Wh t i b k?What is a book?

Fit To Be Bound in New YorkPeter D. Verheyen at the Everson Museum of ArtSyracuse, NY.

5/8/2010

1

Fit to be Bound in New York

Peter D. Verheyen

Bookbinder and Conservator

Wh t i b k?What is a book?


5/8/2010

2

Bookbindingvs

Livre d’Artistevsvs

Artist’s Book

Beginnings

• New York has always been a focal point for the b k tbook arts.– Attracted many skilled immigrant binders from Germany, England, Italy

– Publishing center

– Wealthy collectors/benefactors


5/8/2010

3

Guild of Book Workers

• Founded in 1906It ld b t d th f• It could be construed as the name of an anonymous trade organization. Instead, in a modest way, The Guild of Book Workers is a cultural institution intent on the advancement of some of our culturally most important activities: the arts and crafts of book work ”activities: the arts and crafts of book work.– Gary Frost in his essay for the Guild of Book Workers 80th Anniversary exhibition catalog, 1986

GBW Early Members

• Were drawn from the upper classes and l l t t t d ith th t & ftlargely went to study with the arts & crafts masters such as Cobden‐Sanderson.

• Also included typographers and designers such as Frederick Goudy and W.A. Dwiggins.

• Distinct from “trade” bindersDistinct from trade binders


5/8/2010

4

Evelyn Nordhoff Bindery, NYC, 1902

Doves Bindery staff, 1905. Cobden-Sanderson

Binding by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson (1840-1922)

ysecond from left


5/8/2010

5

Belle McMurtry Young, Les Reconcontres de Monsieur de Bréot, by Henri F. J. Régnier, n.d.

Peter Franck, Le Mystère Laïc by Jean Cocteau, , n.d.


5/8/2010

6

Charlotte Ullman, Vers & Prose by Paul Valéry, 1926

Arno Werner, Lettering by Hermann Degering, n.d.


5/8/2010

7

GBW – mid‐20th Century

• Based in NYC with membership around 125.F ll i WW II b hi d t 48• Following WW II membership drops to 48.

• Affiliates itself with AIGA 1948 – 1978 with membership increasing to 300+– Now at 900 throughout the US with regional chapters.

• Shift from primarily traditional bookbinding to encompassing all the book arts.– Artist’s book movement…

1960s – 1980s

• Growth of artist’s book and conservation tmovements

– 1968 Florence Flood

– 1974 Center for Book Arts

– 1981 Conservation studies program at Columbia’s library school

• Movements intertwined and influenced each other greatly.


5/8/2010

8

Florence 1968

Julia Miller, A is for Aurochs, 2007


5/8/2010

9

Florence 1968

• Led to development of modern book ti fi ldconservation field.

– Large scale

– Analysis of structures (what survived, what didn’t why)

– Large numbers of volunteers, influenced field on return to US (and worldwide).

• Establishment of conservation labs and influenced conservation training. (Paul Banks)

Center for Book Arts in NYC

Richard Minsky’s binderyin Queens, pre-CBA

Richard Minsky (at center)


5/8/2010

10

Center for Book Arts in NYC

• Founded by Richard Minsky in 1974

• Provided education through workshops

• Exhibitions

• With traditional roots challenged assumptions of “what is a book”

S d d l f i il h h US– Served as model for similar centers throughout US

– Democratization of book arts, greater accessibility

Richard Minsky’s The Birds of North America. Bound 1975.


5/8/2010

11

Richard Minsky

• Traditionally trained• Traditionally trained

• Shock to traditional binding

• Material as Metaphor

• Book as work of artBook as work of art rather than as just container

Hedi Kyle’s April Diary, 1979. First flag book.


5/8/2010

12

Hedi Kyle

• Graphic designer b t i iby training

• Conservator and book artist

• Created numerous structures that arestructures that are adapted by many

Fuzzy Wrap, 2001

Susan Joy Share, Zip-Off Fence, 2005


5/8/2010

13

Susan Share• Syracuse Native

• At Center for Book• At Center for Book Art

• Has worked as conservator

• Books as performance art and sculpture

• Incorporates ceramics

Keith Smiths’ BOOK 91(A String Book), 1982


5/8/2010

14

Keith Smith

• Series of manuals on non‐adhesiveon non adhesive binding influenced a whole generation of book artists

• Non‐adhesive/sculptural books

Book Arts Today

• Encompass many art forms– Papermaking

– Printmaking

– Letterpress printing• Local treasures include the Press and Letterfoundry of Michael and Winifred Bixler as well as Box Car Press

– Calligraphy

– Decorated papers

– Bookbinding

– Sculptural, altered, digital only and in many forms


5/8/2010

15

Bridget O’Malley, Cave Paper

Jessica Spring, Springtide Press


5/8/2010

16

Suzanne Moore, Routes, 1990

Karen Hanmer, Celestial Navigation, 2008

Destination Moon, 2003


5/8/2010

17

Slices of My Life, 1999

Nancy Callahan, Moving Target, 2010

Don Etherington, Twelve Centuries of Bookbindings, 400-1600, 2009


5/8/2010

18

Peter Geraty, Eikoh Hosoe / Charles Baudelaire, Flowers of Evil, 2006

What has changed in 100 years

• Trade binding in great decline– VERY few in CNY region

– Hard to support, but opportunities for the skilled and entrepreneurial exist

– Traditional training hard to find in region

• Book ArtsBook Arts– Increasingly accessible to a very board spectrum

– “Easier” to teach to broad spectrum (kids –adults…)


5/8/2010

19

What has changed in 100 years

• Core traditional skills in decline– Gold tooling

– Working in leather

– Knowledge of and facility of working with broad range of materials.

• New and innovative structures developedNew and innovative structures developed– More accessible to broader masses

– Introduction of new materials

– More than ever involved in all aspects of book arts

Learning Opportunities

• Center for Book Arts, Women’s Studio W k h Vi l St di W k hWorkshop, Visual Studies Workshop

• WNY Book Arts Collaborative, Buffalo

• Wells College, Aurora

• Ink Shop, Ithaca

• Academic programs (Syracuse, OCC, Cazenovia, Oneonta…)

• Private instruction scattered about the State…


5/8/2010

20

Local Learning Opportunities

• “Bookmaking” with Anita Welych at:Anita Welych at:– etags, SU Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St.

– June 5 & 6, 10‐2

• Wells Book Arts Summer Institute– In Aurora, NY

– Various classes in July


5/8/2010

21

• Online

Learning Opportunities

– Exhibits

– Tutorials• Text

• Video

– Workshops…

“Book Arts Web”

What Do You Need?

• Good manual d t itdexterity

• Few basic tools:– Bone folder, scissors, box cutter, …

• AdhesiveAdhesive

• Maybe a press

• Creativity

http://www.philobiblon.com


5/8/2010

22

The Complex of All TheseAn edition is created at Women’s Studio Workshop!

Thank you for coming this afternoon. Are there any questions?

Special Thanks

• Special thanks to Karen Hanmer and MindellD b k f h i f th i t tiDubansky for sharing from their presentations and allowing me to use selected images.

• Pamela McLaughlin and Deborah Ryan at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse for inviting me to help in planning the Fit To Be Boundp p gexhibition and to speak at the museum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9a5hH5idQc&

Peter Verheyen

Sticky Note

Click on image to view "The Complex of All These" video produced by Abigail Uhteg at the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY, 2009.

Documents

Wh t i b k?What is a book?