Art Basel Miami - What's happening at the Convention Center

It is Thursday December 4 and I am at the Miami Convention Center attending one of the great events of the year - Art Basel Miami. There are over 220 exhibitors and it is a wonderful opportunity to discover galleries that produce beautiful catalogues and sometimes even hardcover monographs for their clients. This is a group that is used to spending some money, so printing in Italy with Mondadori is not necessarily such a stretch. It is also just a great scene, and I've been looking forward to this for weeks.

Only I have a rotten cold.  The truth is I feel so cruddy I almost couldn't drag myself down to the Convention Center today.  Even the sight of so many swanky art lovers conferring over cocktails didn't lift my spirits.

And then, I bump into my old friend - and competitor - George Dick from Louisville, Kentucky. Suddenly the chances of this turning into a really fun afternoon have just increased by 100 percent. George owns Four Colour Print Group and is funny, irreverent, really annoying at times, and a one-man party. We make inappropriate remarks about some of the more unusual pieces of art (Yoko Ono's "Touch Me" boxed body parts is pretty up there in my opinion). And we talk to various gallery owners, promoting ourselves and each other.  This tag-team strategy by two competitors seems to be so baffling to the potential leads we speak to that, in their confusion, they are much more forthcoming with names, phone numbers, email addresses. Who would have thought?

And we just have some fun. Though cameras are strictly forbidden inside the Convention Center (but open drinks are allowed around all this art? Explain that) I snap off shots of a few of our favorites.

George is considering this one as a mascot for his printing company. (That is, assuming he wants to lose all his business, possibly to me.) Actually, I am considering this one as a mascot for George's company

And this huge sculpture was just so weird and amazing, that it was constantly surrounded with a crowd of observers. From one view, the figure is nearly flat, while from another it is fully formed. And it had the effect of appearing almost like a hologram, even though it was completely solid.

All the Saints and Angels (and some Gods and Goddesses too) Want You to Buy Books for Christmas

Three years ago Mondadori Italy published a book on Saints. The book is organized according to the calendar year, with each day represented by the appropriate saint who is associated with that day.  I fell in love with it. It is small, chunky and cute - and I happen to love books where you can check out what important thing is associated with your birthday (in my case, it is the day associated with Saint Florian, protector of firefighters, whose name means "A follower of Flora".  How nice!)  In my role as an agent for rights sales for Mondadori, I approached Editor-in-Chief Eric Himmel at Harry N. Abrams about the possibility of producing the book for the English market.  Eric loved the book too.  He had a hunch that it would do well and committed to a big first printing (at least for an art book!) And thus the making of a great "sleeper" hit series of books was born.

Saints has reprinted continuously since its first publication by Abrams.  How gratifying it was to arrive in Frankfurt the following year and suddenly everyone was looking for a book on Saints! Ha! Too late!



And we were already on to the next subject matter: Angels, and now Myths. Like their predecessor, Angels and Myths are compact and appealing, and chock full of beautiful art, interesting information, and wonderful stories (and priced at $19.95 - even with the economy in shambles you can afford this!). Who knew there were so many kinds of angels?: seraphim, cherubs, archangels, guardian angels, rebel angels, fallen angels; angels as messengers, punishers, soldiers, intercessors and saviours. And when it comes to mythological creatures, forget it: their are gods, goddesses, earth dieties, infernal dieties, heroes, you name it.

Now that it has come to update the newest edition of Saints, I have asked my Italian colleagues if there might be any American saints they'd like to add to the book. Preposterous thought! Okay, I was kind of joking, and as I expected my friends just looked at me like I was insane - either because 1) Who ever heard of an American saint? or 2) Well, maybe there are one or two, but they are definitely not cool enough to hang out with the European saints in the same book!

A Carnival, A Street Fair - Its the Miami Book Fair!

Here in New York it is getting dark by 4 pm, and snow is in the air. Dark when you leave for work, dark when you get home - if we don't get out of here soon, I am going to just crawl off and hibernate until Spring. Its a good time of year to move the base of operations south. We head to South Florida, via the Amtrack Autotrain and are probably the only couple under 85. Our room is adorable but tiny. I am intrigued by the teeny bathroom that appears to be just a very small toilet inside a very small closet - but in some miraculous yet unclear way doubles as a shower. "Be careful that you don't push the wrong button when you flush the toilet!" my husband warns. One of these must operate the shower? This is a little like Russian roulette.


We arrive just in time for The 25th Annual Miami International Book Fair! Its a crazy scene, more like a carnival. But there are some serious authors here - Poet Laureate Billy Collins, cookbook author Mario Batali, philospher Cornel West. Also in attendance some heavy hitters like Harper Collins, Random House, Prentice Hall. Saturday I stroll around the Fair; it is a madhouse, with the biggest attraction a book and movie release about a dreamy Teenage Vampire.


One publisher I have been trying to work with now for a year or two now is Pineapple Press. They have beautiful photographic books, primarily on topics having to do with the tropics and South Florida. Another is the University of Florida at Gainesville. I have a nice chat with the folks at each of these booths and end up with some new contact info. Good. Later on, I talk to PR agent Dan Smith whose firm publicizes authors. Another good potential lead.

As the afternoon winds down I sample frozen lemonade, Cuban grill, keep my eye out for Vampires, and get to admire some Very Big Books.

Ceramics in America Recognized with Book-of-the-Year Award

Amidst all the election hubbub last week, I received this happy piece of news: my client The Chipstone Foundation (see posting on October 24) has won the prestigious Book-of-the-Year Award from The American Ceramics Circle .

This was the first project we worked on together, and we are all very proud and look forward to great things for future editions. Director of the Chipstone Foundation Jon Prown recognized the "tremendous effort" and "job well done"!

Washington DC - National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society is my biggest customer for Mondadori Printing, which is fine with me since it allows me to spend the day with this crazy, funny, hardworking group of people every couple of weeks. This trip, my mission is to try to convince VP of Manufacturing Phil Schlosser that even though we have the exchange rate against us at Mondadori, and even though it might be faster to manufacture right here in the U.S. of A. -- his plans for 2009 would not be complete without awarding a significant number of projects to Mondadori. 

Phil lets me know that I have some serious competition from Asia, the U.S. and even other European printers. By noon, after reviewing a long list of possible titles, my mission is not going well.  This is getting depressing. It seems like a good time for lunch.

We round up a group for lunch including Monika and Nicole who are Production Managers in Phil's department, and Mike who handles international co-edition printing as well as silly remarks at any gathering. We head over to the Mayflower hotel, which Phil tells us is one of a handful of hotels in DC that is "pre-cleared for security" so that all important Washington bigwigs can hang out here with confidence. This makes us all feel much better. At lunch Monika has issues with the size of the tables (too small) and the entree selections (too few).  Mike wants us all to order martinis. Nicole is pre-occupied with her James Bond-themed Halloween Party (which has got to be the best idea of a theme party in terms of cute outfit options).  And Phil is trying to persuade me that I need a new photo for my blog -- at which point everyone wants to take my picture, and I gotta say the results of this free-for-all only confirm that the picture I have now is still my best option.

Alas Production Manager Rachel has the day off today, and cannot join us - while Director Chris Brown stays back at the office, remaining incognito....

After a good lunch, and a stroll through the Mayflower, we get back to the office and have another discussion about book projects for next year. I talk to Mike and Gary and it turns out that there just might be a couple of multi-language projects that would be perfect for Mondadori. Maybe some other things will come up too. Phil is willing to take another look at the numbers, and so 2009 is starting to look a little better than it did this morning.

These meetings are more like a day spent hanging out with your friends, and it always is a little sad to leave. So, until the next time...

Washington DC - Publishing and Politics

Half of the year my husband and I live and work from The Adirondacks. It is a beautiful place to be Spring, Summer, Fall, and.... Is it already Winter? It is still only October and scraping the ice and snow off my car this morning before my drive to the Albany airport reminded me again why winter is an excellent time to be down in South Florida, where we will be heading in about three weeks.


I arrive in DC and have fun talking to everyone I meet - cab drivers, waitresses - about the upcoming election. Everyone is really excited and optimistic, and I wish I was going to be here next Tuesday when the results come in. I hope it will be the great change for the better that we all are hoping for. I drop my bags at the hotel and walk over to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

I stop in on Karen Siatras, designer and production manager at The Smithsonian, and she is buried under with catalogues she and the staff are rushing to organize and get sent out. A few months ago we reprinted a title for Karen on the 19th Century American artist GEORGE CATLIN, painter of American Indians and the American West. Karen waxes poetic on how wonderful it is to work in Italy versus China. I do nothing to try to convince her otherwise - and we discuss the possibility of doing more work together in the future in Italy, if only the exchange rate would improve just a little more.....


Later I am back at my hotel. My favorite hotel. If I was a hotel I would be this hotel. But it shall remain nameless since it is already nearly impossible to get a room unless you book weeks in advance.

As usual my room is adorable, though there is one feature just outside my door that I am finding a little disconcerting. (Some of the rooms have shared baths, but....)

I have dinner at the bar. A steady stream of regulars stop in for a drink or dinner and to chat with Chantal, the bartender.

One Frenchman who I have seen before waves his arm in the general direction of the room full of diners and says "this whole place is full of Democrats! The owner of the hotel will not even allow a Republican through the front door!"  Following this remark I am surprised that the next person who sits down announces that he is - A Republican! He lives in Alexandria and sells mortgages. He says to me in a confidential whisper, "Obama scares me"  and knocks back his vodka tonic. The tiles that decorate the bar area would seem to indicate that the hotel bar is really a non-partisan watering hole. Looking closely at the tile work I notice that cavorting with the elephants and donkeys are a few small rats (note middle right edge), which may be the best indication of the hotel's true political sentiments.

Returning Home to Find a Beautiful Book

Right before leaving for Frankfurt,  I called  the Verona plant of Mondadori to speak to a client who was on press for the Chipstone Foundation.

It was a familiar story coming from Verona: The printing was going fine, but the staff in Verona was feeding my client too much!

It is a common belief among those of us who have spent a lot of time doing press OKs that certain printers plot to make their clients more pliable on press by feeding them too many lunches with too many glasses of wine. And now, apparently, ice cream is part of their repertoire as well! Unfortunately for the printer, the plan usually backfires with clients becoming more ornery and argumentative after eating and drinking too much.

 The Chipstone Foundation is a private collection of decorative arts with a focus on early American furniture, historical prints, and British and early American pottery. For the past two years I have worked with the designer on this project, and I am astonished to see how she is able to take a relatively dry subject and through sophisticated design and typography create a book that virtually anyone would want to pick up and browse through. And how great is it that she decided on a racey purple and burnt orange for the jacket and cloth cover of this title which, according to the introduction, has the sober mission of exploring "topics representing four centuries of ceramic history"?

Aside from admiring my advance copy of CERAMICS IN AMERICA, this week was spent trying to catch up on emails missed while I was in Frankfurt and following up on likely acquisitions of some of the new book projects.


And it is good to be home.