The Decorated Book: Continuing a Tradition
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is a library and museum founded in 1814. Its legacy collections, surviving from the 19th and early 20th centuries, include rich holdings in designed bindings. The Decorated Book invites artists, through the medium of the book, to explore and respond to book covers from the legacy collections of the Athenaeum. Selected items from the designed binding collections, including work by Margaret Armstrong, Olive Grover and the studio artists of Decorative Designers, are emphasized in this call. The proposed books may be editioned or one-of-a-kind, artist books, book objects, altered books or zines but must in some way respond to the specified items from the designed binding collection posted on the Athenaeum website and on view at the museum.
Click here for more information

The Center for Book Arts is pleased to present:
The Un(framed) Photograph: Artist Members Annual Exhibition
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director, and Doug Beube, Mixed-Media Artist and Photographer, Curator of the Allan Chasanoff Book Works Collection, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Photography at Parsons New School of Design

Where: The Center for Book Arts, 28 W. 27th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY
When: July 6 – September 10, 2011
Admission: Free

NEW YORK, NY—The Un(framed) Photograph, featuring current members of CBA’s artistic community and other invited artists whose work will further the discourse, focuses on how the art of photography, the photographic process, and related media, such as video stills, are used to convey content, form, text, and image within a broader context of book arts practices. Artworks featured in this exhibition represent a broad range of book and related arts, including but not limited to books, prints, sculpture, mixed-media installation, new media, and performance art.

The Un(framed) Photograph is organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director, and Doug Beube, Mixed-Media Artist, Photographer, and Curator of the Allan Chasanoff Book Works Collection. The artists featured in this exhibition are Rosaire Appel, Aileen Bassis, Rosemarie Chiarlone, Deborah Phillips Chodoff, Paul Clay, Katherine D. Crone, Brian Dettmer, Joyce Cutler-Shaw, Andrea Diodati, Ipek Duben, Colette Fu,Thomas Jackson, Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick, Pelagia Kyriazi, Margarita Lypiridou, Franco Marinai, David Maroto, Anna Mavromatis, Louise McCagg, Scott McCarney, Heidi Neilson, Leah Oates, Suzanne Pastor, Maureen Piggins, Maria G. Pisano, Laura Russell, Rocco Scary, Peter Sramek, Sally Tosti, Tricia Treacy, Elysa Voshell, Ellen Wallenstein, Thomas Parker Williams, Dennis Yuen, Ewa Monika Zebrowski, and Philip Zimmermann.

DVC Member Lisa Heller has made a very kind offer to Delaware Valley Chapter members: we can take the Beatrice Coron Workshop at the Cheltenham Art Center for their member price. Click here for more information

Open Book & Bookbinding Workshop Saturday, June 25, 1:00-5:30pm Each year our Open Book event brings artists presenting new publications to The Print Center. This year we will explore the collaborative process, by highlighting new books that were collaboratively made. It will be a wonderful opportunity to collect books, meet the artists and have them personally inscribe their books. Artists, Collectives & Organizations include: Alice Austin & Jon Snyder Book Bombs Cantab Publishing Holly Holly Hobby Hobby Just Seeds Machete, published by Marginal Utility, Inc. Philagrafika Purgatory Pie Press Space 1026 We will also have copies of Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson’s new, Publish Your Photography Book. Bookbinding Workshop In conjunction with The Print Center’s Open Book event, artists Anni Altshuler and Leah Mackin, who make up the collective Holly Holly Hobby Hobby, will give a free bookbinding workshop where you can make your own summer activity book. Tintype Photobooth: Keliy Anderson-Staley Keliy Anderson-Staley, Jeff , 2010, Wetplate Collodion Tintype Saturday, June 25, 1:00-5:30pm **SOLD OUT** Come and have your portrait made! Become a part of photographer Keliy Anderson-Staley‘s ongoing portrait series when she sets up a tintype studio in The Print Center’s garden. Tintypes are unique photographic images exposed directly onto blackened metal, and were the leading mode of photography in the 1850’s and 1860’s. The Philadelphia area once had many commercial portrait studios, and this event honors that history while celebrating the current role antiquated processes are playing in contemporary practice. Both metal plates and digital prints of the images will be available for a fee. Current Exhibition on View On view through Saturday, July 30 85th Annual International Competition: Printmaking Anthony Lazorko, Moon Light Motel, 2010, Woodcut Jurors: Emi Eu, Director, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore Sarah Suzuki, Associate Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books, Museum of Modern Art, New York Exhibiting Artists: Katie Baldwin, Philadelphia, PA Anders Bergstrom, Brooklyn, NY Annie Bissett, Northampton, MA Tonia Bonnell, Denver, CO Daniel Brewer, Philadelphia, PA Nicholas Brown, Seattle, WA Victoria Burge, Philadelphia, PA Simond Chew, Singapore Ann Conrad, New Canaan, CT David Curcio, Watertown, MA Kip Deeds, Newtown, PA Sarah Dekker, Philadelphia, PA Karla Hackenmiller, Athens, OH Brian Johnson, Austin, TX Nils Karsten, Brooklyn, NY Anthony Lazorko, Mesilla, NM Kakyoung Lee, Brooklyn, NY Kristine Mallari, Denton, TX Jiha Moon, Atlanta, GA Kae Murakami, Kanagawa, Japan Sarah Nicholls, Brooklyn, NY Jonathan Nicklow, Evergreen, CO Matt Phillips, Brooklyn, NY Jenny Wiener, London, England Rick Wright, Philadelphia, PA The Print Center’s 85th Annual International Competition: Printmaking features new works by several of the finest contemporary artists from around the world. The Print Center’s Annual International Competition is one of the most prestigious exhibitions of its kind and is the oldest juried exhibition for printmaking and photography in the United States. All events are free and open to the public and will take place at The Print Center unless otherwise noted. To register for any of these events, contact Eli VandenBerg at: evandenberg@printcenter.org or 215.735.6090 x1. The Print Center All events are FREE and open to the public and will take place at The Print Center unless otherwise noted. Please visit The Print Center’s website, www.printcenter.org, for more information on exhibitions and programs. HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday 11:00am-5:30pm

Our current exhibition – Philadelphia Artists’ Books Travel to Venice – got a very nice review in the Weekly Press. Click HERE to read it.

Here are pictures of the Philadelphia opening on Friday, June 3rd. We had a really good turnout. Eriko Takahashi was awarded the purchase prize and her book will become part of the Clarence Ward Art Library at the Oberlin College. The books will travel to Venice this coming fall.
Click here to see the pictures.

Be sure to see the Philadelphia version of the exhibit!
Athenaeum of Philadelphia
219 S. 6th St.
Philadelphia, PA
June 3-30
M-F 9-5
Second floor exhibition area

Hi Everyone,
Don’t forget about Todd Pattison’s talk next week. If you would like to come, please RSVP (see below) Also note that the talk is next door to the Library Company in the Cassatt House at 1320 Locust

click to RSVP

This workshop will demonstrate the fundamental methods and materials for two related binding structures: the wire-edge binding and gutter-wire binding, and show a variety of examples based upon these techniques. The wire-edge structure is a versatile approach to binding single sheets or boards in a codex form which opens freely and lies flat while open. The gutter-wire structure offers similar advantages with more traditional folded signatures. The two basic methods can also be combined, offering creative possibilities for working with a mixture of signatures and single sheets, attaching unconventional cover materials, or integrating dissimilar materials in one structure. Workshop participants will complete a model which incorporates both the wire-edge and gutter-wire methods in one piece, providing practice with the essentials of each, and a glimpse of the possibilities of using both methods in tandem. Tools and materials particular to these structures will be discussed, as well as the fabrication of jigs and other aids which would be helpful when considering an edition utilizing these methods.

Graham Watson is a book artist who translates experiences within nature to a reflective contemplation of humanity’s interactions with our environment, and the perception of place defined within a greater natural order. His work is informed by interests in the natural sciences, and a background which includes music, graphic design, photography, and writing. Graham holds an MFA in book arts and printmaking from the University of the Arts, and a BA in graphic design from American University.

If you would like to hold a spot, please send a check made out to:
The Guild of Book Workers
Mail the check along with your contact information to:
Alice Austin
The Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

There are two book arts exhibitions in the Delaware Valley.
Click on the links below for details.

In Wilmington:

The Book: A Contemporary View

In Philadelphia:

Haunted Philadelphia: Photography and Pop-ups by Colette Fu