Fugitives of the Heart Published

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.

Buy on 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.

The Fetal Crown

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.

Front view

Back view

Side view

Detail of front view

Detail of side view

2019 DUMA Biennial

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

Illustration for Skryptor's Luminous Volumes

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.

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Nocturne Group Show at Abel Contemporary

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.

Three Person Show at Quad City Arts Airport Gallery

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.

Case 1:

To Stand Alone in Witness, The Ephemeral Knot, Of Skin and Coiled Shell

Case 2:

Quod Somniare Ossis, Experienta Nostra Ossiferous, The Fetal Crown

Case 2:

Quod Somniare Ossis, Experienta Nostra Ossiferous, The Fetal Crown

Case 3:

The Marrow Feeders, Ossis Fateor Memoria, Effigy Fragment I

If You Only Knew Exhibition

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.

Experientia Nostra Ossiferous

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.

Front view

Detail of 3/4 view

Detail of side view

Back view

The Lost Country

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.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE LOST COUNTRY

“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.

Collaboration Show at Abel Contemporary

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."

Detail of sculptural elements by Paul Nitsche.

Painting by Karen Halt.

The cover of the Collaboration show catalogue from Abel Contemporary.

Stoneburner

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.

Announcing williamgay.net

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

If You Only Knew Exhibition

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.

From the gallery's website:
"Each piece in the show will have a letter that tells something surprising or private. Letters will be given out on opening night to visitors, who can share the stories they receive with one another as they look at the exhibition, but can also choose to keep the contents of the letter secret, if they wish. 

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.

10 Point Profile with Ladder and Key

Many thanks to Christopher J. Piccinich and Ladder and Key for featuring me for their weekly 10 Point Profile. Please read the interview below, or check out the online interview here.

Shroud I and the RESPONSE group show in Brooklyn, NY

My stone lithography paper doll, Shroud I, will be exhibited in the Vox Populi Print Collective's inaugural show, RESPONSE, at ArtHelix Gallery in Brooklyn, NY from November 10-26, 2017.

RESPONSE gathers over 60 printmakers and their reaction to the new global political, sociological, and environmental realities of our time. There will be a catalogue of all the works available for purchase at the show.

In beginning this piece, I began referencing current conflict zones and human casualties of war. I was both moved and inspired by the frequent images of children before burial, their bodies wrapped in shrouds of white. The child in my drawing is of my own design, as I didn't want to reference one specific victim.

Drawing on the stone.

Shroud I
Edition of Two. 2017. 15" x 15"
Stone lithography, Acrylic, Bristol paper.

Special thanks to Elizabeth Jean Younce for graining the litho stone for me, and Barry Roal Carlsen for doing the printing.

Vox Populi Print Collective

Recently I joined Vox Populi Print Collective, a printmaking guild co-founded by Barry Roal Carlsen and Peter Hopkins. The group seeks to elevate, celebrate, and promote fine art printmaking in the US and abroad.

I'm looking forward to creating more stone lithography prints and showing along side of other printmakers. I'm told the group is already over 100 strong and growing.

Exquisite group show at Abel Contemporary Gallery

I will be exhibiting five sculptures at Abel Contemporary Gallery, in Belleville, WI, as part of their Exquisite show, running from July 28-September 10, 2017. The sculptures are all pieces I have not exhibited at the gallery before. The show will also be the debut of my paper doll piece, The Anatomy Lesson.

The works I will be exhibiting are: The Anatomy Lesson, Ossis Fateor Memoria, Beneath the Remnant Veil, The Ephemeral Knot, and To Stand Against in Witness.

From the Abel Contemporary Gallery announcement:
"Unabashedly beautiful, the objects in this exhibit showcase the work of artists who have refined their craft to a degree that can only be described as exquisite."
Other participating artists : Wilde, Schulte, Schoonover, Czechowski, Calderwood, S. Byers, Apgar, Abel.

I will be attending the opening reception on Friday, July 28th, 5-9 pm, and hope to see you there.

Jacket Design for William Gay's Stoneburner

It's hard for me to express what a strange honor it is for me to be working on the writings and jacket design for William's second posthumous release, Stoneburner. Long before I became involved with the archive project, I was a fan. I would read William's books and imagine what I would do for the covers. His writing spoke to some of my imagery and I felt a commonality. And so the years pass and an unlikely fate intervenes.

My original proposal for the Stoneburner cover was to do it entirely of my own design. JM White, William's friend, publisher, and director of the archive pushed for inclusion of one of William's paintings. He explained that William always wanted his paintings on the covers of his books, and it bothered William when the larger publishers didn't use them. During his lifetime, only two books had his paintings on the covers, Wittgenstein's Lolita and Time Done Been Won't Be No More, both published by JM White and Wild Dog Press.

I looked over many of William's paintings and selected a snowy farm house scene. There is a location in the novel where this is fitting, and I liked the painting's somber tone. The symmetrical composition of the painting naturally lent itself to both front and back covers. I made an effort not to manipulate any of the image, and to cover as little of it as possible and still have it work in a larger design.

The front cover for the novel Stoneburner. Typography and design by Paul Nitsche. Painting by William Gay.

The back and front covers for the novel Stoneburner. Typography and design by Paul Nitsche. Painting by William Gay.

In adding the ink brushstrokes and drips, I was thinking about the growing unraveling for the characters in the novel, the sense that things are falling apart and becoming uncontrolled. At some point during the design of this book, I began to realize the cover was an unexpected collaboration with one of my favorite authors. I can only hope William approves.

The full jacket design for the novel Stoneburner. Typography and design by Paul Nitsche. Painting by William Gay.

The full winter farm painting by William Gay.

Anomolaic Press to Publish Stoneburner

The inception of Anomolaic Press began in early 2014, when I was helping a group of William Gay's friends and admirers prepare what was to be the first manuscript of posthumous writings, This Ride's Not Over Yet. Our original intention was that we would publish the book ourselves under the imprint Anomolaic Press. During this time I created the two-headed whippoorwill image and Anomolaic Press logo. The manuscript was shelved when Dzanc Books voiced interest in purchasing the rights to Little Sister Death and The Lost Country.

The manuscript of Stoneburner has been completed for some time, but it was necessary to explore all the publishing options with different presses. In the end, we decided to release the book ourselves, and resurrect Anomolaic Press. In doing so, it will ensure several points: we have absolute editorial control, the book looks and is printed they way we think William would want, and most importantly, control over all profits so that they may go to William Gay's family.

The word anomolaic was a favorite of William's, and appears in several of his writings. We thought it an appropriate name for our press, as well as a tribute to the man himself.

"The Four Humors" Automaton Video

A short video of the operation and making of my automaton, The Four Humors. The Four Humors. 2016-2017. 8.75"h x 7.5"w x 4"d. Lithography, Acrylic, Mahogany, Brass, Bronze, Linen, Self-fabricated mechanisms, Hardware. The four humors is an ancient medical theory in which all diseases, disabilities, emotions and behaviors are due to an excess or lack of bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile.

A short video of the operation and making of my lithographic automaton, The Four Humors. Information and photographs of this piece are available HERE.