Ehon at the NYPL

On a recent trip to New York City via the always convenient JetBlue, the pleasant discovery of a great book exhibition at the New York Public Library just made a great trip even better. Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan is up until Feb 4, 2007. Over 280 items in this show... Awe-inspiring and just plain inspiring for any book artist or book lover. The cost of admission ($0) and the bagel & coffee breakfast from the vendor cart across the street, enjoyed on the NYPL steps café tables ($1.85) prove that NYC can be a great bargain as well. A few images from the show here

Why Letterpress matters pt.1

Typography School from the London School of Printing






Also see Letterpress: The Allure of the Handmade book review

Informal Bookworks Exhibition

University at Buffalo Department of Visual Studies presents INFORMAL BOOKWORKS, an exhibit of Southern Ontario and Western New York book artists. November 16 to December 12, 2006 Opening Reception: Thursday November 16 5-7pm
Canadian Artists:
Reg Beatty, Naomi London, Angela Silver,Carolyn Wren
US Artists:
Jozef Bajus, Diane Bond, Carla Castellani, Rachael Hetezel, Richard Kegler
Curated by Penelope Stewart and Jeff Sherven

University at Buffalo North Campus
B45 Gallery Center for the Arts, Amherst NY
www.visualstudies.buffalo.edu Info call: 645-6878 x1350
gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11am-6pm. Close Nov. 23-26

11th Annual UB Holiday Print Sale Benefit

11th Annual Holiday Print Sale Benefit
One Day Exhibition & Sale of Student Print Media
UB’s Printmaking program and ePic:
the Experimental Print Imaging Center
ePic & Printmaking @ the Dept of Visual Studies
Thursday, November 16, 2006 11:30 AM to 7:30 PM
The University at Buffalo Center For The Arts Atrium
Artist’s Prints by Students, Alumni and ePic’s Community Printshop Participants
All proceeds support student scholarship and research in print media through the ePic Fund.

This years print sale is held in conjunction with the opening reception for the Informal Bookwork’s exhibition, 5:00 – 7:00 PM, in the Visual Studies Gallery B45. Informal Bookwork’s runs November 16th through December 12th.
For more information e-mail: jsherven @ buffalo.edu

A Roycroft Motto Book

A recent WNYBAC and Roycroft sponsored workshop at the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora, NY focuses on hand set type and a modified oriental binding. The end result was a limited edition book. The five participants each selected a motto attributed to Roycroft founder Elbert Hubbard and then selected from type and ornaments in the type cases at the Roycroft Shop. The book designed by Richard Kegler features an inset title label and a sewn edge with insert colored leather squares reminiscent of the Dard Hunter designs of the early 1900s. There was also a hand set title page and colophon page signed by each of the 5 participants. All pages were printed on 100# Mohawk Superfine paper. A few of the signed edition of 30 copies will be available to WNYBAC members in the near future

Book Camp

The Western NY Book Arts Collaborative gave a workshop this summer at Cradle Beach Camp. Kids were given instruction and assistance in traditional turned corner book coverings and bound into an adapted Japanese style binding with hand sewn found objects holding the book together. They finished their books off with personalized covers and materials and autographs in scrapbook form. Special thanks for logistical assistance from Printing Prep and Elmwood Framing Interiors.

WNY Book Arts Collaborative Open House

Wednesday July 12, 6-9:30pm
Free event
at: The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum 220 North St at Elmwood.

You are cordially invited to attend an open house and meet up for the Western New York Book Arts Collaborative. This gathering is intended as a social get-together to discuss the WNYBAC and upcoming projects. It is also a chance to see the newly renovated Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum on Elmwood Ave. It is also the first Buffalo appearance of special guest, book artist Andy Farkas who will discuss and show examples of his work.

Mr. Farkas will present an overview of his work as an illustrator, writer, printmaker and book artist. Based in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, Mr. Farkas has spent years on book projects he writes, design illustrates and prints himself. He has upcoming engagements at the Erie Art Museum, Minnesota
Center for the Book and East Carolina University.

6-7:30 opening reception
7:30-8:30 Andy Farkas presentation
8:30-9:30 mingling

Refreshments will be served. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

RSVP required to richard @ p22.com

WNY Book Arts Collaborative Workshops

As the Western New York Book Arts Collaborative begins its programming and development as an organization, we are pleased to announce new workshops open to the public:

A handcrafted book workshop, a Calligraphy workshop and a Roycroft motto book workshop are now open for registration. Additional workshops to be added soon.

Robert Bringhurst lecture at RIT

The School of Print Media at the Rochester Insititute of Technology presents the lecture:
"The Typographic Mind" by Robert Bringhurst
Friday, May 19 10-11:30 am Location: Eastman 2000

Bringhurst's published works on art, book design and literary criticism include: Visions: Contemporary Art in Canada (1983); Ocean Paper Stone (1984), a history of fine art publishing in B.C.; and The Elements of Typographic Style (1992), a guide to typographic etiquette, grammar and style. Following his interests in typography and book design, he was contributing editor to Fine Print: A Review for the Arts of the Book (1985-90).

READ IT WHILE YOU CAN: A CELEBRATION OF THE BOOK

Saturday, May 13
1-5 p.m. Central Library, Downtown Buffalo
See: http://www.justbuffalo.org/ for schedule

Plus: An exhibition of Western New York active, small press literary publications organized by Michael Basinski, Curator of The Poetry Collection and Jennifer Lipps, The Poetry Collection's Mary Barnard Fellow, will open on May 13 as part the UB Humanities Institute and The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library's Celebration of the Book (see below). The exhibition will run at the central branch through June 15th.

The Future of the Book

Memorial Art Gallery 500 University Avenue, Rochester NY
Saturday, May 13 & Sunday, May 14, 2006

• Will new technologies change how we will be reading and accessing
information?
• What will future libraries and bookstores be like, and how will they
deliver information?
• How will live performance and visual art contribute to the development
of literature in our culture?

The Future of the Book gathers publishers, book manufacturers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, artists, and writers in a series of panels to discuss the future of the world's oldest and most powerful medium.
For more information
One-day-pass $10 (Saturday or Sunday). Two-day pass $15. Register
early-seating for some panels may be limited.

Sleepy with Democracy Book Launch

Cuneiform Press is pleased to invite you to a book launch in celebration of Gregg Biglier's Sleepy with Democracy.
Saturday April 15th at Big Orbit (Sleepy time 8:00)
30D Essex Street
Buffalo, NY 14213-2332
(Free and open to the public)

Bill Berkson writes: “Stepping lightly into the appointed area –- with 'What common language to unravel?' that iconic question of moment blinking over the portals -- Gregg Biglieri shoulders the 'rival dictation' known as poetry to wonder us awake. Indeed, if what here is invoked as ‘Democracy’ is discussible -- and more to the point, livable -- there must be a whole new conversation to engage all available terms by which it might reanimate from present inertia. Biglieri's composite talk keeps all terms open, with alarming interlinear bounce and extravagance ever palpable. This is a full, heartening book.”

Produced in an edition of 500 copies, Sleepy with Democracy was set in Scotch and Dada Pro from P22. This books was written, designed, printed & bound in Western New York.

Lyn Hejinian 1:30 Thursday April 13th

On Thursday April 13th at 1:30 in the Poetry & Rare Books Collection at SUNY Buffalo I will be conducting an informal interview with Lyn Hejinian about her Tuumba Press and artist book collaborations. Very little has been written about the press, but Lyn wrote the following reflection for Steve Clay and Rodney Phillips' exhibition of the "mimeo revolution" hosted by the New York Public Libray entitled "A Secret Location on the Lower East Side":

I founded Tuumba Press in 1976. It was a solo venture in that I had no partner(s) or assistant(s) but it was not a private nor a solitary one; I had come to realize that poetry exists not in isolation (alone on its lonely page) but in transit, as experience, in the social worlds of people. For poetry to exist, it has to be given meaning, and for meaning to develop, there must be communities of people thinking about it. Publishing books as I did was a way of contributing to such a community—even a way of helping to invent it. Invention is essential to every aspect of a life of writing. In order to learn how to print, I invented a job for myself in the shop of a local printer. The shop was in Willits, California—a small rural town with an economy based on cattle ranching and logging; the owner of the shop (the printer, Jim Case) was adamant that “printing ain’t for girls,” but took me on three afternoons a week as the shop’s cleaning lady. A year later I moved to Berkeley, and purchased an old Chandler and Price press from a newspaper ad. I knew how to run the press but not much about typesetting; friends (particularly Johanna Drucker and Kathy Walkup) taught me a few essentials and a number of tricks. The first eleven chapbooks (printed in Willits in 1976-1977) had a slightly larger trim size than those I did myself (in the back room of the house in Berkeley)—I was using leftover paper in Willits, but in Berkeley I bought paper from a local warehouse and used the trim size that was the most economical (creating the least amount of scrap). The list of authors of the first books makes it clear that for the first year and a half I was looking to various modes of “experimental,” “innovative,” or “avant-garde” writing for information; the subsequent chapbooks represent a commitment to a particular community—the group of writers who came to be associated with “Language Writing.” The chapbook format appealed to me for obvious practical reasons—a shorter book meant less work (and expense) than a longer one. But there were two other advantages to the chapbook. First, most of the books I published were commissioned—I invited poets to give me a manuscript by a certain date (usually six months to a year away)—and I didn’t want to make the invitation a burden. And second, I wanted Tuumba books to come to people in the mode of “news”—in this sense, rather than “chapbook” perhaps one should say “pamphlet.” It is for this reason, by the way, that I didn’t handsew the books; they were all stapled—a transgression in the world of fine printing but highly practical in the world of pamphleteering.

North of The Border

• Buffalo is the gateway to Niagara Region of Ontario Canada and a quick drive to Toronto. On April 29, 2006 there is a gathering of Book Artists at the Wayzgoose in Grimsby Ontario.
• Ongoing courses in Book Arts can be taken through Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild.
• Legendary Coach House Printing is also located in downtown TO.

Why Buffalo Book Arts?

The goal of this blog is to act as a central gathering point for individuals and organizations who are involved in or interested in the book arts with specific geographic focus on Western New York. The reason for this specific focus on WNY is the rich heritage of printing and book arts in the area and the current lack of centralized information and resources. This blog will act as the companion site for the non profit entity: the Western New York Book Arts Collaborative and the eventual development of a community space known as the "Buffalo Printing and Book Arts Center" The wide breadth of "book arts" includes: private press, artists books, literary fine press, "bookworks" and other sub-genres of expression that use word and image or other interpretations of the many media that can be called a "book".