welcome to the center’s 2015 annual...
TRANSCRIPT
Annual Report 2015 The Center for Book Arts
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WELCOME TO THE CENTER’S 2015 ANNUAL REPORT
The Center for Book Arts changes people’s lives through book arts. We are committed to exploring and
cultivating contemporary aesthetic interpretations of the book as an art object while preserving traditional
artistic practices of the art of the book. Founded in 1974 and still located in Manhattan, we were the first
not-for-profit organization of our kind in the nation, as well as a model for others worldwide. The Center
offers exhibitions, classes, public programming, literary presentations, opportunities for artists and writers,
publications, and collecting.
The first half of 2015 extended our year-long 40th
Anniversary celebration, which began in the fall of 2014.
Our celebration this year included four exhibitions drawing on our history: Redux: Selected Featured Artist
Projects Renewed organized by Maddy Rosenberg, Then & Now: Ten Years of Residencies at The Center
for Book Arts organized by me (which traveled to the Castle Gallery at the College of New Rochelle), and
Embraced: The International Community, organized by Richard Minsky. Also notable were the members’
show /mit ðə detə/: Source Materials Visualized organized by Heidi Neilson and me, and the fall
exhibition, Archive Bound, organized by Karen Jones. Our Featured Artist Projects included artists ranging
from Collette Fu and Jacob Jacobsmeyer, Elena Berriolo, and our residents. The fall also saw the exhibition
of works by our Master Faculty Fellow, Buzz Spector.
In addition, Buzz Spector taught a master faculty fellow as part of our workshops. A number of other
outstanding classes were offered in 2015 including Springback Binding, Pop-up Bugs, and Mobile
Papermill as well as core courses such as Letterpress I and Bookbinding I.
Program highlights in 2015 included standing room-only crowds for our Spring-time March History of Arts
Series on the archive moderated by Marvin J. Taylor, and another packed audience for a November artist
talk with the Guerilla Girls at The New School, held in conjunction with the exhibition Archive Bound.
The first half of 2015 concluded our collaborative poetry reading series, which resulted in a special
publication, 7 Nights: 28 Poets. We are very proud of this book, which represents the best sort of
collaboration between visual and literary artists.
It was an eventful year, and we are so proud of the many people who joined us!
Alexander Campos
Executive Director & Curator
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EDUCATION
1) Classes
2) Community Outreach
EXHIBITIONS
3) Main Exhibitions
4) Featured Artist Projects
ARTISTS’ OPPORTUNITIES
5) Artists-in-Residence Workspace
6) Scholarships for the Advanced Study
7) Master Faculty Fellow
8) Fine Press Publishing Seminars for Emerging Writers
LITERARY PROGRAMS
9) Broadside Reading Series
10) Poetry Chapbook Program
11) Celebration of the Chapbook
12) TEXT/FORM Poetry Reading
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
13) Talks, Discussions and Panels
14) History of Art Series
SPECIAL EVENTS
15) Spring Benefit and Art Auction
16) Art Book Celebration
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS
17) Capital Improvements
18) Permanent Collections
19) Interns & Work-Study
20) Staff
21) Board Members
22) Funding Credits
23) Government and Foundation Supporters
24) Financial Reports (available under separate cover)
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EDUCATION
1) CLASSES
The Center continues to offer high-caliber classes in the book arts, taught by artists and experts in the
field. Courses in bookbinding, letterpress printing, printmaking, paper treatments, calligraphy, and artist
books were held throughout the year. In 2015, the Center offered approximately 150 classes over four
quarters. Classes were taught by a roster of over 50 instructors from around the country, and served a
range of students, from beginner to advanced skill levels. The Center’s educational program features a
series of core courses, designed to train students in basic through advanced book arts techniques. The
foundational classes offered through core courses are: Letterpress I & II, Bookbinding I, II, & III, and
Independent Projects: Printing & Binding. These courses teach students a strong set of skills and
ultimately allow them to explore independent artistic practice.
In addition to the core courses, the Center offers specialized courses throughout the year. Courses may
be tailored to professional artists looking to expand their practice, to advanced bookbinding students
wishing to learn a specific historical binding style, or to newcomers interested in learning basic book
arts techniques. Many professionals travel to New York City to take professional development classes at
the Center. The breadth of the Center’s course offerings ensures that all levels of students can find
suitable educational opportunities. Among the 2015 class highlights were workshops led by Béatrice
Coron, Yukari Hayashida, Helen Hiebert, Nancy Loeber, Barbara Mauriello, and Shawn Sheehy.
Classes in 2015 included:
In the Bindery:
Bookbinding I(Core), Bookbinding II(Core), Bookbinding III(Core), Experimental Writing at the Press;
Three Formats for Artists; The Puzzle Box; Introduction to Hot-Stamping and Foil; Carousel Books;
Monument in Mind: Sculptural/Architectural Artist Books; Collapsible Books; Artists’ Books: Density
with Intensity; Longstitch Variations; Bookbinding for Artists; Softcover Leather Bound Books; 19th
Century Springback Account Binding; All About the Accordion; Introduction to Hot Stamping; Formats
for Artists; The Book Under (De-)Construction; Pop-Ups and Movables; and Tunnel Books.
Bookbinding II with Susan Mills Tunnel Books with Maria Pisano
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In the Printshop:
Letterpress I(Core), Letterpress II(Core), Weekend with Emily; Wood Engraving; The Organic
Vandercook; Modular Pattern Letterpress; April Fool!; The Platen Press; Letterpress Lab: Independent
Projects; Letterpress Express; Japanese Woodcuts; Visual Poetry; Rubber Stamp: Carving and Printing;
Wood, Metal and Polymer; and the Color Reduction Woodcut.
Letterpress I with Amber McMillan Color Reduction Woodcuts with Nancy Loeber
Works on Paper:
The Mobile Mill: Intro to Hand Papermaking, Bonded: Paper Lamination for Artists, Paper Cutting,
Suminagashi, Paper Marbling, and In-Depth Illumination.
In-Depth Illumination with Karen Gorst
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2) COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Student groups regularly visit the Center for hands-on instruction, tours and discussion. During 2015
over 450 college students visited on tours and workshops from colleges including Columbia, NYU, New
School, Pratt, Long Island University, Cornell, SUNY Purchase and Stony Brook, and the School of
Visual Arts. Visiting students are afforded the opportunity to meet a staff member, look at our
exhibitions, and examine materials in the Center’s collections of equipment and of fine arts materials.
Teachers may search the Center’s permanent collection online catalogue to request particular books for
display. The Center’s Permanent Collection has proven to be
an incentive for visiting school groups.
The Center also offers short hands-on workshops in
typesetting, letterpress printing, and hand-binding to visiting
groups, which have included Columbia University, and the
Grolier Club, as well as the graphic design departments of
Hofstra, Pratt, School of Visual Arts (SVA), Parsons,
Fordham, and NYU. Design students gain insight into the
history of their craft, the foundations of hand composition,
and learn how to present their work in a unique format.
Neighborhood Book Arts Project. In December 2015, the
Center was awarded a $20,000 grant from the Shelley and
Donald Rubin Foundation’s art and social justice initiative to
provide instruction in book arts to underserved teens in New
York City’s five boroughs. Arts education and creative expression are stinted by educational reform,
thereby leaving entire communities creatively and politically "mute." The initial program in 2016 will
offer workshops outside of school by experienced instructors. Each child will receive his/her own kit of
tools and materials to take home-which they will own-enabling them to practice and extend their new
creative skills.
Book arts, with its related literary and visual components, is a gateway to further self-expression.
Students will be able to create more book art at home on their own which they can use for visual, literary
or other creative self-expression, thereby creating opportunities for traditionally marginalized
perspectives to be heard. These workshops will empower youth in New York City to create art and
instill self-confidence by learning transferable skills. By giving voice to underserved teens and youth,
these workshops can stimulate artistic activism in New York's local communities. Students will
themselves be able to explore and cultivate aesthetic interpretations of the book. Art is transformative
and these workshops bring that transformative power into daily lives.
EXHIBITIONS
3) MAIN EXHIBITIONS
Each year the Center offers four group exhibitions, centered on a coherent theme or topic, and frequently
presented by a guest curator. Exhibitions are an essential component of our programming, and one of the
primary means by which we fulfill our mission to cultivate contemporary interpretations of the art of the
“My students particularly
enjoyed seeing and holding
the metal type and feeling the
letterpress impressions on the
page. It's crucial for them to
experience these 'old' techno-
logies physically, and not just
to reflect on them and read
about them abstractly.”
– An NYU Professor
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book. Exhibition proposals, solicited throughout the year, are selected through a formal process by the
Exhibitions Committee, which includes professionals from local and national institutions. In 2015, the
Center presented four main exhibitions.
Redux: Selected Featured Artist Projects Renewed
January 23-April 4, 2015
Organized by Maddy Rosenberg, Independent Curator and Founder of
CENTRAL BOOKING.
Redux, the second of four exhibitions celebrating the Center’s 40th
anniversary, examined one of the Center’s core exhibition programs, the
Featured Artist Project which showcases a recent body of work by an
individual artist or collective around a cohesive theme. Over the Center
‘s 40-year history, this program has evolved from informal members-
only shows to its current format in our Studio and Foyer Galleries. For
this exhibition, curator Maddy Rosenberg selected nearly 30 artists who
have had a Featured Artist Project at the Center, including works that
continue the dialogue of each artist’s past presentation with an insight
into the progression of his or her work.
Curator Rosenberg notes, “I was seeking those taking the book as a
jumping off point in as many directions as possible: encompassing,
bottled, sitting atop, sometimes even skirting the fact. All of these artists engage the book as object,
whether it be a stack of printed paper, the remolding of its elements, or a visual linking of discrete
elements to form a whole. Of course this is not a comprehensive survey–it is impossible to exhibit all the
deserving artists over a 40-year period–but merely a sampling of highlights of this wonderful
opportunity the Center for Book Arts affords artists who work with the book as art.”
Artists included Tomie Arai, Lynne Avadenka, Julie Chen, Steven Daiber, Johanna Drucker, Timothy C.
Ely, Anne Gilman, Kumi Korf, Karen Kunc, Hedi Kyle, Guy Laramée, Jacqueline Rush Lee, Nora
Ligorano & Marshall Reese, Richard Minsky, Leah Oates, Tom Phillips, Sarah Plimpton, Benjamin D.
Rinehart, Susan Rotolo, Diane Samuels, Rocco Scary, Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Susan Joy Share, SP
Weather Station, Barbara Tetenbaum, Cynthia Thompson, Harvey Tulcensky, and Claire van Vliet.
Then + Now: Ten Years of Residencies at The Center for Book Arts
April 17-June 27, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director & Curator, The Center for Book Arts
Then + Now, the third of four exhibitions celebrating the Center’s 40th anniversary, examined two of the
Center’s core programs: the Artist-in-Residence Workspace program and the Scholarship for Advanced
Study in Book Arts. The exhibition presented selected work by 60 artists who had participated in these
programs over the last decade.
For each participating artist, work completed during his/her past residency was presented along with
new work. Artists included were: Manuel Acevedo, Tomie Arai, Katie Baldwin, Stephanie Beck, Emily
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Blair, Terry Boddie, Amy Chan, Cecile Chong, Ana Cordeiro, Cesar Cornejo, Donald Daedalus, Aurora
De Armendi, Prudence Dudan, Dahlia Elsayed, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Frances Gallardo, Chitra
Ganesh, Hadassa Goldvicht. Tal Halpern, Josh Harris, Pablo Helguera, Wayne Hodge, Kyle Holland,
Wennie Huang, Yoko Inoue, Katarina Jerinic, Jennie C. Jones, Rajkamal Kahlon, Gautam Kansara,
Swati Khurana, Jessica Lagunas, Catarina Leitão, Liz Linden, Celine Lombardi, Jason Lujan, Lee
Marchalonis, Kimberly McClure, Sarah McDermott, Colin McMullen, Ivan Monforte, Carlos Motta,
Shervone Neckles, Heidi Neilson, Asuka Ohsawa, Sara Parkel, Shani Peters, Kameelah Rasheed,
Benjamin Reynaert, Julie Schumacher, Zoë Sheehan Saldaña, Karina Skvirsky, Natalie Stopka, Tattfoo
Tan, Amanda Thackray, Juana Valdes, Elysa Voshell, Angie Waller, James Walsh, Jenifer Wightman,
and Liz Zanis.
The Then + Now: Ten Years of Residencies at The Center for Book Arts exhibition traveled with all
materials presented at the Center, to Castle Gallery at the College of New Rochelle (29 Castle Place,
New Rochelle, NY). The exhibition was on view September 8 – November 8, 2015. An opening
reception was held Sunday, September 27, 2015. Executive Director & Curator Alexander Campos
spoke at the college on Wednesday, October 14, 2015.
Embraced: The International Community
July 8-Sept 19, 2015
Organized by Richard Minsky, Founder, The Center for Book Arts
This exhibition examined the influence the Center has had on the
international book arts scene as well as the international artists who
have come to the Center to study, exhibit, or teach. This was the fourth
and final exhibition of the Center’s 40th anniversary year-long
celebration, each of which featured and documented a particular
program.
Artists included were: Biruta Auna, Robert Bringhurst, Inge
Bruggeman, Ken Campbell, Ulises Carrión, Ana Cordeiro, Béatrice
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Coron, Steven Daiber, Helen Douglas & Telfer Stokes, Gavin Dovey, Colette Fu, Michael Gibbs, Takuji
Hamanaka, Barbara Henry, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., Kumi Korf, Hedi Kyle, Catarina Leitão,
Ligorano/Reese with Daniel Kelm, Margarita Lypiridou, Mikhail Magaril with Ivan Lebedev, Franco
Marinai, Russell Maret, Barbara Mauriello, Clifton Meador, Bernard Middleton, Susan Mills, Jánis
Nedéla, Asuka Ohsawa, Zahra Partovi, Werner Pfeiffer, Tom Phillips, Lise Poirier, Melissa Potter, John
Randle, John Ross, Miriam Schaer, Gaylord Schanilec, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Alexandra Soteriou,
Sylvia de Swaan, and Sam Winston.
/mit ðə detə/: Source Materials Visualized
July 8-September 19, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive
Director & Curator, The Center for Book Arts, and
Heidi Neilson, artist and Co-founder of SP Weather
Station.
/mit ðə detə/: Source Materials Visualized presented
artists’ books, book-related artworks, and text-based
new media that are visual interpretations,
extrapolations, and recontextualizations of
researched source materials such as data analysis,
surveying, mapping, plotting, data mining, statistics,
analytics, observations, and schemes. In keeping
with the theme, the exhibition title included the phrase “Meet the data” rendered phonetically. The
exhibition featured artist members of the Center as well as invited artists to further the discourse of the
exhibition’s theme.
Artists included were: Karen Baldner, Jen Bervin, Matthew Birchall, AJ Bocchino, Sara Bouchard,
Sarah Bryant, Eve Faulkes, Neil Freeman, Barbara Henry, Candace Hicks, Peter Jellitsch, Jessica
Lagunas, Woody Leslie, Emily McVarish, Toby Millman, Barbara Milman, John Risseeuw, Maria
Veronica San Martin, Libby Scarlett, Tim Schwartz, Ellen Sheffield, Ward Shelley, Joshua Singer,
Edyth Skinner, Jeff Thompson, Carolyn Thompson, Angie Waller, Thomas Parker Williams, and Sam
Winston.
Archive Bound
October 2-December 12, 2015
Organized by Karen E. Jones, Independent Curator
Archive Bound examined methodologies within the
presentation, documentation, historiography, and exhibition
display of non-object based and site-specific artworks.
Additionally, the exhibition included books, photographs,
and ephemera associated with Conceptual, Performance,
and Site-Specific Art practices. Several first generation
avant-garde figures lay the groundwork for a discourse on
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the contemporary utilization of these crucial genres.
Artists included were: Laylah Ali, Justin Amrhein, Cory Arcangel, Aurora De Armendi, Sophie Calle,
Paul Chan, Jacqueline de Jong, Rainer Ganahl, Jacqueline Goss & Jenny Perlin, Guerrilla Girls, Paula
Hayes, Thomas Hirschhorn, Sasha Huber, Liz Magic Laser, Ana Mendieta, Dean Moss, Karyn Olivier,
James Romberger, Martha Rosler, Marion Scemama, Seth Siegelaub & Robert Projansky, Situationist
International, Marguerite Van Cook, Martha Wilson, and David Wojnarowicz.
Karen E. Jones is an art historian and curator of modern and contemporary art. She has curated
exhibitions at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Whitney Museum,
among other venues. She has written numerous articles and reviews for publications such as Art and
Text, Tema Celeste, and Time Out New York. She currently teaches art history at the City University of
New York.
The Center is grateful to the following galleries and organizations for lending works for this exhibition:
Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art, Dia Art Foundation, Galerie Lelong, Kai Matsumiya, Mast Books,
Paul Kasmin Gallery, Paula Cooper Gallery, and PPOW Gallery.
4) FEATURED ARTIST PROJECTS
Colette Fu: We are Tiger Dragon People
January 23, 2015 - April 4, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director &
Curator, The Center for Book Arts
For the past seven years, Colette Fu has been making one-
of-a-kind artist books that combine photography with paper
engineering. Pop-up and flap books originally illustrated
sociological ideas and scientific principles; Fu constructs
her own books on how our selves relate to society today.
Limitations, experience and experimentation with the
media lend a strong problem-solving component to Fu’s
process.
In 2008, Fu was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to create a
photographic pop-up book of the 25 ethnic minorities
residing in Yunnan Province, China, from where the artist’s family descends. 25 of the 55 minority
tribes of China reside in the Yunnan and comprise less than 9% of the nation’s population, with the Han
representing the majority. Fu uses her artistic skills to spread knowledge and provide a brief portrait of
their existence.
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John Jacobsmeyer: More Than Human
January 23, 2015 - April 4, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director &
Curator, The Center for Book Arts
Presented in its entirety, John Jacobsmeyer’s poem without
words, More Than Human, brings together the cultures and
communities of contemporary literature, American Sign
Language, artist books, printmaking and popular mythology.
More Than Human was a sequence of over eighty wood
engravings all cut from cross-sections of the same forty-year-
old maple tree from a New Hampshire forest. The blocks were
engraved by John Jacobsmeyer from 2002-2009. The image sequence represents an American Sign
Language (ASL) interpretation of the soliloquy in James Dickey’s poem Sheep Child. In it, the half-
human/half-sheep wonders at existence as he described his conception, birth, brief life and ecstatic
death. Each image conveys one or more ASL signs personified by a menagerie of characters, some
human but mostly hybrids, monsters, and androids.
The wood engravings are based on the ASL interpretation of Sheep Child by Janice Nierstedt and Robert
Keegan whose video was on display. The printing took place at Jacob-Jingle-Heimer-Schmidt Press
(JJHS Press) in Brooklyn by master printer Aaron Drew. Since 2002 portions of Jacobsmeyer’s More
Than Human have been exhibited in venues as disparate as Shanghai’s Gallery 99 and Brooklyn’s Jack
The Pelican Presents. This was the first time it was exhibited in its entirety, in sequence, and with the
original woodblocks.
Damali Abrams, Emmy Catedral, Heidi Lau, Eto Otitigbe, and Seldon Yuan
April 17, 2015 - June 27, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive
Director & Curator, The Center for Book Arts
Each year, as part of the Center’s Artist-in-Resi-
dence program, up to five New York-based
emerging artists are offered space, time and support
to explore the production and exhibition of artists’
books and related work in year-long residencies. The
purpose of this program is to promote experiment-
ation in making book art by artists representing
a diversity of fields and backgrounds.
In 2014, Damali Abrams, Emmy Catedral, Heidi
Lau, Eto Otitigbe, and Seldon Yuan were selected as
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artists-in-residence. This group show featured the work completed by these artists during their residency
year at the Center.
Damali Abrams’ work is a commentary on, and a contribution to, contemporary culture. Abrams uses
personal narrative as a point of departure for addressing larger sociopolitical concerns. Using herself as a
medium, Abrams documented the moment through blogging, webcam, video diaries, and journaling.
Emmy Catedral’s collection of objects represented an examination of human cosmologies: personal
attempts and failures at measuring space and explaining the universe from the point of view of a
terrestrial being. For example, a scattered walkable floor puzzle on slate tiles is also a log of drawings:
sky observations using a smartphone app to view the stars existing underfoot, on the other side of the
Earth.
Heidi Lau created an alternate world by excavating fragmented narratives from personal and collective
memories, highlighting the archaic and invisible, and recreating what has been lost to natural and human
causes. Lau grew up in a colony of Portugal during its transition into a Chinese province, and much of
her work is inspired by memories of colonial houses and monuments left to decay, succumbing to
strange and wild plants.
Eto Otitigbe is a polymedia artist whose practice investigates issues of race, technology, politics, and
shared experiences. His projects can be experienced as a creative protest, a cultural artifact, or sculptural
intervention. Otitigbe uses his creative practice to construct knowledge constellations that chart his
identity and experiences: Nigerian-American-Artist-Engineer-DJ, to name a few.
Seldon Yuan’s work is based on a personal history, under the influence of poetry, extending across a
spectrum of optical effects, absurdity, poetry, surrealism, ideas about language, and familiar objects and
spaces. His work typically creates a filter between a common object or environment/scene and the
viewer, thereby inventing a lens to view and reinterpret the everyday metaphorically.
Eto Otitigbe, Corners Emmy Catedral, Terra Nullius
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Damali Abrams, Around the Way Girl, Vol.I Heidi Lau, Untitled (Scholar’s Garden).
Linda Carreiro: Inside Out of Words
April 17, 2015 - June 27, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director &
Curator, The Center for Book Arts
Calling attention to both reading and the material form of
a book, Linda Carreiro’s work provoked questions of what
constitutes a book. Employing Jacques Derrida’s concept
on “the inside out of language,” Carreiro underscores that
text is a construct, a material that can be formed and re-
formed; when removed from the pages of a book, the
words can be viewed as unfixed, malleable material. If one
tries to firmly position a text in one position, the “inside”
(or center) always changes its orientation. Derrida’s term
was given resonance within the Center for Book Arts gallery, where language was playfully enacted
upon and physicalized.
Buzz Spector: The Book Under (De-) Construction
October 2, 2015 - December 12, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director
& Curator, The Center for Book Arts
Each year the Center invites a notable artist to teach a
master class with an exhibition as part of our “Master
Faculty Fellow” series. In 2015 Buzz Spector was our
Master Faculty Fellow, whose work was also
displayed in a Featured Artist Project, The Book
Under (De-)Construction.
Buzz Spector is an internationally-known artist whose
work makes frequent use of the book, both as subject
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and object, and is concerned with relationships
between public history, individual memory,
and perception. His work with altered found
books dates back to 1981, and his collages
incorporating dust jacket elements date from
1987.
Elena Berriolo: Why Didn’t They?
October 2, 2015 - December 12, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive
Director & Curator, The Center for Book Arts
Why Didn’t They? highlighted Elena Berriolo’s
work of the last three years, encompassing books,
performance and photomontage. Continuing her
investigation into the possibilities of the line traced
by the sewing machine, Berriolo presented 12
unique 16-page books made with thread, watercolor,
and ink on paper that addressed a variety of themes,
including a speculative rewriting of art history from
a feminist point of view, the interweaving of poetry
and visual art, and a direct engagement with nature. Each book was displayed on a music stand and was
available to be handled by visitors. Also on view were photomontages that took a humorous and critical
look at art history.
I tear pages. I stack books. … I assert that I am an
excellent tearer of pages or stacker of books, but
what then constitutes my virtuosity? Look at one of
my altered books and you can see the torn edges of
every sewn or perfect-bound sheet that formerly
comprised its text block. My systematic excising of
pages leaves a form whose organization in itself
challenges the suggestion of random harm within
the word, “tear,” commonly used to describe what
I’ve done. As for my stacking, it’s the ordinary work
of aggregation, whose oddness arises from what it is
I’m building up with. Books in a row could be on
anybody’s shelf, but books in a stack raise some
interesting questions. – Buzz Spector, “I Stack
Things. I Tear Stuff Up”
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Three separate series of unique books were included in the exhibition. In Transcriptions from Canonical
Male Artists (including Lucio Fontana, Henri Matisse, Ellsworth Kelly), Berriolo asked the question:
Why didn’t they (these male artists) think of using the sewing machine? Berriolo points out that, in
contrast to conventional art tools such as the pencil or paintbrush, the sewing machine creates a “true
three-dimensional line with a top and a bottom that in a book, by turning the page can be moved through
space.” If innovative artists such as Matisse, Fontana, or Piero Manzoni failed to think of using the
sewing machine, it was because they associated it with woman’s work. Berriolo first raised this issue in
her 2012 Brooklyn Rail article “Why Didn’t Lucio Fontana Use My Sewing Machine?” and explores it
in more depth in her newly published manifesto Why Didn’t They? (Milanville Editions, 2015).
In the series From/With Poetry, Berriolo interweaves her sewn line with lines of poetry (by Catullus,
Apollinaire and Emily Dickinson), liberating word and image in a kind of visual dance. On December 4,
2015, Berriolo presented Feed Me the Line, a performance with sewing machine and poetry in
collaboration with the poet Steve Dalachinsky.
In the series From/With Nature, the artist incorporated different natural elements into her process. For
the book My Grass Brush, she drew with a brush made from fresh grass, and acknowledged that the
cotton of her sewing machine thread is also made out of grass. In I am a Beetle, she imprinted with
leaves that have been attacked by Japanese beetles, connecting the perforations made by the insects with
the holes made by her sewing machine needle.
Elena Berriolo is a New York-based artist who has exhibited internationally. Since 2009, she has made a
commitment of working exclusively in the book format and performing while producing books. Her
work is in a number of public collections, including the Rare Book Collection of the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, Smith College, University of Delaware, and Museum Angewandte Kunst in
Frankfurt, Germany
2014-2015 Scholars for Advanced Studies in Book Arts
October 2, 2015 - December 12, 2015
Organized by Alexander Campos, Executive Director & Curator, The Center for Book Arts
The purpose of the Scholars for Advanced Studies in Book Arts program is
to provide opportunities to emerging artists committed to developing
careers in the book arts field, and to further the growth of this artistic
profession. Each year’s recipients receive a cash stipend plus a materials
budget, a tuition waiver for courses, and 24-hour access to the Center’s
printing and binding facilities for a full year.
Aron Louis Cohen, Alaska McFadden, and Tammy Nguyen each received a
year-long scholarship to work at the Center in recognition of their
commitment to the artistic endeavors in the book arts. This exhibition
presented work created by the artists during their residencies at the Center.
Aron Louis Cohen’s work bridges the systems of human industry and the natural world. His work is a
meditation, a spiritual endeavor, and a way of understanding our place within our physical world.
Aron Louis Cohen,
Untitled (Mylar Book)
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Alaska McFadden’s books tend to contain a sculptural or ephemera element, requiring the reader to
interact in the creation or atmosphere of the piece. Her work centers around the mundane objects,
moods, and locations of everyday life.
Tammy Nguyen’s characters and environments are proxies for paradoxical human conditions: the
bicultural tension of having roots in multiple traditions, the fear of dying yet thirst for danger, or the
guilt and pleasure of breaking ethical codes.
Alaska McFadden, Feral Tammy Nguyen, Dana Ng in Danang City
ARTISTS’ OPPORTUNITIES
Each year, the Center for Book Arts offers two residency programs: the Artist-in-Residencies (AIR) to
five New York-based artists who have never worked in book arts, and the Scholars for Advanced
Studies in Book Arts to three MFA post-grads in book arts. Each program offers space, money,
materials, and other resources to explore the production and exhibition of artist books and related work
for 12 months. AIR artists are resident during the calendar year, while Scholars are from summer to
summer. Artists from all disciplinary and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
5) ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE WORKSPACE
The Artist-in-Residence Workspace promotes experimentation and diversity in book arts. This residency
expands the discourse of contemporary artistic practices and allows artists who are not familiar with
book-making to learn, experiment, and explore ways to incorporate book arts techniques into their
practice. Alumni of the program include Cecile Chong, Pablo Helguera, Jessica Lagunas, and Tattfoo
Tan. At the end of their residency, each artist presents work in a Featured Artist Project. The program
was made possible in part with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA). The artists selected as 2015 Residents were:
Aravind Adyanthaya
Joseph Cuillier
Glen Einbinder
Nontsikeleo Mutiti
Brad Thiele
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6) SCHOLARSHIP FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN BOOK ARTS
The Scholars for Advanced Studies in Book Arts allows recent MFA graduated in book arts to spend
ample time developing a body of work to further their career, and helps develop the next generation of
book artists. Scholars complete a project and hold an exhibition in our gallery space with public
presentation the following fall. Recent alumni include Donald Daedalus, Lee Marchalonis, and
Benjamin Reynaert. At the time of their residency, each artist presents work in a Featured Artist Project.
The program was made possible in part with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts
(NYSCA) and the New York Department of Cultural Affairs.
The 2014-15 Scholars of Advanced Studies in Book Arts were:
Aron Louis Cohen: work bridges the systems of human industry and the natural world. His work is s a
meditation, a spiritual endeavor, and a way of understanding our place within our natural world.
Alaska McFadden: artist whose books tend to contain a sculptural or ephemera element, requiring the
reader to interact in the creation or atmosphere of the piece. Her work centers around the mundane
objects, moods, and locations of everyday life.
Tammy Nguyen: uses characters and environments as proxies for paradoxical human conditions: the
bicultural tension of having roots in multiple
traditions, the fear of dying yet thirst for danger, or
the guilt and pleasure of breaking ethical codes.
The 2015-2016 Scholars for Advanced Studies in
Book Arts are:
Shana Agid
Wayne Kleppe
Beth Sheehan:
7) MASTER FACULTY FELLOW
The Master Faculty Fellow program provides an
artist/instructor from outside of New York the opportunity
to teach a master class and to give a formal lecture in New
York City, in addition to presenting a survey of his/her
work as a Featured Artist Project. The 2015 Faculty Fellow
is Buzz Spector. Spector presented a master class
November 21-22, 2015: The Book Under (De-)
Construction.
Buzz Spector is an artist, writer, curator, and Professor of
Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at
Wayne Kleppe, Beth Sheehan and Shana Agid
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Washington University in St. Louis. Spector is an internationally known artist whose work makes
frequent use of the book, both as subject and object, and is concerned with relationships between public
history, individual memory, and perception. His work with altered found books dates back to 1981, and
his collages incorporating dust jacket elements date from 1987. Spector has received much recognition
for his art, including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship in 1991, and three NEA individual
artist fellowships. He received the distinguished teaching of art award from the College Art Association
in 2013.
8) FINE PRESS PUBLISHING SEMINARS FOR EMERGING WRITERS
June 1-5, 2015, 10am to 4pm taught by Master Printer Barbara Henry
Guest speakers included: Roni Gross, Z’roah Press
MC Hyland, Doublecross Press
Linda Trimbath, Ugly Duckling Presse
November 11-15, 2015, 10am to 4pm taught by Master Printer Barbara Henry
Guest speakers included: Aravind Adyanthaya, Casa Cruz de la Luna
MC Hyland, Double Cross Press
Linda Trimbath, Ugly Duckling Presse
The Fine Press Publishing Seminar for
Emerging Writers is a five-day workshop
which is offered twice a year to emerging
writers in order to introduce the basics of fine
press publishing. Participants learn the basics
of letterpress printing, both traditional
typesetting and new technology, by
collaboratively printing a small edition of
broadsides. Participants also hear lectures from
various professionals in the field, including
printers, fine press publishers, book artists, and
dealers, to get a practical overview of
letterpress printing and fine press publishing.
Each seminar is offered to a maximum of eight students, and writers from culturally diverse
backgrounds are especially encouraged to apply. The seminar is by application-only, and tuition is free
for participants, and includes the cost of materials.
The program was made possible in part with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts
(NYSCA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
LITERARY PROGRAMS
9) BROADSIDE READING SERIES
In 2015 we continued our Center Broadsides Reading Series, with limited edition, letterpress-printed
broadsides for sale at readings featuring established and emerging poets. All broadsides are available for
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19
purchase as limited edition sets in handmade portfolios. For the Spring series we continued our special
40th
Anniversary Collaborative Reading Series. One result of this series was a special publication, which
was launched in September at the Book Arts Celebration. In conjunction with the Center’s 40th
Anniversary, past curators of the Broadside Reading Series were asked to collaborate and create a new
piece to read along with their individual works. This innovative series was organized by Sharon Dolin.
2015 Spring- 40th
Anniversary Collaborative Reading
Series:
Friday April 24, 2015, 6:30pm Anselm Berrigan with LaTasha
Diggs; Dean Kostos with Sharon Mesmer
Friday May 15, 2015, 6:30pm Patricia Spears Jones with Ada
Limón; Jen Bervin with Genine Lentine
Friday May 29, 2015, 6:30pm Krystal Languell with John Yau;
Amanda Deutch with Matthew Thorburn
Friday June 12, 2015, 6:30pm Sharon Dolin with Evie
Shockley; Peter Covino with Christopher Stackhouse
The Fall series returned to the traditional Broadsides
Reading Series format, featuring the poetry of New
York-based writers of diverse backgrounds. The 16th
annual series was organized by guest curator
Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie, poet, author, and the Poetry
Editor of the literary magazine African Voices.
2015 Fall- Broadsides Reading Series:
Friday, October 30, 2015, 6:30pm, Randall Horton &
Cheryl Boyce-Taylor
Friday, November 6, 2015, 6:30pm, Amber Atiya &
t’ai freedom ford
Friday, November 13, 6:30pm, Aziza Barnes & Jacqueline Johnson
This program is made possible in part with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts
(NYSCA) and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
10) POETRY CHAPBOOK PROGRAM
Each year, the Center invites submissions to its annual Poetry Chapbook Program. The selected
manuscript is published as a letterpress-printed limited-edition chapbook, designed, printed and bound
by artists at The Center for Book Arts. The 2015 Chapbook Honoree was Diana Marie Delgado for her
manuscript Late-Night Talks With Men I Think I Trust. Honorable Mentions were Joy Katz for White:
An Abstract and Pablo Miguel Martínez for Cuent@. They read along with Guest Curator Cornelius
Eady and Program Curator Sharon Dolin. The chapbook reading was given on Friday, October 16,
2015, at 6:30pm and was standing room only.
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As part of its Chapbook Program, the Center
published Delgado’s work as a limited-edition,
letterpress-printed and hand-bound chapbook,
created by artist Ed Rayer of Swamp Press with
linocuts by Barbara Henry. In addition, Delgado
has received an honorarium and was awarded a
one-week stay in the Winter Shakers Program at
The Millay Colony for the Arts. The Center has
also published a limited-edition, letterpress-
printed and hand-bound chapbook of the work of
Guest Curator Cornelius Eady, designed and
printed by artist Amber McMillan. Artists from the Center have printed a letterpress broadside of a
poem from each of the honorable mention manuscripts. Signed chapbooks and broadsides were available
for purchase at the reading.
11) CELEBRATION OF THE CHAPBOOK: CHAPBOOK WORKSHOPS
For the past six years, the Celebration of the Chapbook has celebrated the chapbook as a work of art and
as a vehicle for alternative and emerging writers and publishers. In collaboration with the Center for the
Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY, The Center for Book Arts was thrilled to again co-sponsor
the NYC/CUNY Chapbook Festival along with Poets & Writers, Poet’s Society of America, Poets
House and the New York Public Library. The festival celebrates the chapbook as a work of art, and as a
medium for alternative and emerging writers and publishers.
The Center continued to offer both its free Chapbook
Workshops in letterpress printing and binding on
Wednesday April 1, 2015. These popular tuition-free
programs provide introductory instruction in basic
book-binding and letterpress printing to writers (a
nominal materials fee applies to participants). Each
workshop session was offered twice, and were taught
by artists Barbara Henry and Celine Lombardi.
12) TEXT/FORM POETRY READING
Organized and hosted by Barbara Henry, the TEXT/FORM Series featured readings and performances
by writers whose methods of production, presentation, and distribution are a vital component of their
work. Poets selected were alumni from The Fine Press Seminars. The poets who read their work on
August 5, 2015 at 6:30pm included Anne Lai, Elsbeth Pancrazi, Noelle de la Paz, Diane Schenker, and
Elizabeth Clark Wessel.
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PUBLIC PROGRAMS
13) TALKS, DISCUSSIONS AND PANELS
The Center presents a series of lectures, talks, and panel discussions with artists and curators in
conjunction with exhibitions and relevant current themes in the field. In addition, some featured artists
offered workshops with their talks. The Center also holds Broadside Reading Series and Poetry
Chapbook Readings, which are noted in the Literary Programs section of this report. In 2015 the
following programs were presented at the Center, unless otherwise noted:
A) Group Artist Panels in Conjunction with Main Exhibitions
Friday, February 27, 2015, 6:30pm, Redux: Selected Featured Artist Projects Renewed;
curated by Maddy Rosenberg, artists included: Tomie Arai, Nora Ligorano, Sarah
Plimpton, Rocco Scary, and Mara Adamitz Scrupe.
Friday, June 5, 2015, 6:30pm, Then & Now: Ten Years of Residencies at the Center for
Book Arts; artists included Wayne Hodge, Jessica Lagunas, Shervone Neckles, Zoë
Sheehan Saldaña, Tattfoo Tan, and Amanda Thackray.
Friday, June 19, 2015, 6:30pm, Then & Now: Ten Years of Residencies at the Center for
Book Arts; artists include Cecile Chong, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Juana Valdes, Jenifer
Wightman and Rory Golden (founder of the Artist-in-Residence program).
Friday, August 12, 2015, 6:30pm, Embraced: The International Community; artists
included: Miriam Schaer, Steven Daiber, Takuji Hamanaka, and John Ross.
Friday, August 19, 2015, /mit ðə detə/: Source Materials Visualized; artists included: Neil
Freeman, Toby Millman, Tim Schwartz, and Sam Winston (note: standing room only)
Friday, September 9, 2015, 6:30pm, Embraced: The International Community; artists
included: Barbara Mauriello, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Biruta Auna, and Gavin Dovey.
Friday, September 16, 2015, /mit ðə detə/: Source Materials Visualized; artists included:
Woody Leslie, Libby Scarlett, Angie Waller, and Thomas Parker Williams
Friday, October 23, 2015, 6:30pm, Archive Bound; Curator Karen E. Jones moderated,
artists and scholars included Aurora De Armendi, Rainer Ganahl (represented by Kai
Matsumiya); Sreshta Rit Premnath.
Friday, December 4, 2015, 6:30pm Artist Performance: Feed Me the Line, Artist Elena
Berriolo in collaboration with poet Steve Dalachinsky
In addition, two off-site events were held at The New School
in conjunction with the exhibition Archive Bound:
Saturday, November 21, 2015, 3-4:30pm, Archive
Bound; conversation with ‘Frido Kahlo’ from the Guerrilla
Girls at The New School for standing-room only. (Pictured)
Tuesday, December 3, 2015, 6:30-8pm,
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Archive Bound performance by Jacqueline Goss and Jenny Perlin at The New School
B) Featured Artist Project Talks
Every Featured Artist Project includes an artist talk. Among the highlights in 2015 were Colette Fu’s
standing-room only audience, Elena Berriolo’s talk-and-performance, and Buzz Spector’s lecture and
workshop.
Friday, February 20, 2015, 6:30pm, John Jacobsmeyer: More than Human
Friday, March 6, 2015, 6:30pm, Colette Fu: We Are Dragon People (note: standing room
only)
Friday, May 8, 2015, 6:30pm, Damali Abrams, Emmy Catedral, Heidi Lau, Eto Otitigbe,
Sheldon Yuan (recipients of 2014 Artist-in-Residence Workspace Grant)
Friday, June 26, 2015, 6:30pm Linda Carreiro: Inside Out of Words
Friday, November 20, 2015, 6:30pm Buzz Spector: The Book Under (De-)Construction
Friday, December 4, 2015, 6:30pm, Elena Berriolo: Why Didn’t They?
Friday, December 11, 2015, 6:30pm Aron Louis Cohen, Alaska McFadden, Tammy
Nguyen (2015 Scholars for Advanced Studies in Book Arts)
C) Workshops
Saturday & Sunday , February 21-22, 2015, 10am-4pm Workshop with John
Jacobsmeyer: Wood Engraving
Saturday & Sunday, March 14-15, 2015, 10am-4pm Workshop with Colette Fu: Cut and
Fold: LED Pop-up Books
Saturday & Sunday, November 21-22, 2015, 10am-4pm Master Class: The Book Under
(De-)Construction
14) HISTORY OF ART SERIES: REPOSITIONING THE ARCHIVE
Each winter the Center presents a series of panel
discussions related to themes in the book arts. In
2015, History of Art Series: Repositioning the
Archive, was presented in a three-part
series investigating how the archive is being
repositioned, both as archival collection and as
artistic tool. The series is organized by the Center
for Book Arts and made possible through a
generous grant by New York Council for the
Humanities with co-sponsorship by the
Metropolitan New York Library Council and the
New York Chapter of the American Printing
History Association. The series was sold-out.
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Archives at the Center for Book Arts are closely linked to our history of exhibiting the arts of the book
and of engaging with the contemporary art world. In their work with archival materials, artists and
curators have created new work, including new works of art, exhibitions, or books. This program
explores the changing concept of archive, the new practices of professionals, and the ways artists using
archives have brought these collections to life in entirely new ways.
The Moderator for each panel was Marvin J. Taylor, New York University, Director & Curator, Fales
Library.
March 13, 2015, 6:30pm: Panel 1: “Understanding Archives and Recent Shifts”
The first panel discussion took a historical and theoretical approach to discussing the history, theory and
practice of archives as well as the way in which most people understand archives as material culture in
relation to a lived history.
Panelists:
Jonathan Berger; 80WSE Gallery, Director and Artist
Ann E. Butler; Bard College, Library &Archives, Center for Curatorial Studies, Director
Glenn E. Wharton; New York University, Clinical Associate Professor of Museum Studies.
March 20, 2015, 6:30pm: Panel 2: “Innovative Practices of Presenting Archives to the Public”
The second panel focused on professionals working with
archives, responding to the omissions of materials, users,
and uses of their collections. The panel considered the
ways in which archivists and curators are changing their
presentation of archives as material culture to respond to
new content and new users, including artists and the
general public.
Panelists:
Andrew Blackley; Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Foundation, Archivist, and Artist
Ben Vershbow; New York Public Library,
Director, NYPL Labs
Martha Wilson; Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc, Founding Director.
March 27, 2015, 6:30pm: Panel 3: “Artists Activating the Archive” The third panel examined the ways in which creative writers, visual artists, and performers are using
archives as a catalyst in their own work and re-contextualizing archives as artwork. This panel focused
on the evolving collaboration between archival professionals and artists and how this new work is
changing archives and art.
Panelists:
D. Graham Burnett; Performance artist and writer, New York
Donald Daedalus; Visual artist, New York and past Center for Book Arts Scholar
Emilio Chapela Perez; Visual Artist, Mexico City
Lytle Shaw; Poet and Professor of English, New York University
Matt Wolf; independent filmmaker, New York.
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SPECIAL EVENTS
15) SPRING BENEFIT & ART AUCTION
The 2015 Spring Benefit & Art Auction was held at the Center for
Book Arts on Friday, April 10, 2015, 6-9pm. Roni Gross designed and
produced the event invitation which featured drawings of the Chinese
Scholar Trees by Peter Schell, letterpress printing and hand-coloring.
The event’s theme, “Forty and Still Growing,” embraced the Center’s
year-long anniversary celebration with a “family tree” that listed
instructors who taught at the Center and apprentices who trained here.
The event served as an occasion to celebrate the accomplishments of the
Center, and to pay tribute to individuals who have made lasting
contributions to the practice or interpretation of book arts. The 2015
honorees were:
Béatrice Coron, artist specializing in paper cutting, illustrations and public art
Mark Dimunation, Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of
Congress
Susan Gosin, book and paper artist, and co-founder for Dieu Donné Press and Paper
Over 100 guests attended the event, which featured an art auction overseen by Mindell Dubansky, music
performed by Sara Bouchard & the Salt Parade, Karen Gorst Calligraphy designed and produced the
award certificates, and auction framing provided by Sara Parkel. Money raised from ticket sales, silent
auction, live auction and contributions exceeded $35,000, which went to support the Center’s
operations.
Béatrice Coron Mark Dimunation Susan Gosin
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16) ART BOOK CELEBRATION: BEGINNING OUR 41ST YEAR
To mark the conclusion of its 40th
Anniversary celebrations, the close of summer exhibitions, and the
launch of its 40th Anniversary Publication 7 Nights: 28 Poets, The Center for Book Arts opened its
doors for an Art Book Celebration, on Friday, September 18, 7-9pm. The Center held a hands-on party,
allowing visitors a chance to print t-shirts on our restored Washington Hoe Press, bind small books, and
party! The Center for Book Arts completed its 40th anniversary and began its 41st year.
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The night of festivities and libations coincided with Printed Matter’s 10th
Annual NY Art Book
Fair. Activities included: “make-and-take” printing and binding stations led by artists Rich O’Russa,
Elizabeth Sheehan, and Jennifer Verbit; a raffle; and a last glimpse at the Center’s acclaimed summer
exhibitions Embraced: The International Community, organized by Richard Minsky, Founder, Center
for Book Arts, and /mit ðə detə/: Source Materials Visualized, organized by Alexander Campos,
Executive Director & Curator, The Center for Book Arts, and Heidi Neilson, artist and Co-Founder of
SP Weather Station. The limited-edition publication 7 Nights: 28 Poets is available for purchase.
7 Nights: 28 Poets is a published compilation of
literary broadsides created to accompany the
Collaborative Broadside Curators Reading Series.
Co-founder Sharon Dolin curated its 15th
anniversary
reading series, which coincided with the 40th
Anni-
versary of The Center for Book Arts. Dolin invited
pairs of the past curators of the reading series to
collaborate on new poems. At their readings, each
collaborating duo discussed the collaborative process
and read their new poem, along with their own
poetry.
Fourteen artists from the Center’s community were each invited to produce a limited edition of 150
broadsides for one of the collaborative poems. From this, a 40th Anniversary publication was produced
in a limited edition of 40. Using a format conceived by Ana Cordeiro, the Center’s 2015 Summer Interns
Jennifer Berry, Quincy Dean-Slobod, Emily Gross, Judy Gu, Matilda Ostow, and Ellis Suchmann bound
the publication under the direction of Artist Instructors/Stewards Nancy Loeber and Amber McMillan.
The project was realized under the direction of Alexander Campos, Executive Director & Curator of the
Center for Book Arts.
17) CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
Since 1999, the Center has occupied a 5,000
square foot loft space in Manhattan’s Flatiron
District. The space, which is owned without
debt, has not been substantially modified since
we moved into it. The loft serves as a multi-
purpose space in which we annually offer
classes, exhibitions, public talks and panel
discussions, literary presentations, and tours
and workshops for college students. The
Center also supports emerging artists through
year-long residencies and more than fifty
artists who rent studio time. This active usage
has raised awareness of the limitations of our
space which, while spacious and well-lit, is
not well-suited for frequent, multifunction use.
Annual Report 2015 The Center for Book Arts
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Since moving to our loft space, we have tried to gradually upgrade and update our space, following a
Master Facility Plan created in 2009 which set down how to renovate our floor in independent phases, as
funds become available. In 2011 we installed a completely new HVAC system which replaced the
inefficient window air conditioners. In 2014, we built new studio wet areas and an ADA-compliant
bathroom.
At the end of December 2015, the Center was notified that it would be awarded a capital grant from
government sources to renovate the Center’s public areas to create a welcoming space for visitors,
students, and artists by creating an enclosed Exhibition Gallery to protect art work on display, a Study
and Storage Room for the Center’s Fine Art Collection and Reference Library to improve accessibility,
and a new enclosed entrance foyer. We hope to do this work at the end of 2016.
18) PERMANENT COLLECTIONS:
The Permanent Collections, with its accompanying
Online Database, is the newest core program at the
Center. Consisting of the Fine Arts Collection
(approximately 2000 art objects), Reference Library
(over 2200 books), and Archives (100+ linear ft), the
Permanent Collections are now open to scholars,
residents, instructors, students, and visitors for research
and study. The Center's collections are the only one of
its kind in New York City, offering contemporary book
arts objects and reference materials in a gallery and
working studio.
The Center's Permanent Collections Spotlight Exhibition series features a selection of 12-15 permanent
collection art works related to current exhibitions in our Main and Foyer/Studio Galleries in order to
promote awareness of the Collections Program. The Spotlight series lets us present a rotating showcase
of engaging art from our holdings in a way which creates a dialogue with the other exhibitions. The
Spotlight exhibitions also demonstrate the depth and breadth of our collections, engage visitors, and
encourages new uses.
In addition to exhibitions, the Center hosts 50-80 college students
from NYC schools each month in order to show book art objects
not currently on view from the permanent collection storage room
as a way to teach the history of printing and bookbinding. Student
groups include New York University, School of Visual Arts,
Pratt, Parsons, FIT, and Long Island University, among others.
The Center provides free research access to its collections during
regular hours for artists, residents, instructors, college faculty, as
well as graduate students. Materials are consulted by appointment
on-site under supervision. The Online Collections Database is
promoted on our website and through partner arts organizations
Annual Report 2015 The Center for Book Arts
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and libraries.
New acquisition highlights in 2015 included book art catalogues from the estate of Tony Zwicker, as
well as art works by Sarah McDermott, Julia Mahan, Sarah Bryant, Sam Winston, and Sara Longworthy.
The large collection of reference books, donated by John Ross and nearly doubling the Reference
Library, was catalogued by our Collections Manager.
The Center gratefully acknowledges support from the Pine Tree Foundation of New York in support of
cataloging and dissemination, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation in support of archives
inventory.
19) INTERNS & WORK-STUDIES
Our internship program offers hands-on training in arts management and book arts techniques.
Participants receive an overview of not-for-profit operations and are able to take classes and use the
workspace for their own projects. The length of internships varies, depending on the student’s needs as
well as the Center’s scheduled activities.
A limited number of work-study positions are available for students or artists who want to work in
exchange for studio rental or the tuition for workshops. Students take workshops tuition-free by working
a pre-set number of hours in the Center’s office and studios.
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS
20) STAFF
Alexander Campos, Executive Director & Curator
John Thorp, Education & Studio Manager
Rafael Baylor, Collections Manager
Sarah Bouchard, Marketing Manager
Jacob Farber, Administration & Finance Manager (from Sept)
Cornelia McPherson, Administration & Finance Manager (to Aug)
Paul Romaine, Development & Membership Manager
Printshop Stewards: Delphi Basilicato, Roni Gross, Barbara Henry,
MC Hyland, Nancy Loeber, Richard O’Russa
21) MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Virginia Bartow (Brooklyn, NY) Librarian, Special Collections, The New York Public Library
Stephen Bury, Co-Chair (New York, NY) Chief Librarian, The Frick Collection
Tom Freudenheim (New York, NY) Museum professional, retired
Richard Grosbard (New York, NY) Retired small business proprietor
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Jeffrey Loop (Jersey City, NJ) Lawyer
David W. Lowden, Secretary (Montclair, NJ) Lawyer, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, LLP
Nancy Macomber, Treasurer (Queens, NY) Librarian, CUNY, retired
Corina Reynolds (New York, NY) Proprietor, Small Editions Bookbindery
Robert J. Ruben, MD (New York, NY) Co-Chair Physician and Academic, Montefiore Medical Center
Mark Samuels Lasner (Washington, DC) Associate Curator, University of Delaware
Asher Schlusselberg (New York, NY) Associate, Plymouth Group, Investment Firm
Robbin Ami Silverberg (Brooklyn, NY) Artist, Papermaker, and Instructor, Pratt Institute
Szilvia Szmuk-Tanenbaum (New York, NY) Librarian, retired
Tony White (Brooklyn, NY) Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art
22) FUNDING CREDITS
Major support for The Center for Book Arts has been provided by: The Achelis & Bodman Foundations,
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Charina Foundation,
The Chervenak-Nunallé Foundation, The Dedalus Foundation, The Elbert Lenrow Fund, The
Furthermore Foundation, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Gladys Krieble Delmas
Foundation, The Hyde & Watson Foundation, The Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Joan
Mitchell Foundation, The J.M. Kaplan Fund, The Lily Auchincloss Foundation, The Max and Victoria
Dreyfus Foundation, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation,
The New York Community Trust, The New York Council for the Humanities, The Pine Tree
Foundation of New York, Poets & Writers, The Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Rockefeller
Brothers Fund, The Schoenheimer Foundation, The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, The
Thompson Family Foundation and The Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Foundation,
Government support for the Center for Book Arts has been provided from The National Endowment for
the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Andrew Cuomo and the New
York State Legislature and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Center for Book Arts gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of its members and patrons.
Annual Report 2015 The Center for Book Arts
30
23) REVENUE AND EXPENSE
The Center for Book Arts’ fiscal year begins in January and ends in December. Its financial records are
audited annually in the following year. The Center is a Silver-level member of Guidestar and maintains
a profile with Data Arts (formerly the Cultural Data Project), which is the source for these revenue and
expense charts.
Earned income includes tuition from classes, sales, and rentals. Contributed income, of which 27% came
from individual donors and 38% from institutions in 2014, includes donations, memberships, and
fundraising events such as the annual benefit.
Program expenses include costs relating to exhibitions, classes and outreach, collections, and public
events including artist talks and literary readings. G & A includes space (13% of total expense in 2014),
administrative costs, and general supplies.
24) FINANCIAL REPORTS
Available under separate cover by request:
• Audited 2015 financial statement (2015 will be available at end of 2016)