Aug 09, 2022 Rare Books Digital Exhibition — Printing Through the Pandemic

Fall semester is just around the corner and, although lower campus is still very quiet, we are already feeling the buzz of new and returning students. Plan on touring the Marriott Library? Be sure to visit our latest exhibition, Printing Through the Pandemic — located on levels 1 and 4. Not on campus yet? No worries, the exhibition is now available online!

In a Nutshell
Andras Böröcz
Brooklyn, NY: Dobbin Books, 2020
N7433.4 B673 I53 2020

In early March 2020, under orders to evacuate the print shop, Emily Tipps and Marnie Powers-Torrey of the Book Arts Program hurriedly printed the title page and portfolio for the Festschrift for Bill , which Marnie took home to build and disseminate. The project kept minds and hands committed to progress.

She Feels Your Absence Deeply
Golnar Adili
Rosendale, NY: Women’s Studio Workshop, 2021
N7433.4 A35 S54 2021

Two months later, still isolated from the presses and the people who use them, the completed portfolios were shipped to participants, who sent messages of warm appreciation in return. Connecting with the book arts community in response to the passing of Bill Stuart of Vamp and Tramp Booksellers was a powerful healing and celebratory opportunity before the pandemic hit, and the impact was exponentially greater once the global grief began to settle in.

Heavy Threads
Lise Melhorn-Boe
Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Transformer Press, 2021
N7433.4 M46 H44 2021

The repetition of printing offers consistency—each pass affirms progress through a stack of blank printer’s sheets, while the racked prints exude productivity. Print exchanges provide shared goals and deadlines, helping to prioritize the making—collectively, printmakers are producing timely, innovative work that serves to connect us with one another and our audiences, despite our being distanced.

Star Gazer
Monica Ong
Trumbull, CT: Proxima Vera, 2021
N7433.4 O546 S53 2021

Throughout the pandemic, for a myriad of reasons, many printers responded to print exchange invitations and others created artists’ books. This exhibition presents prints from a selection of print exchanges and recently purchased artists’ books from the Rare Books Collection, all produced in 2020-2021, and many in direct response to current issues.

Based on Your Current Trajectory
Rachel Simmons
Orlando, FL: Rachel Simmons, 2020-2021
N7433.4 S5498 B37 2021

See more and take a virtual scroll through the digital exhibition, Printing Through the Pandemic here.

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