Keynote Speaker
Sue Gosin

President of Dieu Donné Press
and Co-chair of Dieu Donne Papermill, NYC
Thursday, January 4, 2017, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Levitt Theater Auditorium / The Gershman Y, 401 South Broad Street

Susan Gosin received her MFA in 1976 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison after studying with Walter Hamady in the book arts and Warrington Colescott in intaglio. Upon completion of her master's, she co-foundedDieu Donné Press and Paper in New York City. For more than 30 years, she has collaborated with artists and writers as designer and publisher of two and three-dimensional art as well as limited editions of artist books. Her artist books have been exhibited and collected by such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.; the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; and the American Cultural Center, Tel Aviv, Israel. She has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tiffany Foundation, and in 2006 received the Printmaker Emeritus Award from the Southern Graphics Council. As a teacher and educator, she has developed curriculum and designed studio programs for the New School, NYC, Rutgers University, N.J. and Amagansett Applied Arts, LI, NY; the Phumani Archival Mill, Johannesburg, South Africa; and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt. She has written numerous articles about the development of contemporary hand papermaking for magazines such as Art On Paper and pens a column for Hand Papermaking Magazine about the pioneers in the field. Currently, she publishes new work as president of Dieu Donné Press and serves as co-chair of Dieu Donné Papermill in New York City. Gosin will discuss her collaborations with artists and present actual works for handling and viewing. 


Invited Speaker
Sarah Suzuki

Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, MOMA
Friday, January 5, 2017, 9:15 am – 10:15 am
Levitt Theater Auditorium / 401 South Broad Street (at the corner of Broad & Pine Streets)

Sarah Suzuki is Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Museum of Modern Art. At MoMA, Ms. Suzuki’s exhibitions include Soldier, Spectre, Shaman: The Figure and the Second World War (2015-16); Scenes for a New Heritage: Contemporary Art from the Collection (2015-16); Jean Dubuffet: Soul of the Underground (2014-15); The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters (2014-15); Wait, Later This Will All Be Nothing: Editions by Dieter Roth (2013); Printin’ (2011) with the artist Ellen Gallagher; ‘Ideas Not Theories’: Artists and The Club, 1942-1962 (2010) and Rock Paper Scissors (2010) with Jodi Hauptman; Mind & Matter: Alternative Abstractions, 1940 to Now (2010); and Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities (2008), as well as solo exhibitions of Meiro Koizumi (2013); Yin Xiuzhen (2010); Song Dong (2009); and Gert and Uwe Tobias (2008). Among her publications is 2012’s What is a Print?; she has also contributed to numerous books, catalogues, and journals. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia University, she has lectured widely and taught numerous courses on the subject of modern and contemporary art.



Collecting Artists' Books: Perspectives from Curators and Librarians

Friday, January 5, 2017, 10:15 am – 11:15 am
Levitt Theater Auditorium / 401 South Broad Street (at the corner of Broad & Pine Streets)

This panel will address topics related to institutional collecting with the goal of articulating our strategies and providing insight for the benefit of artists and educators in the field.

  • Developing critical insights into all elements of contemporary books (How do we distinguish, define, identify, discriminate?)
  • Developing a flexible collecting policy
  • Identifying and expanding one's constituents and areas of research/teaching opportunity
  • The relationship of individual library collections and communities: finding collaborative strategies
  • Museum collections and academic library collections: how they differ and why
  • Access to collections for artistic practice

Richard Zauft, Moderator

Professor Richard Zauft is the Dean of Lesley College Art + Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is one of the founding members, and former President, of the College Book Art Association. He previously served as the Dean of Graduate Studies, the Executive Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Associate Vice President at Emerson College, Boston.

Mark Dimunation is the Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress, and is one of the principals in the Library’s effort to collect and document contemporary book arts and printmaking.

Ruth Rogers is Curator of Special Collections at Wellesley College, where she is responsible for oversight and acquisitions of rare books and contemporary artists' books. In her teaching, lectures, and exhibitions she specializes in the evolution of the book as material culture, visual communication and artistic form. Her primary focus in the field is the critical reading of artists' books and their research use in the academic curriculum--along with articulating standards and creative approaches for institutional collecting.

Tony White is the Florence and Herbert Irving Associate Chief Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He is a founding board member of the College Book Art Association, and a founder (2007) and co-organizer of the annual Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference in NYC. In 2018 he will teach ‘The History of Artists’ Books since 1950’ at UVA’s Rare Book School. 

Jessica Holada is Director of Special Collections and Archives at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where the undergraduate-focused program supports hands-on teaching and learning. She curates exhibits and is actively building collections that reflect the graphic arts and the university’s polytechnic emphasis. Previously, she was the Poster Librarian at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library, and has worked at a number of Los Angeles-based institutions with artists’ book and book arts collections, including the Getty Research Institute. 


Panel Session A // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 11:30-1:00pm

Apres the Avant: Manifestos & Potentialities
Moderator: Aaron Cohick

Manifesto, n.
Public declaration by sovereign, state, or body of individuals, making known
past actions and motives of actions announced as forthcoming.
 
The manifesto form is most commonly associated with radical politics and the explosive modernist art movements of the early 20th century. The confrontational rhetoric of those manifestos is central to the construction of those movements as an avant-garde, as the “shock troops” of a new way of making art and being in the world. Many contemporary artists are critical of such aggressive and imperialistic posturing, and in today’s political climate this critical stance to fascism is essential. Yet: the manifesto retains its power.
 
As a succinct statement of purpose, intention, and action, the manifesto is invigorating to read and clarifying to write. As a form, the manifesto is itself both question and answer, call and response. How does the contemporary artist manifesto seek generative and inclusive action at every level of its structure, from choice of typeface, to method of (re)production, to network of distribution? Is it possible to craft a contemporary manifesto that doesn’t seek to mobilize and arm an “avant-guard,” but rather begins to gather and create an “avant-community?”
 
This panel comprises presentations on three present-day manifesto publishing projects. Generative, collaborative, layered, multiple in voice and authorship, these contemporary manifestos seek a common purpose for both singular as well as collective action, and provide alternatives to the monolithic manifesto of the past.

Aaron Cohick
What is the use of a manifesto? How can a manifesto be generative and inclusive, rather than militaristic and proscriptive? This presentation will examine an ongoing manifesto project that is constantly rewriting itself in multiple iterations and sub-iterations, each version building on, breaking open, and consuming the last.

H.R. Buechler
How do we think and produce critically, with intention, while honoring content and a cultural urgency to disseminate? This presentation will discuss a collaborative manifesto project utilizing the democratic platform of the independent press to engage in a cross-disciplinary conversation--generating a new manifesto for production in the 21st Century.

Emily Larned
By making something manifest, we make it prominent--so we are more likely to act on it. This presentation discusses a call-and-response manifesto project, in which manifesto manuscripts are openly solicited, designed, printed, (re)produced, and distributed. How can manifestos cultivate clarity of purpose, community of spirit, and vigor in action?


Turning Over an Old Leaf: Palm Leaf Books
Moderator: Betsy Davids

For centuries, in many areas of South and Southeast Asia, palm leaf was more widely used than paper as a material for book pages. Such books were palm leaf manuscripts, handmade single copies, usually engraved with a stylus on prepared leaves. Today, palm leaf manuscripts from past centuries survive in collections with widely variable conservation resources, in libraries, museums, monasteries, and village community centers in Asia, and also around the world. Meanwhile, the survival of the crafts by which palm leaf books were made is now primarily in the hands of present-day artists who have inherited and sustained or revived the tradition but must find ways to work in a radically transforming economy. This book art heritage, in short, is marginal and vulnerable but still alive and worthy of thoughtful attention.
 
The three presenters have each engaged with the past, present, and future of palm leaf arts through visits to palm leaf artists and collections in Bali, India, and Sri Lanka. Through the lens of their own experience, they will introduce this work and share their experience of the hands-on making process. Related stewardship issues will be raised: perspectives on collecting and on accessibility of collections, various initiatives to help preserve the heritage, tactics for transmitting a vibrant making practice to the next generation, and ways of integrating non-paper books into curriculum.

Betsy Davids 
Fresh from a 2017 research visit to Sri Lanka, the presenter will discuss and show its distinctive palm leaf manuscript tradition, focusing especially on the making process, which differs from Indian and Balinese practices in materials, tools, techniques, context, and prospects for a viable future.

Mary Austin
Although writing palm leaf manuscripts in Bali has traditionally been the domain of priests, these masterworks are not only being preserved but also finding new life. The role of classes, social efforts, digitization, and collecting will be examined in terms of passing on this knowledge to the next generation.

Jan Baker
Using travel notebooks as guide and inspiration, the presenter will discuss a month-long experience in Raghurajpur, Orissa, India, and show the hands-on process of making palm leaf books and Patta Chitra paintings there, emphasizing the importance of viewing actual examples of alternative and historical materials for Book Arts curriculum.


Panel Session A // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 11:30-1:00pm

Past as Present 
Guest Moderator

Katherine Ruffin // Franklin’s 13 Virtues: A New Manifesto for the Book Arts
Benjamin Franklin created a system for self-improvement in 1726, when he was 20 years old, which included focusing on 13 virtues such as order, frugality, industry, and moderation. This presentation will explore some pragmatic applications of Franklin’s virtues in the 21st century studio and classroom.

Thomas Leech // Doctor Franklin & Spain
The idea of publishing anything new about Benjamin Franklin was both a golden opportunity and a frightening challenge. One could do worse than spending time in the company of the fascinating Doctor Franklin, but is there really anything more to say about someone who has been so thoroughly studied? Yes!

Becky Beamer // Utilizing Artifact Collection As Inspiration for Book Arts
The installation titled “Namibian Craft: the Unknown & the Outsiders” reflects many narratives within the combined physical collection of artifacts, field research, and a sculptural book series. Each artifact and book work celebrate the practice of oral history and storytelling over the cultural expectations of an object.


Panel Session A // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 11:30-1:00pm

Embodied Forms
Guest Moderator

Inge Bruggeman // Active Reading: Artist Books and Embodiment
This talk explores the experience of reading the physical book and the idea of the book as a conduit for understanding deeper meaning. Through a variety of historical, cultural, and contemporary works, it will illustrate how we embody a work’s content more profoundly when engaged actively in its physical attributes.

Charles Loverme // Augmented Reality, A New Paradigm in Book Arts
We are on the threshold of a brand new genre and I call it Augmented Reality Book Arts. Augmented Book Arts can transform the fabric of contemporary book making by combining the virtual with the real world to engage, participate, and be present in the environment together.



Panel Session B // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 2:00-3:30pm

Draft 2: Towards a New Ideology of (Print) Production
Moderator: H.R. Buechler

Documents of movement, critique, vision, and clarity—the manifesto exists as vehicle for the new and reshaping of past theories and ideologies. It is a textual platform where the conventions of the status quo can be called into question. It is where ideas—murmurings of the manic mind—are produced so that action might be manifested. The independent press is not so dissimilar from the manifesto: a space where ideas are produced, their actions manifested for dissemination. What if the press, the means of production itself, is called into question?
 
Traditionally written as a declarative document by an individual or collectively with like-minded individuals, the manifesto is not necessarily generated in open dialogue with voices situated outside of its assumed intended audience. The independent press is uniquely situated at the intersection of
multiple fields, and inherently democratic. Recognizing engagement across disciplines as a vital action for generating relevant discourse, this roundtable, the second in an iterative series, subjects the crafting of a manifesto for (print) production in the 21st Century to a multi/trans/inter-disciplinary conversation in order to strengthen its ideologies. This method of authorship acknowledges the inherent strengths of field specializations while capitalizing on the even greater strengths in their points of intersection and contention.
 
How do we define (print) production now? What are the materials—the language—of production? How do we, as cultural producers, think and produce critically, with intention, while honoring content and a
cultural urgency to disseminate?


H.R. Buechler
Calling into question the motivations behind established fine press conventions, while begging for greater consideration of content in relationship to means of production, this presentation introduces, and opens the door again for revisions, the first drafts of a collaborative manifesto project launched in late 2016 as a Xeroxed mailer.

Anne Royston
Mierle Laderman Ukeles’s Manifesto for Maintenance Art distinguishes two systems: “development,” stressing “pure individual creation; the new; change; progress,” and “maintenance,” which preserves development. Maintenance is “a drag; it takes all the fucking time.” This presentation asks: what is the relationship of maintenance, repetitive and trivialized labor, to the manifesto?

April Sheridan
Since Marinetti’s Manifesto of Futurism (1909) was published, almost no other artistic manifesto has been accepted in a widely circulated newspaper or platform until D. Scot Miller’s Afrosurreal Manifesto (2009). As manifestos remain as powerful framing devices for new creative ideas, what role does distribution play in their efficacy?



Panel Session B // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 2:00-3:30pm

“[Under]Pressure”: A Student Press’ Adventures in Printing Blake
Moderator: Gregory Robl

In 2016 an English Department professor initiated a collaboration with the university library’s special collections department, the university’s art museum, and a local non-profit book arts organization. Her concept for the course that focused on the history of media theory included three projects: an online exhibit with a partner academic institution; a physical exhibit at the home institution’s art museum; and a letterpress printed, hand-bound, cased-in collected edition of William Blake’s poems. The didactic intent for the third project was for the students to immerse themselves in historical printing and binding technologies that existed during Blake’s era.


In planning the project, the collaborators established logistics for its completion and selected and prepared the materials. Throughout the semester, the librarians incorporated presentations of historical books and lectures to the students about book design, typography, and printing so that they would be able to successfully set type, print the folios, and bind and case-in their edition This panel examines our semester-long collaboration on the book project: hands-on exploration and curation of historical print technologies; planning and design of the letterpress printing project; and printing and binding the Blake edition. The panel also explores how the collaborating English professor considered the history of media in conceptualizing this project in order to teach the students how to create their own artifact and thereby understand the book in its historical context. For example, how its design evolved based on written language, culture, technical innovations, and economical necessity.


Dr. Susan Guinn-Chipman
Hands-on Print History // Four centuries of print, from Aldine to Blake, set the stage for collaborative, semester-long undergraduate adventures in letterpress and fine art print technologies. This paper highlights students’ hands-on exploration of historically significant print and their curation of both gallery and online exhibits of key works.

Gregory Robl
The Technical Details // This paper discusses the logistics for the students printing, binding, and casing-in their edition. There were two in-class lectures about typography, layout, font and typeface aesthetics, and book design. The students spent five days in small groups setting type and printing the folios at the non-profit’s studio.

Julia Seko
A non-profit studio and university collaboration // This paper discusses the history and the role of the local non-profit in collaborating with the university faculty member and the library’s special collections department for the project. Since this university does not have a letterpress studio, the local non-profit’s participation was imperative.



Panel Session B // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 2:00-3:30pm

Collection as Muse
Guest Moderator

Molly Dotson // Considering the Collective Relevance of Library Book Arts Instruction
This presentation considers the collective relevance of a library instruction program that focuses on the book arts. In this program, the book arts occupy and activate multiple physical and virtual spaces for teaching and learning. Both the individual book art object and the book arts collection become powerful teaching tools.

Jodi Hoover // Private Collection, Open Minds: Opportunties for Collaboration
A collector’s willingness to provide access to their private collection has developed into collaborations that have had meaningful effect on the local arts scene.  My talk will focus on how these relationships have developed and opportunities for engagement between private collectors and local organizations.

Andrea Kohashi // Blurring the line Between Book Artist and Librarian: Special Collections Instruction as Artistic Practice
The process of bringing an object of Book Art into the world is akin to the process of instructing with artists’ books, special collections, and archival materials. The shared perspective of an artist and librarian assists in building meaningful relationships between patrons and special collections materials, including artists’ books.



Panel Session B // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 2:00-3:30pm

Expanding Access
Guest Moderator

Betty Bright // A Contained Narrative of Unconstrained Voice: Craftivism, Amos Paul Kennedy, and a Future for the Book Arts
Kennedy’s residencies renew the broadside as a 21st century performative tool. In Minneapolis, thousands of prints transformed the Open Book building into a “contained narrative.” Such actions spark questions about private expression vs. collective voice, how marginalized voices may claim mainstream narrative, and the limits and possibilities of collaborative craftivism.

Maria Pisano // Sharing the Process: Designing, Printing and Editioning an Artist Book
Sharing the hidden trajectory of Viva Voce, an editioned book project as it unfolds to illustrate its unique aspects and challenges. The artist embarks on a journey to achieve the required results, and on the way learning one’s limitations and successes.

Jerushia Graham // Paper Muse: The Dard Hunter Collection as Creative Inspiration
As an outpost of the arts on a campus known for engineering and scientific research, the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking embodies the issues Book Arts face to establish relevance for a larger community. Attendees can learn from 78 years of educating and engaging thru its Dard Hunter Collection.



Panel Session C // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 11:00-12:30pm

Social Implications of Book Arts: Building a Creative Community
Moderator: Kerry McAleer-Keeler

How can makers and institutions further the cause of preservation equally in private and public collections and with diverse acquisition voices? How does one sustain the longevity of their collection? In what manner does book arts serve in engaging local academic communities and the public-at-large to its artifacts?
 
Under the current social and political climate, how can the creation of artists’ books and the building of book arts collections bridge division, create dialogue, and perhaps be a catalyst for collective change?
 
Roundtable participants will address the question above while exploring topics from maker, academic classroom, university library and community perspectives.
 
In this time of uncertainty, it could be argued that the book arts---with its historical context of the democratic multiple--more than other art medium has the creative power to induce discussion, shift thought, and lift spirits---thus being an incubator for social change through the cooperative learning process.
 
Presenters will explore how artists’ books can document, inform and transform ways of seeing through the making process, in the academic classroom, through library special collections, and in the community setting at large. The discussion will focus on why artists’ books are time markers for current and historical perspectives---the new artifact for future discovery informing generations to come.

Kerry McAleer-Keeler
Book art expresses a commonality of human experiences. Many artists’ seek to address universal issues confronted by all: such as origin, culture, values and social change. Students stretch as artists’ through first hand examination of book arts material---this real time exploration is imperative to the classroom experience.

Camden M. Richards
Camden will address how teaching outside the establishment, utilizing established organizations as a platform for community organizing and collaborative book making in between helps to bridge division, build connections, forge dialogue and thus catalyze change within the book arts community and beyond.

Shira Loev Eller
Library collections reflect and communicate the values of institutions. An artists’ books collection not only features educational forms and techniques, but highlights works which answer the call to social action. I will discuss how I employ artists book collecting, library instruction, and exhibitions to create a dialogue around social justice.

Lauren Cardenas
Small Press Expos are forums for publishers to engage in dialogue. As a small press publisher, I’m interested in communication with a broader community. I will discuss how this engagement functions as an impetus for social change with a focus on the resurgence of zine culture and small press.



Panel Session C // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 11:00-12:30pm

Sharing Traditions and Expanding Methods in Mokuhanga
Moderator: Sarah Hulsey

This roundtable will discuss the Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory (MI-LAB), a unique program based in Japan for the training of international printmakers and educators in Japanese water-based woodblock printmaking (mokuhanga). Through rigorous instruction in traditional techniques and materials, along with an openness to contemporary and conceptual subject matter, this program has been extremely successful at cultivating a world-wide interest in this art form and helping ensure its integration into contemporary printmaking. For over twenty years, MI-LAB and its predecessor program at Nagasawa Art Park (NAP) have built up a world-wide community of printmakers and book artists with knowledge of mokuhanga, both ensuring the continuity of this traditional art form and helping endow it with new, contemporary relevance. There is now a growing network of international artists connected through the these programs, as well as through the International Mokuhanga Conference (first held in 2011), through classes and workshops in the medium taught both inside and outside of Japan, and through an expanding community on social media. These newly developed professional opportunities have become platforms for fostering continued dialogue and new discussions regarding this ancient printing process. Artists now regularly combine mokuhanga with western techniques such as etching and letterpress, as well as with contemporary processes such as laser cutting, dramatically expanding and extending the possibilities of the medium. The roundtable participants will discuss their own experiences with the MI-LAB/NAP programs, including how they have integrated mokuhanga into their art practices and teaching.

Katie Baldwin learned carving and printing specific to mokuhanga as an artist at NAP on Awaji Island, Japan (2004). These techniques have inspired her teaching and studio work for over thirteen years. She will discuss how her spontaneous drawing practice translates to an image laboriously carved and printed from wood.

Yoonmi Nam was an artist resident at NAP (2004) and then at MI-LAB (2012). Since 2006, she has taught mokuhanga at universities and in workshops. She will discuss her changing role from a student to a teacher of mokuhanga, as well as expanding methods using laser technology in carving.

Sarah Hulsey was introduced to mokuhanga by two alumni from NAP. She explored this media in her work over the next several years before becoming an artist resident at MI-LAB in 2017. She will discuss the importance of the mokuhanga community in her exposure to and training in the medium.




Panel Session C // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 11:00-12:30pm

Interdisciplinarity and Assessment
Guest Moderator

Martha Carothers // Science of Fish Tales in Visual Books
An abridged presentation explaining the interdisciplinary structure of a combined art/design, marine science, and psychology course. As an undergraduate experience in three-student teams, visual examples demonstrate scientific evidence synthesis and process from published marine science research findings to image-based books to data collection during story hours with young children.

Dawn McCusker // Breaking Boundaries: Book Arts and The Creative Campus
Interdisciplinary. Cross-disciplinary. Transdisciplinary. Buzz words or the future of higher education? Book arts at James Madison University is attempting to break boundaries by sharing craft-based learning through a cross-disciplinary Book Arts minor. We believe that Book Arts should not be sequestered in an art school but as a contributor to the development of a creative campus.

Rebecca Chamlee // Speed Dating with Artists' Books
How to devise assessment tools to measure engagement and the impact of exposure to Artists’ Books and Special collections on students and the successful completion of their own artists’ book editions.


 

Panel Session C // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 11:00-12:30pm

Collaboration and Transformation
Guest Moderator

Marianne Dages // The Artist’s Book as Third Mind
"The Third Mind" is a manifesto on cut-up writing by Gysin and Burroughs, defined as the “invisible, intangible force” in collaboration. Artists’ books are an innate collaboration between text and image, and therefore activate their own “third mind.” A look at past, contemporary, and future applications for this experimental practice.

Barbara Tetenbaum // The Slow Read; A Summer-long Public Simulcast of Willa Cather's 'My Antonia', Created in Honor of its Centenary Publication
I am currently organizing a project "The Slow Read; A Summer-long Public Simulcast of Willa Cather's 'My Antonia', Created in Honor of its Centenary Publication." My presentation will illustrate how one idea can evolve from artist book, to installation, to a large-scale public art project with community involvement.

Michele Burgess // The Stewardship of History: Reconfiguring the Markings of Time
“The Stratigraphic Archives” is a series of eleven linked artists' books, all concerned with the archives of both quiet and cataclysmic events--natural and human made. The artist, working in collaboration with poets, has interwoven remnants of human and natural history, questioning the honesty and inclusivity of our institutionalized "record keeping."



Panel Session D // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 3:15-4:45pm

Half the Field: Writing & the Artists' Book
Moderator: Levi Sherman

Facilitated by writers who are book artists, this group discussion will explore how book art can benefit from adopting methods from the creative writing field, especially in terms of pedagogy. Together, we hope to identify ways to improve institutions and systems that unwittingly de-emphasize writing within book arts. We will ask how classes, workshops, galleries, and exhibitions can better support text-driven artists’ books. In turn, we will trace the resulting virtuous cycle from writing to every corner of the book art world.
What should the art critique learn from the writers’ workshop? What should exhibition submissions borrow from writing submissions? What can writers teach book artists about revisions? Why don’t more writers make, or even read, artists’ books? We hope to chart a course towards better, more diverse books with a wider audience and a more supportive institutional structure.

Levi Sherman 
This presentation will outline the scope and consequences of the problems for which the other discussants will pose solutions. How do structures like critique, exhibition submissions, and online documentation deprioritize writing in artists’ books? How does this limit quality and diversity of, and audience for, artists’ books?

Carley Gomez
What pedagogical strategies can we adapt from writing classes to best use the written word in artists’ books? I will discuss workshop approaches to writing and the use of elements of narrative to formulate artist’s book instruction and criticism that give equal priority to written and visual language.

AB Gorham
Books with text as image, letters as objects, writing as texture, show that words can be powerful when they eschew traditional linguistic tendencies. Thinking beyond the poetic line or prose paragraph is a great pedagogical tool for structural innovation to open the narrative sequence and redefine the act of reading.

Woody Leslie
Artists’ books that are meant to be read struggle in the gallery, where comfort is minimal and attention is limited. Yet their visual nature often preclude them from the literary world too. How can this type of artists’ book make a home for itself between these two worlds?



Panel Session D // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 3:15-4:45pm

Charting the Un/Familiar: The Preservation of Letterpress through Community
Moderator: Katherine Fries

We will use the journey of three diverse multi-disciplinary artists and educators as a framework to discuss the familiarity and unfamiliarity letterpress printing facilitates as a platform of discovery and unity. Sharing the values of craftsmanship, history, critical thinking, creation and preservation of artifact—fueled by the passion to preserve the process of letterpress printing for the future—these artists use the medium to engage their students as explorers and practitioners of letterpress, while finding the process central to their own identity as artists and designers.
 
The cornerstone of the preservation and education of letterpress printing is found deep within the community that safeguards the tools, knowledge, and story that make it up. The community is the key element taking shape in formal and informal ways through anecdotal histories and techniques passed from one printer to another to the classrooms of higher education. Each of the three presenters sees themselves as having different roles and functions in the community; pioneer, facilitator, and connector, and as such seeks to find ways in which their backgrounds as painter, printmaker, book artist, and designer intertwine to create new and significant outcomes while maintaining the core traditions and integrity of letterpress printing.

Katherine Fries
Letterpress or Bust: Like the pioneers of the United States making their way west to new discoveries and unknown challenges to build their future I found myself a painter/printer longing to discover the landscape of letterpress printing. I will explore a journey of community, challenges, and foundational approach to letterpress.

Steve Garst
After buying a press as an undergraduate, I was in the difficult position of trying to build my press on a budget. After years of experimenting and building many of my own tools, I now seek to share my knowledge with new printers who are excited to push the medium.

Erin Beckloff
I have an affinity for connecting people and forming communities. As an anthropologist of letterpress, I document the threads of connection through space and time—the environmental and social relations, physical character, and culture of the printing communities of the past and present.



Panel Session D // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 3:15-4:45pm

Freedom of the Presses: Book Art as Social Practice*
Moderator: Bridget Elmer 

This panel explores the intersection of book art and social practice, an approach to art making that prioritizes collaboration, interdisciplinarity, community partnerships, and social change. Engaging a recent, collaboratively curated exhibition as a case study, panel members will present about their work as artists and curators who focus on the creative and democratic potential of twenty-first century independent artist’s publishing.

Tia Blassingame will speak about how, instead of repelling the viewer, artists’ books can allow for a nuanced discussion on issues of race to unfold with each page turn. The reader can locate themselves within the pages and create their own path to view and connect deeply with the book.

Sheryl Oring will speak about examining critical social issues through projects that incorporate old and new media to tell stories, examine public opinion and foster open exchange. Using tools typically employed by journalists, she builds on experience in her former profession to create installations, performances, artist books and internet-based works.

Marshall Weber will speak about community wide collaboratively curated exhibitions that activate and promote an institution’s collections and provide opportunities to create teaching moments for students, pedagogical tools for faculty, and social practice models of art making and programming that focus on diversity, conflict resolution, and social and ecological justice.



*This is a special topics panel organized by the CBAA Board of Directors

Panel Session D // Saturday, January 6, 2018 // 3:15-4:45pm

Visionary Practice
Guest Moderator

Melanie Emerson // Reading Utopian Visions Through Artists' Books

In moments of political tumult and oppression, artists frequently produce utopian visions, which often take shape in the form of artists’ books and zines. This paper examines the history of utopian visions in artists’ books and theorizes the impact this has had on contemporary artists working with similar political motivations.

Manar Harb // Miracle Forms
Languages are connected. Miracle Forms explores the relationship between Arabic and English through typography. Using painting and hand-craft techniques on one hand, and arranging metal and wood type in unconventional ways on the other, to bring out their characters through artistic means. The result is a conversation between the two.



Roundtable Discussion Session // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 4:00-5:00pm

Pedagogy Beyond Academia
Moderator: Sarah Smith

This will be a discussion about issues, ideas and philosophies surrounding teaching book arts in situations other than an academic program or institution. Some of our discussion participants travel and teach workshops in well-established schools such as Penland School of Craft, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Paper and Book Intensive or in international residency programs. Others teach out of their studios, local community and art centers. We will discuss the pros and cons of teaching outside an academic institution, as well as strategies and practical issues for those embarking on this mode of teaching.


Sarah Smith, having taught in a number of scenarios, inside and outside academia, will have questions for the participants that address the modes of their teaching in comparison and contrast with teaching in academia.

Erin Sweeney travels to teach workshops in a wide variety of locations nationally and internationally, as well as out of her personal studio. She will speak to benefits and pitfalls to these teaching scenarios.

Denise Carbone has taught in an adjunct situation, but also travels to teach workshops, organizing workshops for the Guild of Bookworkers and working with interns in her personal studio. She will address some of the practical issues and concerns that arise in various teaching situations.

Bobby Rosenstock owns and operates a letterpress print and design shop. He hosts class trips to his studio and trains interns. He will talk about the relationship between making artwork, running a business and teaching.

Pilar Nadal operates a community cooperative print studio. She teaches classes, interns and travels to teach. She will be able to address the teaching and learning opportunities that come up in the community setting.



Roundtable Discussion Session // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 4:00-5:00pm

Preservation Through Education: Strategies for Incorporating Historic Collections into Curriculum
Moderator: Jessica Spring

The demands and challenges of accepting donations and acquiring historic collections of type and presses are often delicate balancing acts between access and preservation. Equipment may be rare, irreplaceable, or just too difficult for safe use by beginning practitioners. As curators, educators and stewards of these historic materials what are the best strategies for navigating this paradox, as well as evaluating value? While some materials have an obvious value and enhance existing collections, others lead to unaccounted for "bonuses" including unidentified type, extra or missing parts, old ink and plenty of type lice. How are curatorial decisions made: assessed solely in the materiality of the collection; potential monetization through digitization; incorporation in curriculum; or fine press publications? Donations may include equipment, while not covering daunting transportation or ongoing maintenance. How do we generate income to offset these expenses? Can these collections be harnessed beyond the classroom to benefit the community, scholars, visiting artists, even aiding in student retention and recruitment?

Faculty from five institutional collections—both newly acquired and long-standing—will share stories of their efforts to facilitate access, research and preservation including acquisition, installation and documentation.

Jessica Spring 
Acquiring the Thorniley Collection of Antique Type in 2017 has been an ongoing process, transitioning from museum under plexiglass at West Coast Paper to hands-on typographic laboratory at Pacific Lutheran University. As we merge with our existing Elliott Press, we navigate challenges of access while protecting rare, fragile materials.

Marnie Powers-Torrey
The printing collections at the Book Arts Program & Red Butte Press are an amalgamation of in-kind donations and occasional purchases. The value of this living archive lies in both active accessibility and attentive preservation. With limited resources, the program employs creative and systematic methods to maintain a productive makerspace.

Rich Kegler
Wells Book Arts Center was founded in 1993. Building on the legacies of former faculty members: JJ Lankes (1930s) and Victor Hammer (1940s), the center acquired many donations of collections and individual pieces that makes the cumulative hoard of material daunting and exhilarating as the basis of a functioning studio.

Gloria Kundrup
Archetype Press at ArtCenter is a living archive of more than 2,500 cases of rare American and European foundry metal and wood type, from the collection of Los Angeles typographer and printer Vernon Simpson. The greatest challenge is the preservation of the foundry while enhancing the students’ understanding of typography.

Dan Mayer
The type and press collection housed at ASU presents a multitude of challenges for creative research, teaching, space management, and safety. Mayer has shepherded in the massive Antonia and Adam Petko Type & Press donation weighing 30+ tons transferred in 4 semi-trucks. The joys of sorting, cataloging, and organizing an active and historical collection reminds us “of making many books there is no end”.  Ecclesiastes




Roundtable Discussion Session // Friday, January 5, 2018 // 4:00-5:00pm

Best Practices: Studio Tactics, Tips and Troubleshooting
Moderator: Sarah Bryant

Educational studios are energizing and vibrant places, but sometimes tough to manage. This panel discussion is intended to jump start a wider conversation about studio management, upkeep, and general problem solving. 

Sarah Bryant is an Instructor & Studio Manager at the MFA in the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Crane Giamo is the studio manager and instructor at the Book Arts Program and Red Butte Press at the University of Utah.

Jay Fox is the Print, Letterpress, Books, and Paper Coordinator at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC.

Brad Freeman is an artist whose primary medium is the artist book. He founded JAB, the Journal of Artists’ Books in 1994 to provide a forum for critical writing about artists’ books.

Mary Phelan has been a member of the faculty at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia since 1981. She co-founded the MFA Book Arts+Printmaking Program and served as Director from 1990-99 and as Coordinator of Printmaking numerous times.



CBAA Panel Members and Bios (Listed Alphabetically)

Elizabeth Arden received a B.A. in Fine Arts from San Diego State University, was a lab assistant in the silkscreen studio, and completed an internship with Brighton Press. She is currently working toward an MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Steven Arenius was born in Northampton, Massachusetts and currently resides in Rochester, New York, where he runs The Panoptic Press. He studied literature and art history at SUNY New Paltz and is currently pursuing an MFA at the Visual Studies Workshop.

Mary Austin is co-founder of the San Francisco Center for the Book (1996) and proprietor of the Underground Press, Austin is a founding organizer of the Internet Archive’s Palm Leaf Digitization project in Bali. She also studies and collects palm leaf manuscripts from India, Sri Lanka and Burma.

Jan Baker is a Professor at RISD (since 1980) with a focus in Book Arts, Jan Baker graduated from UC Santa Cruz and Yale University. In India, she was a Fulbright Scholar where she also researched and made palm leaf books. Jan produces innovative travel journals... an ongoing inspiration for her art and bookworks.

Katie Baldwin received her BA from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and an MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Her work investigates text, image, and the way in which narratives are built. Baldwin is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama Huntsville.

Becky Beamer is an artist and documentarian. Her final products range from installations, to book sculpture and films. The common themes that have emerged from my work include questions about personal identity, the importance of cultural preservation, and a curiosity in ethnographic explorations.

Erin Beckloff is an educator, letterpress printer, and filmmaker. She is preserving anecdotal history and knowledge of printing, while exploring the intangible effects of the letterpress process. Beckloff serves as Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Miami University and is the co-director and writer of "Pressing On: The Letterpress Film."

Tia Blassingame holds a B.A. from Princeton University, M.A. from Corcoran College of Art + Design, and M.F.A. in Printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design. She has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo and MacDowell Colony. The Director of Scripps College Press, Blassingame teaches Book Arts at Scripps College.

Betty Bright is a writer, curator and historian who authored No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America 1960-1980 (2005). She is currently researching letterpress printing in the U.S. from 1980 to 2010, and continues to write and speak on the intersecting realms of craft, art, technology, and the body. www.bettybrightbookart.com

Inge Bruggeman is Assistant Professor and Director of the Black Rock Press in the Art Department at the University of Nevada Reno. Her work revolves around the idea of the book—the book as object, artifact and cultural icon. She is Editor of Openings the academic journal of CBAA.

Sarah Bryant is an Instructor & Studio Manager at the MFA in the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She produces letterpress-printed artist books under the imprint Big Jump Press, which she founded in 2006. Her work can be found in dozens of libraries and private collections in the United States and abroad.

Michele Burgess is the Director of Brighton Press, a publisher of fine press artist’s books. Her books have been exhibited internationally and are housed in over 75 public collections. She recently gave lectures about her work at the Getty Research Institute and the Library of Congress. She teaches at SDSU.

H.R. Buechler is an interdisciplinary artist, founder of OXBLOOD Publishing, and former Print Production Fellow for the Journal of Artists’ Books (JAB). She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago, and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Denise Carbone received her Book Arts/Printmaking MFA from the University of the Arts. She teaches bookbinding at Philadelphia Center for the Book, PBI, Center for the Book in NY and UArts. Her work challenges traditional methods of printmaking and book structures. Carbone exhibits her work nationally and internationally.

Lauren Cardenas is a Texas native and studio artist focusing on print media. She is editor/founder of PIECRUST Magazine, Co-director of Museum Blue, steering committee member of the St. Louis Small Press Expo and owner of Saturday Press. Cardenas holds a BA in Fine Art and an MFA in Visual Art.

Martha Carothers is a Professor of Art & Design at the University of Delaware where she teaches design, typography, visual communications, and book arts. Carothers’ book arts often highlight text about books, reading, and typography. Her artist’s books are letterpress, hand bound, and/or computer generated under The Post Press.

Yu Chen: I'm an international student in UArts. My undergraduate degree's major is illustration. Now my master degree's major is Books arts and Printmaking. 

Aaron Cohick is the proprietor of the NewLights Press, a small press focused on the intersection of experimental writing and artists’ publishing. He is also the Printer of The Press at Colorado College, a letterpress studio that creates an interdisciplinary space within the liberal arts curriculum.

Marianne Dages: Studio artist, owner of Huldra Press (PA); teaching: Tyler School of Art (PA), Common Press at the University of Pennsylvania; residencies: Herhusid (Iceland), Beisinghoff Printmaking Residency (Germany); exhibitions: Print Gallery Tokyo, International Print Center (NYC), Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland, OR).

Betsy Davids is Professor Emerita at California College of the Arts, where she taught book art and writing/literature 1968-2010. Her Rebis Press was active 1972-1989. She has made multiple research visits to palm leaf artists in India and Sri Lanka and now pursues a palm leaf bookmaking practice at home.

Molly Dotson received dual master’s degrees in art history and library science from Indiana University-Bloomington and started at Yale as the 2010/11 Kress Fellow in Art Librarianship. She is involved in the Yale University Library’s Bibliographical Press and also teaches a semester-long, non-credit letterpress studio as a Davenport College Fellow.

Shira Loev Eller is Art & Design Librarian at the George Washington University Libraries. She collects artists' books for the library's collection of 300+ works; facilities instruction using artists' books; and has curated exhibits of artists' books on campus. MA, Art History, George Mason University MS, Library and Information Science, Drexel University.

Bridget Elmer works as Coordinator and Instructor at the Ringling College Letterpress and Book Arts Center. She is co-founder of Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts (ILSSA) and founding member of Print St. Pete Community Letterpress. She received an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama.

Melanie Emerson has curated exhibitions of artists’ books and periodicals as well as published on this subject. She holds MLIS with a concentration in Archives and Special Collections from Wayne State University and an MA in Art History, Theory and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jay Fox is the Print, Letterpress, Books, and Paper Coordinator at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC. Jay received his BFA in Printmaking from Savannah College of Art and Design, and his MFA in Print and Narrative Forms from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. www.jaythefox.com and @jay_the_fox

Brad Freeman is an artist whose primary medium is the artist book. He founded the Journal of Artists’ Books in 1994 to provide a forum for critical writing about artists’ books. JAB is now produced at the Center for Book, Paper, and Print, Columbia College Chicago where he works and teaches. Freeman’s artist’s books are collected internationally. www.bradfreemanbooks.org & www.journalofartistsbooks.org

Katherine Fries is a preservationist and storyteller creating oil paintings, assemblage boxes, and layered prints, including letterpress. She is Assistant Professor at the University of Indianapolis—teaching Foundations, Printmaking, and Letterpress. Katherine has an MFA from Miami University and exhibits in a variety of juried, invitational, solo and group exhibitions.

Judith Gammons is a multimedia artist who utilizes current events with personal experience as the subject matter in her mostly abstract work. Through processes of printmaking and painting, these pieces are exploring notions of what is accepted among systems of ‘reality;’ challenging the relationships of intention, mediation, and audience reception.

Steve Garst is an artist an educator currently living in central Indiana. He received his MFA from Miami University, MA and BFA from Ball State University. He is the owner of Happy Camper Press. His artistic work revolves around his experiences with the natural landscape.

Crane Giamo is the studio manager and instructor at the Book Arts Program and Red Butte Press at the University of Utah. Crane's artists' books can be located under the imprint Pocalypstic Editions. He also prints, binds, and makes for Delete Press.

Carley Gomez is a PhD candidate in English with a concentration in Fiction at the University of Missouri. She has an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She facilitates experimental literature and publication as co-founder of Partial Press and Literature Emitting Diodes.

AB Gorham is a Montana-born book artist and writer. She holds an MFA in Book Arts (2014) and in Poetry (2012) from The University of Alabama. Now in Reno with her husband, daughter, and three beasts, she manages Black Rock Press, and teaches at The University of Nevada Reno.

Jerushia Graham: Atlanta-based artist and former Education Director for Atlanta Printmakers Studio, Jerushia Graham is currently Museum Coordinator at the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. She earned an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from University of the Arts, Philadelphia and BFA Degrees in Fabric Design and Printmaking from University of Georgia, Athens.

Dr. Susan Guinn-Chipman is an art historian and a scholar of early modern European cultural history. She manages the instruction and exhibits programs for the Department of Special Collections and Archives, University of Colorado Boulder Libraries. She draws from her background in intaglio and relief printing in teaching print history.

Manar Harb, b.1985, grew up in Ramallah, Palestine, where she attended the Friends Schools and learned Arabic and English simultaneously. She obtained her B.A. in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of South Florida (2008), and now pursues her M.F.A. in Book Art and Creative Writing at Mills College.

Lucille Holtsnider is a printmaker and book artist raised in Colorado, currently completing an MFA at UC Santa Barbara. Though in her element in the American West, she’s also spent extended periods in Canada, Sweden, and Japan. Her work is place-based and often considers the consequences of climate change.

Jodi Hoover is the Circulation and Media Services Librarian at University of Maryland Baltimore County. She is currently an MFA candidate in Studio Art at Towson University. Since 2001 she has worked closely with Betty & Edgar Sweren to catalog, maintain and provide access to their artist’s book collection.

Sarah Hulsey earned a BA from Harvard, a PhD from MIT, and an MFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Her work draws on her background in linguistics to explore the structure of language through visual art. Hulsey is an instructor at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Rich Kegler: As founder of the WNY Book Arts Center in Buffalo NY and founder of P22 Type Foundry, a digital type house that specializes in historical font revivals, Kegler’s current role at Wells fits well with his activity as a letterpress printer and member of the American Printing History Association.

Evgenia Kim recently graduated from Middle Tennessee State university with a B.F.A. in printmaking and B.A. in Art History. She was born and raised in Russia and has recently moved to Philadelphia to pursue a masters degree in Printmaking and Book Arts.

Andrea Kohashi is a book artist and librarian residing in Richmond, Virginia. She is the Teaching and Learning Librarian at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Special Collections and Archives. Kohashi received her MFA in Book Arts and MA in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa.

Gloria Kondrup has a BA in fine art and an MFA in design. As the Director of Archetype Press, Gloria Kondrup redefines the value of typography and analog technology in the digital landscape. She is also the Executive Director of the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography.

Emily Larned has been publishing as an artistic practice for 25 years. Her work is collected and exhibited internationally. She received an MFA from Yale School of Art, co-founded Impractical Labor (ILSSA), and is Chair and Associate Professor of Graphic Design at SASD, University of Bridgeport.

Thomas Leech is the curator and director of the Press at the Palace of the Governors. He received the 2014 Hertzog Award, the Edgar Lee Hewit Award, the Santa Fe Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and co-founded the Paper Road/Tibet project.

Woody Leslie is an artist, bookmaker, and manager of Large Home Tiny Idea. In addition to LHTI, he has worked for the Journal of Artists’ Books, Ugly Duckling Presse, and taught book arts classes and workshops in various locations. He received an MFA from Columbia College Chicago in 2017.

Catherine Liu is a current MFA candidate at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. Growing up in a gardening family, she began her practice painting with rotting tomatoes and mud. Later, she obtained a BFA in Studio Arts and Creative Writing, still working with smelly vegetables and fruits.

Charles Loverme an artist and educator resides in Florence, Italy where he co-founded the Florence School of Fine Arts. Previously relocating to Italy Loverme was a tenured professor at a large mid-western university. His personal work exists between analog disciplines and technology while exploring issues of identity and memory.

Sarah Luko: My work reflects my varied interests in the creation of new and traditional book forms and the resources needed to make them. I utilize, manufacture, and adapt traditional tools and train myself in their applications. My current work focuses on making paper and the tools used to make paper.

Melanie Mauro uses books and prints to explore the feminine sphere, suppression, physicality, and legacy. She studied painting, photography and printmaking at The Cooper Union and book arts and printmaking at The University of the Arts. She has exhibited in group shows at Crane Arts Center and at Towson University in Maryland.

Dan Mayer is the Director of Pyracantha Press, the independent publishing imprint at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute School of Art. Since 1986 Mayer has produced collaborative books and prints. In his private studio practice, Mayer has transitioned his book arts and printmaking aesthetics into internationally recognized public art projects. 

Kerry McAleer-Keeler: Currently Associate Professor of Art and Design, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, George Washington University and CBAA Executive Vice President. In the Collections of: Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library, Library of Congress, Rare Book/Special Collections Division, and National Museum of Women In the Arts among others.

Dawn McCusker is a Professor of Graphic Design at James Madison University. Her research interests include interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary design practice/education, book arts, and the historical and contemporary practice of letterpress printing and preservation. She's lectured nationally and internationally and her work is included in over 30 permanent collections.

Michelle C. Moode lives in Iowa in a tiny house with a big vegetable garden. She grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, influenced from an early age by fruit trees, science, and science fiction. She looks slowly and breathes deeply in libraries, antique stores, and natural history museums.

Pilar Nadal is a master letterpress printer and director of Pickwick Independent Press, Portland, Maine. She received her MFA from Maine College of Art and apprenticed with David Wolfe of Wolfe Editions. She teaches printmaking at Southern Maine Community College and New Hampshire Institute of Art, and Pickwick Independent Press.

Yoonmi Nam earned a BFA from Hongik University, Seoul and received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Her work considers cross-cultural experience and sense of transience through prints, drawings, and objects. Nam has been a faculty member at the University of Kansas since 2001.

Sheryl Oring received her MFA from the University of California at San Diego and works as Assistant Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She founded the I Wish to Say Project and recently completed public art commissions at the San Diego and Tampa International Airports.

Mary Phelan has been a member of the faculty at The University of the Arts since 1981. She co-founded the MFA Book Arts+Printmaking Program and served as Director from 1990-99 and as Coordinator of Printmaking numerous times. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is a part of many museum and university collections.

Maria G. Pisano is a book artist, printmaker, curator and educator. Memory Press works are represented in The Library of Congress, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University, Lafayette College, MOMA, Wesleyan University and more. In 2017 she had a solo exhibit Reflections, alongside numerous group shows here and abroad.

Marnie Powers-Torrey holds an MFA in photography from the University of Utah and a BA in English and Philosophy from Boston College. She teaches at the Book Arts Program, is master printer for the Red Butte Press, and is a founding member of the College Book Arts Association.

Yiyun Qin received her AA degree in General Art in Seattle Central Community College. In 2013, Yiyun began her studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art majoring in Drawing and received her BFA in 2016. She is currently studying Printmaking and Book Art in University of the Art.

Camden M. Richards is a book artist and graphic designer. Her work has been exhibited and is held in public, library and private collections in the US and abroad. Camden holds a BA in English and Art History, an AFA in Graphic Design and an MA in Art and the Book.

Gregory Robl serves on the board of directors and co-teaches small groups in letterpress printing for the Book Arts League. He instructs classes in early print technology, history of the book, and book arts in Special Collections and Archives, University of Colorado Boulder Libraries. He is also a book artist.

Bobby Rosenstock is the owner of justAjar Design Press, a letterpress studio in Marietta, Ohio that specializes in custom woodcut posters. He's created work for national brands and artists like Jack Daniel's, Willie Nelson, & Soundgarden; while also being heavily involved in supporting art and design in his community.

Anne M. Royston received her Ph.D. in Literature, as well as a Book Arts Certificate, from the University of Utah. Her research focuses on materiality and artists' books, critical theory, and experimental literature.

Katherine M. Ruffin is the Book Studies and Book Arts Program Director at Wellesley College. She also teaches at Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. Katherine holds an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama, and a PhD in Library and Information Science from Simmons College.

Cesali Scarola: Cesali Renn is currently a Book Arts MFA student at the University of the Arts. She received her undergraduate degree at California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA. Her work is centered around reclaiming the traditions of her ancestors.

Julia Seko is President of the Book Arts League and serves on its Board. She is a letterpress printer and book artist who teaches letterpress printing at Naropa University and through the Book Arts League. She works in Scholarly Resource Development/Interlibrary Loan, University of Colorado Boulder Libraries.

April Sheridan is a letterpress printer who is particularly interested in the artistic and experimental possibilities of the broadside and its historic place in American culture. As an advocate for book arts education she has spoken at conferences and runs the speculative distribution system of Nannetti’s Reading Closet.

Levi Sherman is a designer, educator, and interdisciplinary artist. In 2015, he received his MFA in Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago, where he was a Journal of Artists' Books Print Production Fellow and taught undergraduate book arts. His BFA was earned at the University of Arizona.

Sarah Smith is Dartmouth College’s Book Arts Workshop Program Manager. Previously, while teaching book arts, printmaking and design at Montserrat College of Art, she helped create a BFA concentration in Book Arts. She received her MFA from the University of the Arts and produces absurd work as Olfactory Press.

Jessica Spring is the proprietor of Springtide Press, inventor of Daredevil Furniture, and co-author of Dead Feminists: Historical Heroines in Living Color. Spring has an MFA from Columbia College Chicago and teaches book arts at Pacific Lutheran University, where she also manages the Elliott Press.

Barbara Tetenbaum began making artist books in 1978 while a student of Walter Hamady at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. She founded her imprint, Triangular Press, a year later. She is currently Professor and Department Head of Book and Print at the Oregon College of Art & Craft.

Erin Sweeney received her Book Arts/Printmaking MFA from the University of the Arts. She teaches workshops at her Lovely In The Home Press in NH, Haystack, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cló Ceardlann, Ireland, and the Philadelphia Center for the Book. She is faculty at the New Hampshire Institute of Art.

Marshall Weber is an artist with significant bodies of work in: artists’ books, collage, poetry, video, and performance art. He is the co-founding curator of Booklyn and Artists’ Television Access, has curated hundreds of exhibitions globally and is known for his advocacy for cultural diversity and activist artists and organizations.

Patrick Wong: Book has moved me away from directly questioning my country and instead I have found a way in my photobooks in which I can express my personal struggles as a bird separated from its flock.

Hongjing Zhu: My name is Hongjing Zhu, a Chinese girl. I graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art with BFA in Graphic Design. Now, I am a graduate student at University of the Arts in Printmaking and Book Arts and will graduate in 2019.

Conference Registration Guide

Philly Schedule 2017-11-7.pdf

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