Exactly Right by Rachel Simmons

"With pages printed using a range of approaches including Risograph, screen printing and letterpress, ‘Exactly Right’ is a meditation on the labor-intensive process of making an artist's book. Objects that emerge from any creative practice are a product of years of experience, training and labor-ideas that take physical form through a daily commitment to making. Practitioners of book arts have a special relationship with the search for perfection; I tend to fluctuate between seeking and destroying it. In my studio, I always have several different types of projects going simultaneously, some that need careful attention to detail, and others that feel more spontaneity and experimentation. It's this balance between craft and innovation that captures my interest. This variable limited edition artist's book was created one spread at a time over the course of several months. I used available resources and scraps of time in between teaching to puzzle through each page and piece them together into a book.
“When I was in college I worked in an office, and when I wasn't answering the phone or filling, I was typing letters and making zines using whatever office supplies were on hand. Some of the materials in this book-sticky notes, craft tape, copier paper-speak to the love of making books with shiny, pretty, but common place materials, while the layered printing and collage show an attention to detail and craft that transforms these materials. The Risograph digital duplicator, while intended for use by schools and businesses as a color copier, has been reclaimed by artists for making zines and prints. In addition to shiny and smooth vinyl and laser-cut collage- found Braille pages provide a tactile experience that reminds all readers about the physical fascination we have with books."
- Rachel Simmons
 
Rachel Simmons recorded this artist's talk on ‘Exactly Right for The Book as Art v.12 Rock, Paper, Scissors on October 9, 2024."