Coffey Residency for Book Arts

Nymphaea: The Sacred Waters of the Florida Springs
Rachel Simmons, Orlando, FL
2026. Edition of 15.

As the Coffey Artist-in-Residence, Rachel Simmons was given access to the holdings of the Special and Area studies Collections and University of Florida Libraries archives, which house a large collection of Florida tourism ephemera. As a long-time Florida resident, Rachel was immediately captivated by the kitschy beauty of the postcards, pamphlets, and photographs created to draw tourists to her home state. She thought she knew a lot about the history of the Florida springs, but as she conducted research for this project, she found there were plenty of unfamiliar stories and familiar myths to unpack — including the origin of the Fountain of Youth legend, the complicated history of Florida’s springs as economic engines, and the ongoing struggle to protect them.

Rachel Simmons was the residency artist for the 2025-2026 Coffey Residency in Book Arts. She teaches at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, directs the Rollins Book Arts Collection, and serves on the board of CBAA The Association for Book Art Education. Rachel visited University of Florida Libraries in August 2025 and spent time looking at many of the Florida History materials and maps in both Special and Area Studies Collections and the Map and Imagery Libraries.

Find out more about this book and Rachel Simmons’s additional work at her website or find her on Instagram.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF RACHEL SIMMONS’S PRESENTATION of Nymphaea: The Sacred Waters of the Florida Springs.

Ten Views of Florida
Russell Maret, New York, NY
2025. Edition of 70.

The concept and structure of Russell Maret’s Ten Views of Florida is inspired by the artist’s research of materials in the Florida History and Florida Tourism Ephemera Collection in the Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida. Within the book, Maret also shares his personal essay centered on research into contemporary issues of book banning in Florida Public Schools. Ten Views of Florida explores the juxtaposition of the hedonistic appeal of Florida tourism versus the prohibitive nature of recent state decrees.

Ten Views of Florida is designed and printed by Russell Maret, and bound by Amy Borezo of Shelter Bookworks. The images are printed from linoleum cuts, metal type ornaments, and photopolymer plates. One of the images is a “smoke drawing” created by Maret as he held an open flame held near the paper. The book is printed on Rives BFK paper.

This book was created as part of the 2024-2025 Coffey Residency in Book Arts at the University of Florida Libraries. The Coffey Residency provides an opportunity for a selected artist to access materials from the Special and Area Studies Collections (SASC) at University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries as the impetus for the creation of an editioned artists’ book. During the residency, the artist has the chance to interact with the collections, librarians, curators, faculty, and students across the university. Production of the project involves periodic consultation with the facilitator of the program, Ellen Knudson, Sr. Associate in Book Arts.

You can read more about this project and other works by Russell Maret at his website.

A Supposed Direction of Gravity
Jay Fox, Fort Smith, Arkansas
2024. Edition of 10.

The artist’s book A Supposed Direction of Gravity was created by residency artist Jay Fox. The artwork analyzes and questions the authority and intent of another text, Natural History, General and Particular (Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière), Count De Buffon, Volume I, 1781 (574 B929hEs). During Mr. Fox’s research in the Special and Area Studies collections during Fall 2023, he discovered this book and was struck by the author’s perspective that provides support to many theories of natural history that were prevalent at the time of writing, but also discredits evidence-based facts. As an historical object that has been handled by people over time, a blend of intention and negligence have captured the shape, textures, and weight of bookmarks, pressed flowers, folded pages and other physical interactions with the book, all of which are legible should one stop and notice. These indentations serve to frame and interrupt the fantastic claims of the author and become evidence of use that relate the quiet truths of the book’s utility and the physical world.

Mr. Fox puts his attention to the physical markers, allowing them to take precedence over the theories. The text of Natural History is then interpreted as poetry and becomes another type of world-making device. A Supposed Direction of Gravity includes a slim book to be used as a tool for citation that is paired with the main text to decode and provide meaning to Buffon’s text. This companion book, or tool, is shaped to the border of the main book and actively works to contain and reason with the original text while experimenting with styles, notation, and shorthand for the developed narrative. The covers of the book are made of steel plates embossed with the title and covered in blue book cloth which is gently sanded to expose the letters beneath. This, too, speaks to the nature of utility found in objects and in the physical world.

The artists book A Supposed Direction of Gravity and the reference text Natural History, General and Particular are part of the Special and Area Studies Collections in the University of Florida Libraries.

The artist book was printed and bound by Jay Fox during the 2023-2024 Marjorie S. Coffey Residency in Book Arts at the University of Florida. Exploration and research occurred in the special collections at the George A. Smathers Libraries in the Fall of 2023. Printing and construction of the book was completed at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith in the Book Arts Studio.

God’s Battle Axe
Sauda Mitchell, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
2023. Edition of 5.

God’s Battle Axe, pays homage to Zora Neale Hurston’s inspiration and creative process for her last unpublished manuscript ‘Herod the Great’. Through research of the Zora Neale Hurston Papers, (in particular, Hurston’s sketch book for ‘Herod’) at George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, and published works that reveal the influences of religion in her early life, this work is an ode to Zora Neale Hurston’s courage to deviate from her accepted canonical work.

The enclosure for God’s Battle Axe seeks to capture the essence of Zora’s impeccable fashion as can be seen through examination of the Zora Neale Hurston Papers (MS 006) photographic collection. Through the use of materiality, the application of multiple mediums, and the conception of religious reliquaries, this work reimagines Zora’s vision for the environment, historic setting, and years of research resulting in her six volume manuscript for ‘Herod the Great’.

Through an embedded QR code, God’s Battle Axe, links to Zora’s 1955 handwritten and signed letter to Margrit Sabloniere in which she describes ‘ Life of Herod the Great’ as such.. “ I am trying something more difficult than ever before.” [Hurston,Z.N. Handwritten Letter], Zora Neale Hurston Papers, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Size:
Dimensions: 7” x 10” x 6” H

Weight:
4.5 pounds

Media:
Wood, concrete, caulk, pigments (water color, pen and ink, acrylic), textile (velvet), faux ostrich feathers, artifacts (vintage brooch), glass (mosaic tiles), linoleum, printmaking ink, paper, black and white archival photo prints.

Sauda Mitchell is a community leader, certified archivist, educator, and multidisciplinary artist with over 20 years of engagement with the arts, libraries, and diverse communities. Through primary source research, Sauda’s work focuses on utilizing printmaking and QR code technology as a creative non-traditional access method, linking viewers to archival repositories, curated exhibitions, and aggregated data. Each work serves as a visual response to archival collection materials representative of the many stories that can be found deep within the archival landscape.

Sauda serves as the Director of the Painting Drawing and Printmaking Department at the Sawtooth School of Visual Art in Winston Salem N.C. where she develops high quality visual arts programming, curricula, workshops and events. Sauda is an adjunct instructor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Buffalo, where she teaches students the methodology of how to teach with primary sources. Mitchell is currently a doctoral student at Drexel University in the Educational Leadership and Management Program. Her research centers around marginalized student access to archives based engagement in support of cultural competence and primary source critical analysis, as a catalyst for elevated cognitive development.

Select works are currently held in the permanent collections of the SCAD Museum of Art, Harvard University, Smithsonian Libraries, and The Library of Congress. You can view more of Sauda’s work at her website.

April 20, 2023: Public presentation for Sauda Mitchell’s artist’s book, God’s Battle Axe.