Published projects, 1978-2016

Series II.A., Published projects, contains materials related to various Joan Digby’s publications which largely consist of poetry, prose, and essays published by The Feral Press from 2002-2016. The series includes proofs, layouts and mockups, typescript and manuscript drafts, notes, photographs, collage materials, and ephemera relating to the works. In addition to art by Sandra Jackman, Tina Seligman, and Molly Eckleberry, many of the works were illustrated with Joan Digby’s original photography and/or John Digby collages. The series also contains a few scholarly and creative works of Joan Digby’s that predate the Feral Press publications. Noteworthy items in the series include, “An Artist in the Primeval Garden,” Joan Digby’s essay on the art of American abstract painter and sculptor Bob Goodnough, which she based on a studio visit and interview with the artist. Photographs of artist’s work, reference and research materials, notes, drafts, Goodnough exhibit ephemera, and a small amount of Goodnough correspondence are included in these folders. The essay was published in Magazine.Art, a publication of New York Dance & Arts Innovations, Inc., in the Winter-Spring 2004 issue. The series includes a significant amount of drafts, proofs, research materials, and notes for Birds: A Flight of Poems, a poetry anthology edited by Joan Digby with collages by John Digby. The poetry selected by Digby for the compilation ranges in style, geography, and era, and embraces the poets’ widespread fascination with birds through the ages and throughout the world. The anthology evolved from a shorter collection edited by Hong Ai Bai and John Digby for a Hutton House Lecture series at Long Island University based on their improvisational translations of classical Chinese poetry from the seventh through the seventeenth centuries.