Exhibition | Art of the Book 2018: A Travelling Gallery of Juried Works
Are you interested in book bindings and fascinating enclosures for artworks? Do you wonder how they are made? When do bindings become artworks in and of themselves? Rare Books and Special Collections is hosting a travelling exhibit of outstanding contemporary book arts designed over the past five years which will reveal the scope and immense creativity that goes into each work.
Since 1988, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild [CBBAG] has organized Art of the Book, a juried exhibition of book arts held every five years. In fact, Art of the Book is the première book arts show and the only exhibit of its kind in Canada travelling to several locations across the country, notably to McGill University from Nov. 13th 2019 to Feb. 14th 2020 in the lobby space of Rare Books and Special Collections.
The exhibition features 67 uniquely crafted pieces covering eight categories: Fine Binding, Box-Making, Paper-Making, Fine Printing, Paper Decorating, Restoration, Calligraphy, and Artists’ Books. Canadian artists predominate, but entries are from as far away as the UK, France, Spain and Australia. All pieces are appearing publicly for the first time and each promise to delight audiences by their original approach to the notion of books and bindings.
This project is sponsored by the Canadian Bookbinders and Artists Guild (CBBAG) https://www.cbbag.ca/ and is associated with Quebec-based bookbinders guild named Association québécoise des relieurs et des artisans du livre (AQRAL) http://relieursduquebec.ca/.
A printed catalogue of all the contributors is available for consultation and purchase. Please ask in the Reading Room of Rare Books and Special Collections.
The display is free and open to the public during building hours: 10 am to 10 pm.
Coordinated by Liaison Librarians Ann Marie Holland and Jennifer Garland, McGill University Library
