Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Howard Munson, Casa de Las Ranas (The House of The Frogs), La Cieneguita, San Miguel, Mexico, nd


This beautifully crafted artist book by this San Francisco based bookmaker is illustrated with finely detailed photographs of the Casa de Las Ranas or The House of The Frogs, and its environs. This incredible artist environment in the countryide outside San Miguel, Mexico has been in the making ever since two American artists, Anado McLauchlin (1947-2021) and Richard Schultz acquired the property in 2011.

I recently visited this wonderful place and with a group of collaborators we created a new mosaic mural in the garden. I found Anado to be the most perfect and generous host, and upon hearing about my interest in accordion books gave me this beautiful book by Howard Munson. You can learn more about Anado's life & work here: Made by Anado – Official Site for Artist Anado McLauchlin

Height 7.25" x width 8", 40 pages, single sided, when open 28ft wide. I'm assuming this is a unique edition, although I did come upon another version in the house, but it had the feel of a test copy and was not as polished as this one. Possible date is 2017, as Munson travels to San Miguel seemingly quite often.