BEHIND THE SCENES - Meet Alice Leora Briggs

Alice Leora Briggs, at Flatbed circa 2013 carving a woodblock.

Flatbed is extremly proud to have Alice Leora Briggs as one of our artists. She was honored to be a Guggenheim recipient in 2020. Quoting from their site: “Her investigations into human frailties have generated thousands of drawings, woodcuts, letterpress books, broadsides, and site-specific architectural installations. These works have been featured in over forty solo exhibitions and are included in over thirty-five public collections, including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Library of Congress, University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, and Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.”

We have collaborated with Briggs since 2007 and you can see all the works created at Flatbed in this link: Alice Leora Briggs. In 2007, we published “Breach,” a direct polymer gravure. In 2013, she brought two large carved woodblocks to us. After experimental inking and proofing, we were able to publish these two incredible chine collé woodcuts now titled “Sklep Fop” and “La Ventana.” We consider “La Ventana” as one of the most ambitious and powerful relief prints that Flatbed has had the privilege of publishing. Briggs is a master draftsman and her graphic sensibilities fit perfectly with woodcuts.

Soon after “La Ventana” was published, she began a cycle of twelve woodcuts that would make up the deluxe portfolio of prints titled “The Room.” She collaborated with poet Mark Strand to use his poem “The Room” and carved one line of each of the twelve that make up the poem into each woodcut when creating the suite. Along with letterpress pages and a beautifully designed portfolio box created by Jace Graf, the woodcuts of “The Room” communicate but do not illustrate Briggs’ compelling visual insights and reactions to the poem. This portfolio was acquired by the Library of Congress in 2019!