Frank Brannon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | John F. Brannon, Jr. 1965 |
| Education | MFA, University of Alabama |
| Notable work | Cherokee Phoenix: Advent of a Newspaper (2005) Cathleen A. Baker's The Paste Papers of Louise Lawrence Foster (2011) |
| Awards | Mary B. Reagan Artist in Residency, 2014 |
| Website | www.speakeasypress.com |
Frank Brannon (born 1965) is a book and paper artist, and the proprietor of Speakeasy Press.
John F. Brannon, Jr. (Frank), a native of Tennessee, was born in Maryville, Tennessee in 1965. He is a graduate of the M.F.A. in the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. Brannon previously studied Atmospheric Sciences (incomplete doctoral studies, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1991–1994) and Physics (M.S., 1991 and B.S., Phi Beta Kappa, 1987) at the University of Tennessee. Brannon has been a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild since 2013. [1]
The limited edition, letterpress books that Brannon produces are held in several special collections libraries in the United States and England, as well as with private collectors. His 2005 letterpress monograph focuses upon research into the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper of northern Georgia, 1828–1834. Brannon continues research on the origins of this historical newspaper as well as an exploration of the character-forms of the original Sequoyan syllabary.
Brannon became the first recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council's Mary B. Reagan Artist Residency Grant in 2014 to continue his work with the revitalization of Cherokee Language printing. [2]
Brannon was selected as the artist in residency at Ashantilly Center for 2015. [3] William G Haynes, founder of the Ashantilly Center and an artists and printer, helped the Georgia Department of Natural Resources set up the reconstructed print shop at New Echota in 1978. [4]
In 2016, Brannon received Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Residential Fellowships, for 2016–2017, to document the history of Cherokee Language printing. [5]
Brannon is primarily a book and paper artist, and has created several hand-bound, hand-printed editions. His work includes a focus on exploring the book form, [6] experimental paper-making, and the Cherokee syllabary (including printing in the language). Brannon also engages in other art forms, as well as collaborating with other artists in a variety of capacities. He has participated in creating site-specific installations as well as costumes that Incorporated handmade paper.
In October 2013, Brannon collaborated with artist Jeff Marley to print using Cherokee syllabary type at New Echota. This marked the first time in 178 years that monotype was used to print in the Cherokee language at New Echota. [7] Brannon has also worked with choreographer Amy Dowling and costumer Susan Brown-Strauss to create hand made paper costumes used in the performance art piece, Absolute Relativity at {Re}happening in 2014. [8]
In addition to offering instruction in his own studio, Brannon has served as an adjunct instructor at several institutions including Southwestern Community College and Western Carolina University. Brannon also teaches letterpress, book binding, and paper-making workshops at regional art centers, including Asheville Bookworks, Penland School of Crafts, and John C. Campbell Folk School. He has presented papers and lectures on the subject of Cherokee language printing at a number of conferences and venues. [9]
Brannon's work with the Oconaluftee Institute for Cultural Arts (later Southwestern Community College) resulted in revitalizing letterpress printing in Cherokee syllabary. [10] The project began in late 2009 and culminated in 2014 with the arrival of the final set of 36 point type. This work has helped facilitate the production of limited edition, one-of-a-kind books and prints in the Cherokee language. [11]
The Cherokee language in a written form (known as the Cherokee syllabary) was developed by Sequoyah in the early 19th century. This resulted in the Cherokee quickly becoming literate in their own language and then printing the first newspaper in an indigenous language, the Cherokee Phoenix, in 1828. [12] In the events leading up the Trail of Tears, the printing press was seized by the Georgia Guard and the type disappeared. [13] The revitalization of Cherokee syllabary printing type marks the first time in 175 years that the Cherokee language was available for use in letterpress printing in the eastern United States. [11]
The Print Shop of the Cherokee Nation 1828-1834, with a Chronology; 4 x 6.5 inches, 105 pages, 2005. Edition of 74.
Hand-bound, letterpress printed on handmade cotton paper using 11-point Garamond types, including muslin spine with handmade paper covered boards. Brannon modeled the binding style after three circa 1830 books. The regular edition includes full size reproductions of the hand impressions of excavated New Echota type. Six deluxe copies of the edition, specially bound in red quarter-leather, contained hand impressions of type found at New Echota. Both version contains Notes, Chronology, and Bibliography.
Letterpress, limited edition book describing the advent of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper in New Echota; last capital of the Cherokee Nation in the eastern United States. New information reveals the exact type of printing press used, and an initial exploration of metal type that was excavated in 1954 at New Echota. The likely location of the paper mill in Knoxville, Tennessee, which produced paper for the first issue of the Phoenix, is also described. Hand bound and printed on handmade cotton paper. [14]
9.125x.25x6.0 inches, 54 pages, 2011. Edition of 82.
Limited edition letterpress sample book presenting and describing 14 examples of the paste papers of artist Louise Lawrence Foster. Printed on handmade cotton paper with quarter-cloth and paste paper covers. [15] 10 deluxe copies of the edition feature a quarter leather spine.
The Cherokee are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina, northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama consisting of around 40,000 square miles
Cherokee or Tsalagi is an endangered-to-moribund Iroquoian language and the native language of the Cherokee people. Ethnologue states that there were 1,520 Cherokee speakers out of 376,000 Cherokee in 2018, while a tally by the three Cherokee tribes in 2019 recorded about 2,100 speakers. The number of speakers is in decline. The Tahlequah Daily Press reported in 2019 that most speakers are elderly, about eight fluent speakers die each month, and that only 5 people under the age of 50 are fluent. The dialect of Cherokee in Oklahoma is "definitely endangered", and the one in North Carolina is "severely endangered" according to UNESCO. The Lower dialect, formerly spoken on the South Carolina–Georgia border, has been extinct since about 1900. The dire situation regarding the future of the two remaining dialects prompted the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes to declare a state of emergency in June 2019, with a call to enhance revitalization efforts.
Elias Boudinot, also known as Buck Watie) was a writer, newspaper editor, and leader of the Cherokee Nation. He was a member of a prominent family, and was born and grew up in Cherokee territory, now part of present-day Georgia. Born to parents of mixed Cherokee and European ancestry and educated at the Foreign Mission School in Connecticut, he became one of several leaders who believed that acculturation was critical to Cherokee survival. He was influential in the period of removal to Indian Territory.
Sequoyah, also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and neographer of the Cherokee Nation. In 1821, he completed his independent creation of the Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible. His achievement was one of the few times in recorded history that an individual who was a member of a pre-literate group created an original, effective writing system. His creation of the syllabary allowed the Cherokee nation to be one of the first North American Indigenous groups to have a written language. Sequoyah was also an important representative for the Cherokee nation, by going to Washington, D.C. to sign two relocations and trading of land treaties.
Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable type into the "bed" or "chase" of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type, which creates an impression on the paper.
The Cherokee syllabary is a syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the late 1810s and early 1820s to write the Cherokee language. His creation of the syllabary is particularly noteworthy as he was illiterate until its creation. He first experimented with logograms, but his system later developed into the syllabary. In his system, each symbol represents a syllable rather than a single phoneme; the 85 characters provide a suitable method for writing Cherokee. Although some symbols resemble Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, and Glagolitic letters, they are not used to represent the same sounds.
Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on design, graphics, layout, fine printing, binding, covers, paper, stitching, and the like.
New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation in the Southeastern United States from 1825 until their forced removal in the late 1830s. New Echota is located in present-day Gordon County, in northwest Georgia, north of Calhoun. It is south of Resaca, next to present day New Town, known to the Cherokee as Ꭴꮝꮤꮎꮅ, Ustanali. The site has been preserved as a state park and a historic site. It was designated in 1973 as a National Historic Landmark District.
The Cherokee Phoenix is the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was published in English and Cherokee on February 21, 1828, in New Echota, capital of the Cherokee Nation. The paper continued until 1834. The Cherokee Phoenix was revived in the 20th century, and today it publishes both print and Internet versions.
Samuel Austin Worcester, was an American missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer, and defender of the Cherokee sovereignty. He collaborated with Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) in Georgia to establish the Cherokee Phoenix, the first Native American newspaper, which was printed in both English and the Cherokee syllabary. The Cherokee gave Worcester the honorary name A-tse-nu-sti, which translates to "messenger" in English.
Peter and Donna Thomas are American papermakers, book artists, and authors. They are co-authors of three commercially published books and produced over 100 limited edition books.
The San Francisco Center for the Book (SFCB) is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Mary Austin and Kathleen Burch in San Francisco, California in the United States. The first center of its kind on the West Coast, SFCB was modeled after two similar organizations, The Center for Book Arts in New York City and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis.
Print design, a subset of graphic design, is a form of visual communication used to convey information to an audience through intentional aesthetic design printed on a tangible surface, designed to be printed on paper, as opposed to presented on a digital platform. A design can be considered print design if its final form was created through an imprint made by the impact of a stamp, seal, or dye on the surface of the paper.
The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. The associated Brainerd Mission Cemetery is the only part that remains, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ádahooníłígíí was a Navajo-language monthly newspaper that was published in the Southwestern United States from 1943 to 1957. After the Cherokee Phoenix, operating from 1828 to 1834, it was the second regularly circulating newspaper in the United States that was written in a Native American language. It was the first newspaper to be published in Navajo and the only one to have been written entirely in Navajo. In April 2019, roughly 100 issues of the newspaper were digitized as a part of the University of Arizona Library's National Digital Newspaper Program and they are currently available online.
Cherokee is a member of the Iroquoian language family.
Cherokee language is the indigenous American Iroquoian language native to the Cherokee people. In 2019, the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes declared a state of emergency for the language due to the threat of it going extinct, calling for the enhancement of revitalization programs.
Luzene Hill is a Native American multimedia artist and citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She combines performance with installation to reflect on violence against women, using lyrical abstraction to approach difficult topics. She is best known for her 2011-2015 work Retracing the Trace, an installation reflecting on the prevalence and pain of sexual assault through the lens of Hill's own experience. Her works primarily explore themes of the trauma and shame produced by various types of violence enacted against women and indigenous cultures and the transformative healing powers of art. Beyond the United States, Hill's art has exhibited internationally in Canada, Russia, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Native American newspapers are news publications in the United States published by Native American people often for Native American audiences. The first such publication was the Cherokee Phoenix, started in 1828 by the Cherokee Nation. Although Native American people have always written for state and local newspapers, including the official publications of Native American boarding schools, periodicals produced by Native people themselves were relatively few and far between until the 20th century.