WOMB's sister chapbook publishing project

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Hex Presse Mission Statement

Hex Presse, the print companion to the online journal WOMB POETRY, is a feminist press dedicated to the publication and appreciation of writing by women. Hex Presse publications are multi-media and eclectic. In addition to publishing handbound limited-edition chapbooks by contemporary poets, Hex Presse also publishes games and visual/tactile/manipulative poetic materials. Hex Presse games and manipulatives are often based on, sourced from, or inspired by the work of women writers. The goal of these materials is to create alternative ways of engaging/reading/experiencing writing by women. Hex Presse is interested in presenting text as multi-dimensional, plastic, playful, concrete, mutable, improvised, cooperative, collaborative, and interactive.

My inspiration for Hex Presse publications comes from a variety of sources. I admire the tactile poetry of Jessica Smith and the tangible beauty in the design of her magazine FOURSQUARE. I am also thrilled by the curiosity, detail, and wonder of the minumentals crafted by Julia Drescher for Dos Press. Dusie's Wee Chaps and Big Game Books' Tinysides satisfy my craving for colorful poetry in miniature, and I am mesmerized by Jen Bervin's intriguing work with textiles and natural materials. I am continually surprised and delighted by Anne Boyer's visual poems, paintings, and videos, and I am intensely fond of the art and writing by the graff girls. The manipulatives used in Montessori classrooms appeal to my desire for sensorial encounters with language and text, and I am excited by the poetic strategies developed by the oulipians and surrealists. I feel an affinity with the feminist art movement, the arts and crafts movement, Wunderkammers, ancient and medieval methods of divination, and the book arts. Kiki Smith, Lorna Simpson, Eva Hesse, Yoko Ono, and Renee Stout are among my favorite artists. I maintain a fascination with dollhouse furniture, vintage children's books, kaleidoscopes, plastic animals, mirrors, wood, beads, plants and flowers, toys, games, relics, fossils, and machines. Other things I like are listed here.

More than anything, I am motivated to publish poetry by the brilliance and munificence of my peers, and by the writing and art by women who seek to create community and political change through radical critique, innovation, activism, generosity, and optimism.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,
My name is Fallon and I’m organizing with other women of color around the Dunbar Gang Rapes and West Virginia Torture/Rape case. Well, I was wondering if you have time to participate in a phone conference on Friday, September 28, 2007 at 9pm/central about organizing to end silences surrounding Megan Williams’ torture and rape in Logan and the gang rape of several Black women in West Palm Beach Florida as well as stories that go unheard because it involves a woman of color such as the Newark imprisonment of the four lesbians for protecting themselves from a male aggressor.

Well, I’ve been circulating a 2 minute movie entitled, “How do you keep a Social Movement Alive.”

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=E44BFBCE67BF11DC9030000423CF037A

This movie documents the silence surrounding Megan Williams’ torture and rape in Logan and the gang rape of several Black women in West Palm Beach Florida. The purpose of this movie is to document the silences within our relationships, within our homes, within our families, within our communities, within our jobs, within our schools, within our churches, temples, and synagogues, within our governments, and within our world.
We have a blog, but given the organizing we are trying to do, I need to reorganize the blog and use wordpress instead of blogger. This is the current blog,

http://documentthesilence.blogspot.com/

If you can’t do the phone conference would you interested in being apart of the Women of Color Bloggers Breaking the Silences Contingency on the Web which would mean inundating the web with information about Wearing Red Campaign on October 31, 2007 as well as circulating clips and other media trying to inundate the web with stories of violence committed against women of color.

I look forward to connecting with you,
Fallon
You can email me at beboldered@gmail.com.

Anonymous said...

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=
E44BFBCE67BF11DC9030000423CF037A