Scantron Press: Owed to The Mountain

Diane Jacobs

Owed to The Mountain is a sculptural artist book – the box unfolds one leaf at a time, to reveal each of the four directions. The Mountain is featured in four different printmaking techniques: West face – etching, North face – wood engraving, East face – lithograph, and South face – reduction woodcut. There are four linoleum cut river prints and three handset, letterpress-printed stories from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The box opens flat and in the center a paper mountain peeks through a cloud layer held up by five tree trunks. There are three handmade paper mountain skins nested inside one another. The outermost layer is made with celadonite pigment and accentuated with white ink exposing words. The middle surface details the dwindling glaciers and the innermost represents the volcanic strata. Beneath the mountain rests a fine press book. Animal ink drawings in colorful ecosystems and habitats appear among the text, documenting the changing seasons. The stories weave multiple Native voices that underscore the value of friendship, reciprocity, interdependence, and cooperation.

Materials and printmaking techniques for the fine-press book include solar etching plates developed from Sumi ink animal drawings, a monoprint centerfold, a water motif silkscreen printed on book cloth for the hard covers, end sheets made from eco-printing plants found on Mt. Hood, habitats created from pressure printing and reduction woodcuts, and stories handset in Weiss foundry type (Roman and italic 12 pt., 14 pt., and 18 pt.) and printed letterpress. Book pages are Zerkall paper, end pages are Rives lightweight, and the beaver and river otter were printed on mulberry paper and adhered to the inside covers.