First Breath
Referencing ancient casting techniques, both the poem and the engraving describe the metaphor of a new creation as the mother carries her infant to the ocean’s surface for its first breath of air.
As one of the most basic printmaking techniques, typeset dates back to China’s Tang Dynasty. Working with skilled engraver, Fred Brian, and his 19th Century Washington Press, the poem’s type was handset in the traditional manner placing soft wooden letters one at a time with thin onion skins shimmed beneath the wood engraved blocks.
Referencing ancient casting techniques, both the poem and the engraving describe the metaphor of a new creation as the mother carries her infant to the ocean’s surface for its first breath of air.
As one of the most basic printmaking techniques, typeset dates back to China’s Tang Dynasty. Working with skilled engraver, Fred Brian, and his 19th Century Washington Press, the poem’s type was handset in the traditional manner placing soft wooden letters one at a time with thin onion skins shimmed beneath the wood engraved blocks.