Richard Wagener

American, b. 1944
Richard Wagener is an American wood engraver known for his prints and fine press books. Wagener grew up in southern California spending a lot of time in remote parts of the high desert and in the Sierra. Early art classes introduced him to Maynard Dixon and Edgar Payne. After school activities included selling the evening newspapers at the Disney studios where he met many of the illustrators and animators. Richard has an undergraduate degree from the University of San Diego and a graduate degree from ArtCenter College of Design. He has been engraving wood for over forty years and his work has been in a number of fine press editions, most notably with Peter Koch in Berkeley and the Book Club of California. In 2006 Richard established his own imprint Mixolydian Editions to publish his own fine press editions of his work. He has collaborated with David Pascoe of Nawakum Press, Santa Rosa, California, co-publishing three fine press books, one of which, Loom, earned them the 2016 Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design.