We, Too, Are Book Artists.
I harbor a secret desire to be a letterpress printer. Hatch Show Print is a major player in my college town, and I’ve turned to them to mark major milestones in my life, with wedding invitations and birth announcements. But only recently have I started to pay closer attention to the book arts. I’ve joined the Center for Book Arts, and I attended the recent NY Art Book Fair (picking up a Scream at the Librarian chapbook by Booklyn), but there’s quite a lot more I’d like to learn about the craft.
A compelling place to start would be We, Too, Are Book Artists, a recent well-received exhibition of work by black book artists at the Minnesota Center for Book Artists. The show was curated by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., a letterpress printer and now the Barbara Bishop Endowed Chair in Art at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Mr. Kennedy, who is also in demand at a new book center in Gordo, Alabama and in Cameri, Italy, was asked to curate the exhibition by Jeff Rathermel, the MCBA’s Artistic Director. Mr. Kennedy says, “The work [included in the show] was as varied as the artist[s],” who included Kara Walker, Ellen Gallagher, and Carrie Mae Weems, visual artists not necessarily known for book building. “It went the full spectrum of book arts. Most of the work was personal.” For finding artists to participate, Mr. Kennedy credits Ruth E. Edwards as “a lifesaver. She has been working with black book artists for years.”
There’s no indication of whether the exhibition will travel; naturally, I’m hoping it will come to the New York area. Edwards’ organization, Books in Black, has also mounted a traveling exhibit of works focused on black inventors (it’s currently in Boca Raton, Florida); in the past, Edwards has also curated shows at the Center for Book Arts and the Brooklyn Public Library. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for what she does next.