Artist's Book Yearbook 2003-2005 - Book Arts - University of the ...

Current Events Maureen Cummins, 2002, edition of six,
screenprint on the New York Times.
Booklyn has somewhat of a reputation of
having a dark palette, of presenting books that
deal with personal tragedy, social upheaval,
ecological disaster, war and the struggle for
peace. Perhaps in part this is true. However it
should be mentioned that Booklyn also
supports beautiful, fun, happy work as
exemplified by Liz Roth’s delightful portraits of
her co-workers at her dead-end job at the
Wisconsin Department of transportation…
umm…uh… well you know what I mean.
Cheeseburger Soup Elizabeth Roth, 2003 etchings, edition of 10
8. No navel gazing. Booklyn creates multi-media
exhibits about real world topics that might
actually interest the public (see exhibitions
listed). We use innovative installations to
provide a total environment that is punctuated
by intimate reading spaces where the audience
can handle the books exhibited.
9. Encourage populist tendencies: a report from
the field by Booklyn board and staff-member
Amy Ferrara. “Sara and I participated in the
World Water Day activities on Saturday in
Bryant Park (yes, at the exact time and one
block away from the start of the Anti-War
March!) and worked with some really cool kids
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on making books!! It was so much fun. We
created 3 different pieces about water (two fun
pieces with collage & very little text, and one
hard-facts text piece with some illustrations) for
them to colour and fold. I think we had about
10-15 kids stop by in a couple of hours and
many of them had just been in the park with
their parents who had been at the anti-war
gathering. One kid (maybe 5 or 6 years old)
had already chosen his profession as "book
maker" according to his father. Others just kept
on colouring and chatting, and they all got a
free clown nose for participating. We had a
sheet of instructions for kids who were walking
through but couldn't stop to work, so they
could take the papers home and work there.
We had Booklyn brochures available too. I told
the bookmaker kid's father to look us up for
future kids workshops!!
I'd like to continue this project in the coming
months - if you know of any special events in
which we could participate, let me know. It's a
great way to promote Booklyn, provide activities
for kids at maybe otherwise boring (to kids)
events, and it gets parents involved too.”
Endpage
While Booklyn both desires and continues to
expand we realise that there are logistical limits
to the organisation’s size. We would like our
education programme to evolve into a year
round book arts school (with a multi-classroom
facility) instructing all ages and supplying
curricula and programming internationally.
What we would like is to represent
approximately one hundred artists, and have
two major exhibits touring worldwide at all
times. We hope to create one new major
exhibition every four years, both on our own
and in collaboration with other organisations.
Another goal is to publish at least four new
Booklyn books every year in forms ranging
from unique books incorporating experimental
technologies (such as magnetic inks and video
books) to innovative and inexpensive trade
publications in large retail editions.
Booklyn also aspires to look beyond itself and
into the field. While we now work closely with
many organisations in the field we look forward
to increasing the level of interaction and
collaboration. We would like to help create a