April Library Jewel #1: rare poster honoring late artist

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It’s time to show off three more State Library Jewels. With April being National Poetry Month, the first one is timely: a rare poster of a poem about Washington artist Christopher Stern, who died of cancer in 2006. The poster, a collaboration by Maralyn Crosetto of Day Moon Press and Mare Blocker, was printed at Day Moon Press in 2007 as a fund-raiser to help pay the medical bills for the late Chris Stern, who died in November 2006, at age 56, of colon cancer. Stern was a nationally known fine press printer and teacher. The image on the broadside depicts The Printing Farm, a printing shop in the Skagit Valley, owned by Chris and his wife and fellow printer, Jules Remedios Faye. On the poster is a poem, written by Blocker, entitled “You told me once you only printed in natural light.” The poster can be found in the State Library’s Rare Collection.