Simply Books, LTD ~ Oregon
(Laura Russell)

Colorado series by Laura Russell
Miniature Book by Simply Books, Ltd

Create
By Laura Russell
Edition of 50
5.5 x 5.5” opens to 42”
Quotations laser printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. Paper collages on interior and cover. Electric blue suede leather cover. Presented in a matching slipcase. Signed and numbered.

Inspirational quotes about creativity. Explores the innate need we all have to be creative in day-to-day lives. For some of us creativity is as vital to our survival as food and water.
$150

Fly: Aviation’s Pioneer Women
By Laura Russell
Edition of 20
5.5 x 5.5 x 42”
Laser printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. Five handmade paper collages on interior and cover. Silver metallic leather cover. Presented in a matching slipcase. Signed and numbered.

An accordion structure artist book that celebrates the women of aviation’s history. Quotations from these pioneer women are paired with handmade paper collages depicting a runway, a compass, a flight formation and a flag.
$150

Colfax Day & Night
By Laura Russell
2003. Edition of 100.
10 x 8.5" with 19 pages, printed on each side. Archival digital printing on Mohawk superfine paper of 34 original color photographs.

Colfax Avenue is an amazing street. Its past is a colorful history of roadside landmarks and infamous travelers. Today the avenue is a different kind of colorful but still vibrant and very much alive. Russell presents a photographic journey down Denver's infamous Avenue. Nighttime and daytime photographs of fast-disappearing vintage neon signs are presented side-by-side to see how the soul of the street transforms day to night.

Comments from the Laura Russell on the making of this book: "I started taking photographs of vintage neon signs during my years as a graphic designer. I was looking for examples of interesting fonts or typography to use in my graphic design projects. Now my efforts to photograph these signs are not only a study of our graphic history, but also my own small effort to document and preserve our ephemeral cultural landscape. Vintage neon signs are endangered by the development and growth of our urban areas and very few preservation efforts. Most of the signs I photograph were built between 1930 and 1960.

Colfax Avenue was the main road through Denver before I-70 was built in the early 1960s. It was famous as a tourist stopover with kitchy hotels and roadside attractions. And it became infamous through the writings of authors such as Jack Kerouac. Denverite's still claim their beloved Colfax to be "the longest continuous street in America" as it travels more than 20 miles though the heart of downtown Denver from the foothills to the plains. Today, parts of Colfax are enjoying a redevelopment boom, which threatens its aging strip joints, cheap motels, dive bars and liquor stores. Sadly, this intriguing visual and cultural landscape will slowly fade into the sunset.

I shot the photographs for this book during my last few months living in Denver. As we prepared to move to the Pacific Northwest, I became very sentimental for this town that I called home for almost 20 years. I felt a need to shoot these signs as if they were friends I would never see again. I will always miss Colfax Avenue and its vibrant soul."

Deluxe edition with wrap-around Plexiglas hard-backed cover and clamshell box. $375
Soft cover spiral-bound structure with mylar covers. $150

Nocturne
By Laura Russell
Edition of 100. 8.5 x 6.25 x 1”
Tunnel book with detachable cloth-covered, three-panel, wrap-around cover. Archival digital printing on Mohawk Superfine paper. Original poem on inside covers by the artist. Original color photographs. Signed and numbered. Presented in a clamshell box.

Feel the sizzle of electricity, the sparkle of a million lights. Neon lights up our skylines and enlivens our nights. The street at night is a symphony, orchestrated by automobiles, pedestrians, sirens and honking horns. Nocturne captures the music of the night in a tunnel book format, forever preserving
the romance, the dreamy melody that is the city street at night. Peering into the tunnel, the viewer is transported to the street as their mind conjures up memories and nostalgia for the sights and sounds of bygone days. All original color photographs were shot on Denver’s infamous Colfax Avenue.
$275

Colorado Wall Dogs
By Laura Russell
2003. Edition of 50.
11 x 8" with 60 pages. Case bound in Cave handmade paper. Archival digital printing on Mohawk Superfine Paper. Original photographs by the artist. Housed in a clamshell box.

Russell has produced several books to capture the streets of Colorado. This book is an effort to preserve Colorado's historic painted brick wall ghost signs by cataloging and photographing them. While searching for these walls and photographing the hand-painted signs Russell nicknamed them "wall dogs" in homage to the originators of this "wall art."
$475

Lakeside
By Laura Russell
Laura Russell
2002. Edition of 200.

7 x 7" with 32 pages. Case bound in leather or cloth. Original digital photography printed using archival digital printing on Mohawk Superfine paper.

Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver was billed by ambitious investors in 1908 as the "Coney island of the West." This photographic artist book explores the timeless architecture, graphics, signage and neon of this once-glorious, world-famous theme park. Visitors today are surrounded by art-deco buildings bathed in neon, the original, but tired 1908 carousel, and abandoned rides that are skeletons of their former glory.
$175
Also available in miniature