Cover Illustration for The Farm: Book Two by David Kherdian
5 x 7" woodcut print laid on 7 x 9.5" matting. Signed, numbered, titled, and dated in pencil.
Nonny Hogrogian was an Armenian-American author and illustrator. She twice won the Caldecott Medal, in 1966 for Always Room For One More and in 1972 for One Fine Day. Hogrogian used a variety of media in her work, often combining several, but is known mostly for her woodcuts. She once said, "Woodblocks were one of the first mediums ever used for printing pictures, and they're still perfect to print from."
She married David Kherdian, Armenian-American poet, author and anthologist, in 1971. He and Hogrogian collaborated on more than a dozen works. This print was the cover art for his book The Farm: Book Two. The Farm and its sequel contain poetry written at and about his time at Two Rivers Farm in Aurora, Oregon. Two Rivers was a Gurdjieff community where both David and Nonny lived in full residence for nine years, establishing Two Rivers Press. There they became expert book makers, printing their books, broadsides, and pamphlets on a hand press, and also binding their books by hand, many with their own marbled endpapers. This print was made during the time they lived on the farm (approximately 1978-1987).
George Gurdjieff was a Greek-Armenian philosopher and mystic who believed that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings.
Price: $200.00