Insight on Artists' Books: A Panel Discussion in Special Collections at the University of Arizona Main Library

On Tuesday, February 26th, between 6 and 8 pm, there will be a panel discussion on artists' books. The official title is Insights on Artists' Books: A Panel Discussion. Roger Myers, of Special Collections, organized this event in conjunction with his excellent show, Artists' Books: Photography + Imagination, mounted to coincide with the College Book Art Association (CBAA) Biennial Meeting held here during the first week of January. It's a wonderful show, and if you are local, be sure to go by and see it in the Main Library building.

If you would like to attend the panel lecture, they are asking interested people to RSVP.

My co-panelists at the February 26 evening event are Professor Karen Zimmermann, my wife and Assistant Director of the School of Art, who will do a presentation on typography and it's use in artists' books. Our third panelist will be Charles Alexander, recently moved back to Tucson from Texas. Charles Alexander is an American poet, publisher, and book artist. He is the founder, director and editor-in-chief of Chax Press, an independent press which specializes in innovative poetry and the literary book arts. The panel will be moderated by Roger Myers, Associate Librarian and Archivist in Special Collections.

I will be giving a short general history of the artists' book as creative medium, and then focusing on how traditional 'art books' and 'photo books' differ from artists' bookworks where the book itself is a creative medium and not just a holder of reproductions of text or images. I will mention some of the identifying characteristics of each using as reference the Graphic Continuum Chart that I developed in 2016.

If you are in the Tucson area, I hope you will attend.