Building distinguished collections one title at a time-2: Lake of Darkness

I extend my heartfelt thanks to the artist and the creator of Lake of Darkness, Karen Fitzgerald and Kohler Foundation for their support in the acquisition of Lake of Darkness – artists book for our Slavic collections that will be housed in Bancroft Library. This acquisition could not have been possible if not for the generosity of the Kohler Foundation who purchased this rather expensive but unique item and gifted it to UC Berkeley Library in July 2020. During COVID-19 mandated work, I also convey special thanks to Bancroft Library’s Steven Black and Amelia Grounds as without their help it would not have been possible to acquire this  20″x14″ portfolio. The project was printed on 300gm Somerset paper. The text was letterpress printed by Leslie Miller of Grenfel press; box created by Claudia Cohen.

According to the NYC based artist Karen Fitzgerald,  “Lake of Darkness was created as a response to Czeslaw Milosz’s poetry and what it means to be in the earth, to be embedded within the landscape.” I note that Milosz was the 1980 Nobel Prize winner and taught at UC Berkeley’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

The images below are provided courtesy of Karen Fitzgerald.