Art of the Book Exhibit at Special Collections May 13, 2008
Posted by Deborah in : Exhibits , trackbackSpecial Collections is making use of its small but prime exhibit space by exhibiting a group of books from our collection that represent the Art of the Book. The exhibit includes artists’ books, art press books, and pop-up books. It would be a pleasure to be able to provide a definitive definition of what constitutes an artists’ book, but it seems that even the experts don’t agree. If you are interested in an online discussion on the topic, the Book Arts Web has a lively debate taken from their listserv.
Special Collections takes a fairly conservative view that an artist book is a book made by an artist (or possibly just an artistic person) and follows many of the conventions of book publishing. These conventions include paper crafts such as paper-making, paper arts, cutting, folding, and marbling; binding techniques; typography; and various printing techniques. While the edition is often quite limited in number, it must be in an edition of more than one copy. Otherwise, the book could be described as a work of art that resembles a book. We have included pop-up books in our exhibit because they employ a level of paper craft that is very much a part of the artists’ book tradition. We have also included art press books. The difference between an artists’ book and an art press book may be very hard to discern. An art press book may also use unusual paper crafting, bookbinding techniques, and typography. They may also be in fairly limited editions. The difference is that the art of the artists’ book is from the artist, where the art of the art press book is from the printer or publisher.
There are many opportunities for internships, residencies, grants, etc. through various programs and many of these programs also sell artists’ books on their site. One such site, the Women’s Studio Workshop, offers classes and also rents studio space as well. There are numerous other opportunities, as well.
If you cannot come to Special Collections to see our exhibit, we brought a bit of it to you. Our online exhibit includes a list of books with images of the covers and some of the insides as well to be added in the next few days.
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