Harbor SpringsMichigan

Highlighting the communities surrounding Little Traverse Bay since 1971 | Published Weekly on WednesdaysWeek of February 4-10, 2015

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Volume 44 • Number 5

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By Emily MeierHarbor Light LitChat Editor

Google maps can’t pinpoint the two-track dirt driveway, in Northern Michigan’s Ant-

rim County, where Chad Pastotnik makes his home and living. Pastot-nik’s house, along with the two small buildings that make up Deep Wood Press, are nestled together in the woods along the Cedar River. It’s here that he has continued the centuries old tradition of making handmade books, bindings, and other printed art. It’s where this magical “alchemi-cal process—turning lead to gold—happens,” he says, a reverence in his voice for the process.

Pastotnik established Deep Wood Press in 1992, when he purchased the land and built his first small studio on the property. He was introduced to printmaking by a Grand Valley University professor, Dellas Henke. Pastotnik received a BFA in printmaking from the Uni-versity, and then went on to study letterpress at the University of Iowa before heading to Chicago to work as an apprentice in a book bindery.

Having grown up in Cadillac, he couldn’t wait to “hightail it out of there” after high school. However, while living in Chicago, the rivers and woods of his Michigan roots started to call to him. He found himself visiting friends more often in order to escape the city and spend time in the land of trout and hundred year old trees.

The Book Maker in the WoodsNorthern Michigan resident brings craftsman’s touch to words on paper

NortherN MichigaN

“The slick publications, eBooks, the inter-net--they are ugly. They lack beauty. And as we arrive at one end of the spectrum we tend to value the other end that much more. I think people are now becoming more aware of the tactile quality of their medium of information. There is nothing like a good book printed on high quality cotton paper with deep impressions.”

-Chad PastotnikDeep Wood Press

-CONTINUED on page 10.

Chad Pastotnik is an old-world artist in a modern society, elevating the beauty of books to a whole new level through his work at Deep Wood Press. Part of a growing literary movement in northern Michigan, Pastotnik is globally sought after for his craftsmanship.

(Harbor Light Newspaper photos/Charles O’Neill)

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School DiStrict

Two to be inducted into school sports Hall of Fame

By Kate BassettHarbor Light Newspaper

It’s safe to say that when Harbor Springs High School graduate

Sarah Ad-elaine puts her mind to something, she achieves it. Even her email “sig-nature” re-flects this attitude of p o s i t i v i t y (and hard work), end-ing with her favorite quote, “I be-

lieved that I could, and so I did.”One of the newest inductees into

the Harbor Springs Athletic Hall of Fame, Adelaine was a staple on the fields and basketball courts of the community throughout her child-hood. She continues to hold the school’s shot put and discus records, which have stood since 1999. She claimed the State Championship in Shot Put her senior year, and was the Discus State Runner-Up in 2000, as well.

After graduation, Sarah continued her athletic career at Michigan State University, where she held both the discus and hammer throw records from 2002-2009, and the weight throw record from 2002-2007. She was an NCAA Regional qualifier in the hammer throw, discus, and shot put during the 2003-2004 sea-son, and Big Ten All-Academic and Athlete of the Week honors followed throughout her time in college.

Playing at the Division I collegiate level taught Adelaine that she was stronger than she thought. It re-quired a big leap out of her comfort zone.

“Going to a large university was a very scary thing for me back when I

Sarah Adelaine

Editor’s Note: Each year, Harbor Springs High School celebrates indi-viduals who made a lasting, positive impact in athletics by selecting hon-orees to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. This year, Sarah Adelaine and William Shepler are being inducted to the Harbor Springs Athletic Hall of Fame during halftime of the boys’ varsity basketball game on Friday, February 13. This week, we are fea-turing Adelaine, who was a standout high school athlete that went on to have an impressive Division I col-legiate career.

Night Lights

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Last weekend, January 30-February 1, marked Boyne Highlands’ annual Homecoming weekend. An array of events took place including fireworks on Saturday night, as seen from across the valley over the Nubs Nob lodge. “Each year going forward, we’ll celebrate the people, the place, and the traditions that make Boyne Highlands special,” said Erin Ernst, Boyne director of communications. (Harbor Light photo/Mark Flemming)

Harbor Springs City Council met Monday, February 2, checking off an agenda of routine items and future projects.

City manager, Tom Richards, told Council bids will open for the Beach Driver water/sewer/street project will open on Friday, February 6. The bids are expected to be presented during the February 16 City Council meeting.

Council members approved Richards request to proceed with repairs to a deteriorating sewer line between Gardner and Spring Streets.

“The line is behind the Main Street buildings on the north side of the street,” Richards noted. “It will be repaired by installing a flexible lining that becomes a solid inner pipe inside of the old, deteriorated sewer lines.”

Richards also told Council that after considering the options, Ironwood Construction has agreed to assist the city with an engineer’s estimate on the construction costs for the Harbormaster’s building renovation and addition. He said he expects an estimate within the next few weeks.

-Kate Bassett

harbor SpriNgS

Council reviews upcoming city projects; approve Main Street sewer repairs

www.harborlightnews.com Week of February 4-10, 201510 Harbor Light Community Newsweekly

It was on one fateful fishing trip, while staying with a friend just a few miles from the place he now calls home, that he found this piece of property. “I’d been fishing this stream for years. And then, one day, I was out there fishing and saw the for sale sign. I packed up the waders and went straight to the realtor.”

Months before, Pastotnik had been in a serious car accident. The insurance money he received allowed him to cover the expenses on the land and begin to build a home, as well as a career with the creation of Deep Wood Press.

Pursuing a Creative LifePursuing a creative life is a leap of faith, Pastotnik agrees,

noting that many of his peers with whom he studied in school, are no longer making art. So what allowed him to take that leap and pursue a life in the arts?

He shrugs at the question, and responds while mo-tioning to the small buildings “low overhead.”

“This place was cheap back then and I was single. When you only need about $500 a month to live, you can scrape by, catching dinner,” he nods toward the river before heading inside the first of two buildings that make up his workspace.

There is soft music playing and a hint of cigarette smoke mixes in the air with the scent of fresh ink on handmade paper. The smell of books, both new and old, welcomes guests to this space. “Book mold can be an aphrodisiac,” he laughs as others in the room inhale and speak of their love of books.

This first building is made up of just two rooms. One room, known as the press room, houses several differ-ent types of presses. The Vandercook 219 Old Style is a hand fed cylinder press that measures over ten feet long and was made in 1927. Pastotnik uses this for most of his fine book work, especially when expensive paper is being used.

“When you’re working with paper that costs five dol-lars a sheet or more, you want to use a slower machine so you can see if all the characters are clear and inked properly,” he explains.

The “Little Giant”, an ATF Model 6 press is an au-tomated cylinder press that prints between 2500 and 5000 impressions an hour. It was made in 1942 in New Jersey and Pastotnik went to pick it up himself from Saint Theresa’s Press—a cloistered monastery in New Jersey.

“I think I was the first guy they’d seen, besides a maintenance man, since they originally signed up for life in the monastery,” he says recounting the trip to New Jersey.

Type cabinets along with other tools of the trade line the walls. On top of one of the type cabinets sits a small portable press, a Kelsey 5x8. Pastotnik uses this mainly to demonstrate the principles of letterpress when he is asked to give lectures or go into schools.

There are three other presses that round out the press room collection. There is the Chandler and Price 8x12 platen press that was made in 1909. And the smaller Chandler and Price Old Style pilot press that is “perfect for apprentices and students to learn on because of the hand lever print mecha-nism.” The Heidelberg Windmill press is another automatic press that reaches speeds similar to the “Little Giant” but will print heavier stock that is used for “CD packaging and beer coasters,” which Pastotnik has created for musician friends and small businesses over the years.

The second room in this building is the bindery. “Most of the work done in this room is hand work,” he says. Hand work includes cutting paper stock to size, sewing the folios of printed pages into books, gluing papers, gold leafing, paring and tooling leather, making slip cases for the books, and lots of measuring. This is also the room in which Pastotnik works on engraving his intaglio, linocuts, and wood engravings.

Examples of his various book projects sit on the bookshelves

on one side of the room while new projects, in various stages, are stacked on tables and counters. For anyone who really loves books, this room is hard to leave.

But another building awaits us on the tour. This second building is just a single small room that is the Linotype and Intaglio print room. The Intaglio press was made in 1963 in Florence Italy, inspired by a 16th century design. It is fitted with a brass rosette designed by Jean Rush. Only about six presses in history were fitted with these.

The model 31 Linotype casts a shadow in the room as it takes up quite a large amount of space. Made around 1965, it is one of the last to be made before production ended for these machines.

The Linotype composes slug lines of text, assembles ma-

trices, casts the slug, and then distributes the matrices back in the magazine. This was revolutionary in its time. “Not only are you not hand setting type but you also don’t have to hand distribute the type when you’re finished,” he explains. “It’s a huge time saver.” This particular Linotype came from Char-levoix where it was used for newspaper work back in the day.

Learning the Linotype “I got it for free but then, fifteen hundred dollars later got

it to actually work,” says Pastotnik. When asked how he knew how to work this more complicated machine he replies, “This one definitely had a big learning curve. But I’ve torn apart every piece of this now, so I know it. But for awhile it was pretty frustrating.”

In regard to his workload, acquiring the Linotype changed everything. “Before I got the Linotype I was hand setting ev-erything. So to increase my production from one book a year to more than one, I ultimately decided this would be the more efficient route.”

It is impressive to see these machines, not only for their historical value, but also as pieces still used to create such beautiful one of a kind art.

Each book takes about six months to a year depending on how long it is and the artwork that is involved. “The Heart of Darkness took a couple of years,” he says. Pastotnik created a breathtaking version of this classic Joseph Conrad book, which won him the Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book

Design in 2010. After winning this prestigious award, Pastotnik was invited to England to present workshops and lectures on fine book publishing. He was also asked to deliver a keynote address to the Letterpress Printers Guild in Manchester. Since then, he has been in demand as a speaker and lecturer on the subject of fine book publishing. When asked if he enjoys visiting universities and speaking engagements he replies, “I really do. Though I wouldn’t enjoy being in a classroom setting all the time. But I enjoy going in and talking to students and faculty and opening their eyes to this type of art.”

Focusing on books he lovesWinning the Hertzog also allowed him to move away from

the work for hire projects that were a necessity back when he was first starting Deep Wood Press. Wedding invitations, corporate identities, beer coasters, have fallen by the wayside as his focus is now mainly on the books he loves.

“It’s important to me that no part of the book mak-ing project is tainted, that all the parts are original,” he says. “The only thing we don’t do is make the paper or raise the goats. Everything else is done as it has been for centuries, though the equipment has improved since Guttenberg’s day.”

When asked about his favorite part of book making he refers to the craftsmanship of the printing and design work. If pressed to name the least favorite part of his craft, he says, “it would have to be the binding, only because if you are doing fifty to one hundred books that’s a lot of repetitive steps. They are all hand sewn.”

In a time when many bookstores are shuttering and more and more consumers are reading via electronic devices, there is a counterpoint happening. As pub-lishers cry that book publishing and libraries might soon merely be chapters in a history book, the masters programs in writing have blossomed and now populate most major colleges and universities across the country. This interest and growth is also seen in the letterpress and book arts. “When I got out of school there were probably two places to go,” Pastotnik says. “Now, there are about thirty programs across the country, graduate and undergraduate programs that offer degrees.”

What does he think of all these writing and book art degrees popping up at the same time that books are

declared to be dying by most major news sources? “The slick publications, eBooks, the internet--they are ugly.

They lack beauty. And as we arrive at one end of the spectrum we tend to value the other end that much more. I think people are now becoming more aware of the tactile quality of their medium of information. There is nothing like a good book printed on high quality cotton paper with deep impressions.”

Pastotnik however, is a realist and knows that his books have a very small purchasing audience. “Why would the average person buy a thousand dollar copy of Heart of Darkness when it can be found on a shelf for ninety cents somewhere?”

“A good percentage of my buyers are universities, private entities, art collectors, and museums,” he says. “It’s a small niche in the art world but a nice one.”

A lot of Pastotnik’s projects reflect the importance of the place in which he calls home. “With most of my book projects, I try and have a Michigan connection, whether it be the authors, the artist, or the subject matter.”

He has collaborated with Michigan writers and artists like Jerry Dennis and Glenn Wolff on several projects. “The Trout in Winter”, a poem by Dennis became their first collaboration, a limited-edition broadside illustrated with a copper engrav-ing by Wolff. Several other collaborations have grown out of this friendship that is rooted in a shared love of words, stories, books, art, and fishing. The first collaboration between Dennis, Wolff, and Pastotnik began while fishing together in the river. Many of their projects start and end there still.

Anyone who takes a Deep Wood Press book in their hands and turns the pages knows immediately why it’s important: because so many of the artifacts of our culture are mass-pro-duced, flimsy, cheap, gaudy, meant to be thrown away, forgot-ten; they’re digital and meaningless. Chad makes liter-ary art objects that you’ll cherish for life and pass on to your children.”

Jerry Dennis,Author

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Harbor Light Newspaper photos by Charles O’Neill. A gallery is linked to this article online at harborlightnews.com

-CONTINUED from page 1.

The Book Maker in the Woods

www.harborlightnews.comWeek of February 4-10, 2015 Harbor Light Community Newsweekly 11

“Chad and I are working on a new book, scheduled for spring of 2015, that celebrates the gorgeously illustrated trout stamps that used to be attached to Michigan fishing licenses,” says Dennis.

When asked why he feels this fine art book making and printing art form is so im-portant to keep alive, Dennis says, “I’ve been working on an essay about this. Anyone who takes a Deep Wood Press book in their hands and turns the pages knows immediately why it’s important: because so many of the artifacts of our culture are mass-produced, flimsy, cheap, gaudy, meant to be thrown away, forgotten; they’re digital and meaning-less. Chad makes literary art objects that you’ll cherish for life and pass on to your children.”

Today Pastotnik’s family life has grown alongside the adventure that is his business and art. His wife, Kathryn, and two children, Nadia and Jude, live with him in this humble and magical place.

The shadows on the trees outside the Deep Wood Press buildings shift, signaling the descent of the late afternoon sun. As the visit comes to an end, a final question is asked: Are you ever tempted to move to London, San Francisco, or one of the other cities where a book maker of your caliber would be given rock star treat-ment?

“I enjoy being recognized in those worlds and getting to visit for various occasions. But no. If anything, I may go even deeper into the woods, head to the U.P.” His family joins us. His son is dressed in a super hero costume and wields a toy hammer.

The adults are quiet. The small superhero takes off after his sister to play among the trees. The sounds of the river mingle with bird song. “I’m very happy with my life and my work,” Pastotnik says in lieu of a formal goodbye. He takes the time to walk his visitors back to their car and waits, as they bump along through the trees that line the weather-grooved dirt two-track. He then turns and heads back to work, disap-pearing through a door into the Deep Wood Press.

Side Note: Chad Pastotnik was chosen as the subject for an episode of A Craftsman’s Legacy, a television show air-ing on PBS. His episode is aptly titled “The Book Maker”. Check local listings to see when it can be viewed. A short video of Pastotnik’s work can also be viewed at www.mynorth.com (type “Deep Woods Press” into the website’s search bar).

All of Chad’s available books and prints can be purchased via his website: www.deep-woodpress.com

-CONTINUED

SportSRams BasketballHarbor Springs basketball wrapped up the first half of the season while celebrating their annual Coming Home activities that included a pair of Friday home matchups against the East Jordan Red Devils

Coming off a 52-39 win over Grayling earlier in the week the women’s varsity team took the floor anticipating what head coach Tom Brogger described as a “young and aggressive” Red Devils squad.

Harbor’s Shallon Grawey got the Rams scoring started and from there she and her team mates steadily built a game long lead. Despite a rash of turnovers in the last three minutes of the quar-ter by both teams the Rams finished the period up 17-8 which included the games first three pointer from junior Alexa Jensen-Philbrick.

The Red Devils were tagged for 10 first half fouls that the Rams were able to capitalize on as they continued to open the lead heading into the mid game break up 38-22.

East Jordan committed no fouls during the third quarter but with only two bench play-ers the fast pace of the game clearly became an advantage for the Rams. By the halfway point of the fourth period the Rams were in complete control with Libby Sylvain capping off Harbors night with a two point jumper that brought the score to it’s final 66-38.

“Our kids just came focused tonight,” said coach Brogger after the game. “I believe our composure, our focus, our worrying about only the things was can control really helped us play this game and finish them off in the end.”

Harbor scorers were led by Shallon Grawey with 16, Perry Bower 14, Harmony Lang 11, Libby Sylvain with 9, Alexa Jensen-Philbrick 8, Jessica Worm 4, Mikayla Dickinson with 3 and Sophie Seitz with 1.

As outstanding as the wom-en’s win had been the quick and high powered offense of the East Jordan mens team quickly got even defeating the Rams men’s squad 68-35.

From the outset the Red Devils managed to control the pace of the game jumping out to a 30-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. Losing both the turnover and rebounding battles made it impossible for the Rams to gain traction against such a powerhouse opponent.

“Those kids have spent a lot of time in the gym and it shows, said head coach Adam Wood following the game.

Starting the second half down by 25 the Rams frustra-tion was evident. It was one of those nights when the ball just seemed to continually bounce the other way. Work-ing from the perimeter for a good deal of the game the rim was not the Rams friend

as shot after shot just missed. “I just think we just saw a lot

of the same things we’ve been seeing all year.,” said Wood. “We‘ve been struggling taking care of the ball and shooting the ball. Hopefully we can start to shore those things up as we go but being a young team it takes a little time.”

Looking for the positives in the loss coach Wood pointed out improvements.

“We limited our turnovers comparatively to the last few games, I thought we rebound-ed a little bit better tonight and our kids really give a good effort but we’re really going to have to just shore up the fundamentals.”

Harbor’s Noah Erxleben was the Rams standout player of the game scoring 20 of the teams total 35 including three 3 pointer. Other Harbor scor-ers included Joe Claramunt with 5, Donny Molosky with 4 and Mitch Hoffman and Casey Cosens with 2 apiece.

The Rams junior varsity girls finished up the week with a 40-21 win over Grayling and a 45-43 road loss to East Jor-dan. Jv scorers in the Grayling win included Libby Garver 16, Caylin Bonser and Martha Johnston with 8 each, Olivia Huhn Tarvedd 5 and Casey Savard with 3. During the East Jordan game the jv Rams were led by a red hot Libby Garver with 29, Caylin Bonser with 6, Martha Johnton 5, Olivia Huhn Tarvedd 2, and Casey Savard with 1.-Submitted by Kevin Johnston

Rams varsity basketball hit’s the season halfway pointAt the beginning of the season it looked as though neither the Rams men’s or women’s basketball programs were off to set any records. Both teams struggled through the first six games recording just a single win each Since that point it been a tale of two cities. The men’s team has continued to struggle while the women’s team has finished the first half with six consecutive wins.

Looking forward its clear that the men’s team needs to make some improvements and head coach Adam Wood believes he knows where.

“For us its 100% fundamen-tals. Strategically there’s not a whole lot that we can change at this point in the year that will make a difference,” said coach Wood “We’ve got to spend more time in the gym. We’re going to put re-em-phasis on our fundamentals, work on our shooting and ball handling and hopefully that will help us improve.”

Women’s head coach Tom Brogger can hardly say that he isn’t happy with his teams turnaround.

“We’ll take 7 and 5,” Brogger said following his teams Com-ing Home win.

His positives headed in to the second half include “Our

team chemistry number one, our focus on our fundamen-tals, our attitude about not worrying about things you can’t control. These are all mental things, things that bring you together as a team. Tonight is the perfect ex-ample, we just did not worry about things and bottom line that’s what I’m taking into the second half.”

The Rams will start to see their conference rivals for the second time this season start-ing with Kalkaska after a non conference match-up with St. Ignace. While the men’s team may have a very long row to hoe if coach Brogger can keep his women’s team on the same winning path it could turn out to be a very good year for Harbor basketball.-Submitted by Kevin Johnston

Middle School Skiing

Tuesday, January 27 slalom race at Nubs Nob

Harbor Springs 6th grade boys finished in 2nd place with 36 points behind Peto-skey with 22 points. Robbie Gillette finished in 1st place overall, Liam Ransford was 4th, Luke Baker finished 5th and Grant Richardson didn’t finish his first run, but posted the fastest time on his second run by more than 2 seconds and placed 26th overall.

The 6th grade girls only had two competitors, so team requirements weren’t met to post a team score. Brianna Goldsmith placed 2nd overall and Haley Tippett finished 15th.

The 7th and 8th grade Boys finished in second place with 27 points behind Petoskey with 23 points. For the Harbor

Springs Rams it was Andrew Truman taking the 1st place overall honors. Dean Cam-eron was right on his heels finishing 2nd, Cole Hoffman was 4th and Harrison Luplow finished 20th. Fantastic in-dividual results for Andrew, Dean and Cole!

The 7th and 8th grade Girls also finished in second place with 22 points behind the Petoskey Northman with 20 points, this was close! Fran-nie Kelbel dominated the field and finished 1st overall. McKenzie Gillette was 3rd, Marley Shepherd finished 8th and Evie Garver was in 10th.

The next race is Tuesday February 3rd at Nubs Nob and will be a giant slalom format.

For complete results, click here: http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=143638&u=60

-Submitted by Tom Traut-man

A Harbor Springs and a Petoskey skier watch teamates compete in the middle school slalom race at Nubs Nob on Tuesday, January 27. (Photo courtesy Tom Trautman)

Above: Shay Fuhrman competes in the boys giant slalom event during a high school ski meet at Nubs Nob on Thursday, January 29. (Harbor Light photo/Charles O’Neill) Below: Harbor Springs’ Shallon Grawey (21) bounces the ball out toward team mate Harmony Lang ((left) under the outstretched arm of Kendall McNitt (14) during the Rams Coming Home win. (Photo courtesy Kevin Johnston)