Valerie Carrigan

Windsor, Massachusetts

Messenger

Messenger rises from the exploration of wonder — that which we happen upon unexpectedly against a backdrop of the common and everyday. The birds presented in this artist’s book — a barred owl, northern flicker, bald eagle, pileated woodpecker and evening grosbeak — are messengers, urging us to stop still and pay attention to that which strikes the soul in a new and extraordinary way. Messenger consists of five folios with text by the artist, printed letterpress from polymer plates. Within each folio is an offset lithograph translated from an original monotype by the artist. Messenger is printed in an edition of forty, and housed in a clamshell box covered in taupe Asahi bookcloth. 37 x 31 centimeters. Created 2004.

---

Valerie Carrigan is a printmaker and book artist living in the mountains of Western Massachusetts. She received her MFA from The University of the Arts and has taught drawing, painting, printmaking and book arts, most recently through The University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. Her work focuses primarily on monotype, relief and letterpress printing in book form and is represented in many collections including the Kohler Art Library Book Arts Collection at The University of Wisconsin, Madison, The Southern Graphics Print Archive, and the Swarthmore College Special Collections.