Paper Wings
A hand-bound letterpress book collaboration.
Poetry by Renee Podunovich
Illustrations by Sonja Horoshko
December 2018 - February 2020
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Residencies
Mancos Common Press Studio
Willowtail Springs

 

2018-2020
Paper Wings, a letterpress story about a book
“We should collaborate on a book – your poems, my illustrations of your poems. It’ll be fun. I promise,” I innocently said, the suggestion flowing out of me easily and instantly illuminating my memories of fragrant oil based inks and solvents flooding halls in the university fine arts building near the printing studio six decades ago.
     Poet Renee Podunovich was sipping a glass of wine with me at my home studio garden table that day. We were surrounded by blooming wild fuchsia-tinted rose bushes under almost painful, clear, intense, pale turquoise skies and sunlight. She had just returned home after spending five years in Salt Lake City, UT, developing a successful counseling career. Oh, she was missed by us all and welcomed back wholeheartedly. And so it was that we explored ideas that day, positive unencumbered energies and the freedom of thought and invention―the vision of art alive at hand.
     I advocated that we work together on this project even though I knew it was a body of production knowledge, an unfamiliar process for Renee. But her poetry was worth the effort. It should be placed, preserved on rag paper, carefully, letter and space by letter, line by line beside an illustration.
     And, the market for rare artist books was growing, I added. “It would be a solid career investment for each of us,” not realizing the extent of time it would take, but willing to spend what was needed to realize the project, bring it out of the imagination. Too, finally, it would complement our individual bodies of work for us both.
     My practice on a press of this scale was limited to fine arts intaglio printing– etching, engraving, mezzotint, aquatint, and drypoint on copper plates. I had never set movable type, nor worked with a chase to build a printable block of type and image. I, too, had a lot to learn yet an abundance of faith that we could work together to complete the project and increase the worth of our contribution to the arts as a whole, as well as our personal portfolios.
     Our proposal was accepted at Mancos Common Press. The residency there began in December 2018 stretching through 2019.  In early January 2020 we finished the printing, but then we needed one more week and enough space to build the covers and hand-bind each book. We were honored to receive a residency award at Willowtail Springs Nature Preserve and Education Center in late February 2020 where we spent seven laborious, glorious deep winter days binding the finished books, planning our marketing, press releases, and book tours around the coming spring and summer.
     And then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, covering our country with grief and loss.
     Paper Wings was born safely just one-week prior to the shut downs during what I consider now a restorative, preparatory time for our personal progress on the project. We are very pleased with the final works of literary art. The books and prints have been cared for under strict adherence to archival protocols. Four volumes in the limited edition of six are currently available for purchase. Four signed and numbered prints of each individual page are also available.

     The story continues in the following links where you can find additional information. Our future plans to show the books and prints and literary presentations will be posted here and at the Paper Wings blogsite. 
 
     Renee is posting her writing about the project on her blog site:
     https://rpodswords.medium.com/adventures-in-letter-press-dbf2f4a68d3d
     For my story in Four Corners Free Press about the Mancos Common Press project see this link:
​     https://fourcornersfreepress.com/restarting-the-presses-old-equipment-in-the-the-former-home-of-the-mancos-times-tribune-is-being-given-a-new-purpose/
     Want to purchase the book, Paper Wings, or the individual poems and illustrations? Please contact me directly at artjuicestudio@gmail.com
or visit the link to the book, where each page is posted with information about the process: https://paperwingsletterpress.blogspot.com/?view=flipcard
     We are also privileged by the recording of our demonstration presentation at Bluff Arts Festival 2020: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=388339588862927&ref=watch_permalink

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This page is currently under construction.
Check back soon to find:
- Journalism 2004-2018 can be found on the
  following page under "more..."
  selected articles on politics,
  government, and more, published in 
  The Four Corners Free Press, Durango Herald,
- Book publications and titles

Commissions are accepted and preferred for large-scale or commemorative  work. 

Past portfolios are available for viewing by appointment or through the internet to interested clients. Please indicate size and content if you request to view additional work.

Thank you for your interest. 

Direct Contact
Sonja Horoshko
artjuicestudio@gmail.com
970-565-0715

Sonja Horoshko relocated to Cortez, Colorado from Denver in 1992. The intensity of her adopted rural, border town culture motivates her visual statements. Hers is in an  in-situ experience she hopes will contribute to an authentic record of time and place in the southwest U.S. Her work is exhibited and collected throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Her many residencies―twelve months at Hovenweep National Monument 1995-1996, the Aspen Guard Station A.I.R. in  2006 and multiple residencies in the Peetz, Colorado, Aztec National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, and  Navajo Nation communities are the benchmark influences found in her current portfolios.
            In 2003 she was recognized in the Unites States 108th Congress with a Tribute honoring her contributions to professional visual arts, literature and the voice of multi-culturalism in the southwest.  An Annenberg Rural Challenge Fellowship to attend Bread Loaf Graduate School of English Literature deepens the consciousness in her visual work and journalism. She is an award-winning feature writer for Four Corners Free Press covering natural resources, arts and the Navajo Nation government. She has also served as editor and feature writer for Southwest Colorado Arts Perspective magazine and occasionally writes for the Durango Herald.​

Note: Please visit her open wall at Facebook. Her photo albums and conversations with friends shows visitors the full extent of her cultural travels, the numerous exhibitions during the past thirty years and, according to composer Juantio Becenti, "the generous listening Sonja does as naturally as she picks up the watercolor and brush, pen and paper, then reaching out with her hand to the subject before her." ​

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