Bryn Perrott

THERE THERE - Tommy Orange

There There by Tommy Orange weaves together the stories of contemporary Native American characters into a dynamic narrative about violence and recovery, family and loss, identity and power.

The title THERE, THERE commands attention so the design required something that was simple, strident and bold that used both type and image in a stark combination. The idea was to create something incredibly graphic, filling the cover dimensions perfectly. 

The work of US woodcut artist, Bryn Perrott, reflects a raw energy, which perfectly matches the tone of the novel. Bryn described her working process for us:

I start any commission/client woodcut or image by talking with the client about their ideas and what they envision for the final composition. I usually make a mock up sketch for the client but that sketch is far from how the final image will look.  From there I enlarge the drawing into a stencil I use for cutting the wood shape with a jigsaw. That shape is then painted black and the stencil applied on top of the black flat with a transfer paper. Now the block is ready for carving. Most of the detail and nuances happen when i’m carving and it comes as I work. I don’t plan everything out but I have a general idea and then elaborate on that idea.

Once the lettering was designed, Bryn worked up a single large feather accompanied by her signature water/tear drop motifs.

The feather is in a blazing red colour and has been placed directly over the black title, and some of the feather vanes have been wiped away to make it look as though it has been entwined with the title lettering.  It partially obscures THERE THERE, but is still readable. The cover was printed using red foil, which sits on top of the matt background, giving a hand-printed feel to the cover.