David Bernstein’s Walker’s Vein explores the upper Ohio River Valley that has a long history of people making things from its dirt. With a low iron content and great plasticity, the clay of the region has been mined and fired to make everything from bricks to colorful fiestaware. At the beginning of the twentieth century, so much pottery came out of the region that it was touted as the “pottery capital of the world.”

In the design process we conceived of little stories to add to the dialogue central in David’s work that examines our relationship to pastoral and industrial landscapes. An underlying thread in the photographs is the influence of geology and cartography on our ability to shape the landscape. These threads run through the book starting with the cover and endpaper and continuing through photos of excavated clay mines and foldouts that uncover maps of Walker’s mines and technical drawings of their kilns.

Workshop Arts
88pp, 8 x 13 in.
Artist:  David Bernstein
Design Direction: Caleb Cain Marcus