Art and Design of Kayak

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Cover Images for Kayak Magazine

In addition to selecting and aranging the poetry for the magazine, George Hitchcock also designed each issue himself, using images from books of 19th century engravings to decorate the magazine with art. This found art method gives the magazine a distinctive visual style and adds an additional element to its appeal to readers. As one flips through an issue, one's eyes are drawn to the often strange and unusual images adorning its pages. Since they are taken away from thier original context and paired with surrealist poetry instead, the images often take on a sort of surreal touch of their own. There is often a very subtle sense of humor or irony guiding the placcement of the images, which adds additional depth to the magazine and helps it feel like a complete unit; for example, the art from issue two is "dedicated to America's underground channels & seams," which takes on an interesting double when it appears in an underground poetry magazine. In addition, using found images as opposed to featuring contemporary artwork also helps keep the main focus on the poetry and the ideas presented.

The following images are all selected from within the pages of the magazine. Also featured are some of the most interesting cover designs (above), and some pages from the magazine to show how the images were  paired with the text.

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Pages from Kayak Magazine, featuring poetry by George Hitchcock (left) and Vern Rutsala (right)

Art and Design of Kayak