The American Civil War Quintet |
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Five portfolios, one for each year of the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Inspired by primary source documents in the form of 150 letters written by the artist's great-great grandfather, William Garret Fisher, while fighting the American Civil War for the Union. |
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THE DAY OFF |
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Created in January, 2020 Dana Smith’s first book, for the new decade, titled The Day Off, is an homage to philosopher Avital Ronell. The book's story takes the form of a series of photocollages with a text/poem that grew from fragments of a lecture delivered by Avital in 2012 that was posted on YouTube. |
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ALL MY LOST HANDBAGS |
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A unique hand painted artist book
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WARNING: YOU ARE ON VIDEO SURVEILLANCE |
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A unique hand painted artists book by Dana SmithA unique book that combines digital photo montage and painting. Utilizing cast off prints from a previous edition called, Dana's Tours: The Mission Miracle Mile Revisited, Dana has found another way to convey a radically subjective sense of the Mission Street experience using the subtly expressive qualities of painting. |
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WOMAN AND HER SYMBOLSA unique handmade artists book by Dana Smith created as a study of Carl J. Jungs final essay titled, "Approaching the Unconscious". |
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This book resides in these collections: |
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California Bookworks at the Legion of HonorTwo titles by Dana Smith were included in the exhibit on display at the |
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LATER HEAVENLATER HEAVEN, an artist's book by Dana Smith, is inspired by the I Ching, or Yi Jing. Dana's subjective photocollages with poetry illustrate the eight Ba Gua, or trigrams, which form the building blocks of the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching divination system. A uniquely structured hand-bound book, with two spines, allows the reader to create the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching from the eight trigrams. This book resides in these collections: |
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DANA'S TOURS:
MISSION MIRACLE MILE REVISITED
With all the new building and accompanying disruption of residents, the time has come for an update to Dana's 2009 work about Mission Street in San Franciso. The update is called Dana's Tours: Mission Miracle Mile Revisited. The divergent range of human experience on Mission Street in San Francisco, the main artery of the Mission district is displayed to tell the story of the clash of dreams and harsh reality.
Edition of 20
This book resides in these collections:
• The Bancroft Library at The University of California, Berkeley
• Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
• Jack Ginsberg collection, South Africa
• Paul Hertzmann collection, San Francisco, California
• University of Miami
• Washington University of St. Louis
• San Diego State University
• University of New Mexico
• School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University Art Library, Boston, Massachusetts
• The Athenæum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, California
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METAL TEETH
A unique artists book created as a collaboration between Dana Smith and Cuba. Cuba is a veteran freestyle graffiti writer who's large murals and artwork adorns the streets of San Francisco for 30 years. For this second hand painted book project with Cuba, Dana made a series of photo collages that expose a ubiquitous police presence and the tragic shooting of Alex Nieto. Cuba inscribes a poem by Marshall Weber. The book is oversized, hand painted, and bound in a coptic style with digitally printed canvas covered boards. 1 unique copy.
This book resides in this collection:
• The Bancroft Library at The University of California, Berkeley
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CORONATION
An small artists' book variable edition created as a collaboration between Dana Smith and Cuba. Cuba is a veteran freestyle graffiti writer who's large murals and artwork adorns the streets of San Francisco for 30 years. For this hand painted book, Dana challenged Cuba with a series of photo collages on which he painted with his inventive calligraphy inscribing a poem by Marshall Weber. The book is oversized, hand painted, and bound in a coptic style with digitally printed canvas covered boards. Variable edition of 4.
View CORONATION online
This book resides in these collections:
• The Bancroft Library at The University of California, Berkeley
• Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
• Library of Congress, Washington DC
• Jack Ginsberg, South Africa
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STREET OUR STREET
A lush oversize picturebook that tells the story of a marathon poetry reading that Marshall Weber created in 2011 in the streets of San Francisco. Using fragments of poems from the reading, a new poem about the epic experience of reciting poetry for 74 hours, and vivid photocollage, Marshall's inexplicable experience is conveyed in emotional and geographical detail.
Edition of 20
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THE GREAT ATTRACTOR
A soft canvas cover book by Dana Smith that evolved from a working process of painting and writing, on digitally printed photocollages. A poem/book emerged from that process that reveals a story about looking for guidance and inspiration.
Edition of 30
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SWEET CALL AND RESPONSE
This collaboration between Dana Smith and Steve MacDonald combines digital printing on canvas and sewing to create a very tactile book. Instinctively, messages are sent to attract a response. This book is a visual poem about communication through the interplay of universal symbols and photographic images.
Edition of 25
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WAVES OF SEEING
The trajectory of digital technology takes us beyond the confines of literacy to a form of communication which is image based, immediate and highly detailed, specific and universal at once. Instead of speaking, writing, or even texting the narrative is told with a series of images. On one level, the story is a mundane tale of dreamy escape from the demands of the urban landscape. On another level, the story follows a magic penny that is dropped into a panhandler's cup, later reappears in dream space as a magical and fortunate force empowered with feathery wings, then finally rewards the spirit of generosity with a reappearance as a lucky penny found on the sidewalk. Edition of 20.
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BLiNK
Dana F. Smith & Christian Philip Zimmerman
2010, San Francisco, California
Beautifully hand crafted, the pages are digital collage which are inkjet printed with archival inks, on coated 100% rag paper, and then manually surprinted with exquisite woodcuts and hand-painted text.
The book began with Philip Z’s poetic response to a children’s book from the early 70's. The imagery was then developed using a call-and-response collaborative strategy; the text was used as a structure around which Dana's digital-collages were organized. The next step was to develop a series of woodcut block designs that would surprint the images. Then the text was re-edited and hand-painted onto the pages for the final result.
Edition of 20.
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THE MISSION MIRACLE MILE TRILOGY
The Mission Miracle Mile Trilogy is a solo work in which Dana Smith’s digitally enhanced photography takes center stage. The large version of the trilogy features thirty-two-inch page spreads that are printed full-bleed with saturated images of sidewalks, bus transfers, crushed pills, street vendors, tattoos, transients, and schoolchildren. The effect is dramatic, each page turn evoking the atmosphere of San Franciso's Mission street.
Edition of 6 large format sets (one set remaining)
and 6 small sets (out of print).
 Late Night Satellite, part 1 |
 The Center of the Mile, part 2 |
 The Outer Mission, part 3 |
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SANCTUARY IN MY SKIN
Dana Smith has created a hand made book that combines digital photo-collage using original photographs, hand painting, and poetry.
Sanctuary In My Skin is the story of being human in an emotional landscape made of color and light. The book is hand-bound and painted in an edition of twelve. Each book is digitally printed with archival inks. They are hand painted with acrylic gouache paint. Edition of 12.
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32 BIG PICTURES (FACSIMILE)
A bound series of collages by Dana Smith that illustrate the theme of Barbie's mutability. The original "Barbie Book" made in 1993 with scissors and glue, is a unique book made of thousands of bits of magazines cut to fit like a mosaic into the spaces of a coloring book about the doll called Barbie. It was created as a painstaking labor of love and reveals untold ways that Barbie is interlaced with modern american culture.
32 BIG PICTURES (FACSIMILE) is published as a digitally printed facsimile that is designed to recreate the experience of viewing the original hand-made book as closely as possible. The book even uses a cover from the original vintage coloring book (featuring the Toys-R-Us pricetag) on the cover and back just like the original version. Edition of 6
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WATCH YOUR STEP
Artists Fred Rinne, Dana Smith, and Scott Williams have created a hand-made book that combines digital photo-collage, stencil painting, and text. The book called, Watch Your Step, is digitally printed with archival paper and inks, hand-bound, and painted in an edition of ten. The hybrid technique layers metalic and interference inks, stenciled over hyper-sharp photo-collages, and an insider's voice as text. The final book is a multi-dimensional view of the artists' home in San Francisco, 2007. Edition of 10 +3AP (out of print).
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TO THE TOWER
Artists Dana Smith and Fred Rinne collaborated to make this artist's book. Dana created a series of photo collages based on Fred's concept and text about a paranoid trip to Stanford Univeristy campus and the Hoover Institute. Fred then hand painted and bound each book. Edition of 2 (out of print).
Copies of this book reside in these collections:
- Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
- University of California, Irvine, California
COLLECT CALL FROM THE
SPIRIT WORLD
Stencil artist, Scott Williams
and digital artist/publisher Dana Smith have created a hand made book
that combines digital collage, stencil, and poetry. The book is hand-bound
and painted in an edition of ten. The online
version does not do it justice because of the extensive use of metallic paints.
Edition of 10.
Copies of this book reside in these collections:
- Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
- Chapman College, Orange, California
- Kunstbibliothek, Berlin State Museum, Germany
- Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
- Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
- University of California Berkeley, California
- University of Connecticut, Storrs
- University of Vermont, Burlington
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| Dana at the Codex Book Fair in Berkeley, 2011. |
