In Conversation With: Richard Wagener

Printmaker and book artist Richard Wagener talks about his creative process and the wood engravings he has published under his Mixolydian Editions imprint. He will discuss his work on the numerous fine press editions of Arion Press, Peter Koch Printers, Nawakum Press, and others. And Wagener will be in conversation with Book Club of California executive director Kevin Kosik about the artwork he created for three Book Club publications: California in Relief, Sierra Nevada Suite, and From California.

Wagener grew up in southern California spending a lot of time in remote parts of the high desert and in the Sierra. Early art classes introduced him to Maynard Dixon and Edgar Payne. After school activities included selling the evening newspapers at the Disney studios where he met many of the illustrators and animators. Richard has an undergraduate degree from the University of San Diego and a graduate degree from ArtCenter College of Design. He has been engraving wood for over forty years and his work has been in a number of fine press editions, most notably with Peter Koch in Berkeley and the Book Club of California. In 2006 Richard established his own imprint Mixolydian Editions to publish his own fine press editions of his work. He has collaborated with David Pascoe of Nawakum Press, Santa Rosa, California, co-publishing three fine press books, one of which, Loom, earned them the 2016 Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design. Richard was also awarded the Oscar Lewis Award for contributions to the book arts. He currently lives and works in northern California.

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The Book Club of California is a diverse community of people united by an appreciation for the art of the book and the impact books have on society. The Book Club of California hosts a year-round series of exhibitions and programs on topics including fine printing, design, typography, bookbinding, collecting, the history of California and the West, and more. The Book Club publishes limited edition, finely made books, a scholarly journal, and Keepsakes. The Book Club’s Albert Sperisen Library, with over 10,000 volumes of noteworthy fine press books and ephemera printed in California and the West, is a major repository of reference material on printing history and the book arts.

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