Stein Scholars: Taelor Reid and Liz Zanis

The Center's happy to introduce its 2008-09 Stein Scholars: Taelor Reid and Liz Zanis.

The 2008 Stein Family Scholarship for Advanced Studies in the Book Arts provides support to individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to the artistic endeavors of the book arts. Stein Scholars receive free use of the studios for one year, and free tuition for courses, as well as teaching opportunities. It is a competitive process with an application procedure that is managed and reviewed by the staff and faculty under the direction of the Education Committee of the Center.

For more information about next year's program, please visit the Opportunities section of our website. The next deadline to apply for a Stein Scholarship is May 1, 2009, and the full guidelines and application can be downloaded here. This program is made possible in part by the Howard Stein Memorial Fund.

Liz Zanis, a New Jerseyian with a BFA from RISD, lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and wrestles tiny prints. Her recent activities include hosting one night living room exhibits, being a guest artist at Cooper Union and the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and a collaborator of the SP Potluck Project. She is a recipient of a Geraldine R. Dodge Residency at the Women's Studio Workshop, a Keyholder Residency at the Lower East Side Printshop, and a Stein Family Scholarship from the Center for Book Arts, where she is currently enjoying letterpress for the first time. Her work can be found in the collections of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio University, and Yale University. She has exhibited at the International Print Center New York, Nurture Art, the Center for Books Arts, and Cinders Gallery, among others. You can visit Liz online here.

Taelor Reid grew up in Reno, Nevada, never knowing that her grampa had been a printer. She first laid hands on a Vandercook at the Black Rock Press in Reno. She studied around the country and overseas, then graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a BA in Art History. She moved to New York City to continue the family history of printing. She spent the last year working in a commercial letterpress shop where she learned what it feels like to print a run of 5,000! Aside from creating her own work she has assisted in Parson's letterpress class and was a work-study volunteer at the Center for Book Arts. Currently she is focused on learning new binding techniques and publishing her own children's literature. You can read more from Taelor on her blog.

Winter Open House

Thanks to everyone who came by today for our Winter Open House!

There were five artist demonstrations, featuring techniques of Letterpress Printing, Suminagashi, and Bookbinding, as offered by artists Delphi Basilicato, Ana Cordeiro, Yukari Hayashida, Susan Mills, and Taelor Reid. To see pictures from the event, click here.

We look forward to seeing you again next week for our Book Arts Lounge!


Photo: Artist Ana Cordeiro offers a demonstration on bookbinding.

Winter classes at the Center

It's January, which means

1. You've finally stopped eating candy and cookies and started freaking out about your to-do list.
2. The temperature is expressed in single digits. and
3. You have Yet Another Opportunity in front of you to expand your knowledge of bookmaking in all its forms here at the Center for Book Arts.

Sterling examples of this can be found in courses like:

Bookbinding I
So obvious you missed it! The basics! Without learning to walk, you will never run! Without Bookbinding I, how do you expect to bind? Prevent this tragic circumstance and register for Bookbinding I, where you will learn the secrets to producing several structures, including a multi-section book, a simple portfolio, a photo album, and a historical structure. Several sections have been arranged for your convenience.

Multiple Containers
In which Denise Carbone will guide you towards the container that lives up to its content. Join us with your publication projects in progress and design an enclosure that can be an extension of the reading experience, and can set the tone for your project from the start. Students will work with the instructor to brainstorm ideas and work on their own model. The technical properties of different materials will be discussed and students will leave with a basic understanding of why some structures work better than others. Bring your books, objects, and book-like objects and be prepared to generate ideas.
Feb 14-15, Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 4pm

AGITPROP!
In which Jeremy James Thompson will convert The Center for Book Arts into the New York Department of Agitation & Propaganda. Ink on paper reproduces, turning a single idea into thousands of sheets. Ink on paper can be folded up inside your pocket, or folded into folios for a book. Ink on paper can be slipped inside a newspaper, or slipped inside 100 newspapers (all for the price of a quarter). The exhibition that coincides with this course, Artist Books as (Sub)Culture, will present us with an opportunity to survey and discuss some of the work being created by contemporary subversive collectives that maintain a practice of deploying agitprop by way of ink on paper. We will also expand the discussion to include some broader social and historical accounts defined by the effects of ink on paper. Beyond producing propaganda, we will collectively discuss who the message is for, what purpose these prints will serve, and how they will be dispersed. Needless to say, some convictions are required.
February 28- March 1, Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 4pm

In addition, we're pleased to report new sections of Linoleum Prints, Reductive Woodcut, Coptic Binding, and many, many, many others. Binding, printing, paper decoration, we've got it all. The complete course selection can be located here.

You can register over the phone by calling 212-481-0295, or if you prefer to avoid the telephone, you can register online. We hope you can join us.

Opening Reception - Photos from Last Night!

We had a wonderful Opening Reception last night for our new group exhibition, Artists' Books as (Sub)Culture, and two new Featured Artist Projects, Jacqueline Rush Lee: INTROspective, and Zahra Partovi: A Poet Speaks.

Click here to see photos from the event. Thanks to everyone for joining us!



Jacqueline Rush Lee and Zahra Partovi

Book Arts Lounge: A New Open Studio Event

Are you itching to dive into book arts but don't have the time or cash to take a class? Looking to share ideas with others and pick up new skills along the way? The Center for Book Arts is proud to present the Book Arts Lounge, a monthly open studio event for all-level enthusiasts, craftspeople, and artists.

WHAT: The Book Arts Lounge is a dynamic yet relaxed new program designed to cultivate fresh interest in the Book Arts in a social environment. Designed for creative people of all backgrounds, the program invites participants to take part in workshops or use the studio space for independent projects.   WHEN: Upcoming Lounge Events:   Kick-Off! Paper Marbling with Dexter Sinister & Lauren Rowland Friday, January 30, 6 to 9pm    Loving the Page: Making Books with Content Friday, February 13, 6 to 9pm Paper Salon: Waxing, Dyeing, Distressing Friday, March 13, 6 to 9pm WHO: The program is coordinated by Corinna Zeltsman, artist and staff member at the Center for Book Arts.  Each session will feature a special guest artist or teacher. WHERE: The Center for Book Arts 28 West 27th Street, Third Floor Between Broadway and Sixth Avenue Subway: N, R, W to 28th Street; F, V to 23rd Street; 1 to 28th Street www.centerforbookarts.org   HOW MUCH: Cheap! $10 / $5 members (suggested)

Exhibition Opening at The Center for Book Arts - Thursday, January 15, 6:00 to 8:00 pm

New Exhibition Will Show the Major Influence of Book Arts in the Growth of Independent Artist Organizations "Artists' Books as (Sub)Culture" At the Center for Book Arts in NYC Opening Reception: Thursday, January 15, 2009 6:00 to 8:00 pm

New York City - Books are the ultimate alternative art space. By taking artwork out of the mainstream, with full creative control given to the artist, Artists' Books have played a major role in the growth of independent artist organizations seeking to expand the possibilities of exhibition and distribution. A new exhibition at the Center for Book Arts in New York City will highlight changing approaches to this phenomenon.   This exhibition, entitled Artists' Books as (Sub)Culture, offers a fresh look at the past thirty years of the book arts' role within independent artist groups. By highlighting 11 organizations ranging from non-profit organizations to artist collaborations, the exhibition reveals unexpected resonances among diverse groups which treat the book not only as an art object but as a social tool.   Exhibition organizer Natalie Campbell says, "Books and print media have allowed alternative artist groups to accomplish many of their goals simultaneously: create original work, engage socially with their communities and the contemporary art world, form innovative self-sustaining economies, and intervene creatively and critically in a wider context." Organizations covered in the show include: Dexter Sinister (New York), General Idea (New York and Toronto), Group Material (New York), LTTR (New York), Primary Information (New York), Temporary Services (Chicago), Visible Language Workshop at MIT (Cambridge, Mass.), The Woman's Building/Women's Graphic Center (Los Angeles), The Women's Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY), Visual Studies Workshop (Rochester, NY), as well as The Center for Book Arts.   "Although these groups have diverse backgrounds, programs, and missions, it's important to consider the implications of their work for the ways that artists approach books today," says Natalie Campbell. "Artists' ideas of what alternative space is have evolved, so has their sense that books are not inert objects - they can be activated in so many ways. For instance, as direct access to means of production, innovative approaches to distribution, and using books in conjunction with performance, activism, education, and other social activities." Artists' Books as (Sub)Culture demonstrates this through unexpected approaches to book work, many of which are being presented together in a gallery format for the first time. In one example, the artists' group Temporary Services once "infiltrated" the main branch of the Chicago Public Library with a curated selection of artists' books, slipping a hundred of them - complete with call numbers - into the library stacks. In keeping with their prolific and democratic approach to publishing, Temporary Services commemorated this guerilla-style intervention with a booklet that served as a bibliography and commemorated the event. Visitors to Artists' Books as (Sub)Culture will see evidence of how works were selected, categorized, slipped onto shelves, and ultimately retrieved by librarians for formal incorporation into the library's collection.   Also on display will be FILE magazine, the publication released by the artist group General Idea. FILE was developed using the layout and style of LIFE magazine, but wittily inverted to show an alternative picture of contemporary life while rejecting boundaries between high and low, "alternative" and popular publication. Artists' Books as (Sub)Culture also includes ephemera from performance art that was held in conjunction with FILE, such as "reader-response" cards confronted critics and engaged audience participation.   Posters and ephemera from influential artist book centers including the Center for Book Arts, Visual Studies Workshop, The Woman's Building and the Women's Studio Workshop from the 1970s onward will be on view as well, giving a better understanding of the artistic cross-currents and social engagement within these groups. For anyone who appreciates alternative approaches to printing, socially engaged artwork, books, and media, this exhibition will provide a fresh look at evolving approaches to the production, distribution, and reception of artist publishing.   For hi-res images, contact James Copeland, 212.481.0295, jcopeland@centerforbookarts.org. Exhibition Dates / Opening Hours January 15 - March 28, 2009 Monday - Friday, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Saturday, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm Exhibition Opening Reception Thursday, January 15, 2009 6:00 - 8:00 pm   Artist Talks Friday, January 30 at 6:30 pm Hands-on Paper Marbling with Dexter Sinister & Lauren Rowland Wednesday, February 18 at 6:30 pm Curatorial Perspective Wednesday, March 24 at 6:30 pm Artist Talk with Brett Bloom, Temporary Services ALSO ON DISPLAY: Featured Artist Projects   Zahra Partovi: A Poet Speaks   This experimental installation has three diverse elements, represents a "temple" to poetry and homage to the words of the 13th century poet J. M. Rumi.   The physical core of the installation is a wall of paper sewn onto booking mull. The sheets of paper are covered with the words of the poet. The sound installation enveloping the visitor is continuous recorded utterances of Rumi's poetry by 60 readers, sometimes as recitation, but often in speaking tone. The hypnotically repetitive 'moving image' installation metaphorically captures one of the most important principles of the poet's philosophy.   Artist Talk with Zahra Partovi: Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 6:30pm.   Jacqueline Rush Lee: INTROspective   This exhibition of work will showcase sculptures created entirely out of used books with selections from the 2005 Biennial of Hawaii Artists (Epic) and her 2002 exhibition Volumes. The installation will also feature a selection from her new series, Devotion (2008). These works are small in nature: they fit in the palm of the hand and complement while being a contrast to the large scale of the Volumes series. Support for the Center for Book Arts' Visual Arts Programs - Exhibitions, Featured Artist Projects, and the Artist-in-Residence Workspace Program - is provided in part by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Additional support for the Center's exhibition and residency programs is provided in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.          For more information and for photo credits, please contact James Copeland at jcopeland@centerforbookarts.org.