Ellen Knudson
Gainesville, FL
https://crookedletterpress.com/
IG: @crookedletterpress
Common Rocks and Other Problems
2023-2024
Pleated book and volvelle structure, letterpress, linoleum cut, and gelatin monoprint
7” x 11.75” x 0.75” (closed); 7” x 23.5” x 0.5” (open)
Artist Statement
Common Rocks and Other Problems is a book about the confounding divergence of humanity’s relentless frailty and nature’s unending power.
The world is shifting tectonically above and below the surface; a seismic energy accumulates as pressure boils and builds. Things are turbulent now more than ever. Common Rocks and Other Problems illustrates the dynamic between the psychological faults of human thinking and the geological and meteorological facts of nature. These two realities are forced together and it is up to us as human beings to actualize our fates. We are the only entities that can make a decision about how things will be.
The text of the book reads from front to back and back to front, depending on the orientation of the piece in the reader’s hands. The reading and meaning of the text fluctuates between scientific and poetic. The text can be viewed one section at a time as the pages are turned and layered.
Do not be fooled.
It has always been this way.
Don’t worry, it’s ALL
and/or NOTHING.
The way we divide.
The way we conquer.
How it endures, technically.
How we make so many mistakes.
How it moves, tectonically.
How our brains work (and don’t) work.
The points of displacement.
The places of disappointment.
Ways of coercion.
Ways of erosion.
Ways we resist change.
Rates of Change.
We are SORTED until we’re not.
STARDUST in different states of matter.
Constrained vs Unconstrained.
Types of Minerals.
Theoretical remains.
Territorial Deposits.
Matters (Human).
(Geological) Matter.
The book contains 11 linoleum cut rocks that each contain a volvelle inside the folded page. The volvelles have a human fault printed on one side and a natural disaster printed on the reverse side. (For example, Gambler’s Fallacy / Volcano; Reactivity / Earthquake, etc.) This text can be read by rotating the volvelles and viewed through windows cut into each folded rock. Each human fault and natural disaster has been assigned a typographic icon that is symbolic to the topic. The volvelles illustrate the roiling beneath the surface that is the invisible and visible dynamics of humans and nature.
The book also includes a letterpress printed “menu” that lists and defines for the reader the Facts of Nature (Volcano, Earthquake, Tornado, Landslide, Hurricane, Wildfires, Anthropocentrism, Famine, Flood, Drought, Plague) and the Faults of Human Thought (Gambler’s Fallacy, Reactivity, Pareidolia, Self-fulfilling Prophecy, Halo Effect, Herd Mentality, Reactance, Hyperbolic Discounting, Escalation of Commitment, Placebo Effect, All or Nothing Thinking). The menu allows readers to approach the book in a more formal, defined way.
Common Rocks and Other Problems is written, designed, and produced by Ellen Knudson in Gainesville, Florida. The reference texts used are “Top Ten Common Faults in Human Thought” (Listverse article) and various geological / meteorological definitions of natural disasters. Other text in the book is written by the artist.
The book is letterpress printed from linoleum blocks and photopolymer plates on Okawara paper. Both the book structure and folded book cloth box enclosure are inspired by structures created and/or elaborated by Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol. The pleated cover and inner structure are printed using gelatin plate stencil technique with screenprinting inks. The volvelles are letterpress printed on Gmund translucent vellum paper. The folio is printed on Rives BFK. The typefaces used are Palatino, Spartan Bold Condensed and Stymie Bold Condensed, and various type embellishments.