I’m a native Californian who migrated to Vermont in the 1970s, with a stop in Washington D.C. for two years.

The best that can be said about my career path is that it has been checkered. With degrees in Education, American Studies, and English Literature in the 1970s, I aimed to be a teacher, but a glut of teachers meant only stepping in as a substitute. To make more money, I became a freelance editor for environmental organizations and learned how to design and paste up a publication for printing. I fell into book packaging in the 1980s and acted as a liaison between publishing houses and writers, researchers, editors, designers, and sometimes printers. This book packaging arrangement blended the roles of agent, editor, designer, and publisher.

In 2004, a long-time friend, Linda Mirabile, and I created RavenMark. For the next 14 years, we worked together with non-profit organizations (mostly) producing print and digital communications. It was a good partnership filled with creativity, good food, and a lot of laughter. In 2018, Linda and I decided it was time to pursue different paths.

So I’ve picked up where I left off and hoped, like the migrating geese I watch every spring and fall, for “the chance of finding a hole in the lake” on which to land. I have returned to book editing and design (and some writing). I recently collaborated with the Virginia artist Suzanne Stryk on a book of her essays and art. The Middle of Somewhere was published this year by Trinity University Press.

Working with Branta Studio

“I’m indebted to Rebecca Davison for her helpful rearrangement and consolidation of phases, paragraphs, and sentences, thereby greatly improving the flow of the narrative, as well as for her incisive editorial work. Her ability to bring together all of the contributing elements, including the designer, Maureen Burgess, illustrator Eddy Epstein, and cartographer, Armond Poulin, made the book possible.”

—John Williams, former Editor of State Papers, Vermont
and author of The Battle of Hubbardton

“Rebecca of Branta Studio is a joy to work with. To her work, she brings both a meticulous attention to detail and a finely-honed appreciation of nuance. As a skilled craftsperson, she uses her tools with discretion, and in the service of the project she is working on.”

— Nigel French, Graphic Designer & Photographer

“Thank you, Rebecca, you really get it. On our book project, you entered into my art imaginatively in a way I could only hope for. And for that reason and many others, it’s so perfect that you’ve been part of The Middle of Somewhere journey. When our paths crossed as I was writing this book, we became fellow travelers on the road of words and ideas, typefaces, and mapping where images might be placed on a page.”

— Suzanne Stryk, Artist & Author

The Dogs

I really don’t function well without being near a dog. I need something other than human company. Some being that will help me see the world from a different point of view.