THE PROJECT
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The N-Word will be a dense 56-page, softcover book, measuring 6 x 8 inches, fully illustrated with high-quality color reproductions throughout. The book is first and foremost a presentation of paintings created by artist Peter Williams in 2014 and 2015. The "N-Word" of the title refers to an African American superhero serving as Williams' avenging alter ego, who redirects the power of the racial epithet toward those engaged in systematic acts of oppression and hate.
The book contains a four-page introductory essay by publisher and editor Ryan Standfest, examining Williams' work and placing it into both a historical and contemporary context. Running alongside the images, is a conversation between writer Bill Harris and Peter Williams, in which both discuss their upbringing and race in America. Writer Lynn Crawford contributes a five-page short story inspired directly by the paintings contained within this volume, which addresses issues of spectatorship and healing by way of action.
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Peter Williams is an important contemporary painter and The N-Word presents some of his most important recent work. It is a timely and pointed, deeply-felt response to the increasing instability along the racial and political fault lines that remain unhealed and continue to convulse in the United States. Williams' images need to be seen and considered.
The N-Word will be printed in a small edition of 200 copies according to the proposed modest funding goal. Should that goal be surpassed, then the print run will be increased accordingly.
The book is an extension of the mission of publisher Rotland Press, which has an established and successful record of seeking out and supporting work that uses satire and caustic wit to tackle pressing socio-political issues.
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WHAT WE NEED + WHAT YOU GET
Rotland Press is making use of crowdfunding as a means to publish this project
when it is most needed, by those who feel strongly that it
needs to be seen. This project is a labor of love and is designed and packaged accordingly. It is the hope of Rotland Press that there is an audience for this material, who will fund it into existence out of a similar sense of urgency and care.
The proposed funding will cover the following:
- Printing costs for a 200 copy print run: $1,200.00.
- Shipping of the books from the printer to the publisher: $300.00.
- Packaging to ship all books out to customers: $100.
- Printing of a 100-copy, 10-color, silkscreen print edition by Peter Williams, hand-signed and numbered by the artist, available as an exclusive perk: $900.
- Printing of a limited "thank you" postcard with an unpublished new image by Peter Williams: $50.00.
Unique and exclusive perks include:
- A handsomely printed "thank you" postcard for all contributions, presenting an unpublished new image by Peter Williams.
- A 10-color silkscreen print by Peter Williams created exclusively for this project, handprinted in Detroit at ESP Custom Screenprinting in Eastern Market in an edition of 100. Signed, numbered and dated in pencil by Williams.
- A limited number of copies of "The N-Word" signed by Peter Williams, with an exclusive, tipped-in risograph bookplate.
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The 10-color screenprint. Printed on 100-pound Durotone Newsprint White paper from the French Paper Company of Niles, Michigan.
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Exclusive risograph bookplate. Signed and numbered in pencil by Peter Williams, tipped-into the inside front cover of all signed copies.
TIMELINE
The campaign for The N-Word will last only 30 days. At the end of this period, pending successful funding, the following production sequence will unfold:
- The completed PDF of the book will be delivered to the printer.
- Printing time is estimated to take three to five weeks.
- The silkscreen edition will be printed at ESP while the book is being printed.
- The postcard will also be printed during this time.
- Copies of books and the print edition will need to be signed by Peter Williams (this requires shipping time to the artist, time for material to be signed, and shipping time back to the publisher).
- Books, prints and postcards are estimated to ship during the month of September.
Updates regarding this process, will be posted regularly.
THE CHALLENGE
Crowdfunding always relies on the openness and goodness of those who believe in the project they are committing to fund. Rotland Press is dedicated to funding The N-Word and getting it and all of the perks that accompany it to you, as soon as the funding is complete. Should there be any delay in the timeline as outlined above, all contributors will receive notification.
The immediate challenge is to fund the publication of The N-Word. The secondary challenge is to increase the print run, and therefore the scope and audience reach of The N-Word.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
If you are unable to contribute to contributing funds to The N-Word, then the most immediate and important contribution you can make is to spread the word about this project and to help generate interest in supporting it. You will have the gratitude of all involved.
ABOUT PETER WILLIAMS
The paintings of Peter Williams have been described by artist and writer William Eckhardt Kohler as "in no particular order: hallucinogenic, acerbic, pained, beautiful, confessional, obsessive, critical, jarring, wild, weird and profoundly human. They are born from Williams' experiences of race, appetite, and physical vulnerability. The visual lexicon is a heady blend of psychedelic color, abstract pattern, and cartoon-manic imagery." Most recently Williams has had solo exhibitions with Foxy Productions and Novella Gallery in New York City and Paul Kotula Projects in Detroit and was included in the 2016 group show "Me, My, Mine: Comanding Subjectivity in Painting" at the DC Moore Gallery in Chelsea. Recipient of numerous grants, including a Joan Mitchell award in 2004, his work was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial and is in the permanent collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts is work was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial and is in the permanent collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint.
Peter Williams' work can be viewed at http://peterwilliamsart.co/
ABOUT LYNN CRAWFORD
Art critic and fiction writer. 2010 Kresge Literary Arts Fellow and 2016 Rauschenberg Writing Fellow. Her criticism has appeared in Art in America, Tema Celeste, The Metro Times, Zing, Parkett, Modern Painters, American Ceramics, The Brooklyn Rail, and Infinite Mile. Her books include Solow, Blow, Simply Separate People, Fortification Resort, a collection of sestinas responding to the work of visual artists, and Simply Separate People, Two. She is a founding board member of Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Her most recent book is Shankus & Kitto, to be published in August 2016 by DittoDitto Detroit.
More about Lynn Crawford at http://www.lynncrawford.net/
ABOUT BILL HARRIS
Playwright, poet, critic, and novelist. Professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit. Formerly Production Coordinator for Jazzmobile, and the New Federal Theatre, both in New York. Author of Birth of a Notion; Or, The Half Ain’t Never Been Told, A Narrative Account with Entertaining Passages of the State of Minstrelsy & of America & the True Relation Thereof (Wayne State University Press). Published plays include: Stories About the Old Days, Riffs and Coda. Queen of Sheba, and BOO! A Musical Fantasy had their debuts at the St. Louis Black Repertory Company. Anthologies containing his work include The National Black Drama Anthology: New Plays for the Black Theatre, Voices of Color: 50 Scenes and Monologues by African American Playwrights, both edited by Woodie King, Jr., and African American Literature, edited by Al Young. Harris has had two books of poetry published: The Ringmaster’s Array and Yardbird Suite: Side One, which won the 1997 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award. His latest book Booker T. & Them: A Blues (Wayne State University Press), is an examination in long poem form of the era of Booker T. Washington. He is currently working on three novels, one set in 1954, a second in 1854, and the third, the story of a young blind entertainer rising to fame during the 1940s and 50s. Harris has been honored as the recipient of the Kresge Arts in Detroit Eminent Artist of 2011 award.
More about Bill Harris at http://www.billharris.info/
