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My Mighty Journey
A Waterfall's Story

 MIDNIGHT PAPER SALES 2019
  • <em>My Mighty Journey</em> spread
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Photos: Paul Nylander

FROM THE BOOK

I am a powerful waterfall.
I listen.
I pay attention.
I have a long memory.
You might find it hard to believe
but I have moved through time.

With those words, the story My Mighty Journey opens. It is the story of St. Anthony Falls, the only major waterfall on the Mississippi River, and the changes it witnessed over twelve thousand years. Written by John Coy and illustrated by Gaylord Schanilec, the narrative is written from the perspective of the falls. It recounts the people who lived nearby, the ways they lived, and how the area around the waterfall changed drastically over the past two centuries. Read on...

Editioned prints from the book for sale

 



 

 

For comprehensive documentation of the process of making My Mighty Journey, visit Paul Nylander’s My Mighty Journey tumblr blog

“Out of print, and not surprisingly so. Schanilec’s work continues to amaze most of us who have followed his career. And while I don’t like this book as much as his Sylvae (2008) or Lac de Pleurs, (2015), I recognize that he has stretched the limit of what is possible in modern printing, and has effectually redefined the concept of ‘nature printing.’ In twenty-five years this may well be seen as his masterpiece.”

— Robert Rulon-Miller
Rulon-Miller Books

My Mighty Journey wins the 2020 Minnesota Book Arts Award.

My Mighty Journey received the John Burroughs Literary 2020 Riverby Award for exceptional nature books for young readers.

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*The Midnight Paper Sales edition is out of print, but a copy might be had through Rulon-Miller Books.

*The Trade Edition, published by Minnesota Historical Society Press, is available from MHS or Amazon.


  • Gaylord with Dogfish

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Prints

Individual signed and numbered prints from My Mighty Journey
*Free shipping on domestic orders. *International orders: you will be notified of the cost of shipping before the item is sent, and billed via PayPal after shipment.

SAINT ANTHONY Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 84. $480.00.

RIVER WARREN FALLS Image size: 24.5 x 18" | Edition size: 87. $520.00.

CONFLUENCE Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 855. $560.00.
FIRE & ICE Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 82. $480.00.

DOGFISH Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 90. $450.00.

SPIRIT ISLAND Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 100. $600.00.

THREE SISTERS Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 77. $670.00.

MNI SOTA Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 70. $370.00.

JEFF AND DAN Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 100. $520.00.

COLLAPSE Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 85. $520.00.

WOODEN APRON Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 92. $480.00.

GOLD MEDAL MILL Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 75. $600.00.

LOCK AND DAM Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 48. $450.00.

MILL FIRE Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 89. $560.00.

SACRED Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 70. $670.00.

MILL CITY Image size: 18 x 24.5" | Edition size: 187. $900.00.



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For Schanilec the project began as a commission from the Minnesota Historical Society Press to illustrate a children’s book. Knowing for the past couple of decades each of his books had taken on average five years to make, It was obvious a second edition of the book would be necessary—the modest illustrator’s commission offered could not sustain the project. A second institution, The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, became involved and scores of interns emerged, some remaining to become partners in the project, and others far overstaying their original six month consignment for the fun of it. The formula was simple: when a decision needed to be made, everyone, from the oldest hand to the greenest intern, was asked, sincerely, what they thought, and given the freedom to work out their ideas. In this way the book took on a life of its own, and became a live river monster.

Much of the imagery was printed from objects collected along the course the waterfalls had traveled, things like rotten driftwood, fossil-encrusted limestone, discarded bricks and cottonwood bark. These objects, made into type high blocks and printed on a letterpress, provided an organic backdrop of sky, stone, and water, that flows through the entire 12,000 year length of the story. It wasn’t until 1680 that Louis Hennepin became the first European to see the falls. Until his arrival the images were exclusively composed of this organic backdrop. With the arrival of the Europeans it felt appropriate for the artist to begin rendering things using woodcuts, and finally turning to wood engraving toward the end of the journey.

Native people had been present for the entire 12,000 years. It was clear the Native perspective needed to be included. John Coy’s writer friend Dianne Wilson, a member of the Dakotah Tribe, was at the time the director of Dream of Wild Health farm near Hugo, Minnesota, an organization whose aim is to introduce healthy life ways to Native kids. Through Dianne we were introduced to Ernie Whiteman, Arapaho Elder and artist. From our friends at the farm we received plants for Three Sisters (corn, beans, & squash), as well as the four sacred plants: sage, sweetgrass, cedar, and Ernie’s beloved sacred tobacco. From these plants we respectively printed, and that is how we gained the Native perspective.