INTRODUCTION

On behalf of the Guild of Book Workers, it is my pleasure to welcome you to Night Circus. Part of the Guild's mission is to promote and maintain high standards of workmanship in the book and paper arts. This exhibit showcases the wide range and high standard of book work including fine and design bindings, printing, book arts, and calligraphy. With over 70 entries for the jurors to select from, this exhibit is a testament to the diverse talents and creativity of our members.

This exhibition would not have been possible without the amazing work of so many people. With Exhibitions Chair Jeanne Goodman at the helm, she, Erin Fletcher, and Virginia Green organized this vibrant and beautiful exhibit as well as the wonderful exhibit catalog. I'd like to thank our spectacular jurors Gabby Cooksey, Jesse Hunt, and Keri Schroeder for all their time and effort in curating a fantastic show. With limited space for the exhibition, the jurors had to make some very difficult decisions with so many submissions from our members.

A print version of the exhibit catalog was produced for all members of the Guild to receive as a benefit of membership. Copies are also for sale at several of the exhibit venues and on our website. An online catalog can also be viewed on our website at www.guildofbookworkers.org. The tri-annual Guild of Book Workers exhibitions are a great way for our members to take part in a juried, traveling show that highlights a variety of bookwork at venues across the country. The first exhibition was held over a hundred years ago and has remained an important part of broadening public awareness of the work we do.

Kate Levy

President, Guild of Book Workers

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Please check with specific venue websites for site details before making  travel plans and local GBW chapter websites for possible local events planned. (dates in parentheses are tentative)

North Bennet Street School, Boston, MA

October 18 - December 3, 2024

Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA

January 20 - April 18, 2025

Cary Graphic Arts Collections, RIT Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

May 15 - August 8, 2025

Old Capital Museum, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

(September 1 - October 17, 2025)

Baylor Libraries, Baylor University, Waco, TX

(November 10 - January, 2026)

Please check back here for updates for the exhibition. If you have any questions, please contact exhibitions@guildofbookworkers.org.

JUROR'S REMARKS

Guild of Book Workers' latest exhibition theme, Night Circus, is evocative of the mysterious spectacle, embracing otherworldliness, and flirting with chaos. On the surface level, this could be depicted through eccentric colors, bold patterns, or a direct representation of the circus itself; a visceral collective experience that has become part of our larger cultural memory. Looking deeper, the judges panel also considered motifs of transformation and the innovative integration of structure and content.

We were eager to see how binders would interpret and elaborate on these concepts. Much like an audience at a circus, we were wowed and delighted by never-ending surprises: tattooed books, books on wheels, books that transformed into tents. Themes ranged from outer space to inner dreams, from zany animals to theatrical performances, incorporating natural and magical wonders. Submitted pieces showcased the broad skills of our book-making community through fine binding, artists' books, letterpress printing, hand-illustration, and more.

This was the first in-person Guild of Book Workers juried show since 2020. Thanks to the generosity of Virginia Green, we were able to view all of the submissions together in-person at the extraordinary Black Hare Studio in Robinson, TX. It was both meaningful and helpful to physically handle the books in order to provide fair and thorough assessments. We took our time with each book, thoughtfully examining the variety of designs, as well as their tactility, materiality, and craftsmanship.

The panel selected works in which artistry and craft, interpretation of the Night Circus theme, and visual interest were most closely aligned and successfully articulated. We considered the entries as individual works as well as their place in a cohesive group exhibition. The final selection of approximately thirty extraordinary pieces offers the best representation of Night Circus: a variety of books that elicit a sense of wonder and joy, explore spectacle and innovation, and showcase impeccable skill.

We are honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with Guild of Book Workers to orchestrate such a unique and energetic exhibition. So…

Step right up!

Be amazed!

Revel in this spectacular traveling show in person!

Jurors: 
Gabby Cooksey,
Jesse Hunt,
Keri Schroeder

CURATOR'S STATEMENT

As Chair of the Exhibitions Committee for the Guild of Book Workers' 12th traveling triennial exhibition, Night Circus, I was inspired by the endless possibilities of this theme when I first assumed the role. Yet, I could not have predicted the truly exceptional works submitted by our membership—works that far surpassed my initial vision. The Guild invited all members to interpret Night Circus through the lens of key phrases such as curiosity of the Spectacle, fascination of Artistry and Performance, exploring the Mysterious and Luminous, investigating Clandestine action and Secret knowledge, and embracing Chaos and Otherness. The results are as diverse as they are captivating, ranging from the literal to the abstract, from humorous to serious.

This juried exhibition features approximately 30 works that embody the Guild's mission: maintaining high standards of workmanship, providing educational opportunities, and promoting the artistry of book and paper arts through exhibits. What makes each triennial exhibition unique is how it captures a moment in time—a collective snapshot of artistic expression, seen through different techniques, materials, and thematic interpretations. The works showcased here demonstrate not only hand-craftsmanship but also the deep engagement with learning, practice, and experimentation that our members embrace. Some materials are familiar, while others are more unusual, but each piece transforms these resources into a statement reflecting the artist's response to the Night Circus theme. Insights into the artists' creative process and mindset are shared through accompanying quotes, offering viewers a glimpse into the world behind each piece. As you journey through this exhibition, I hope you are as captivated by the wonder, mystery, and artistry of these works as I have been.

Jeanne Goodman Exhibitions

Chair 2020-2024

Yukimi Annand

Umi to Nohara to Watashi (Sea, Fields and Me)

One day, before falling asleep, I tried to remember my childhood. I grew up with lots of love and I was a happy girl, but somewhere deep down I was pessimistic. This book focuses on six areas: "The sea, me, and the fields", "The smell of the closet and the futon", "The mystery of the dark storehouse", "School and the ridges", "The kitchen" and "The house and family". The overall composition was influenced by the structures of ancient Japanese "Boro" and Japanese wooden architectural structures. I expressed memories of my family and myself on these pages, along with my feelings.

Materials:

Mixed media, paper collage and threads on Rives BFK paper

Dimensions:

21.2 x 13.9 x 1.5 cm

Created:

2024

Yukimi Annand is a calligrapher, lettering and book artist based in Southern California. The core of her creation is often the meaning of text. She aims to express her feelings as visual poetry, and she enjoys playing with form, rhythm and movement in her works.

Website: yukimiannand.com

Alicia Bailey

Night Flight

Whether it is acrobats flying through the air, dogs jumping through fiery hoops, gymnasts atop the backs of galloping Percherons, I associate circuses with motion. I imagine the night migration of Passeriformes to be a bi-annual blur of the motion of flapping wings. As with circus performers, most survive their airborne feats; others do not. In this sculptural book, images and text present data about one of the sad realities Passeriformes face during their migrations. The conflict between night flying and urban lighting is one of many factors contributing to the rapid decline of Passeriform populations in North America.

Materials:

Paper, ink, thread, book cloth, museum board, laser foil, aluminum leaf, steel, stamping foil, book board, birch plywood

Dimensions:

17.1 x 35 x 5.7 cm

Created:

2024

Alicia Bailey is a studio artist and gallerist who lives and works in the Denver metro area. Since the mid-nineties, her studio work has focused on book and box arts. Widely exhibited and connected, an archive of her work is under development at University of Denver Penrose Library Special Collections.

Website: abecedariangallery.com

Jennifer Büchi

Micrograms

This collection of micro-poems and haiku translations is a playful expression of how a rigid form can produce fantastical, imaginative poems. This idea, that creativity flourishes when compressed, is what I wanted to explore on the covers, where a blind-tooled abstraction of a formal text block is surrounded by shifting, distorted patches of texture and light. Some fantasies come in small, bright packages, like the toad Carrera Andrade describes as typing on the moon's blank page. It's this kind of brief, magical, everyday circus I wanted to celebrate.

Materials:

Goatskin with painted suede, foil-tooled stone veneer onlays

Dimensions:

18.3 x 13 x 1.8 cm

Created:

2023

Jennifer Büchi is a poet and bookbinder living in Heber City, Utah. She is a 2023 graduate of the American Academy of Bookbinding and holds an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College. She makes artist's books and fine bindings at her studio, the Cosmic Dirt Farm.

Leith Calcote

((O))

Around 3200 BCE, people in northwest Europe built large stone structures, known as passage tombs, that align to astronomically significant events and are decorated with various mysterious symbols. Two of the more famous are Dowth and Newgrange in Ireland. Dowth's passage aligns to the sunset at midwinter while Newgrange aligns to the sunrise, framing the longest night of the year. Winter solstice celebrations were important to the builders, but the structures and symbols remain mysterious to us. As with the monuments themselves, it is up to the reader to ponder what the designs, copied or inspired by Neolithic art, mean.

Materials:

Stone veneer, tin thread, Cave paper, gold colored foil, cotton and linen thread, pen, paper

Dimensions:

14.8 x 13.3 x 0.9 cm

Created:

2024

Leith Calcote is the Senior Conservator for Books and Paper at the University of Washington Libraries. They graduated from the Buffalo State College Art Conservation Program in 2012 and from the North Bennet Street School Bookbinding Program in 2015. They have an interest in Irish music, history, and archaeology.

Gabby Cooksey and Erin Fletcher

The Boundless Lady Bookbinder

To capture the trailblazing spirit of women in our field and under the theme of 'Night Circus' we created a vintage poster showcasing the tattooed lady. These performers worked around the turn of the 20th century to transgress the gender norms of the Victorian Era. Around the same time, female binders began to make waves. Since then, many talented women have continued to shape the landscape, making it possible for us to pursue our own passions. Our tattooed lady pays homage to these women by covering her body with imagery of their work along with tools of the trade.

Materials:

Undyed goatskin, black tattoo ink, handmade papers and buffalo skin in various colors, metallic fuchsia goatskin, cotton embroidery floss, gouache, colored pencil, matte blue foil, museum board, wooden panel

Dimensions:

61 x 51 x 3.2 cm

Created:

2024

Gabby Cooksey is a bookbinder and book artist living in Tacoma, Washington. Her work can be found in public and private collections across the globe.

Website: boundbycooksey.com/
 

Erin Fletcher is the owner of Herringbone Bindery in Austin. Her work is exhibited and collected internationally. She also teaches a variety of bookbinding workshops.

Website: herringbonebindery.com/

Coleen Curry

Taxi Driver Curry

It's 4:30 am and Esselmont is traveling between terminals at London Heathrow airport, when he asks his taxi driver: "Do you cook Curry?" and then records the conversation. The ten vividly colored wood-blocks are based on Kolam - traditional Indian designs that are created outside homes to bring prosperity and ward off evil spirits. My design was inspired by the amusing late night conversation, and the festival colors of the curlicue Kolam, conjuring a circus ring vibe.

Materials:

Black calf, blue calf suede, embossed chartreuse goatskin, shell gold

Dimensions:

18 x 26 x 1 cm

Created:

2024

Coleen Curry is an award-winning design binder. She exhibits internationally and her work is held in private and public collections. Coleen graduated from the American Academy of Bookbinding, where she teaches. She lives in California and serves on the Board for the San Francisco Center for the Book.

Website: coleencurry.com

Samuel Feinstein

Ubu Roi

With the first performance leading to a riot, the design elements needed to be bold. The first word of the play, "merdre," a deliberate misspelling of "shit" sets the tone of an absurd sequence of events during which a bumbling, fascist "King" engages in violence while indulging in scat humor, making a mockery of people in power. Jarry was an enormous influence on surrealism, and as such this binding was a meditation on the breaking apart of the fabric of imagination which, in art, can make for inventive and expressive art, but in politics can lead to dire outcomes.

Materials:

With leather, gold leaf, urushi lacquer, suede, marbled paper (by the binder), silk and polyester

Dimensions:

34 x 28 x 5 cm

Created:

2024

Samuel Feinstein is a bookbinder and finisher in Chicago. He graduated from the North Bennet Street School in 2012 and went into private practice. In his work he strives to create beautiful books, with the binding in harmony with the contents, and a focus on design and technical craftsmanship.

Website: samuelfeinsteinbookbinding.com

Brenda Gallagher

Night Circus

I struggled to find a book to bind for the prompt "Night Circus." Eventually a book took shape in my imagination that demanded to be made. I created my own book with pages functioning like an album of circus snapshots; a collection of 30 circus themed etchings I produced and hand printed in the early months of 2024. The etchings are affixed to the pages like plates. I realized the best way to bind this "album" was on stubs. I carried the striped theme of the circus into the structure and throughout the design of the book.

Materials:

Hand dyed blue goatskin (by the binder), tooled designs and back pared goatskin onlays, silk, handmade Nepalese Lokta paper

Dimensions:

16.8 x 25.3 x 3.3 cm

Created:

2024

Brenda Gallagher is a graphic designer, book artist, and design fine bookbinder living in Niwot, Colorado. She is an enthusiastic teacher of letterpress printing and bookbinding for students of all ages. Brenda is also a graduate of the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride.

Suzanne Glémot

Acte I

I approached "Night Circus" through the lens of theatre: "Cyrano de Bergerac," a play that swept France off its feet upon its 1897 premiere—revived and adapted countless times since. From its first act, "Cyrano" is packed with intrigue. In homage to the late hours against which most of the story is set, I bound a scaled down facsimile of its opening pages into a design that evokes the palette of evening lights: yellow and oranges (light), dark browns (shadows), and dark blues (evening sky). I abstracted the cover design and lettering from elements of contemporaneous promotional posters.

Materials:

Cotton embroidery floss, various calf and goat leathers, Hahnemühle Ingres paper, Permalife paper, toner, ink

Dimensions:

10.3 x 8 x 1.6 cm

Created:

2024

Suzanne Glémot is an artist and bookbinder living in Iowa City, IA. She keeps a small bindery and works in Collections Care at the University of Iowa Libraries. Her creative work explores memory as it relates to language and place through prints, artist books, and boxes.

Website: suzanneglemot.com

Karen Hanmer

A Midsommer Nights Dreame

At the heart of A Midsommer Nights Dreame is a magical night in an enchanted forest. Chaos reigns as the fairy king and fairy queen perform spells and apply charms and potions to bewitch four unsuspecting lovers and each other. Dark, natural materials evoke the nocturnal woods while gilding mirrors the luminosity of the fairies' clandestine machinations.

Materials:

Gold acrylic craquelure on goatskin, Murillo paper, Lynel fur bookcloth, Cave paper, Papillion Press gilt paper, wenge and ebony wood veneer, Ruscombe Mill paper, rolled leather endbands, gold leaf, graphite, 22 kt gold foil

Dimensions:

32 x 25.5 x 3 cm

Created:

2024

Lady Into Fox

Early in 1880, Silvia Tebrick and her husband went walking in the countryside. Mr. Tebrick glanced away and looked back to see that where his wife had been was a small, furry creature with a beseeching gaze: Mrs. Tebrick had become a fox. Mr. Tebrick resisted the mysterious transformation, kept his wife and her shameful condition hidden, and tried in vain to tame her increasing wildness. Eventually, they both embraced Silvia's otherness. She began a new life in the forest, and he became a devoted uncle to her kits. This transformation is stylized from left to right across the binding.

Materials:

Goatskin, two-color linen sewing cords (by the binder), board, Japanese and Lynel fur bookcloths, Hahnemühle Ingres, rolled leather endbands, gold acrylic, original gilt head, dark red foil

Dimensions:

19.5 x 13.5 x 2 cm

Created:

2024

Karen Hanmer's books are physical manifestations of personal essays intertwining history, culture, and politics. She utilizes both traditional and contemporary book structures, and the work is often playful in content or format. Her practice is unusually varied, including design bindings, limited edition artists' books, inexpensive multiples, and bookbinding instructional materials.

Website: karenhanmer.com

Judith Hoffman

I prefer to go out in disguise.

Last fall around Halloween in the US there were lots of photos online of people in costumes. I drew a number of them for fun and then started using them in collages. After I had several book pages completed I realized the pages had a common theme of going out in disguise, something that is very appealing to me. We all go out in disguise to some extent. The circus is an exaggerated example of this, where people are hiding behind masks or artificial personalities.

Materials:

Mono-printed paper, found papers, board, ink, drawing, collage

Dimensions:

8.9 x 14.6 x 2.5 cm

Created:

2023

Judith Hoffman has been making one-of-a-kind artist books for 37 years. At times books were her only friends during a childhood when her family moved frequently. She has used a variety of materials in the past, but at the moment favors paper and board with collage, drawing and mono printing.

Website: judithhoffman.art

Lang Ingalls

The Book of Penumbra

The cover design is the binder's interpretation of the retold "deadly myths". In the myths there are gods, and moons loom, and there is always death. The flowers on the recto are from the translucent title page. The fifth myth is Haitian, that of the Baron Semedi, represented on the verso. Life was and is a circus.

Materials:

Black goatskin, black box calf, white goatskin, gold tinted black long-grain goatskin, white silk endbands, black paper flyleaves, natural edges

Dimensions:

23 x 19 x 1.4 cm

Created:

2024

Lang Ingalls is a fine binder working out of her atelier in Colorado. Her work shows in the US and abroad regularly, and can be found in private collections and libraries.

Website: langingalls.com

Caitlin Jochym

Celestia

I have always been interested in the idea of looking through multiple layers, around corners, and from different angles, having a different experience each time. This variation on the carousel structure seemed suited to the revolving nature of the cosmos. Rather than complete the circle, I chose to leave the covers visible as a glimmer of what one might see inside. "Circus" comes from the Latin for "circle or ring" and this chaotic scramble of planets, stars, eclipses, and various starbursts is my "Night Circus".

Materials:

Cave paper, leather covered boards, acrylic pochoir, gold tooling

Dimensions:

12.7 x 12.7 x 1.9 cm

Created:

2024

Caitlin Jochym is a book conservator and artist in Central New York. In addition to her conservation practice, Black Finch Bindery, she creates art in many forms including painting, papercraft, printmaking, artist books, and fine bindings. She is very involved in her local arts community and exhibits her work regularly.

Website: blackfinchbindery.com

Esther Kibby

Aναμνηστικά (Greek for Mementos)

Inspiration for the artist book came from vintage shadow puppets used to tell stories in many cultures. The book is a collection of childhood experiences learning to identify star constellations from my father. As a break from his Greek studies on weekends, he would take me to traveling circuses frequenting the city's botanical gardens. In the twilight, we sat atop the Ferris wheel watching the night sky. Drawing the star paths, he would share Greek legends about the constellations. Mythical beings appeared in my mind's eye, linking with the constellations and the circus to become cherished childhood mementos.

Materials:

Stonehenge paper, paste paper, goat parchment, transparent vellum

Dimensions:

37 x 27 x 4 cm

Created:

2024

With a background in graphic design, photography and printmaking, Esther Kibby has been involved in book arts since 2001. She experiments with combining unique materials and bookbinding structures in relationship to content concept. Her artist books and bookbindings have exhibited in various venues across North America.

Monique Lallier

Pour la Grandeur de l'Homme

Pour la Grandeur de l'Homme is a series of poems about love, life and sex written in 1969 by Claude Péloquin, renowned poet in Québec. This book is unique as it was the first draft before going to the printer and each page is numbered by Claude Péloquin. When you read the poems Night Circus comes to mind.

Materials:

Purple goatskin, green leather and tissue paper, Kumihimo braids (by the binder), suede fly leaves, green foil (titling by Sam Feinstein)

Dimensions:

33 x 22.2 x 2.2 cm

Created:

2023

Monique Lallier has been bookbinding for 52 years. Simone Roy, Hugo Teller and Roger Arnould were my mentors. She was chair of Standards for 12 years and director of the American Academy of Bookbinding for 5 years and continued to teach until 2020. She has received the Laura Young award.

Website: moniquelallier.com

Nancy Leavitt

Animal Tapestry

For me, as a calligrapher, the book continues to be a vehicle for using the alphabet in sharing information and storytelling. In ANIMAL TAPESTRY, through text and painting and careful selection of materials, the viewer is introduced to the subconscious brain through the mysterious world of dreams and imagination. Each night, the circus of your mind introduces you to mythological themes and symbols. Like NIGHT CIRCUS, the four dreams in ANIMAL TAPESTRY reveal deeper, larger than life themes through your night-time imagination. These symbolic images reveal a deeper meaning for the dreamer should she care to explore. . .

Materials:

Gouache, watercolor, sumi ink, Arches text wove and MacGregor handmade papers, vellum tapes, silk ties

Dimensions:

29.5 x 20.5 x 1.8 cm

Created:

2024

An internationally recognized calligrapher, Nancy Leavitt researches and writes texts encompassing multidisciplinary studies of art, literature and science. Her work is represented in prestigious public and private collections. Nancy is a recipient of the Maryann Hartman Award given to Maine women for their "work achievement, spirit and zest for life."

Website: nancyleavitt.com.

Chris McAfee

Katherine Dunn's Geek Love

Katherine Dunn's Geek Love tells of the Binewskis, a side-show family of freaks who, though shunned by "normals," wouldn't choose to be anything else. Though it may be horrifying to some, the story is imbued with endearing familial love. This piece represents The Chute, a mobile exhibition of Binewski family curiosities. Making it was an exercise in perseverance—it gave me the willies. Pushing through, I had to reconcile my dis-ease with the family's quirks and deformities and learn to engage with their humanity rather than recoil from their appearance. After all, though fictional, they echo real people who deserve acceptance.

Materials:

Paper, acrylic paint, found and made objects

Dimensions:

34.3 x 20.3 x 19 cm

Created:

2024

Nocturnal Popcorn

"What's your favorite animal?" It's a question we asked in elementary school. Mine were black panther and mongoose but things change. Years back, I learned of an animal that smelled like popcorn. "What a strange and curious thing," I thought, and then promptly forgot it. But visiting the zoo in 2012, that popcorn aroma wafted by. "Could it be," I wondered, "that one of those strange animals is just around the corner?" Yes! Around the next bend, I met a binturong! I've since learned more about them, and they are fascinating. This book celebrates the binturong, my new favorite animal.

Materials:

Wood, paint, paper and bobblehead binturong

Dimensions:

35.5 x 12 x 20.3 cm

Created:

2024

Christopher McAfee spends every waking hour wrangling the ideas racing through his head, and occasionally his ideas will emerge in physical form. His process is as much about problem-solving as it is about making, and he will exert great effort to problem-solve an idea into a work of art.

Suzanne Moore

Dreamings . Book Two

I admit it. For some time I have envied my friends, as they describe multi-faceted, mysterious and vividly-colored dreams. So I decided to invent dreams I would like to "see", describing them in the form of questions. "Dreamings" poses "dream questions" regarding color and light, homeland and First Peoples, the circus, and the concept of captivity. It is part of a larger series of manuscript and edition books created over the last decade, posing questions that may be beyond answering. This is the second "Dreamings" manuscript exploring the letter Q, the power of questions, and conversations they can inspire.

Materials:

Mixed media on Western and Japanese paper, paint

Dimensions:

32 x 16.5 x 1.1 cm

Created:

2024

Suzanne Moore is a painter, printmaker and lettering artist, whose eclectic interests meld in the diversity of her artists' books. She weaves word and painted image with form, content and structure into spaces which invite the reader to engage, examine and inquire.

Website: suzannemoorefolios.com

Jeff Nilan

Night Shift

In my work as a photographer/book artist I incorporate historic photographic processes to make prints of rubbings made on my uncle's farm in Iowa. I make these prints on materials collected while in Iowa. One summer -- the summer of the comet Hale-Bopp -- I decided to make a rubbing of a round hay bale. In Night Shift, I printed cyanotypes on restaurant tickets from the local rural late-night diner. I'm imagining the goings on in the diner -- the clinking of plates, the calls of "order up", all the while the comet silently traces across the sky.

Materials:

Hay bale rubbing, toned cyanotypes, restaurant tickets

Dimensions:

22 x 5 x 1 cm

Created:

2024

Jeff Nilan received his MFA from Indiana University. Growing up in Nebraska, Jeff's art draws influence from the landscape and culture of the Midwest and he is interested in the ways that art reflects and shapes the mythology of a region. Jeff is Professor of Photography at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Graham Patten

The Beauty of Byrne

Oliver Byrne's innovative and colorful 1847 printing of Euclid's Elements, explored and celebrated in the forthcoming edition for which this binding was commissioned - "The Beauty of Byrne" by Saint James Park Press - sought to reveal the clandestine knowledge of geometry by using color-coded diagrams and symbols in place of letters. Just as the text and images of this new work break apart and manipulate Byrne's colorful geometric shapes, the articulated expanding cover, propelled by a hidden lattice mechanism, presents an exploded view of Euclid's version of the Pythagorean Theorem.

Materials:

Harmatan goatskin, stainless steel, aluminum, rivets

Dimensions:

27 x 21 x 2 cm

Created:

2024

Graham Patten is the Senior Conservator at the Boston Athenaeum. A graduate of Buffalo State College's masters program in art conservation, he previously served as Assistant Book Conservator at Northeast Document Conservation Center. In his fine binding work Graham often merges dynamic sculptural and mechanical elements with innovative book structures.

Website: grahampatten.weebly.com

Todd Pattison

The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is the epitome of performance, clandestine action, and secret knowledge. In keeping with the text, which contains 33 parodies and pastiches by various authors, the cover design is a caricature of the detective using the four objects most associated with him. Red is a dominant color because of its association with blood, while the pastedowns have sets of gold eyes alluding to the informants he often used, like the Baker Street Irregulars. The top edge of the text has sets of footprints at a murder scene, including someone dragging a cane, that only Holmes could interpret correctly.

Materials:

Leather, embroidery thread, gold, marbled paper, acrylic

Dimensions:

20.4 x 14.5 x 4.3 cm

Created:

2023

Todd Pattison first learned binding while working on his Bookbinding merit badge. He went on to study with Fred Jordan in Western New York State, and with Hugo Peller and Edwin Heim at Centro Del Bel Libro in Ascona, Switzerland. He currently works as the Conservator at American Ancestors.

Jennifer Pellecchia

Winterreise

Winterreise, or Winter's Journey, is a collection of poems best known as the lyrics to a song cycle written by Schubert, shortly before his death at the age of 31. Jilted by his beloved in favor of a wealthy spouse, the speaker's journey is a physical and figurative dark night of the soul, cycling between despair and hope. The design is inspired by constellation maps of the night sky, and by trails through dirt, gravel, and packed snow.

Materials:

Blue goatskin with inlays and onlays of paper, parchment, and goatskin dyed by the binder, tooled in blind, gold, and foil, Cave Paper, pigment, mica, silk

Dimensions:

18.2 x 12.7 x 2 cm

Created:

2024

Jennifer Pellecchia is a 2019 graduate of the full-time bookbinding program at the North Bennet Street School, where she teaches as part of the Community Education program. She currently serves as Standards Chair for the Guild of Book Workers. She lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

Website: jennicakes.com

Andrea Peterson and Mary Uthuppuru

When you close your eyes

When You Close Your Eyes explores the experience of going still while the mind plays. During sleep or meditation, we transition from conscious to subconscious as thoughts and images surface, seemingly unrelated. We see snippets and incomplete information that straddle the line between reality and fiction. But this book invites the viewer to remain still and look deeply, slowly at the page. With stillness, meaning comes from the chaos.

Materials:

Handmade paper, relief prints, foil stamped text, mixed media

Dimensions:

45 x 29.8 x 1.2 cm

Created:

2024

Andrea Peterson is an artist and educator in northwest Indiana. She combines paper arts, printmaking, and book arts to make works that address human relationship to the environment.

Website: hookpotterypaper.com

Mary Uthuppuru creates artist books, bindings, boxes, and prints inspired by science, literature, and nature with an emphasis on play and exploration.

Website: springleafpress.com

Sara Pines

I Sing the Salmon Home - Poems from Washington State

This anthology of poems is inspired by the cycles, spirit, and wisdom of salmon. For the design, I thought about the way salmon transform themselves on their journey from saltwater sea, through waterfalls, towards their freshwater spawning grounds. Relating to the theme of Otherness, it made me think of how it's said that you can never truly go home, because for the salmon, to go home means their death in order to usher in the next cycle. The trip upstream has so many obstacles; would they be able to recognize themselves as the same fish they were in the ocean?

Materials:

Naturally dyed salmon parchment (by the binder), board, Hook Pottery paper, reflective mylar film, graphite, embroidery thread

Dimensions:

22.4 x 18.1 x 3 cm

Created:

2024

Sara Pines is a bookbinder, artist, and fish skin tanner based in New Haven, Connecticut. A recent graduate from North Bennet Street School Bookbinding program, Sara currently creates design bindings and offers repair work under the bindery name Sosna Studios.

Website: sosnastudios.com

James Reid-Cunningham

La Nuit du Haschich et d'Opium

La Nuit du Haschich et d'Opium is a French novel of the 1920s, illustrated with gorgeous Art Deco illustrations by Ahu. The binding reflects the luxurious and geometric binding style of the period. The strong colors are accented by luminous gold and palladium lines. Rooted in abstraction, the binding evokes the strange, dream-like story and the cryptic illustrations of jungle animals at night. Ultimately, the mystery behind the binding is impossible to discern.

Materials:

Leather, gold leaf, palladium leaf, Terraskin

Dimensions:

24.3 x 21.2 x 2.3 cm

Created:

2024

James Reid-Cunningham is a private practice bookbinder and conservator, specializing in artistic binding as well as the conservation of rare books and manuscripts. He served as the President of the Guild of Book Workers from 2006 to 2010 and received the DeGoyler Prize in American Bookbinding in 2018.

Website: reid-cunningham.com

George Sargent

Miss Pauline: A Galaxy of Talent and Wonder

The design for Miss Pauline is a reaction to the images and text of the book. The text block for this work was created specifically for Night Circus by Lisa Long Feldmann. Feldmann draws from her experience as a rare book librarian and archivist to explore personal stories that hinge on a moment of revelation. Miss Pauline weaves 19th century voices and ephemera into an homage to the young performers of the Night Circus. Pauline Newsome was born to circus royalty, but she would not be defined by the centrifugal forces of the circus ring – at least in this telling.

Materials:

Goatskin with goatskin onlays, foil stamped, 2mm pink zirconium, black and gold patterned paper, Vanson rubber based ink, Gmund 91LB text paper

Dimensions:

28.5 x 22.5 x 1.5 cm

Created:

2024

George Sargent, bookbinder and artist, graduated from the School of the Worcester Art Museum in 1972 and Rhode Island School of Design in 1977. Since 1982 he has been a partner with his wife in Dragonfly Bindery/Studio in Rhode Island specializing in antiquarian book and paper restoration and graphic design.

Website: dragonflybinderystudio.com

Patricia Sargent

A Night Circus

A Night's Circus by Edward Feldmann was created specifically for the GBW Night Circus exhibition. The images are printed on vellum and backed with white gold, the original text stamped in gilt. An evening's journey guided through an imaginary world that ends where it begins and seeks to quell an age-old conflict living inside us: how to turn away from an embellished past or brightly imagined future and savor what lies before us each day.

Materials:

Black and gold goatskin, digital images, archival Inkjet, inkjet translucent vellum, white gold patent leaf, gold foil stamped text, acid free black matboard, foam core, gold and black striped fabric on metal umbrella frame, magnets, bamboo turntable, a bit of magic

Dimensions:

39.3 x 53.3 cm (open)

Created:

2024

Patricia Sargent, bookbinder and artist, graduated from the School of the Worcester Art Museum in 1972 and Rhode Island School of Design in 1977. Since 1982 he has been a partner with her husband in Dragonfly Bindery/Studio in Rhode Island specializing in antiquarian book and paper restoration and graphic design.

Website: dragonflybinderystudio.com

EJ Youcha

The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions

The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions articulates and illustrates outsider queer love and power, a book passed between friends and lovers who were able to find a copy. To honor what was once considered so undesirable it was self-published in 1977, a colorful cult classic is rendered into fine binding. As tattoos of drawings from this book adorn decades of freaks, faggots, and weirdos, they now adorn the cover of this copy. As the book states a revolutionary urge, the binding centers on circular design, from the people intertwined in tattoo to the stripe along the board edge.

Materials:

Yellow, pink, and green goatskin, tattoo ink, rose gold, block printed paper (by the binder)

Dimensions:

21.5 x 14.4 x 2.3 cm

Created:

2024

EJ Youcha is a bookbinder and multimedia artist. After years dabbling in everything from watercolors to drag performance, they studied bookbinding at North Bennet Street School, graduating in 2023. They run Pashariko Bookbinding out of a studio in Boston, where they take commissions for unique bindings, edition work, and repair.

Website: pasharikobookbinding.com

Mimi Zycherman

The Illustrated Man

While creating the binding of The Illustrated Man, lacking studio space forced me to juggle the binding from multiple locations; this now-traveling project became a circus. Similar to an acrobat constructing their new routine, my creative process underwent many revisions. Themes of change and uncertainty are prevalent for the man covered in ever-changing tattoos, that transform as a future is written. Using hand-dyed goatskin, I created a changing scene of merging colors to symbolize the transformative narrative. The figures created with darned inlays of colorful threads are a representation of the blending of tales that are carried throughout the book.

Materials:

Hand-dyed goatskin, cotton thread, unbleached muslin, black foil

Dimensions:

25 x 17 x 3 cm

Created:

2024

Mimi Zycherman is a graduate of the North Bennet Street School Bookbinding Program. She has a bachelor's in Art and Materials Conservation from Columbia College Chicago. She enjoys mixing their bookbinding and fiber arts skills to create bindings that reflect the emotion they perceive from the book.

Website: therippedpage.com