Mask Book
closes with
a poem that begins:
“We wear the mask that
grins and lies, it hides
our cheeks and shades
our eyes.”
where achieving an academic
degree was expected; his
mother and father earned doc-
toral degrees in accounting and
chemistry, respectively.
Kennedy went into com-
puter programming. Then, in
1989, he visited Colonial W il-
liamsburg with his two sons.
While there, he saw a printing
press demonstration. Within
three months of the trip, he
was printing his own work.
A year later, he left the job he
had had for 18 years.
“I found this, and this is
what I’m supposed to do. I fell
in love with the stuff. I was
completely blown away by it.”
Kennedy enrolled at the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin-Madison
to study under Walter Hamady,
a legendary book designer and
papermaker, and earned an
M FA in 1997. He later taught
graphic design at the Henry
Radford Hope School of Fine
Arts at Indiana University,
before heading back home to
the Deep South and dedicating
himself to printing full time.
Laura Zinger learned about
Kennedy’s work while she was
Left: The
3 X2.25 in.
Riddle Book
unfolds
into a
puzzling
gem.
066 american craft dec/jani2
