Not to be confused with publishing, “book arts” are crafts and skills traditionally associated with the physical art of making a book – notably papermaking, letterpress printing and bookbinding – and which are increasingly being explored in new and interesting ways.
These can range from handmade paper and exquisitely crafted leather bindings to sculptures, and highly conceptual “artists’ books” where form overrules function and the point isn’t always the contents… meaning they really can be judged by their covers.
Sometimes the project of a solo artist and sometimes a collaboration – like “The Winter Book” produced by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts – book arts are where art and craft meet, and show that books can take many forms besides the familiar ones on our bookshelves. They can even, as in the “Love Letters” project at Bath Spa University’s Making Books Research Centre become performance art.
In celebration of this thriving creative culture, BRLSI is delighted to welcome Benjamin Maggs on Tuesday 29th October 2024 for a personal view of fifteen years of dealing in the book arts – and the artists who are redefining what a book really is.
Book Arts in the Age of Reproduction – Benjamin Maggs
Tue 29 October 7:30 pm – 9 pm GMT £3 – 6
