Bibliography

The bibliography is a menu for a book arts feast. Please add to it as you find additional resources.

K-12 Friendly Primers
Articles
Recommended Books
Book Artists
Book Art Exhibitions
Online Resource Guides and Repositories

K-12 Friendly Primers

Artists’ Books
A 3 minute video primer from PBS’s VERVE; an overview of the artist book

What Makes a Book So Special?
A 3 minute video. Marnie Powers-Torrey, who heads the Book Arts Program at the University of Utah, talks about the book both as a conceptual mode of communication as well as a physical object one interacts with.

Book Art | Off Book
Six minute video from PBS about book art.

The Evolution of the Book
A 4 minute TED-Ed talk by Julie Dreyfuss

Articles

Artists’ Books
A short overview from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London

Books & Artists Essay
An essay by Dr. Rowan Watson, senior curator for Blood on Paper, a major exhibit of artists’ books that took place in 2009 at the V&A.

Artists’ Books: Interviews with Artists
Jackie Batey, Sarah Bodman, John Dilnot, Susan Johanknecht, Angela Lorenz and Marshall Weber talk about their work.

Recommended Books

Making Handmade Books
by Alisa Golden. Some of the clearest directions I’ve found for a wide variety of book structures.

The Art of the Fold: How to Make Innovative Books and Paper Structures
Learn paper craft & bookbinding from influential bookmaker & artist Hedi Kyle

Pennland Book of Handmade Books: Masterclasses in Bookmaking Techniques
This is the book I look at when I need inspiration or the challenge to keep pushing something further.

Book Artists/Presses

Tryst Press
5 min. film. Rob and Georgia Buchert started Tryst Press in the basement of their apartment building in the late 1980s while they were students at Brigham Young University. Today, Utah has a number of printing press houses that offer traditional letterpress printing, but Tryst Press is way ahead of the trend.

Julie Chen
Chen’s books are considered exceptional for their craft and quality, while playfully teasing the conceptual limits of books. Chen was featured on Craft in America; their website features video, lessons, and commentary on Chen’s work.

A Picture is Worth: Art by 10 Brilliant Book Artists
A short article to introduce you to a few new book artists.

Big Jump Press
Impressive portfolio for perusing.

Áslaug Jónsdóttir
Book artist and designer with wide variety of book structures in her portfolio

Spaces Corners
is led by Melissa Catanese and Ed Panar. Together, they have curated exhibitions and reading rooms surveying the contemporary photography book.

Book Art Exhibitions and Centers

Spheres of Meaning: An Exhibition of Artist Books
Video, less than 6 minutes, is part of PBS’s ART LOFT series.

Center for Book Arts
A lovely book arts space in Manhattan. They run classes and exhibitions there year round. Free admission.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
A respected and dedicated champion of the field, Minnesota Center for Book Arts is the largest and most comprehensive center of its kind.

Online Resource Guides, Repositories, etc.

The Directory of Directories, hosted by Carnegie Melon University.

PRATT library:
Resources for Artists’ Books and Bookmaking

Artists Books Online
An online repository of facsimiles, metadata, and criticism maintained and hosted by/at UCLA.

Artists Book Collection at the University of Michigan
Search the collection

Bennington College Crossett Library
Amazing collection of artist books that you can search by binding type, or process, or subject, or material.

Erin Sweeney’s Book Structures Pinterest Board
It’s a scrolling page of book arts eye-candy. Don’t knock it until you’ve looked.

College Book Art Association’s Book Art Theory Blog
This blog calls attention to criticism and theory about the book as a medium and/or subject in works of art and, more generally, about book art.

Please add resources to this page, oh mighty collaborators.