John Risseeuw
American, b. 1945; MFA 1973
Lives and works in Tempe, Arizona
Boom! A Summary of the Paper Landmine Print Project, 2011
Letterpress, woodcut, and relief print on handmade paper with accordion binding
The Cabbagehead Press, Tempe, Arizona
Edition of 30
This accordion structure is made with paper created from pulp containing the clothing of landmine victims, plant fibers from landmine-afflicted territories, and shredded currency from the nations that produced or used landmines. The book was printed as a summary of the Paper Landmine Print Project, which produced fifteen prints, also on the handmade paper described above, that include facts and stories from landmine victims in Angola, Bosnia-Herzgovina, Cambodia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Northern Iraq. Proceeds from the sales of the book and prints are donated to charitable organizations that clear the mines and support the victims.
Like many UW-Madison alumi featured in this exhibition, Risseeuw has been a leader in the field of book arts. In 2008, Risseeuw was one of thirty founding members of the College Book Arts Association, a nonprofit organization that “supports and promotes academic book arts education by fostering the development of its practice, teaching, scholarship and criticism.” Other founding members from UW–Madison include Barbara Tetenbaum, Bonnie O’Connell, Steve Miller, Mary Phelan, Lisa Beth Robinson, and Richard Zauft.
Born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, John Risseeuw first studied chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison but then switched majors, ultimately earning a BS in printmaking in 1968. He studied with Phil Hamilton, Dean Meeker, Jack Damer, Warrington Colescott, and James Watrous and built equipment for Walter Hamady in exchange for papermaking lessons. Risseeuw received two more degrees in printmaking from the UW: an MA in 1972 and an MFA in 1973. He assisted Bill Weege in a Madison area print shop, learned about commercial printing working at Straus Printing, and hand lettered signs for the Madison Public Library as its staff artist. Then he set up his first print shop at the University of South Dakota, where he worked as a graphic designer and taught printmaking. After teaching at UW-Madison for a year in 1980, he accepted a position with Arizona State University, where he started a letterpress shop and taught bookmaking, printmaking, and papermaking for 35 years. While at ASU, he established Pyracantha Press and directed its creative research projects. Risseeuw is the proprietor of Cabbagehead Press, whose books and prints often consider social justice and political issues. For The Paper Landmine Print Project, he collected clothing from survivors and victims of landmines to make paper. That handmade paper served as the foundation for variously shaped large prints featuring bold illustrations in a range of techniques, including letterpress and woodcuts.
