In late spring and early summer, things tend to slow down a little here at the Center, and we recently took the opportunity to rearrange our office space. We’re only a staff of 3, with a revolving group of volunteers and interns, that keeps this place running on a day-to-day basis. With all the programs that the Center offers throughout the year, office organization had gotten… low on our priority list:
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| things pile up |
But after a day and a half of dusting, filing, and moving desks and shelves and cabinets back and forth, we have a new office layout that’s more efficient for the staff, as well as a reception area that’s more welcoming for our visitors!
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| (the photos don't fully capture the drastic improvement!) |
Old, defunct electronics also surfaced in the big cleanup, and we were happy to be able to keep them out of the landfills by shipping them off to WeRecycle.com!
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| broken computer, monitors, and keyboards responsibly recycled |
But the cultivation of the book as an art object never stops at the Center for Book Arts! We continue to receive many visitors and positive reviews of our current exhibitions. Nearly every Wednesday we have an artist talk or other public program (the next one on June 20 features 2011 Artists-in-Residence Liz Lindenand Colin McMullen speaking about their work currently on view at the Center). This year’s cohort of summer studio interns has arrived and they are already busy creating letterpress printed cards. Our volunteers have recently made trips into Brooklyn to pick up donations of ink and vitrines. The exhibitions committee is reviewing and choosing proposals for exhibitions to take place in 2014 and later. We’ve also just launched our Capital Campaign to raise funds to renovate our bathrooms, gallery space, and collections storage/reading room. And in July, we plan to launch a crowdfunding campaign with WeDidIt to help raise funds in support of the many artists-in-residence we host year-round -- more details are to follow!
In the meantime, we’d like to share some stories from our past and present artists-in-residence by featuring their experiences and works in the next several Friday Insights blog posts. Our residency programs give artists a special opportunity to become part of the daily life and community of artists at the Center for Book Arts, learn or expand techniques in bookmaking and letterpress printing, and to experiment and create new work that invigorates the fields of book arts. We hope you will be able to see more of the impact your support of the Center has on these young artists!
-Myong Jin
Would you like us to write about a particular aspect of daily operations at the Center? Want to give us suggestions or comments? Email us at info@centerforbookarts.org, visit us on Facebook (/centerforbookarts), or follow us on Twitter (@center4bookarts).