Eden

A limited edition book of 90 collages containing images of flowers and plants, diary entries, drawings, and photographs that chart the course of a summer in the artist’s life. Coggins finds beauty and solace in the Edenesque gardens and woods of the longtime family country home. A complement to The Nostalgic Heart, his award-winning travel book about cities, Eden is about connection to place and nature, the camaraderie of family and friends, and the solitude of the studio. “A slim book of summer days, Eden is a collection of visual poems by Minneapolis artist David Coggins, whose subject is nature seen through a sultry haze of sentiment and sensibility. Each page reproduces a collage of dried things — leaves, blossoms, grasses — artfully arranged with bits of Oriental paper, antique engravings, postcards, photos and other ephemera. Haiku-like notes (apparently recorded on an old typewriter bereft of capital letters) recall date, place, mood. It’s a sweet book.” Mary Abbe, Minneapolis Star Tribune. Available through www.cobaltpress.com or at independent bookstores and museum shops in Minneapolis/St. Paul; also in New York at Three Lives Booksellers, in L.A. at Hennessey + Ingalls, and at Elliot Bay Books in Seattle.