For our Journal and Sketchbook class yesterday, Patty and I took the students to the Center for Book and Paper Arts, a stellar organisation that is part of Columbia College Chicago, to see an exhibition of artist's books made by someone called Robin Price:
These pictures were taken using my cheapo cell phone, but hopefully they give you some idea of how beautiful these objects were. That one above was a modified accordion book with all kinds of prints and letterpress text, housed in a collapsible box imprinted with more images.
The following one was a wooden clamshell box about two feet high, wrapped in canvas, made to look like an old-fashioned travelling trunk:
There were lots of other works there, including collaborations with artists, writers, and designers. As someone who does a modest bit of artist bookery myself, I was humbled by the level of crafstmanship on display. It made me realise that at least half of what goes into the work of an artist's book is the design and construction of the cover, binders, and so on. In fact it could be said that thinking about these things, and how they combine with the text and image, is inseparable from thinking about how to construct any hand-made book.
The exhibition runs until April, and I would highly recommend visiting if you live in or are going to pass through Chicago.
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These pictures were taken using my cheapo cell phone, but hopefully they give you some idea of how beautiful these objects were. That one above was a modified accordion book with all kinds of prints and letterpress text, housed in a collapsible box imprinted with more images.
The following one was a wooden clamshell box about two feet high, wrapped in canvas, made to look like an old-fashioned travelling trunk:
There were lots of other works there, including collaborations with artists, writers, and designers. As someone who does a modest bit of artist bookery myself, I was humbled by the level of crafstmanship on display. It made me realise that at least half of what goes into the work of an artist's book is the design and construction of the cover, binders, and so on. In fact it could be said that thinking about these things, and how they combine with the text and image, is inseparable from thinking about how to construct any hand-made book.
The exhibition runs until April, and I would highly recommend visiting if you live in or are going to pass through Chicago.
Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader