Peter Koch, Hard Words Portfolio,
9 letterpress prints, 2000, 10 x 13.5 inches

This collection includes a selection of artist made books, artist sketchbooks, and limited edition books, portfolios, and broadsides, as well as illustrations that were included in publications. 

Sketchbooks provide important insights into an artist's working methods, influences, or motivations.  The MMAC collection has sketchbooks by artists such as Alfred Maurer, Henry Meloy, and Josephine Hale.  By example, Hale's sketchbooks bridge her work as a volunteer nurse with the American Red Cross in WWI-including an extensive study of anatomy-with her work as an artist.  Hale's preliminary sketches and paintings from her travels inform her paintings. 

Books include a series by Dieter Roth (1930-1998), a Swiss-German artist who produced multiples that use the book format and language for conceptual, sculptural or visual purposes.  Portfolios and broadsides include a collaboration between poet Paul Zarzyski with woodcuts by Theodore Waddell titled Wolf Tracks on the Welcome Mat.  Also represented are selections from Peter Koch's Hormone Derange Editions - a series of literary broadsides composed of hand-set type, found-engravings and original artwork on various papers.

Examples of the book illustrations include drawings by Henry Meloy for "The Museum Comes Alive" and other books, as well as drawings by Lois Lenski for her children's books.