All Sorts is the inaugural artist’s book edition from the Marjorie S. Coffey Library Endowment Residency at the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida and the first publication of the Library Press @ UF.
The design of the artist’s book All Sorts began in the Smathers Libraries Special and Area Studies Collections during the summer of 2015. Ms. Martin researched the contents of the Jerry Chicone, Jr. Citrus Crate Label Collection. She learned the grading system for citrus is displayed through label color: blue = best quality, red = second quality, yellow = third quality. Inspired by the vibrant colors and patterns of the labels, and the structure of the wooden fruit crates, Ms. Martin designed a three-dimensional tunnel book. She used direct references from the labels as design elements in the book. The piece is 9” x 9” square, the same size as many of the fruit crate labels. The artist was intrigued by the concept of labeling and in response created an alphabetic system of words that are used to “label” people. These words travel in a spiral of circular forms through the depth of the tunnel book. The viewer recognizes the words as personality descriptors that are positive, negative, or neutral.
The book was letterpress printed in the UF School of Art + Art History Type Shop and co-produced by Emily Martin and Ellen Knudson (Associate in Book Arts, University of Florida). The book is printed from photopolymer plates by Boxcar Press on Colorplan 100# Cover in Snow White. The structure is a tunnel book housed in a paper slip case. © Emily Martin 2015 for the Library Press @ UF.
To see more of Emily Martin’s work, visit her website.
