| Title | Mnemosyne |
| Artist / Creator | Anne Covell |
| Press Name | Sin Nombre Press |
| Place of Publication | Iowa City, IA |
| Publication Date | 2009 |
| Process / Technique | Letterpress linoleum reduction, metal type |
| Structure / Binding | Japanese multi-section binding |
| Medium / Materials | Ink wash, wax |
| Paper Stock | Kitakata paper |
| Number of Pages | 6 folios |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 4.25 x 9.75 x .25 inches |
| Edition Size | Edition of 20 |
| Signed & Numbered | Yes |
Mnemosyne by Anne Covell
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Named for the Greek goddess of memory and mother to the Muses, Mnemosyne is an interactive artist's book that uses sensory exploration to examine the fragile and often changeable nature of memory over time. Pages within the structure of the book recollect abstracted scenes from my childhood set in Southern California where ocean, desert, forest, and urban landscapes intermingle. Each of these landscapes, in turn, embody one of four natural elements - earth, air, fire, and water - as a means to explore the temporal connection between personal memory and material reality. Selectively waxed folios create translucency between folded pages to blur the boundaries between landscapes, which through its irregular structure weaves an elaborate pattern of folds that mimics the tendency of memory to layer and blur with age and distance.
Artist Bio
Anne Covell is an MFA candidate at the University of Iowa Center for the Book, where she studies letterpress printing, bookbinding and hand papermaking. In 2004, Covell completed a dual BA from San Diego State University where she studied art history and metalworking, and in 2010 she completed a joint MA in Library and Information Science and Graduate Certificate in Book Studies/Book Arts & Technologies from the University of Iowa where she was Robert A. Olson Fellow in Special Collections. Since 2012, Covell has been producing limited edition artist books, paperworks, and other ephemera under the imprint Sin Nombre Press, a name that pays homage to the few remaining nameless and untouched landscapes still found in nature. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad and can be seen in the special collections libraries of Lafayette College, the University of San Francisco, UCLA, the University of Florida, and most recently in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Blue Heron Press Collection of Artists' Books.