During the first week of February, Small Craft Advisory Press (SCAP) had the pleasure of hosting artists Aaron Cohick (Colorado College, New Lights Press) and Tricia Tracey to collaborate on a new artist’s book with SCAP Director Denise Bookwalter. The project references George Perec’s, Life A User’s Manual as the original impetus for the book’s larger concept, which eventually leads the collaborators to create the modular type system that makes up the book’s content. This modular type system consists of 200 type-high maple blocks, each measuring 1″ square. Half of the blocks are dedicated to text, while the other half are dedicated to imagery. The three collaborators designed a grid system in the bed of SCAP’s Vandercook Universal I, which allows them to interchange text, image, and a blank spacer in order to build each spread of the book.

SCAP was founded by Bookwalter in 2009 (which became part of The Facility for Art Research in 2011) to create collaborative artists books using both old and new printing technology, including the letterpress, 3D printer, 3D scanner, and laser cutter. SCAP’s mission is to enable artists to create work that pushes the traditions and boundaries of the book arts.