Walter Hamady // book artist and paper maker

Above (and below) Title frame and other single frames from a new 20-minute video talk about Walter Hamady (1940-2019), prominent book artist, paper-maker, and collagist, who was well-known as a teacher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. 

Having earlier taught in Milwaukee for ten years, I had become aware of his work in the 1970s. Because of his liking for Ballast Quarterly Review (which I had founded in 1985), he and I began to exchange spirited letters (along with a mix of enclosures), once or twice or more a month. 

This led to collaborations of one kind or another, eventually resulting in exhibitions, published essays, and an archive of his artist’s books. I saved everything, even all the envelopes and mailing containers, in part because they were always addressed to mutilations of my name, such as Corps du Roy, Rhoidamoto, Trompe L’Roi at Labbast, Royatolla, and so on. This continued for more than a decade, perhaps to the mailman’s amusement.

Looking back on what I have, I have now produced a video talk (a brief memoir-like tribute) titled BOOK ART: Walter Hamady’s Books, Collages and Assemblages, which can be accessed free online on my YouTube channel.

Walter SH Hamady | Perishable Press | RIP

Walter SH Hamady

Walter SH Hamady | Perishable Press Limited

Walter Hamady

We have now posted the third and final segment of our restored, revised and somewhat redesigned series of websites about Wisconsin artist Walter SH Hamady. On each of the three sites, there are active links to the other two. This one is mainly a listing of the 131 books that Hamady produced as The Perishable Press Limited, beginning in 1964. more>>>

Walter SH Hamady | His Gabberjabb Books

Walter Hamady / The Gift of Gabberjabbs

No, you are not seeing double (or maybe you are). This is not a duplicate earlier post. Many years ago, we designed and posted a trio of websites having to do with the letterpress books and box assemblages of Wisconsin artist Walter SH Hamady. One about his boxes, a second on his Gabberjabb books, and a third that featured a list of all the books he published as The Perishable Press Limited. A couple of years ago, those sites were disconnected and destroyed in the confusion of adopting better web software. So we are now rebuilding them. You've seen the first in our previous blog post, and now here's a link to the second. The third will follow very soon.

Walter SH Hamady | Books Boxes and Collages

According to someone, there are two types of people in the world: Those who believe that there are two types of people—and those who don’t. Among the former was the Greek poet Archilochus, who believed that people tend to be either foxes or hedgehogs. Foxes are centrifugal, hedgehogs centripetal. “The fox knows many things,” he said, “but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
     

For years I have admired the work of Walter Hamady (his extraordinary handmade letterpress books, his collages and assemblages), but now and then I’ve asked myself: “Is Walter a fox or a hedgehog?”…more>>>