| Title | Wild Girls Redux |
| Subtitle | An Operator’s Manual |
| Artist / Creator | Ellen Knudson |
| Press Name | Crooked Letter Press |
| Place of Publication | Gainesville, FL |
| Publication Date | 2009 |
| Structure / Binding | Binding is an accordion portfolio cover with two pamphlet structures sewn in. Cover is flocked paper in maroon. Lining paper is Hahnemühle Bugra in Fawn. Each book comes with a set of stickers, kept inside a yellow office mailing envelope decorated with a wrap-around belly band. |
| Medium / Materials | All parts of the book are designed and letterpress printed from photo-polymer plates by the artist. Text adapted from the Missouri Department of Revenue Motorcycle Operator Manual. Typefaces are Blue Highway, French Cursive, and Cooper Black. Paper is Indian Sunn Hemp Contemporary. |
| Number of Pages | 40 |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 9 x 5 x .5 inches closed 9 x 20 x .5 inches open |
| Edition Size | Edition of 100 |
| Signed & Numbered | Yes |
This book is a revisit of a book created almost 12 years ago. The original book, How to Become One of the Original Wild Girls, was designed and printed in 1997. That book is a playful list of imaginary rules that should be followed to achieve wild girl status. The rules are light-hearted, but they have the sting of recognition that most women realize to be sexist in nature. Wild Girls Redux: An Operator’s Manual reexamines these issues, using motorcycle road and driving rules as text along with images of pin-up girls and industrial schematic illustrations. The tactile materials of the book include pink heart paper doilies, white doily placemats, flocked paper covers, and green office ledger papers. The intent of the Wild Girls Redux: An Operator’s Manual is tongue-in-cheek and provides the ordinary, mechanical, and absurd rules of how to operate women.
Wild Girls Redux: An Operator's Manual is the winner of the 2009 Florida Artist's Book Prize for The Bienes Museum of the Modern Book and The Florida Center for the Book.
Artist Bio
Ellen Knudson is a book artist and designer originally from North Carolina. She is currently a special collections curator and design/letterpress instructor at The University of Florida. She holds an MFA in Book Arts from The University of Alabama and produces handmade books under the imprint Crooked Letter Press. Ellen has been a book artist for twelve years and a professional graphic designer for almost 20 years including positions at The Art Institute of Chicago and The Detroit Institute of Arts. She has taught letterpress printing at The University of Florida and The University of Alabama, graphic design at Mississippi State University and at Wayne State University, and book arts workshops around the country. Her work is collected and exhibited both nationally and internationally.