Art of the Book – An Integrated Engagement

The Art of the Book ’08 presents an outstanding opportunity to appreciate the wide range of traditions and practices which have been a significant feature of the book arts over the past 25 years and which continue to evolve in the 21st century. I would suggest that this diversity is primarily due to the contemporary book arts community’s openness to the intertwining of innovation with tradition. The book’s iconic role in society, along with its distinctly material, physical, ‘objectness’, has attracted practitioners from a broad range of disciplines and, as a result, binders, letterpress printers, conservators, craftspeople of all persuasions, photographers, printmakers, writers, painters, conceptual artists, and more, meet in the realm of the handmade book. The cross-fertilization that results is unique. In representing the members of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild, this exhibition provides an overview of this dynamic and lively discipline.

Although not ubiquitous in all cultures, books have been central to much of humanity’s experience of the world and to the human endeavour of cultural expression. Books are markers of culture, containers, records, proof of human thought, creativity, knowledge, and artistic activity. As such, they act as touchstones in the complex world of human experience. This central role of the book in culture, as a point through which ideas and histories pass, can be viewed as an overarching backdrop for those of us working in the book arts. Whether the artist is building on traditions of fine printing and binding or using the book form for its diaristic, literary, archiving characteristics, the underlying context is the central importance of books and the printed page in society. The works in this exhibition are a response to such cultural experiences and histories, whether as design bindings, letterpress, and calligraphic work responding to literary texts or as artists’ books based on personal narratives.

Exhibition Goals
This year’s show is the fifth such juried exhibition held by the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG) since 1988. According to Susan Corrigan, who has been co-curator of the exhibitions, “A main goal of the Art of the Book exhibitions is to acquaint the public with what the book arts are, how diverse the work is within the book arts, and the high level of the work being done - aesthetically, technically, and conceptually.” The curators aim to present a snapshot of current work made by members of CBBAG, a show that is dynamic and fun to view. With approximately 250 submissions, which the jury had to whittle down to less than 75, the show represents a significant level of active commitment to the book arts across the country and abroad. The collection gives us all an opportunity to reflect on current directions and to appreciate the diversity of work being produced. Along with its many other endeavours, both in the local chapters and nationally, CBBAG can be proud of its achievements.

The exhibition also reflects the more than 25 years of expansion in the book arts, with organizations such as CBBAG and centers throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere taking a leading role. As a point of comparison, there were nearly twice as many submissions this year as for the first juried show in 1988. There are now new generations of practitioners trained by a network of senior artists who have shared their knowledge, skills, and vision. Over the years, these master teachers (fine binders, conservators, and artists) have blended a knowledge of craft and tradition with innovation, providing a mix of influences. And now a new generation is teaching alongside them. Shelagh Smith, the other anchor of Art of the Book, observed, “The quality of work in this year’s submissions is far greater overall than in the past.”

Exhibition Categories
With its pre-defined categories, the exhibition recognizes the differing forms which may engage book artists. These categories have been used by CBBAG since the first juried show in 1988 and, to quote Adam Smith from that catalogue, “The categories are very distinct, if overlapping worlds. Each has its own approach to the nature of the book…its own customary idiom.” Individual works themselves might be placed within multiple categories and the jury did note this appreciating, for example, the type layout and printing of pieces submitted under artists’ books. However, each category explicitly requires commitment to specific processes. The fine printers and calligraphers bring to their work a sensitivity to letterforms and page design and not only production skills but also knowledge of the histories of their texts. The fine bindings and papermaking and decoration apply an aesthetic vision utilizing hard-won technical and stylistic traditions. The box making skills displayed here are exceptional, blending traditional techniques with highly innovative design. The artist books category, perhaps the most diverse, brings out the wide range of responses to what constitutes a book with experiments in content and structure that push the limits.

The Nature of Book Arts
Reviewing the submissions and observing the jurying process gave me an opportunity to reflect on the nature of book arts practices and ponder the essentials, the common threads, as well as the divergent possibilities being explored today. The images that come to mind when I think about book arts revolve around interconnected networks of opposites with common intersections expressed on many levels. There are the oppositions of finely controlled technique and free creative expression, of focus on materials versus pursuit of a concept, of traditional forms, and ‘anything goes’, of designing the container and developing content. Most works balance somewhere on each of these continua. The book arts are diverse by their very nature and the only common ground can seem to be a, sometimes tenuous, link to the idea of ‘book’.

One could digress here to ponder the changing role and forms of the ‘book’ in the 21st century in the face of electronic media, which has taken over many of the societal and informational functions of the book. A number of the works in the show do point to such a discussion, yet this is not the main trend of this collection, nor of my text. Although book artists are far from Luddites and seem to chat endlessly online about digital printing and software typefaces, the heart and soul of the medium is its hand-produced nature. In an age of quick and easy solutions – prepared foods, TV entertainment, email correspondence, and video cell phones, the book arts represent a slow practice, one which engenders thoughtfulness and meditation, attention to detail and tactile experience.

The Jury Process
During jurying of The Art of the Book ’08, the panel not only considered works on their singular strengths, but also looked for a completeness of the artist’s vision and craft. As Ed Hutchins remarked about one of the books, “This is a very innovative structure. It is very elegantly designed and conceived.” But, he also commented about another, “I loved the photograph [of the piece, seeing what it looked like, but], I do think that a book should work well.” There was concern for “the need to have access to the contents” and with how well the book moved, whether it was appropriately robust and smoothly operating, and whether the manipulation of the book seemed to fulfill the artistic intention. Crispin Elsted was adamant that he know the contents of the fine bindings in order to appreciate the artist’s response to its text. Nicole Billard was pleased that there was, “A lot of variety [in the final selection],” but also concluded that, “There is the importance of the technical, as some of the submissions were not very well made.” Not surprisingly, in some cases, there was disagreement about what constitutes a book in the context of book art. Overall, however, the jury was generous and open-minded, thrilled to see the range of submissions and the “technical elegance” achieved. Once again, technique and concept were seen to intersect, in some cases delightfully, in others colliding unfortunately.

Essential Considerations in Book Art
It became clear to me in observing the jurying process, that certain criteria predominated. This has prompted me to attempt an articulation of the essential aspects of successful book art in the context of CBBAG’s mandate. Although clearly not definitive, I would suggest the following:

Coherence of all Aspects
The need for coherence of concept, content, enclosure, and structure seems to be an essential consideration. The relationships of concept and structure, text and image, cover and contents, design and meaning must somehow be manifested for the work to be successful. The book cannot simply be a container for a collection of bound leaves.

Relation of Carrier to Contents
The relationships just described naturally suggest the importance of the presence of a text and/or imagery. This may be created by the artist, or consist of content that the artist responds to. Either approach is equally valid, it must be considered integral to the piece. As mentioned by the jury, it is the handling of/response to content which fulfills or explicates the intention of a fine binding, in addition to impressive aesthetics and technique. Likewise, the text selected for fine printing or calligraphic rendering needs to inform the treatment. From another angle, artists creating content must carefully consider the structure of the book, developing an appropriate form which is neither gratuitous nor simplistic.

Engagement with the Book Form
This leads us to think about structure and how there must be an engagement with the book or page beyond its simple function as a container or surface on which to impose content. Strong content simply placed on a series of pages does not necessarily speak to the artform, especially if it avoids the presence of the book as a structure, as a cultural object, as a sculptural form and thus strays from the potential of book art. Many of the works in the artists’ books category push the boundaries of the conventional book form and in so doing stretch our notion of ‘bookness’. It seems clear that some attributes must remain of what constitutes a book, be they pages or binding, linking of sequential content, etc. Exactly where the boundaries lie is a topic constantly under debate. The jury suggested that, “Straying too far from the book’s functionality” was problematic. I would say that the best work either embraces or addresses in some manner that functionality in a manner that is appropriate to its contents.

It is also important to note here that the exploration of unusual structures is certainly not new and some that were once innovative have now become overused. Although adventurous to an audience who may think only of conventional library bindings, for those in the book arts the response can be, “Been there, seen that, now tell me something more with it.” As in any artform, one works within a history and contemporary dialogue of the medium. Ultimately, structure is not isolated from meaning and one must consider what one has to say through the work.

The Importance of Production and Technique
At the heart of this medium is involvement in the physical production. It is the physical making of the work which defines the practices that CBBAG represents and which, I dare say, are central to the artists in this exhibition. Missing here, of course, are the areas of book arts which involve commercial production – small press books and artists’ conceptual books. This does not imply anything negative about these endeavours, which are included in other book arts contexts. It simply means that the production by hand in all or part of the process is at the core of CBBAG’s mandate. Direct involvement in the production is often why people make their own books, just as their tactile qualities are why people love books as objects.

Along with hand production, goes attention to the craft in order to create an object of the highest quality. Here again, there are important traditions and skills which are being passed-on. There might be an impression in post-modern society that these skills are being lost, however, this exhibition shows that this is not happening. In fact, through individuals and organizations such as CBBAG, the teaching of these skills has blossomed. At the same time, when reviewing the diversity of book art, one deduces readily that there are different opinions about the importance of technique. When one considers fine binding or box making, letterpress printing and calligraphy or paper works, the value of the technical skill is evident. However, the largest group, the artists’ books, range from the technically consummate to the rough-and-ready. Despite this variety, I would suggest that a poorly constructed piece, which does not handle well can only succeed if this roughness is truly intrinsic to the conception of the work. A book designed to disintegrate might well have a conceptual rightness. Even so, it seems that there is no place for sloppy work. A work may be raw, with an eccentric form yet I would say, and I think the jury would agree, that it should be well-crafted, structurally sound and “handle well.” Although one can argue intelligently for experimentation and a looser approach to technique, one would do well to remember that many of the innovative structures being used today have historical precedents or been devised by conservation binders who taught them to book artists who then adapted them to their own vision. In that, they have practical and structural roots. The high quality of this year’s exhibition provides ample examples.

Readability
Ultimately, the book requires performance. Unlike a painting, books are like a score prepared by the artist. The interaction of the viewer with the work brings the book to life. This demands that the book actually be performable and that the nature of its performability be conceptually appropriate. Here, where concept, content, and structure meet, quality of execution becomes critical and all aspects of the work must feel coherent.

Summary
What is the essential nature of book art? This has been discussed at length by many in the field and one need only to look at the diverse nature of The Art of the Book ’08 to see that there are wonderful surprises and potential disagreements. The essentials discussed here do not prescribe the form of successful works, yet they provide criteria for appreciating the quality of each artist’s engagement. Excelling in only one aspect may not yield the best work as it is the integration which produces the most exciting and compelling pieces. Craft without vision is bankrupt and vision without craft often leads to disappointments. In the same way, tradition and innovation belong hand-in-hand. If at times, there seem to be opposing streams of isolated practice, it is exhibitions such as this which provide an opportunity for them to blend and influence each other in new ways. CBBAG provides a fertile meeting point for the integration of art, craft, and design. If the measure of cultural health is active inquiry and curiosity coupled with the ability to focus and engage productively, then The Art of the Book ’08 is proof positive of the vigor of the medium.