighteen.- Experientia Nostra Ossiferous (Our Ossiferous Experience)
2014-2018. 9”h x 16.5”w x 16.5”d.
Human mandible, Bronze, Mahogany, Resin, Blown glass, Gold leaf, Silk, Acrylic, Hardware.
Figure Eighteen.- Experientia Nostra Ossiferous (Our Ossiferous Experience)
2014-2018. 19”h x 16.5”w x 16.5”d.
Human mandible, Bronze, Mahogany, Resin, Blown glass, Gold leaf, Silk, Acrylic, Hardware.
Experientia Nostra Ossiferous is a sculpture that blends the forms of the reliquary with the anatomical display. In a parallel sense, it draws its visual inspiration from myth, the Roman god Janus, and a rare congenital defect, diprosopus. Janus is the god of time, beginnings and endings. The Janus Head is characterized by two faces, one looking to the future, one to the past. Diprosopus, also known as cranialfacial duplication, is an extremely rare disorder whereby facial features are replicated to a certain degree.
Bone holds its history and can be read like rings on a tree. As it grows and lengthens, as it breaks and mends, all can be told in diagnostic imaging. The title of the sculpture could be translated to "Our Ossiferous Existence", an existence we all move through, and like the Janus Head, hold one face to the future and one to the past.
Bell jar made by Richard Jones at Studio Paran.
Ten years after it was first announced, The Lost Country was on June 10, 2018 from Dzanc Books. I began work on this book in 2014. At the time, I was told I was the fourth or fifth person to read the first rough manuscript. What an honor and ultimate gift for a fan like me.
When I received my advance hardcover copy, it was an emotional moment to take the book in my hands and feel its weight. All the time working on the manuscript, all the worry about making it right for William. And here it was. I hope everyone agrees it is the masterpiece we feel it is.
Many thanks, William. I hope we did you proud.
“The language and the imagery Gay uses is so vividly haunting that I want to savor it all. Definitely a must-read for fans of Southern Literature.”
—Catherine Bock, Parnassus Books
“Like so many fans of Gay's, I've been waiting to read this seemingly mythical work, The Lost Country, for quite some time....Gay's elegiac prose sings once again as he breathes life into his characters and mines his patch of soil with the skill of the old masters. The Lost Country is the story of Billy Edgewater and his hard journey through a post World War II South filled with the downtrodden—hucksters, racists, drunks, bad or lost men and women, all trying to make it in a harsh rural setting that is unforgiving yet beautiful. It's a helluva good ride and I can't wait to recommend it.”
—Cody Morrison, Square Books
“The Lost Country lands like a shimmering gift from the beyond. For those of us who cherish and honor Gay's tremendous talent, his bold method of seeing the waste and wonder we are, this posthumous novel is a reminder of what we miss: the language pitched toward the sublime, his men and women grappling for redemption in a world that has damned them, his understanding of grace in the presence of human badness. When Gay died too soon, we lost much, but The Lost Country gives a piece of him back to us.”
—William Giraldi, author of Hold the Dark
“The novel exposes us to a deliciously dark southern underbelly, one that, when paired with its sparse, lean prose and quiet intensity, becomes incredibly mesmerizing.”
—The Next Best Book Club
For ordering and more information, please visit Dzanc Books.
A Change of Heart
Painting by Karen Halt, Sculpture by Paul Nitsche
2018. 21" x 13" x 3"
Acrylic, Resin, Gold Leaf, Wood
My piece with Wisconsin painter Karen Halt will be shown as part of the Collaboration show at Abel Contemporary Gallery, July 27th to September 9th, 2018. The opening reception will be July 27th. A catalogue of all the collaborative works, along with commentary from the artist pairs, will be available for purchase.
From the Gallery Website:
"Abel Contemporary Gallery invited artists in our collection to collaborate with one another on an art work that blends their unique styles and themes. Though the process of creating art is often thought of as a solitary process, compelling artists to work together transforms this trope as pairs communicate and cooperate. Encouraged to leave their comfort zone, sometimes working with materials they are unaccustomed with, the artists create work with a new emphasis and unique results."
Stoneburner, the second posthumous novel from William Gay, is now out and is available through Amazon.com. The book is published by the William Gay Archive, under the imprint Anomolaic Press. I am credited with the jacket and book design, as well as editing and proofing the manuscript.
From the description at Amazon:
"Stoneburner is a hardboiled detective story written as only William Gay could do it. The story is set in the mid 1970s and includes a jaded private eye named Stoneburner, a redneck Vietnam vet named Thibodeaux, a beautiful young blonde named Cathy Meecham and an ex-Sheriff named Cap Holder loosely based on Buford Pusser. Stoneburner is the private eye who has abandoned his office in Memphis to live on the banks of the Tennessee River where he is building a cabin. The story follows him as he meets a local retired sheriff who made a fortune when Hollywood produced a movie based on his exploits cleaning up the drug dealers in his rural county. However, now the Sheriff, Cap Holder, has run through the money on ill conceived business plans, fancy cars, big boats and expensive young girlfriends. He comes to Stoneburner when his plans to recoup his losses on a coke deal goes wrong and the young girlfriend turns up missing, both at the same time.
Cap wants Stoneburner to find both the money and the girl. The redneck named Thibodeaux just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time and was able to make off with a briefcase full of drug money and the young blonde. Thibodeaux and the girl are on the run, moving across Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, leaving a trail a mile wide with Stoneburner not far behind. Thibodeaux and the girl buy a Cadillac purportedly owned by Elvis which eventually ends up in the top of a tree in the Ozarks. Stoneburner quickly figures out that he is not the only person that wants to find Thibodeaux. The drug lord, a local Nashville music producer, who was supplying the cocaine is on the trail as well.
The book follows two tracks, starting with Thibodeaux who is living in rural Tennessee and getting by as best he can. He is a town drunk constantly in trouble with the law, leaving behind a string of wrecked cars and trucks. However, his luck changes one night when he figures out someone is using an abandoned airstrip to fly in drugs and cases it out until one night a plane lands and he is able to make off with a briefcase full of cash. Once he has the money he is able to pick up the blonde, who was double-crossing both Cap Holder and the drug dealers, and away they go."
The manuscript was edited by J.M. White, Lamont Ingalls, Paul Nitsche, Sheila Kennedy, and Susan McDonald.
Jacket cover painting by William Gay.
Jacket design by Paul Nitsche.
Book design by Earl Madden and Paul Nitsche.
I'm very excited to announce the website dedicated to Southern author William Gay and the William Gay Archive. With contributions from the Archive members, I have put together a website that celebrates the writings and paintings of a great American writer.
We will be updating the site with news and information on upcoming posthumous releases from Anomolaic Press and the other publishers handling the material. There are galleries of William throughout his life and his oil paintings. We have talked about putting up an unreleased short story or two down the road. The site will continue to grow, and our hope is that William's prose will continue to touch readers as it has touched us.
I will still continue this blog of my involvement with editing and doing photography and design for the Archive, as this continues to be a very exciting part of my life.
www.williamgay.net
I will have four sculptures as part of the If You Only Knew group exhibition opening January 20, 2018 at the Old Courthouse Arts Center in Woodstock, IL.
For example one artist shares a story of a family machete, family fights and secret night burials, another realized after 20 years that her father wasn't a cowboy after all, despite the evidence on the mantle. One artist believes his drawing to be cursed, while another discovers that her painting was a premonition of impending catastrophe. One artist reveals his painting is about a childhood mystery of a broken Virgin Mary statue that remains unsolved to this day.
Visitors to opening night will receive secrets and stories that reveals more than they could guess about the artwork (& the artist) before them. Whether they share the knowledge rests with them."
I will be attending the opening reception on Saturday, January 20, 2018 from 6-9 pm and will be available to discuss the symbolism, historical and personal, within my sculptures. Thank you to Kathleen Isacson for inviting me to the show.
For more information on the show and to see the artists exhibiting please follow THIS LINK.
The exhibition will be open from January 20-February 24, 2018.
Gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday: 11 am-5 pm, Sunday: 1-5 pm.
The exhibition is free and open to the public.
Old Courthouse Arts Center
101 North Johnson Street
Woodstock, IL 60098
815.338-4525
www.oldcourthouseartscenter.org
POSTSCRIPT: Thank you to Jurors Cathleen and Joe Isacson for awarding me the Best of Show Award for my sculpture The Ephemeral Knot.
