Perhaps you've heard the term "Artists' Books" and want to know what it refers to; or maybe you are curious about books in general, or ways in which they can relate to artistic expression. In either case, you should definitely check out this year's Artists' Books Exhibit.
All the one-of-a-kind volumes in this collection were hand-made by CSUEB students in Dr. Michael Henninger's Art 1121 class: Introduction to Bookmaking.
Artists' Books are as much about the packaging, as about the content of the volumes themselves. Each student creates a book design that expresses a message or point-of-view that enhances the book's content.
As an art form, Artists' Books have been around for quite a while - some cite the Book of Kells from the Middle Ages, or the works of English visionary artist and poet William Blake (1757–1827) as early examples. Not to be outdone, CSUEB students under Henninger's guidance, have done their best to carry on the tradition!
This year's showing of student-created Artists' Books from Michael Henninger's Introduction to Bookmaking class again mirrors the imagination and creativity of his students.
Artists' Books utilize the actual form of the book itself to a work of art. Thus, they function on two levels: that of a book, as well as an artistic expression. These books can be created in virtually any size or shape desired by the artist/bookmaker.
Traditionally, Dr. Henninger presents us with dozens of unique, quirky, and sometimes beautiful creations from his students - all we have to do is to lay them out, photograph them, and then edit the images into an exhibit poster; the final step is lay them out artistically in display cases and create the foam-mounted caption cards.
While we are not able to reproduce all the materials from this exhibit, we hope you'll get a sense of what this fabulous art form is all about from the examples included here!
- DA
