I believe I first met Katherine Ng through the Pacific Center for the Book Arts. She had won a purchase award from the organization in the 1990s for her book Banana Yellow (which I'm including in an exhibition at the SF Center for the Book in April). At the time, I did not know who she was. On a trip to Los Angeles, where I knew she lived, I contacted her to see if we could meet. We've been friends ever since. In 2003, she started sending out letterpress printed new year's cards on chipboard, and quickly turned to writing an animal haiku for each Chinese new year starting in 2005. She's now come full circle, having printed a card for each of the twelve animals. The haiku previously featured one animal chasing the other out, but this last rooster card appears to be her crowning and crowing finale: alliteration for the rooster.
Since learning that Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. only prints on chipboard, and now that I've gathered all the chipboard cards that Katherine Ng has sent me, I'm changing my mind about chipboard. Even Katherine didn't think it was going to last, and playfully always included this stamp on the backs.
Here is the whole set.
Happy New Year of the Rooster!
Katherine Ng, Banana Yellow, 1992
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