For Boys Who Dream of War

by Alan Govenar

About

Details: Arcadian Press (Caren Heft), Racine, Wisconsin, 2005
16 pages; triangular book 17" x 12" x 12", resting in a triangular box 25" x 17 3/4" x 17 3/4".
Edition: 49

When Smokey's remains were returned to his family in 1989, the official version of his death differed from that of his friends. That was the reason for this book. In the text by Alan Govenar, he juxtaposes the Smokey's story with his childhood memories and dreams that were never realized.

Thanks to Alan Govenar who wrote the text; to Kristin Thielking, Keven Brunett and Elizabeth Lagan who made the molds for the wounded WWI glass soldier, cast, polished and inscribed them.

The soldiers are inscribed with either the number of American military dead in Vietnam or the number of Vietnamese civilians killed or wounded during that war. The WWII first aid kit contains a wound dressing, sulfa powder and instructions.

The Root River Mill paper was made by Jeff Morin, Brian Borchardt and me one cold January weekend. The Hahnemuhle paper was sized and tinted on a hot summer day.

The Book Arts of Alan Govenar and Caren Heft are featured in the following public collections:

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, John M. Flaxman Memorial Library, Chicago, Illinois
James Branch Cabell Library Special Collections and Archive, Virginia Commnwealth University, Richmond,Virginia
Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois
Anne Bromer Books, Boston, Massachusetts
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas
Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts
Cedar Valley College, Dallas, Texas
University of Houston, Houston, Texas
African American Museum, Dallas, Texas
Musée de L’Erotisme, Paris, France
Wustum Museum Artists Book Archive, Racine, Wisconsin
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
New York Public Library, New York, New York
Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Los Angeles, California
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina
California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland,California
Art of the Book Collection, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington
The Jaffee Collection, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
University of Milkwaukee, Milkwaukee, Wisconsin
Kohler Art Library, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Henry Buhl Foundation, New York, New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts