We are thrilled to announce the launch of Vela Noche Editions. VN Editions will present some of the best examples of pigment printing available today, give exposure to artists whose work we admire and continue our unique collaborative process with artists working in multiple media.

The first offering is from the Pictures series from artists Richard Benari and Lauren Henkin. The project is a study in abstraction that incorporates photographic studies of the landscape, the built environment and studio-made constructions. We are presenting 4 separate handmade folios each containing 5 prints. Some images of the 4 sets:

The 5 prints in each set are presented in a handmade folio of St. Armand paper. A letterpress printed colophon is also included. All of the photographs are printed by Richard Benari and Lauren Henkin in pigment on Edition Etching rag paper. The image sizes vary, but are all presented on 13” x 18” paper.

In addition to these folios from Pictures, we will soon be releasing an edition of stunning prints from Seattle artist Tyler Boley titled Figure Studies. We are also working on a new series of broadsides with The Poetry Society of America, 3/3, which will pair contemporary poets with photographers. We will be hosting public one-on-one discussions with photographers and poets from each release starting this fall in New York City.

We're very excited about this new addition to our catalog. For more information on the Pictures folios, please visit VN Editions by clicking here.

Please stay tuned for future releases and thank you, as always, for your support!

"How good to stop
and look out upon eternity a while..." —Charles Reznikoff

This is Your Land is artist Lauren Henkin's first solo handmade limited edition of loose photographs.  A series of 10 images taken in rural northeastern Texas in early 2012, these images showcase her talents not only as an image-maker, but as a printmaker. 

The structure that the prints are housed in was a design by Lauren Henkin and master bookbinder Rory Sparks, who Henkin has worked with many times before.  The box, constructed entirely by hand, and made entirely of handmade materials, can be used not only as a protective box, but as a display for the prints.  The top of the box converts into a display stand, enabling one to rotate the prints for viewing.

All of the photographs were printed by Lauren Henkin in pigment on Edition Etching rag paper in New York in 2013. The text is set in Didot and Whitney and was letterpress printed by Rory Sparks in North Carolina. The portfolio case is covered in acid-free handpounded Barkskin paper handmade in Mexico by Otaomi Indians. The interior is covered in Twinrocker handmade paper made of the finest cotton rag. The overall size of the box is 15.5" x 18.5".  The size of the prints is 8" x 8" on 15" x 18" paper.

The edition is limited to five signed and numbered copies with two artist proofs.

The edition is offered at $1,650.

Vela Noche is delighted to introduce Pictures, a new series of photographs made during a year-long collaboration between artists Lauren Henkin and Richard Benari.

As photography has matured into its own artistic medium, narrative has become the conceptual foundation on which most work is created. The act of viewing an image is no longer sufficient; content has been replaced by context. Images have become testimony and photographers, witnesses.  The photographic object itself has become evidence.  Most photography now sets out to answer questions. Other artistic mediums set out to raise them.

"We began this project by asking what photography can achieve in the absence of narrative. We wanted to know if the essential language of light, texture and tone was enough to hold the viewer. It wasn't.  What was missing was the artist's hand, the photographer's eye.  We set out to push the camera beyond its natural tendency for pure representation and investigate its capacity to convey the artist’s expressive mark."

Reconfirming the primacy of the photograph as object proved essential to interpreting the images. The three individual boxes each contain 14 prints. The complete set of 42 are richly printed in pigment on heavyweight archival etching rag paper.  The handmade limited edition Japanese hidden compartment portfolio boxes are constructed of cloth and Italian paper by master bookbinder Rory Sparks.  Each box, Pictures I, Pictures II, and Pictures III is limited to an edition of 10.

Pre-Sale, February 8 - March 8 2013

Individual portfolio: $1,975. Complete set of three portfolios: $5,700.

After March 8th, the price for each box rises to $2,800. The price for the set will go to $7,150.

To listen to audio clips of the artists speaking about this work, click here.
To learn more about this project, or to view more individual images, click here.

We are extremely proud to present Thereafter, a new handmade case-bound book of photographs by Oregon artist Dale Schreiner.

Here is the description of the book:

Thereafter embodies the process of coming to terms with the fundamentally unanswerable questions: “Why did my father’s wife shoot him to death and what prevents her from recalling the event?” With the authorities’ inability to stitch together a clear explanation of the driving forces that led to the shooting, no one will ever really know what happened or why. This book is the result of wandering alone, clearheaded without thinking, making space for feelings to become tangible. Photographing urban, yet wild and protected parkland provides cover for wrestling with issues not ready to be overcome.

The book of 22 images was printed by Vela Noche Press in Portland, Oregon on Moab rag paper.  The letterpress printing and hand binding was done by Sandy Tilcock of lone goose press in Eugene, Oregon.  The endsheets are handmade St. Armand Old Master paper and the book is covered in a beautiful textured Musashi cloth.

For more information on this publication, please click here.

We are so excited to offer Deck of Chords, a collaboration between Portland photographer Lauren Henkin and writer Kirsten Rian.

Deck of Chords is a full deck of playing cards. Each card front features an image of Henkin's from an unpublished portfolio titled The Lines Between Us, and on the back, a poem by Kirsten. There are 52 cards in total plus a signed cover card.

We are offering Deck of Chords at a special price of $14 until November 1st when the price will go up to $19. 

Click here to view Deck of Chords.